ABUJA - Germany’s foreign minister wrapped up a two-day visit to Nigeria on July 22 as Berlin moves to deepen business opportunities across Africa amid a more isolationist United States and geo-political pressure from Russia and China.

Johann Wadephul called for “strengthening trade and investment” at a meeting with his counterpart Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu in Abuja, having spent July 21 in the economic capital, Lagos.

Claudia Roth, a Green party member of Parliament accompanying Wadephul, told AFP “in this world I think desperately, we need new partners... against the warlords in politics, against these Trumps and Putins and Xis.”

Diplomatic and trade tensions have flared between the United States and Europe as US President Donald Trump has upended global trade policy and threatened the stability of the NATO military alliance.

Europe’s economy is under pressure from what it calls unfair Chinese trade practices, while Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags into its fifth year.

China and Russia have also carved out economic and security ties, respectively, in Africa.

But Wadephul, on his third trip to Africa this year, said “the potential of our economic partnership is far from exhausted” in Nigeria, “particularly in information technology and the vibrant start-up sector”.

Bilateral trade grew by around 10 per cent in 2025, he said.

That comes as President Bola Tinubu has engaged in a raft of reforms, hailed by economists and investors, including liberalising the naira currency exchange rate, overhauling the tax code and removing a costly fuel subsidy.

Wadephul named “critical raw materials, renewable energy and the pharmaceutical industry” as areas for pot...