Nigeria and the United States are exploring options to leverage on President Barack Obama’s
$14billion investment pledge in Africa for an effective financing structure for infrastructure in Nigeria.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, and the US Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker, agreed during a bilateral meeting at the just-concluded US-Africa Summit, that increased investment in infrastructure would further improve the Nigerian business environment, adding that Obama’s focus on power was particularly encouraging.
While both countries agreed to work on the financial structure for infrastructure within the next few weeks, Pritzer noted that US companies were eager to do business in Nigeria due to the ongoing reforms in critical sectors, adding that they could also leverage on the US export assistance facilities in existence around the country.
Aganga, who spoke to reporters in Washington DC, during the Summit, said, besides the investment commitments and The Memorandum of Understandings that were signed during the summit, most investors agreed that Nigeria has the most robust, clear and friendly policies on power, which other African countries should try to emulate.
He said, “This means we already have an enabling environment that will encourage more investors to come and invest in the sector. In fact, what these investors were saying was that many of our sectoral policies, which we have put in place already have encouraged them to come and invest in Nigeria.
