U.S Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker leads fact-finding mission to Nigeria

By Gbenga Ogundare

United States  Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker and senior U.S. business executives comprising President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA) are in Nigeria to kick-off a fact-finding mission about the commercial opportunities and challenges in Nigeria.

According to the Secretary’s office in Washington, the trip to Nigeria underscores the Obama Administration’s commitment to shifting the U.S. economic relationship with Africa from one based on aid to one based on trade and investment. Following the trip, the PAC-DBIA members will develop an actionable set of recommendation for President Obama regarding how U.S. government programs and policies can better support economic engagement between Africa and the U.S.

The group will report back to the United States President with strong and actionable recommendations, and develop policy ideas that will benefit both countries and raise commercial relationship to the next level, this newspaper gathered.

The delegation, Monday, met with Tony Elumelu Foundation and United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) in a roundtable discussion in an event tagged “Unleashing Africa’s Entrepreneurs: Strengthening the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem to Empower the Next Generation of Africa’s Business Leaders”.

It’s vital to empower the next generation of Africa’s business leader’, Secretary Pritzker said at the event to kickstart her brief working visit to Nigeria