British To Help Grow Nigeria’s Economy

The British Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Ray Kyles, has unfolded plans on how to help Nigeria grow her economy, adding that attention should be placed on the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He stated that the SMEs are essential to the rapid growth of the country’s economic development.
He promised that the British Government would collaborate with business communities in Nigeria to grow the economy. Kyles, said in an interactive session in Lagos at the weekend during the British Airways on Business Launch Programme, said that the British Commission would encourage its consulate to open more businesses in Nigeria. He further assured that the UK government would collaborate with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to fight corruption and other social vices in the country that were not favourable to the growth of the economy, stressing that for the economy to grow, SMEs required access to finance as is the practise in other climes.

He described British Airways as a strong brand in the country, which has been operating into Nigeria for close to 80 years and urged SME operators to tap into the opportunities offered by the airline in order to grow their businesses. Speaking at the occasion, the Regional Commercial Manager, West Africa, British Airways, Mr. Kola Olayinka, hinted that the airline industry worldwide had become competitive with several customer- friendly offers by different carriers to attract more air travellers to their services.
Olayinka declared that the approach of British Airways had shown that it would continue to invent new ideas to remain competitive in the dynamic sector and urged SME operators to take full advantage of business opportunities, which bound in the country.
He said: “The aviation industry worldwide is becoming more competitive regularly and to attract more passengers, operators are distinguishing themselves with their services. The aircraft are essentially the same, but with different inservice and offerings. “When you have the size of operations that we have at B.A., you will discover that everything will not go well all the time, but we strive to ensure that we satisfy our clients. Our approach has shown that we will continue to come out with innovations in our programmes and we are very proud of our partners as they open more routes for us.” For SME operators to be part of the B.A On Business Launch, the airline said that such an organisation must be fully registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, (CAC) in Nigeria.
Then, such an organisation would earn points or miles when they fly with the airline or its partners like American Airlines and Iberia to any of their routes. Olayinka explained further that there are three tier levels for beneficiaries, which are Tear 1, 2 and 3, stressing that with these, clients could track their flights online, adding that members earn one point for every $1 spent on fare and fuel surcharge.