Nigerians Should See Brexit As An Opportunity- British Deputy High Commissioner

The British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Gill Atkinson has said Nigerians will gain from Brexit as it was an opportunity of opening its relationship with the rest of the world.

She gave the advice when she paid a courtesy visit to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Idris Wase in Abuja on Thursday.

Brexit, an abbreviation for British Exiting, refers to the UK’s decision to leave the EU following a referendum held on June 23, 2016 which 51.9 per cent of its citizens voted in support of leaving the EU.

The UK government invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on EU, starting a two-year process which was due to conclude with the UK’s exit on March 29, but has since been extended to Oct. 31.

“If I were Nigerians, I would see Brexit as an opportunity for Nigerians”, NAN quoted her as saying.

“This is something where our Prime Minister and our Foreign Secretary are very clear that they want their relationships with the world open up and no longer just focused on Europe.

“So if I were a Nigerian businessman or an artist, I will be seeing this as an opportunity,” Atkinson said.

She said that she was visiting the deputy speaker to discuss on ways to build relationships between the parliaments of both countries to promote “parliamentary democracy”.

“We have talked about the relationship between our parliaments, the Deputy Speaker’s role and the Commonwealth Parliamentarians Association and how we can develop relationship between our two parliaments.

“It is through parliamentary democracy that countries develop stability, prosperity and human rights, so making sure our parliamentarians have the opportunity to share their experiences and understanding will help us all to move forward.”

The deputy high commissioner also condoled with Nigeria on the Boko Haram attack that reportedly claimed at least 65 lives and injured 10 other at a funeral in Borno, according to authorities on July 28.

 

 

 

(NAN)