Nigeria is the strongest and most profitable economy in Africa, Kachikwu tells investors

By Teslim Olawore [caption id="attachment_53569" align="alignleft" width="1000"] Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu[/caption] The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Emmanuel Kachikwu declared that Nigeria has the most profitable and strongest economy in Africa. He also said Nigeria is the most profitable investment destination in the world. He said this in Atlanta at ‘The Nigerian Oil and Gas Core Strategic Investors’ meeting, aimed at presenting the various investment opportunities in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry to the United States investors. The minister said Nigeria looked to the Diasporas of Africa to see where they could form permanent partnership that would invest in very critical areas in the country, where they could break even in three years. Kachikwu said: “Infrastructure is key, the oil sector alone has infrastructure deficit of over 30 billion dollars to get us to where we should be. “We need to be able to supply gas sufficiently to power the entire country, and if we succeed in doing that over the next 10 year-period, we would have a very booming economy. “Nigeria still has the strongest economy in Africa but we could double that, we could become quite frankly what America is to the entire American diasporas for Africa”. The minister invited investors to come and invest in Nigeria, assuring that their investments are protected and safe. “So I invite you to a country that has its challenges but has huge opportunities probably the only country in the world where the average returns on investment is in excess of 25 per cent a year." “It is now time quite frankly for a lot of us who sit here as investors, as players, to begin to look to the country of the future – Nigeria.” He said since 2016, Nigeria started major policies called the ‘7 Big Wins’ focusing on gas, infrastructure growth, and trying to refine the country’s petroleum products locally. The minister said Africa could not continue to be a continent dependent on aid, but that Africa had got to create trade, opportunities and mixes that would help the region stand on its feet. Executive Directors of the ministry and heads of its subsidiaries also added to what the minister said on the investment opportunities and attractiveness in the Nigerian oil and gas sector awaiting investors.