By Jennifer Y Omiloli
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja Monday to attend the third edition of the Future Investment Initiative sponsored by the Saudi Public Investment Fund in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to a statement posted on a presidential aide’s Instagram handle, Buhari Sallau, the program’s theme is,‘‘What’s Next for Global Business?’’
The announcement confirmed that the conference will concentrate on three main pillars: Sustainable Future, Technology for Good and Advanced Society, which runs from Tuesday, October 29 to Thursday, October 31.
“The three-day event will be held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, deputy premier, chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and PIF.
“Given the increased investor confidence in Nigeria’s economy, President Buhari will use the occasion to speak about the economic opportunities that abound in Nigeria, the effectiveness of his administration’s policies to improve the business environment, and invite investors to the country.
“It is noteworthy that the total value of capital inflow into Nigeria increased from $12bn in the first half-year of 2018 to US$14 billion for the same period in 2019.
“The Nigerian delegation will leverage on the resources in Saudi’s PIF, which aims at becoming one of the largest and most impactful sovereign wealth funds in the world, to seek foreign investments in critical projects in the country’s oil and gas sector, particularly the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas Pipeline – the 614 km-long natural gas pipeline currently being developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
“Nigerian officials will see also take advantage of the summit to accelerate discussions on the planned interest of the Saudi oil company, Aramco, to revamp Nigeria’s refineries and new investments in the oil and gas sector.” the release noted.
