Federal Government of Nigeria has expressed optimism in attracting “immediate” multi-billion-dollar investment flows from Saudi Arabia after it signed an agreement with the kingdom to establish a business council in Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that the statement, according to Bloomberg, showed that Nigeria and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement to resurrect the Nigeria-Saudi Arabia Business Council, a proposal initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz in 2019.
The council was discontinued during the governance of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) include funding in agriculture, oil and gas, energy, telecommunications and technologies.
Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu told reporters in Riyadh after a business round-table between the officials of Saudi and Nigeria.
“We expect to see significant investment flow worth billions of dollars immediately”,
“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,” Bagudu added.
This follows Earlier reports that Nigeria and Saudi Arabia signed strategic ties last week, sealing a range of investment and cooperation agreements.
Among them is a commitment from the Saudi government to invest in the overhaul of Nigeria’s oil refineries and offer financial assistance for the government’s foreign exchange reforms.
“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 roundtable.
