 In September 2004, he stated that Peugeot Automobile Nigeria had started to export to Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, with an initial delivery of 120 cars.In June 2006 he was nominated as Minister of Commerce to replace Idris Waziri, and was confirmed in July 2006 while remaining chairman of the board of directors of PAN.As Minister of Commerce, he was responsible for the establishment of the Nigerian-Russian Business Council to promote co-operation, collaboration and improvement of trade relationship between the two countries.