With the drastic fall of oil prices in the international market,
President Mohammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria was returning to
agriculture and mining to cushion its effect on the economy.
He regretted that the country had largely depended on oil, stressing
that current harsh economic realities were an indication that the
economy needed to be urgently diversified.
President Buhari who spoke at a meeting with leading members of the
Council of Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, late
Tuesday in Riyadh said that his administration would welcome greater
foreign investment in support of its efforts to rapidly diversify the
Nigerian economy.
Apart from oil, he stated that Nigeria was gifted with arable lands
and mineral resources that were waiting to be tapped, urging the
businessmen to take advantage of the opportunity.
“With the downturn in the global prices of oil, we now have to
prospect our solid minerals. We have to return to agriculture. Mining
and agriculture are our hopes now. We will welcome investments in these
areas. We will appreciate an in-flow of more resources and expertise to
help us achieve our objective of economic diversification,” the
President said.
Similarly, the governors of Osun, Ogun, Katsina, Borno, another d
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, Dr Abdulrahman Al Zamil said that agriculture was a very
important area of investment for its members, adding that they were
already in Brazil, the United States of America and Sudan, “where we
have huge farms.”
Declaring that they were willing to invest in Nigeria, Dr
Abdulrahman Al Zamil said that the Saudis were the leading investors in
Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
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