Nigeria on Wednesday said it received investment pledges worth $14 billion from Indian investors and is seeking to sign an economic cooperation agreement with the South Asian country.
The Nigerian government said that India’s Jindal Steel and Power has agreed to invest $3 billion in Nigeria’s steel industry and Indorama Corp. will invest an extra $8 billion to expand its petrochemical facilities there.
Jitender Sachdeva, the founder chairman of Skipperseil Ltd., and Bharti Enterprises have offered $1.6 billion over four years to construct power plants and $700 million in Nigeria, respectively, according to the government.
Separately, Nigeria authorised a $1 billion collaboration agreement with the Indian government to support the Nigerian Defence Industries Corporation in achieving 40 per cent local manufacturing and production self-sufficiency in defence equipment manufacture within three years, according to Ngelale.
President Bola Tinubu met with Indian business representatives as part of the Nigeria-India presidential roundtable and conference to mobilise international funding for infrastructure development. He will attend the G20 summit in New Delhi later this week as a guest country.
India, which presently holds the rotating presidency of the group, invited Tinubu to attend.
“We are ready to give you the best returns for investment possible, there’s nowhere else like our country,” Tinubu said in the statement.
Instead of relying on borrowing, the government of Africa’s top oil producer aims to promote investments in order to finance the creation of jobs and the construction of urgently needed infrastructure, such as railways, roads, and power plants.
With his largest reforms in decades, Tinubu has done away with a well-liked but expensive petrol subsidy and lifted restrictions on foreign exchange trading. With record debt, sluggish growth, unemployment, and double-digit inflation, he has vowed to revitalise the economy.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is considering to join the G20 as the second member of the continent after South Africa and is seeking advice on the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.
Source : Wion News
