President Muhammadu Buhari on
Saturday departed Makkah for United Kingdom after he successfully performed the
Lesser Hajj.
Buhari will be in London for a
private visit and will return to Nigeria on Nov. 17
According to his Spokesman, Garba
Shehu, who highlighted the takeaways from the President’s visit in an article
forwarded on Sunday, Buhari expressed a strong determination to
use agriculture and ICT as vehicles to attain the target of lifting 100 million
Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years.
Shehu Garba’s article said,
“President Muhammadu Buhari’s four-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
came to an end on Saturday. The President participated in the Future Investment
Initiative, which was christened “Davos in the Desert”. Apart from attending
the summit, which had a debating format for global leaders, investors and
innovators to compare notes and share ideas, President Buhari held extensive
talks with the Kingdom’s rulers, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his son, the
powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS. The Presidents meetings with
the two prominent rulers marked an important upswing in relations between
Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“As part of his engagements at
the FII, President Buhari joined Presidents Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger
Republic and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya in a plenary session to discuss the topic:
‘‘What’s Next for Africa? How will Investment and Trade Transform the Continent
into the Next Great Economic Success Story?’’.
In his arguments, President
Buhari said the vigorous implementation of key reforms by his administration in
oil and gas, farming and agriculture as well as the country’s vast human
resources, made mostly of “young men, women and able-bodied persons” and the
country’s rich land and mineral resources eminently positions her for
substantial capital inflows. He said the economy holds great promise of win-win
for investors.
“On the sidelines of the conference,
President Buhari held strategic meetings with the leadership of Saudi Oil and
Gas group, the country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and Public Investment Fund, PIF.
On the directive of the King, who had a meeting with the Nigerian leader to
discuss friendly and strategic relations between both countries, the world’s
largest oil operating company, ARAMCO came to ask the President and his team a
simple question: “What can we do for you?’’
“In response, President Buhari
requested ARAMCO to visit Nigeria and carry out a diagnostic assessment of the
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) refineries, pipelines and other
infrastructure. He wanted ARAMCO to deploy its technical expertise “to improve
the efficiency of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.”
The company’s Chairman, Yassir
Al-Rumayyan, who doubles as the head of the PIF, expressed the company’s
determination to promote business investment through the use of modern
technology across the energy sector in Nigeria. For those who know, the head of
the Saudi PIF has the capacity to invest five billion dollars in a country
within a month.
Buhari instructed the Minister of
State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylver, Minister of Industry, Trade and
Investment, Niyi Adebayo and GMD of NNPC, Mele Kyari to work with the Saudi
Arabian investment company to expedite action on modalities for collaboration
and actualization of the aspirations of the leaders.
“Another meeting of great
significance, which was almost missed due to scheduling difficulties, but
eventually took place because of strong interest on both sides was between the
United States team to the FII and President Buhari. The American Treasury
Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who was accompanied by Brent Macintosh, Under
Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and Marshall Billingslea,
Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing in the United States Treasury
Department, were on their way to the airport but they had explored an
opportunity to meet with President Buhari no matter how short. They turned back
to meet with the President when a space was found in his schedule, albeit late
evening.
“Buhari also hosted the U S team,
with the Minister of State, Petroleum and GMD of NNPC.
“Mnuchin briefed President Buhari
on ongoing efforts to return looted funds including the USD 300million (N108
billion) traced to former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha. The Treasury
Secretary also raised possibility of the U S investing in Nigeria under the new
United States International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC), which
provides $60 billion for investments in developing nations.
“Whether this is a response to
the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, as argued by some critics matters less to
President Buhari. For him, anyone who has money and shows a willingness to help
Nigeria overcome her infrastructure deficit is welcome. The President told the
Americans that Nigeria will leverage on the U.S facility to address current
challenges confronting her power sector as well as general upgrade of
infrastructure. President Buhari thanked the U.S government for supporting
Nigeria’s anti-terrorism efforts.
“For the Nigerian President and
his delegation, the game changer in all of the engagements was the iconic
meeting with the Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed Ibn Salman who, in a special
gesture and company of two others, entered the President’s suite in Ritz
Carton. The Prince had offered to visit the President, instead of receiving
him.
“He had the same question as
ARAMCO, “Your Excellency, what can we do to assist Nigeria?’’ Prince Mohammed
Ibn Salman said Nigeria was already destined to be one of the top 20 economies
of the world. “Saudi Arabia is eager to support Nigeria and we want to be a
part of Nigeria’s journey to the top 20 economies of the world,’’ he added.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
which had last month announced its interest to invest USD 100 billion in India,
revealed that it had so far invested 40 billion dollars in India, 10 billion
dollars in Pakistan and 20 billion dollars in Indonesia. According to Prince
Mohammed Ibn Salman: “We are willing to do the same in Nigeria, given the
favourable business environment.” President Buhari gave an instant and firm
commitment for the partnership.
“Both leaders reviewed the
historically strong and friendly relations between the two countries and looked
at ways through which it can be formalized. President Buhari and Prince
Mohammed Ibn Salman, also known as MBS, agreed to set up a joint Saudi-Nigeria
Strategic Council. This Council will be made up of government officials and
businessmen from both countries and the areas of focus are: economic growth and
development, investments in oil and non-oil sectors, and security cooperation.
The Saudi-Nigeria Strategic Council will hold meetings twice every year. The
leaders of both nations will meet at least once a year to examine progress made
on decisions reached by the joint council, and take decisions on strategically
important issues.
“President Buhari and Prince
Mohammed Ibn Salman instructed that the first assignment for the council, which
is to be in place within two months, will be to establish a legal and
operational framework that will facilitate investments. They also discussed regional
and international developments, and in particular issues in oil and gas, and
challenges of international terrorism. On oil and OPEC, Prince Mohammed Ibn
Salman requested that Nigeria should stay within the quota in production.
“ Buhari and the Crown Prince
shared the view that with the collapse of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the next
frontier for terrorism is the Sahel region, with both leaders agreeing that the
problem had grown beyond the region, and needed global leaders to come together
and deal with it. Prince Mohammed Ibn Salman said he was ready to lead a global
awareness campaign on the issue.
“At the end of the meeting, the
Crown Prince, who needed to be fully assured of the commitment from Nigeria
asked another question: “Should we tell the public?’’ To which President Buhari
answered, “Yes!.
“Members of the Nigerian
delegation, made up of the Governors of Borno, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum,
Katsina, Aminu Bello Masari and Kebbi State, Atiku Abubakar Bagudu and
Ministers of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Alli Pantami, Minister of
State, Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama
and Minister of Industry, Trade And Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo engaged
business leaders with varied interests and pulled off, in many instances,
potentially important deals.
“Adebayo’s engagement with
various Investment Funds including Asma Capital funded by Saudi Pension Fund,
Saudi Investment Agency as well as Sultan of Brunei and Kingdom of Bahrain are
among prospective and noteworthy ones.
“Buhari’s trip has ushered in a
new age of strategic cooperation between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, pushing
relations to an upward trajectory that promotes cooperation in investment,
trade, security and Intelligence and counter terrorism.”
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