NIGERIAN DIASPORA ACCOUNT

NIGERIA expects $3 billion (R40.74bn) in investment funding from citizens living mainly in the US to support the agriculture, power, mining and transportation sectors, a senior presidential adviser said. The government will support “a diaspora investment fund,” Abike Dabiri-Erewa, President Muhammadu Buhari’s adviser on diaspora affairs, said in an interview in Abuja, the capital. “They’re planning a $3bn investment in Nigeria. The fund will be driven by Nigerians in America.” Nigeria is seeking investments to diversify its economy away from oil, which currently accounts for about two-thirds of government revenue and more than 90 percent of foreign income. A sharp drop in crude prices in 2014 and foreigncurrency shortages that followed led Nigeria into its first economic contraction in a quarter century in 2016. The government’s focus is primarily on non-oil investments, with mining and agriculture among the top priorities, Dabiri said. She did not say when the fund would be set up. Buhari, who was voted into office in 2015, is seeking another four-year term in the February 16 presidential election. | Bloomberg