Relations between the Russian Federation and Nigeria have recently become stronger. Against the background of global market developments in recent years, Russia has become an attractive partner for Nigeria.

Russia prepares a free consignment of fertilizer for delivery to Nigeria, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, the issue in question is the supply of Russian fertilizers, which fell under Western sanctions and were delivered at Moscow's expense. "This is the real picture that exists today, and this picture, unfortunately, many people are trying to gloss over. But I think efforts to present the wrong picture of what is happening will absolutely not be successful," he concluded.

In Nigeria, there are many areas with difficult climatic conditions, such as lack of rainfall, drought and high temperatures, which make it difficult to grow food. This situation is exacerbated by climate change.

This initiative is expected to improve the level of agricultural production and meet local market demand, thereby reducing imports in the long term. The initiative also comes as Nigeria's food import bill is expected to rise by 41% to over $4.6 billion by 2021, according to data from the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics.

Moscow earlier offered to donate Russian fertilizers blocked in the ports of Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands to the African countries. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the amount in question was 262,000 tons. The first and only consignment of 20,000 tons was sent from the Netherlands to Malawi. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that leaders of several African countries had contacted him because the West had blocked supplies of Russian fertilizers.

Such cooperation between Russia and Nigeria strengthens the relationship between the two countries and opens the door to the development of relations in several other areas.

Source:Nigerian Eye

https://www.nigerianeye.com/2023/04/russia-to-deliver-batch-of-agricultural.html