According to the Nigerian presidential spokesperson on Wednesday, Nigeria has received offers of about $14 billion from Indian investors and is seeking to sign an economic cooperation agreement with the South Asian country.
Ajuri Ngelale, a spokeswoman, said in a statement that India's Jindal Steel and Power (JNSP.NS) has pledged to invest $3 billion in Nigeria's steel industry, while Indorama Corp. wants to invest an extra $8 billion to develop its petrochemical facilities there.
Jitender Sachdeva, the founder chairman of Skipperseil Ltd., and Bharti Enterprises, an Indian company, have offered $1.6 billion over four years to construct power plants and $700 million in Nigeria, respectively, according to Ngelale.
Separately, Nigeria authorized a $1 billion collaboration deal with the Indian government to support the Nigerian Defense Industries Corporation in achieving 40% local manufacturing and production self-sufficiency in defense equipment manufacture within three years, according to Ngelale.
Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu met with Indian businesspeople as part of the Nigeria-India presidential roundtable and conference to mobilize international funding for infrastructure development. He will attend the G20 meeting in New Delhi later this week as a guest country.
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India, which presently holds the rotating presidency of the group, invited Tinubu to attend. "We are ready to give you the best returns for investment possible, there's nowhere else like our country," the Nigerian president relayed via a statement.
Instead of relying on borrowing, the government of Africa's top oil producer aims to promote investments in order to finance the creation of jobs and the construction of urgently needed infrastructure, such as trains, roads, and power plants.
With his largest changes in decades, Tinubu has done away with a well-liked but expensive gasoline subsidy and lifted restrictions on foreign exchange trading. With record debt, sluggish growth, unemployment, and double-digit inflation, he has vowed to revitalize the economy.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is considering asking to join the G20 as the second member of the continent after South Africa and is seeking advice on the advantages and disadvantages of doing so.