Austria-Nigeria bi-lateral relations very positive – Envoy

By Vera Anyagafu & Prisca Sam-Duru

Mr. Guido Stock is the Counselor, Austrian Commercial Center, in Nigeria. In this exclusive interview with Vanguard, Stock who appeared delighted to have come back to Nigeria after 40 years to work for the second time as Austrian Commercial Center Counselor to Nigeria, said that bi-national relationship between Austria and Nigeria is a very positive one.

Expressing his feelings on the improved security in Nigeria, which he said gives one a better feeling as far as everyday living is concerned, Stock advised that Nigeria should also improve on power supply, for fact that modern life has become so modern and so mechanical that even for all small things in daily life and or activities, people need electricity.
Excerpts;

You are back to work again in Nigeria. What would you say has changed?For me the thing which has changed most and which is very positive is safety. Security in Nigeria is much better and improved and that gives someone a better feeling as far as everyday living is concerned.

Mr. Guido Stock is the Counselor, Austrian Commercial Center, in Nigeria.

I also observe other great improvement here, since I came back mid August, 2018. I see Lagos has developed considerably with more hotels, more restaurants, shopping centers, and so on. And many more expatriates are here, but what is a bit disappointing is to know that power supply in Nigeria is still not what it should be.
And this in many ways, could affect the whole economy. There is something else to happen that Nigeria is not really thinking about.

How would you rate Austria-Nigeria trade relationship?We are happy with our two countries relations, but we could be doing more.
Although, the volume of import on capital goods, such as machineries’ is good, we hope for more progressive partnership.
Austria is known best for capital goods but we are also very good in the production of lace.

Austria has been major suppliers of lace to Nigeria for decades. There use to be two Austrian lace companies in Nigeria, but one is left and to the best of my knowledge, they have been suffering what a number of Nigerian producers are suffering and that is power supply.

However, some of the very best qualities of lace you see in Nigeria come from Austria, although our producers have not been very brand conscious, we have to really work on that, because many people call them Swiss lace, but they actually are products of Austria. So we definitely have to work in that field to get to peoples knowledge as one of our exports from Austria to Nigeria.

Also, we are suppliers of very high quality brocade to Nigeria. There is a company called Getzner that produces very good quality brocade for men.  So when you see men here in fine clothes, then it is usually from Austria, although some countries are trying to make a counterfeit, Austrian Getzner can never be equaled.

What is in plan to ensure Austria is known as manufactures of these products?We have been in contact with our main suppliers and we have suggested to them to do more and make the expense and we are already in the process.

We need to do more on that, although I know the economic situation has not been really easy in the last years, and many people may not afford the high quality products for which Austria is not known for, we yet have to make our brands more visible.

When I was here last, they were doing very well because the economy was much better. The producers for brocade have very strong muscles unlike the lace producers, so for the lace producers to spend a lot of money on public relations and so on is much more difficult.

Interestingly, we are in the process trying to convince them to do more on publicity. If I compare now with 15 or 20 years ago, I observed that the usage of lace has gone down. I observed that in the past, there were large numbers of women who wore lace than now, so we have to work on it.

What is it you think you want to do better?One thing we truly would want to do better is spreading of knowledge about Austria and Austrian brands. We need to improve on that more than we did in the past, especially so because we are just a small country.  We need to do more on talking about Austria and about our business relations, exchange programs, education and much more of other win-win relations with Nigeria.

What more would Nigeria benefit from her relations with Austria?Austria is not so much a country that deals on consumer goods. Our companies are much more in the field of capital goods.
Nigeria can benefit from Austria in the field of equipment for the Nigerian industries.
Typically, we also export consumer goods, like Power Horse, quality red wines and so on, but our main export is usually capital goods in the field of machinery, industrial plans for manufacturing sector and its likes.

All these increase the economy relationship between us. For instance, Dangote, among other Nigeria industrialists is traditionally, a wonderful customer to Austria. We have many Austria companies in Nigeria, including also, many engineering companies. These companies have employed thousands of Nigerians in different working capacities. Some others are into manufacturing of quality construction machineries, pipeline machineries, concrete buildings and so on.

Beyond technology, is there any way Nigeria can benefit from knowledge transfer from Austria, like in the area of technology, education etc?Yes. Austria is very willing and interested to share its experience and knowledge in the field of vocational trainings with Nigerians. We are doing a lot of vocational training for craft men and at the moment, there is an initiative on going and they are planning conducting also in other states in Nigeria. So vocational training is one area we are strong in.

Austria believes so much in vocational training because it is very essential. We have what is called dual system in which people are trained in the companies and also trained at schools simultaneously. So they do two or three years apprenticeship and while they work in the company as apprentice, they also have vocational training. So many learn on the spot at their work place and vocational centers and that is the system we are very willing to share with our partners, because we feel it is very beneficial and we do not want to keep it to ourselves alone.

Is there anything you want the Nigerian government to do to make your work easier?
We feel we are fine and we can do our work. For us everything is good, just that we wish that the Nigerian economy will improve and with good power supply, good roads, etc. to give companies here a better environment.  We do not have any challenges here. For the customers of our companies we wish that they will be given easier leverage.

Source:https://samueljackson12.blogspot.com/2019/02/austria-nigeria-bi-lateral-relations.html