President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Yokohama, Japan rallied the Asian nation to massively invest in Nigeria, assuring that the country has enormous investment opportunities that guarantee the highest returns.
Buhari who advocated increased trade and investment in Nigeria from Japan, also unveiled a new initiative, Japan-Nigeria Business Facilitation Council, which he described as Japan’s fresh initiative to serve as the platform for trade operations between Nigeria and Japan. He insisted that the period of the conference was strategic because it was also taking place at the time the country was not only striving to address both the energy crisis and infrastructure deficit plaguing it but also holding at the time the federal government is promoting private sector-driven economic initiatives meant to enhance good governance, human capital development and business climate reform.
“The TICAD Forum is important to Nigeria in many respects. First, it coincides with the period when the country is faced with a number of challenges that affect our economy. Our government has put in place measures seeking to diversify the economy by developing agriculture, emphasising on manufacturing and addressing the energy and infrastructure deficit. With these, we shall be placing Nigeria on the path of rapid growth and sustainable development.
Attempting to maximise the opportunity of the conference to Nigeria’s advantage, Buhari proceeded to enumerate viable sectors which he said the federal government had identified as the platforms for driving the country’s economic agenda. “Furthermore, our administration has identified important sectors that are key drivers to the diversification of the economy. These include: power, transportation, infrastructure, maritime/shipping, agro-processing, mining, manufacturing, petro-chemicals, food processing and textiles, among others. We consider these sectors as priority areas that will drive our economic agenda.