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Nigeria: Nigeria: How My Govt Plans to Overcome Impact of Oil Crisis

2016/03/06

President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday in Riyadh that his government was fully committed to increasing the productivity of Nigeria's agriculture and solid minerals sectors to save the country from the harsh effects of lower crude oil prices.

Speaking at a conference with leading members of the Council of Saudi Arabia's Chambers of Commerce and Industry, President Buhari said with declining revenues from crude oil exports, Nigeria's hopes of economic resurgence presently lie in the rapid development of its immense agricultural and solid mineral resources.

Inviting Saudi Arabian businessmen to invest in both sectors, the president said his government would welcome better foreign investment in support of its efforts to rapidly diversify the Nigerian economy.

President Buhari said that Nigeria had regrettably depended too much on crude oil exports to the neglect of other resources and was presently paying a harsh price for failing to diversify its economy early enough.

"With the downturn in the world prices of oil, we presently have to prospect our solid minerals. We have to return to agriculture. Mining and agriculture are our hopes presently. We will welcome investments in these areas. We will appreciate an in-flow of additional resources and expertise to help us achieve our objective of economic diversification," the president said.

The governors of Osun, Ogun, Katsina, Borno, and Zamfara states, who were part of the president's delegation, took turns to address the Saudi Arabian businessmen on investment possibilities in their states, assuring them of good returns.

The Chairman of the Council of the Saudi Arabian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Abdulrahman Al Zamil, said agriculture was a very significant area of investment for its members, adding that they were by presently in Brazil, the United States of America and Sudan, "where we have huge farms".

Declaring that they were willing to invest in Nigeria, Mr. Al Zamil said that the Saudis were the leading investors in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

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