After a two-week absence from the country, President Bola Tinubu returned to Abuja early Wednesday, where he was greeted by top government officials.
Tinubu’s diplomatic journey commenced with an official visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands on April 23, at the invitation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
During his time in the Netherlands, Tinubu held discussions with prominent Dutch officials, including separate meetings with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. Additionally, he participated in the Nigerian-Dutch Business and Investment Forum.
Following his engagements in the Netherlands, the President attended a special World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from April 28 to 29. The forum, themed “Global Collaboration, Growth, and Energy for Development,” convened leaders from various sectors to discuss global development strategies.
However, after the conclusion of the summit on April 29th, the President’s whereabouts remained undisclosed, with the presidency providing no information while speculation arose regarding a potential private visit to Europe following his time in Saudi Arabia.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed Tinubu’s return to the country.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, along with his aides, will return to Nigeria tomorrow from Europe,” Onanuga wrote.
It would be recalled that former Vice President and PDP candidate in the last presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, had descended on Tinubu, whom he accused of globetrotting in search of foreign direct investments.
He also dismissed the presidency’s claims of having secured billions of dollars in investment from various companies, when nothing was allegedly forthcoming.
Atiku had said, “Rather, all manufacturing firms have been posting heavy losses while some are exiting due to his poorly implemented exchange rate unification policy, with even Aliko Dangote describing it as a huge mess at the recent annual general meeting of Dangote Sugar Refinery.
“The IMF in its latest report stated that Nigeria will by the end of the year become the 4th largest economy in Africa behind South Africa, Egypt and Algeria, a disgraceful development for a nation which was the largest in Africa by a mile when the PDP left the stage in 2015.
“Investors are seeing how local businesses are being treated and will not come to a place where their investments will not be protected. In saner climes, businesses such as Landmark would have been given at least two years’ notice in order for effective planning. But Tinubu’s eagerness to satisfy his business partners impaired his ability to coordinate the project properly.”
The presidency, which accused Atiku of distortion of facts to hoodwink the public, had said the Tinubu administration, within its first year, had attracted over $20 billion into the economy, in addition to securing over $14 billion in new investments from Indian business leaders, when Tinubu was in New Delhi, India, for G20 Summit last year.
It claimed that a substantial part of this sum was already in the country.
But Onanuga stated, “In an unmistakable vote of confidence in the economic reforms being executed by the Tinubu administration, foreign investment in Nigeria’s stock market has ballooned, from N18.12 billion in Q1 2023 to N93.37 billion in Q1 2024, an increase of 415 percent.
“The last time Nigeria saw such level of investment was in the first quarter of 2019, when N97.6 billion was invested. The market, since Tinubu came to power, has broken records and created more wealth for the investors.
“During President Tinubu’s recent trip to The Netherlands, the Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, announced a fresh $250 million investment by Dutch businesses in Nigeria.”
Onanuga had asserted on top of claim that different sectors of the economy, notably telecoms, manufacturing, solid minerals, oil and gas, e-commerce, and fintech, had been attracting new Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from discerning investors, who were convinced that Nigeria was a good market for bountiful returns.
Adesuwa Omoruan, Olawale Ajimotokan
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