Falling oil prices: We’ll develop agriculture, other sector- BUHARI

President Muhammadu Buhari on
Tuesday night said that his administration was
fully committed to increasing the productivity of
Nigeria’s agriculture and solid minerals sectors
to save the nation from the harsh effects of
lower crude oil prices.
Speaking at a meeting with leading members of
the Council of Saudi Arabia’s Chambers of
Commerce and Industry, President Buhari said
that with 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.
Inviting Saudi Arabian businessmen to invest in
both sectors, the President said that his
administration will welcome greater foreign
investment in support of its efforts to rapidly
diversify the Nigerian economy.
Buhari, in a statement by the Special Adviser on
Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said that
Nigeria had regrettably depended too much on
crude oil exports to the neglect of other
resources and was now paying a harsh price for
failing to diversify its economy early enough.
He said: “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.
The Chairman of the Council of the Saudi
Arabian Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Dr Abdulrahman Al Zamil said that 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 Dr. Abdulrahman Al Zamil said that the
Saudis were the leading investors in Egypt,
Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

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