President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Speaking at a meeting with leading members of the Council of Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, President Buhari said with the declining revenues from crude oil exports, “Nigeria’s hopes of economic resurgence now lie in the rapid development of its immense agricultural and solid mineral resources.”
A press statement by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, said inviting Saudi Arabian businessmen to invest in both sectors, the Buhari administration would welcome greater foreign investment in support of its efforts to rapidly diversify the Nigerian economy.
“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.
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.
Chairman of the Council of the Saudi Arabian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Abdulrahman Al Zamil, said 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, Abdulrahman Al Zamil said the Saudis were the leading investors in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, and Ethiopia
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