Buhari: We're paying harshly for not diversifying economy

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that
Nigeria is currently paying a harsh price for failing
to diversify its economy early enough.
President Buhari stated that the country had
regrettably depended too much on crude oil
exports to the neglect of other resources.
Presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, quoted
Buhari as saying this in Riyadh late Tuesday night
at a meeting with leading members of the Council
of Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of Commerce and
Industry.
The president said his administration would
urgently develop agriculture and solid minerals
sectors to save Nigeria from the harsh effects of
lower crude oil prices.
He reiterated his government's commitment to
increasing the productivity of Nigeria’s agriculture
and solid minerals sectors to save the nation from
the effects of the decline in oil prices.
According to the president, with declining
revenues from crude oil exports, Nigeria’s hopes
of economic resurgence now lie in the rapid
development of her immense agricultural and
solid mineral resources.
The president, who invited Saudi Arabian
businessmen to invest in both sectors, said that
his administration would welcome greater foreign
investment in support of its efforts towards
rapidly diversifying the Nigerian economy.
He stated: “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 presidential spokesman also said the
governors of Osun, Ogun, Katsina, Borno, and
Zamfara States, who were part of Buhari's
delegation, took turns to address the Saudi
Arabian businessmen on investment possibilities
in their states, assuring them of good returns.
He quoted the chairman of the Council of the
Saudi Arabian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, Dr Abdulrahman Al Zamil, as saying that
agriculture was a very important area of
investment for its members already in Brazil, the
United States of America and Sudan "where we
have huge farms."
Al Zamil was also said to have declared that the
Saudis were willing to invest in Nigeria as they
were the leading investors in Egypt, Morocco,
Tunisia, Kenya and Ethiopia.