Agriculture
Nigeria Strikes Multi-Billion Dollar Deal With Invest India To Boost Agriculture, Infrastructure
In a significant development, Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, has entered into a multi-billion-dollar agreement with an Indian investment agency, Invest India, to bolster infrastructure projects encompassing power, rail systems, warehousing, and ports.
The CEO of Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria Limited (InfraCorp), a government-backed infrastructure entity, Lazarus Angbazo, disclosed this during an interview in India, Bloomberg reports.
BrandNewsDay reports that this strategic partnership, inked on September 6, is anticipated to play a pivotal role in Nigeria’s quest to industrialize its agriculture and manufacturing sectors, ultimately reducing its reliance on imports.
Angbazo stated: “We are looking at increasing the productivity of our agricultural sector by industrializing it. Agriculture represents about 40% of Nigeria’s economy. If we want to have the biggest impact, that’s where we’re going to have to start.”
This is the latest in a string of deals between the two nations as Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people, seeks to plug an infrastructure deficit and stimulate economic growth. To do this, it needs at least $3 trillion over 30 years, the InfraCorp CEO explained.
Nigeria Multi-Billion Dollar Deal With Invest India
“We’ve got a gap of about $125 billion annually and we’re probably spending somewhere in the neighbourhood of about $10 billion a year,” he said.
Although specific financial details of the deal were not disclosed, Angbazo clarified that the partnership aims to expand Nigeria’s ports to enhance its container processing capacity, an essential move for a country of Nigeria’s size. He pointed out.
“For a country of our size, we should have a container processing capacity of about 50 million containers. We’re doing four, so you can see the gap.”
InfraCorp is a government-backed infrastructure investment vehicle jointly owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority.
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The agency’s primary focus is on transport and logistics, with an initial potential investment of up to N163 billion ($212 million).
During President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent visit to India, Nigeria secured substantial investments, amounting to nearly $14 billion, during the Nigeria-India Presidential Roundtable and Conference in New Delhi, India.
Notably, Indorama Petrochemical Limited committed an impressive $8 billion for the expansion of its fertilizer production and petrochemical facility in Eleme, Rivers State.
Additionally, Jindal Steel and Power Limited, a prominent private steel producer in India, pledged a substantial $3 billion investment in Nigeria, following productive discussions with President Tinubu.
