Riyadh, Nov. 12, 2023 – Nigeria is seeing immediate multi-billion-dollar investment flows from Saudi Arabia after it signed an agreement with the kingdom to establish a business council that could see the middle eastern nation funding several sectors of the country.
The likely beneficiary areas of investments include agriculture, oil and gas, energy, telecommunications and technologies.
The two nations agreed to re-establish a Nigeria-Saudi Arabia Business Council initially proposed in 2019 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz that was exited by the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We expect to see significant investment flow immediately,” Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic planning, said in an interview in Riyadh after a business round-table between the officials of Saudi and Nigeria.
Through the council, the kingdom plans to replicates several of investments made in India, Indonesia, and Pakistan in Nigeria that could be worth several billion dollars, the minister said without giving exact figures of the expected inflows.
Several companies, including the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company have made commitments to close several deals in Nigeria by end of the year, according to Bagudu.
Nigeria’s minister of agriculture met with his Saudi counterpart and Salic executives.
“They told us that they are in the process of making additional investment decisions in Nigeria, which they hope to close before the end of the year,” the minister said.
Last week, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia made a series of investment and cooperation deals, including a pledge by the Saudi government to invest in the revamping of Nigeria’s oil refineries and provide financial support to sustain the government’s foreign-exchange reforms.
Earlier, the oil rich middle eastern country said on Saturday it is finalising investment plans within a week that will see the officials of the kingdom closing several deals when they visit Nigeria by the end of December.
“We know you are ready for business, so we do not want to come to Nigeria for any exploratory discussion. We are coming for implementation, it’s an action visit.
“It will be to sign and begin delivery on all agreements,” Saudi Kahlid El-Falih, Arabia’s Trade and Investment Minister, told Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu during the business round-table.
(Bloomberg)
