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President Buhari receives in audience His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Althani, Former Emir of Qatar in State House on 1st March 2018 |
President Muhammadu Buhari has welcomed the rise in foreign
private investments in the country owing to the success of his administration’s
economic agenda.
Speaking on Thursday at a meeting with a Qatari business
delegation led by the former Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani at the State
House, Abuja, the President described the Federal Government’s economic agenda
as one designed to move the country from over-reliance on crude oil and food
importation.
He said the policy has, in the past two years turned Nigeria
into one of the most attractive investment destinations in Africa.
According to President Buhari, “My administration’s economic
agenda has always been to move away from over reliance on crude oil and food
importation. Nigeria is a blessed country. We have fertile land. We have young
and energetic population. And we have a very strong legal and regulatory system
that protects capital and investments, both local and foreign.
“As you are aware, Nigeria just exited its worst recession
in more than two decades. We have more than doubled our foreign reserves. We
are winning the war against corruption. We are developing our infrastructure.
And we are enforcing the rule of law. As a result of this, we are seeing
significant growth in the non-oil sector which is creating thousands of jobs across
the country.”
The President, in a press statement signed by his senior
special assistant, media and publicity, Garba Shehu, cited the current
strategic partnership between Moroccan and Nigerian fertilizer companies as
part of the success stories.
“Today, due to this alliance, Nigeria has over 13
functioning fertilizer blending plants with another four in the pipeline. This
is purely driven by the private sector,” he noted.
According to President Buhari, “In 2017 alone, we saw
significant commitments and agreements by major global organisations in
infrastructure projects such as: the proposed USD 9 billion Dangote Refinery
and Petrochemical complex in Lagos; the completed USD 600 million Lafarge Plant
in Calabar; the proposed rail stock; the proposed USD 1.3 billion public
private partnership with General Electric on Rail Track Development and the
proposed ENI/Agip rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery. You can see clearly
that foreign private companies are coming back to Nigeria and making massive
investments within our existing legal and regulatory frameworks.”
In his remarks, Sheikh Al-Thani said that the global opinion
on Nigeria as an investment destination had been boosted by President Buhari’s
strong standing against corruption and adherence to the rule of law. He also
expressed his delegation’s interest in investing in Nigeria’s oil, railway,
aviation and power sectors.
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