Buhari to investors: Look beyond challenges for opportunities in Africa

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on investors to look beyond the challenges currently facing the world and focus on opportunities. 

The president made this call Thursday in Madrid when he addressed the Spain-Nigeria Business Meeting organised by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment during his state visit to Spain.

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Buhari told the gathering of Spanish and Nigerian corporations and investors to look towards Africa for the opportunities therein.

“Increased collaboration with African nations could well be what Europe needs to mitigate against both current and potential future supply-chain challenges and improve both our economic opportunities,” he said.

The president, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, added that the business meeting provided a good opportunity to advance trade relations between the two nations which are today principally dominated by the oil and gas sector.

At another meeting with two Spanish companies doing business in Nigeria, the president assured of protection for local farmers against smuggling and dumping of foreign products.

Buhari, in a statement issued by Adesina, also assured of a safe, secure, and prosperous country at a meeting with executives of GB Foods, which grows tomatoes in Kebbi State, and employs about 5,000 people.

He said, “Detractors are working very hard against our efforts. That was why we closed our borders for so long, and the result is evident. We want to grow what we eat, and eat what we grow. Thank you for your huge investment in our country, the jobs you create, and the skills imparted to our people.” 

Chairman of GB Foods, Artur Carulla, described the company as a family business now in its third generation in Africa, and which has invested over $250 billion in countries like Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana and Senegal.