President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, expressed confidence to potential investors in the free flow of their funds to and from Nigeria, stating that obstacles causing disruptions are a thing of the past.
Tinubu anchored his assurances on the reforms executed by his administration, especially the termination of petrol subsidies and the harmonization of the exchange rate.
‘Your money will flow easily in and easily out. The arbitrage around our nation’s old foreign exchange policy regime and the corruption that was associated with it is also gone,’ said the President as he opened talks with the Captains of Saudi Arabian industry at the Nigeria-Saudi Investment Roundtable in Riyadh.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Saturday titled ‘President Tinubu to Nigeria-Saudi investment roundtable: All bottlenecks will be crushed and your funds will come in and go out without hindrance.’
He insisted that his team of ministers and aides is actively working to erase any justifications for previous negative perceptions of Nigeria’s business climate, particularly in the aspects of ease, monetary policy, and trade cooperation.
Read also: Your Money Is Safe In Nigeria, Tinubu Tells Saudi Investors
Declaring Nigeria “open for business”, the President said, ‘I believe in this team that I have brought from Nigeria. When I took office, I declared the immediate commencement of bold and fundamental economic reforms.’
‘We have executed them, and we sustain the reform process. Today, I declare that red tape is gone! I believe in the full application of free market economics.’
‘We took on those bold endeavours from day one in preparation for serious investors like you seated here.’
Speaking to the Saudi business community, he emphasized that Nigeria presents a ripe market and abundant human capital, creating favorable conditions for investor success.
In his remarks, Saudi Arabia’s Trade and Investment Minister, Kahlid El-Falih, highlighted the passion and unrehearsed nature of the Nigerian leader’s remarks. El-Falih indicated that, in light of Tinubu’s spontaneous comments, the Saudi investment community would undertake significant new investments across various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
‘The Minister of Commerce and I will be visiting Nigeria either before the end of this year or very early next year with a very large delegation of Saudi CEOs from all key sectors.’
‘We know you are ready for business, so we do not want to come to Nigeria for any exploratory discussion. We are coming for implementation. It is an action visit,’ said El-Falih.