The United Kingdom is revving up its investment drives in Nigeria and other Africa countries, including Francophone countries, as its planned exit from the European Union (EU) continues to gain traction by the day
A statement from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Tuesday showed that the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is visiting Francophone Senegal, the first by a senior British official to the West African country in 20 years.
The Foreign Secretary is also visiting Anglophone countries, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya later this week to make the case for new UK partnerships across Africa as Britain negotiates an exit from the European Union later this year.
According to the official statement, during his visit to Ghana, Hunt would open new business deals for British companies after the Ghanaian government approved a £26 million agreement with British business, Aqua Africa, to reduce water poverty in the country.
Hunt is championing a new British diplomatic push across the continent, including French-speaking countries where Britain has traditionally played a smaller role.
Earlier on Monday, Hunt witnessed how the Royal Navy was training Senegalese naval special forces in a bid to protect Senegal’s new offshore oil and gas installations.
The UK has announced it will fund a new £4 million English language programme in French and Portuguese speaking countries across Africa.
While in Dakar, the Foreign Secretary launched the ‘English Connects’ programme at the Université Virtuelle du Sénégal.
This is even as the UK Government had indicated plans to support the teaching and learning of English in sub-Saharan Africa countries where English is not widely spoken over the next two years.
