Nigeria is both economically and politically a very important country to the European Union. In trade, Nigeria has had a major role in exporting formerly agricultural products and subsequently petroleum products to Europe, while also being a major importer of European products.

Regionally, Nigeria is the leading country in West Africa, and with its great human and natural resource endowments, Nigeria has the potential to become the region’s engine for economic growth. Politically, Nigeria has for many years served as a stabilizing force throughout the West African region, especially through its peacekeeping efforts in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
http://www.gistarea.com/rotational-presidency-cure-lopsided-political-leadership
In view of all this we in the European Union are extremely interested in the political and economic developments in Nigeria. We realize that those developments do not affect the living conditions of its own population only but have impact far beyond the country’s borders. In the independent world of today, the effects of turns of events in Nigeria are felt also in Europe.
No wonder then that even during the worst of the time the European Union never even consider the possibility of turning its back on Nigeria. The ties that unite Europe and Nigeria have always been stronger than the factors that separate them.
Nigeria European Relations and its Importance http://www.gistarea.com/

Naturally, the EU Nigeria relations have had their ups and downs. They reached their lowest level in November 1995 when the execution of nine Ogoni leaders led to the EU introducing sanctions covering, inter alia, arms sales, the suspension of development cooperation, visa restrictions for high level visits, and a sports boycott.

These sanctions were repeatedly extended until 1998 when there was a change of government in Nigeria and the government announced a timetable for democratic election. The European Union responded by adopting a new Common Position easing the sanctions and also by making available a support package for the elections.

On 31 May 1999, following Nigeria’s return to democracy, a Joint Communiqué by the European Commission and the Federal Republic of Nigeria was issued, announcing that the relations between the EU and Nigeria would now be entirely normalized and that also the development cooperation would be resumed. At this point, I should like to deal with development cooperation, which traditionally has been important element in the interchange between the EU and Nigeria. While emphasizing the importance of sizeable bilated development cooperation between Nigeria and the EU member states, I shall in this presentation concentrate on the so-called community aid.(http://www.gistarea.com/)

Under the four successive Lome Conventions since 1975, Nigeria has been allocated a total of over 1. I billion euros: approximately 750 million euros has been in the form of grants managed by the European Commission and over 370 million euros in the from of loans managed by the European investment Bank. Nigeria’s Lome IV national indicative Programme, 375 million euros, is the large of any ACP country.

http://www.gistarea.com/rotational-presidency-cure-lopsided-political-leadership

Other Articles of literature are:
1. http://www.gistarea.com/administration-dichotomy-solutions-politics/
2. http://www.gistarea.com/rotational-presidency-cure-lopsided-political-leadership-nigeria/
3. http://www.gistarea.com/nigeria-european-union-key-issues-eunigeria-relations/
4. http://www.gistarea.com/turmeric-health-benefits-side-effects/
5. http://www.gistarea.com/leadership-traits-skills-effective-leaders/
6. http://www.gistarea.com/concept-practice-leadership-changing-today/
7. http://www.gistarea.com/ebonyi-state-house-assembly-goodwill-message/
8. http://www.gistarea.com/lagos-state-government-education-management-systems/

I hope you all have fun. Up Nairaland!!! I also love the new site themeplate.
fellow Nairalanders, I will be posting them one by one here as times goes on