Buhari heads for Riyadh today
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja today for Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to attend the third edition of the Future Investment Initiative under the theme “What’s Next for Global Business?”
The event, organised by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, which holds from October 29 to 31, will focus on three key pillars: Sustainable Future, Technology for Good and Advanced Society.
The event will be held under the patronage of the custodian of the two holy mosques, King Salman bin
Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, deputy premier, chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and PIF.
Buhari will be accompanied by Governors Babagana Zulum of Borno State, Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State and Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State.
Also on the entourage are the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; the Minister of Communications, Ibrahim Pantami; the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency,Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar and the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kolo Kyari.
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in a statement,said the total value of capital inflow into Nigeria increased from $12bn in the first half-year of 2018 to $14bn for the same period in 2019.
The Nigerian delegation, it added, will leverage on the resources in Saudi’s PIF, which aims at becoming one of the largest and most impactful sovereign wealth funds in the world, to seek foreign investments in critical projects in the country’s oil and gas sector, particularly the AjaokutaKaduna-Kano gas Pipeline - the 614 km-long natural gas pipeline currently being developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
After the investors’ conference in Riyadh, President Buhari will proceed to Makkah, accompanied by close personal aides, to perform the umrah (lesser hajj) before returning to Abuja.