The Embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria has expanded upon the business potential of the African Economy. According to United Nations Environment Programme, Africa’s circular Economy (CE) has an astounding investment potential of $3 trillion. However, the continent faces a loss of $7.6 billion in recoverable resources annually.
The goal of the Circular Economy is to create a continuous cycle where nothing in the economy gets wasted. At the same time, they can work on eliminating pollution from the continent. The Netherlands is a global leader in Circular Economy. This is true both from an environmental and socio-economic perspective. Accordingly, the Netherlands recognizes Nigeria’s pivotal role in Africa, particularly the city of Lagos, as a powerhouse for the continent in transitioning from a linear to a circular economy.
Last week, The Embassy of the Netherlands extended their support to the Lagos state government, the Africa Circular Economy Network (ACEN), & CEIP in the hosting of the Lagos Circular Hotspot Event for the first time in Africa, bringing together CE stakeholders across the public, private and social sectors.
Deputy Consul General, Leonie Van der Stijl, spoke at the CE hotspot event. During his remarks,he emphasizes the need for new protocols for a Circular Economy. ‘New recipes for progress, redesigned business models that turn trash into resources, change of perspectives and expectations’.
Partnerships Announcement
The Netherlands has committed to fostering partnerships . Accordingly, they stated that we will continue to provide the knowledge and capacity needed for the Nigeria Circular Economy Road-map. They seek to do this through their collaboration with the EU in Nigeria. Further, they seek to collaborate more directly, for a CE road map for Lagos state as a follow-up.
At the CG of NL in Lagos, we are proud to be facilitating an MoU between Holland Circular hotspot and Lagos state government and partners, which the Governor, in his remark, acknowledged as having the potential of creating over 4,000 jobs.
At the CE hotspot event, we announced our offer to the Lagos State government to co-design an exchange program to the Netherlands focused on building innovation hubs for sustainability using the ‘Dutch diamond’ approach as a template.
