ABUJA: Britain’s Theresa May landed in Nigeria’s capital today on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the European Union.
The prime minister had kicked off her three-nation visit in Cape Town on Tuesday where she pledged to prioritize investment in Africa — although it was her diffident dance moves rather than her diplomacy that captured the headlines.
The tour, which will also take her to Kenya, is part of a campaign to promote Britain’s global ambitions after Brexit.
With just seven months until Britain formally leaves the EU, May is under pressure back home from those skeptical of her ability to forge post-Brexit trade deals, with British officials eyeing a doubling of trade with Nigeria over the next decade or so.
“Bilateral trade between Britain and Nigeria was up to £4.2 billion [$5.42 billion, 4.64 billion euros], in 2017 and we expect to more than double this figure by 2030,” Laure Beaufils, Britain’s deputy high commissioner to Nigeria, told a press conference ahead of May’s arrival in Abuja.
China is currently Nigeria’s biggest trading partner with Abuja importing some $7 billion in goods from Beijing.
May will hold talks with President Muhammadu Buhari before heading to Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, where she will hold talks on efforts to stem the migrant flow to Europe and meet victims of modern slavery.
As Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria is the main country from which migrants leave for Europe, with 37,500 Nigerian nationals reaching the Italian coast in 2016 and 18,000 more in 2017, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) figures.
In December, the IOM said that more than 36,000 Nigerians were stranded in Libya and Niger. Nigeria’s immigration agency estimates that 10,000 of its citizens died while trying to cross the Sahara or the Mediterranean between January and May 2017. The British premier will then head on to Kenya for the last leg of her three-day trip.
A relevant piece: Theresa May’s somewhat stiff dance moves won mixed reviews on Wednesday as she became an unlikely social media star with her “Maybot” maneuvers.
The PM got into the groove in Cape Town on Tuesday when she was welcomed to South Africa by some dancing schoolchildren.
The 61-year-old joined in the fun with some shapes reminiscent of gangly former England footballer Peter Crouch’s robot dance – before looking up, clocking the cameras and drastically reining it in.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper said it was “the exact moment where she loses the will to live” — the forthcoming avalanche of social media mockery appearing before her very eyes.
But before that, just for a few seconds, “we saw who Theresa May really was… just a woman, flapping about in front of some bewildered kids like she was being attacked by eels.
“It was without a doubt the most human she has ever looked, which is an odd thing to say about a video that looks like a possessed shop mannequin being Tasered.”
The Sun compared her to John Travolta with the headline “Mayin’ Alive!” — but called her performance “toe-curling”.
The Daily Mail said the “robotic nature of her game attempts” saw her moves dubbed the “Maybot” on social media.
Meanwhile, May’s dance made it onto the front page of The Guardian, which called it “an impression of a wobbly fridge”.
Professional dancer James Jordan gave her performance low marks.
“It was embarrassing to watch – like bad mum dancing,” he told The Sun.
“But at least she gave it a go. You have to praise Theresa for trying.
“I’ll give her two out of 10 for effort – one point for each leg.”
Referring to a popular BBC celebrity ballroom dancing contest, even May admitted she had not set the dance world on fire.
“I think the chances of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ coming calling are pretty minimal,” she told Sky News television, adding: “Everybody was dancing. It was great excitement.”
Dance choreographer Arlene Phillips was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail that she would “give her some advice on how to relax, swing her hips – but most of all, make her look comfortable.”
The Times said the way “Twinkle Toes Theresa” had “pawed at the concrete” raised concerns that she “might have stood in something as she stepped out of her car”.
In South Africa, The Citizen newspaper said May “put on a brave face” and “joined in with a bit of a Madiba-esque shuffle” in the style of former president Nelson Mandela.
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