New Nigerian Consul General Vows Larger Local Profile for Africa’s Largest Economy 

The newly arrived Nigerian consul general in Atlanta is motivated by the urgent task of growing investment and trade between her country and the 10-state Southeast U.S. region under her jurisdiction. 

Ambassador Amina Smaila comes to Atlanta with 19 years experience in the Nigerian foreign service, the last three years spent as deputy director of Nigeria’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva. Previous assignments include a six-year stint at the UN headquarters in New York.    

There, Dr. Smaila, who earned a Ph.D. in international relations, supported the successful candidacy of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for director-general of the World Trade Organization, the first woman and the first African to lead a body that many believe is in dire need of reform. 

Dr. Smaila believes that priorities that the U.S. promotes in Nigeria with $500 million in annual aid, such as security and health care, can only be solidified by a firmer economic partnership. 

“The focus is gradually shifting toward trade and investment,” she said, noting that the achievement of the countries’ shared goals is “heavily dependent on a prosperous economy.” 

Nigeria, for its part, wants to be considered on its merits as the undisputed leading economy on the ascendant African continent. With 54 countries and a relatively young billion people, Africa is seen as a key frontier in the next phase of globalization, with greater integration of markets on the continent promised through a new free trade agreement.

“It’s not enough to say what the U.S. does for Nigeria, but what we can do together as partners,” Dr. Smaila told a meeting of business leaders including board members from the World Trade Center Atlanta and the American-Nigerian International Chamber of Commerce (ANICC) during a meeting at the consulate in Roswell Wednesday. 

Nigeria boasts more than 200 million people, significant oil production, a burgeoning tech and e-commerce scene and a huge film sector known as “Nollywood,” but the bilateral trade relationship with the U.S. — as with many African countries — has long been plagued by a nagging sense of unrealized potential. 

Bilateral trade with the U.S. stood at just $10 billion in 2020, far less than the $15 billion with South Africa, which has a quarter of Nigeria’s population. For even more perspective, Sweden has just 10 million people but traded $25 billion worth of goods with the U.S. in the same year. 

Nigeria is undertaking reforms to its business climate and tendering opportunities to infrastructure companies on its quest to further facilitate investment as the world recovers from COVID-19.

But attracting American firms in the short run could be a tall order, as travel remains challenging amid vaccination rates in Nigeria and the rest of Africa that lag the developed world.

Only about 3 percent of Nigerians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The U.S. recently announced it would donate 3.5 million Pfizer doses on top of 4 million of the Moderna jabs already provided to Nigeria through the COVAX initiative. 

Given the unequal coverage, Nigerian business travelers are to be exempted from U.S. vaccination requirements for international arrivals starting Nov. 8 and instead will be tested three days in advance of their trips to the U.S. Unvaccinated tourists from Nigeria will not be allowed to travel under the new rules. 

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. this year restarted a longstanding nonstop flight to the Nigerian commercial hub of Lagos, a sister city of Atlanta. The flight has carried thousands of members of Nigeria’s well-educated diaspora from Atlanta back home over the decades, giving the city a crucial direct link to the country that has helped attract students, investors and medical doctors. 

Dr. Smaila has spent most of her time since arrival shoring up the consulate’s internal operations and processing a backlog of thousands of passport and visa inquiries. But she is keen to tap into the country’s estimated 461,000 diaspora members in the U.S. to help grow economic links between Nigeria and the South. It’s a big region: The Nigerian consulate — one of just two in the U.S. besides the embassy — covers 17 states and Puerto Rico.  

Find more information on the consulate here, or learn more about trade and investment here.