With a population of 140 million people, Maribe said Nigeria is a potential market for Botswana products like beef. "We once sold them small vaccine stock from the Botswana Vaccine Institute," he said. He stated that Nigeria has a big and growing middle class population, which can be exploited by Botswana to attract investment. He said Botswana has so much to offer in terms of tourism to Nigerians. He added that Nigeria has many institutions of higher learning and a large pool of surplus manpower that Botswana can exploit. "We can look for training opportunities for our people in the country." He said thousands of Nigerian medical doctors and other professionals are working in Europe and America. Nigeria is also a football powerhouse in Africa and Maribe stated that Botswana can learn from the West Africans how to develop its football and sport in general. He added that Botswana can recruit football coaches and players from Nigeria. The two countries can embark on a cultural exchange programme to allow Batswana musicians market their products in Nigeria. Maribe said the big challenge is the perception of Nigerians worldwide as accomplished fraudsters. He said people always think that every Nigerian is a trickster, though this is not the case. "When you get to that country, you can appreciate that it is not every Nigerian who is a cheat," he said.
He said the Nigerian government should do something to debunk the perception that its people are tricksters and drug dealers.
