The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has called for strategic partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to shore up investment opportunities in Nigeria.
Abbas made the call while hosting the Saudi Arabia/ Nigeria Parliamentary Friendship Group on Wednesday in Abuja.
Represented by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, Abbas said that both counties had enjoyed more than 25 years of diplomatic ties.
He advocated more collaboration in the areas of trade and investment, tourism, oil and gas, and infrastructure.
“We envision robust collaboration that will go across various sectors. These sectors include trade and investment, tourism, oil and gas.
“We are going to leverage your expertise for mutual benefits. We are tired of crude oil exports; we want to go into refined products and you have established yourself in that space.
“We want strategic partnership along that corridor.
“Infrastructure calls for attention. President Bola Tinubu has visited Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations across the world, inviting investors to come.
“There are specifics to invest in our infrastructure, from railways to standard hospitals, railways that will connect to our economic integration along all economic regions of the country to make marketing of our products easier.
“So, agriculture and agricultural businesses call for partnership between us. Nigeria wants to go more into mechanised farming,” he said.
Abbas said that Nigeria wants to tap into its mineral resources to grow the GDP of the country by additional 3 per cent, saying that there is need for more partners to come into the solid mineral space.
The speaker recalled how the global community united to fight COVID-19, and urged the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to join hands with Nigeria to fight climate change and other challenges in Africa, leveraging on technology.
Abbas assured the delegation of parliamentary support where necessary, saying that the executive had demonstrated readiness to support as well.
Earlier, the acting Chairman of the group and leader of the delegation, Dr Abdullah Alsalamah, had said that the mission was to ultimately seek new ways to strengthen the partnership with Nigeria in areas of mutual benefits.
“We are gathered here today to know what we are going to do in the future, in terms of bilateral relations.
“We look to the country as a strategic partner, Nigeria is very important, its people, its government, its land everything that we are proud of.
“Therefore, we are looking to see this country in more prosperity, economic prosperity. We want to strengthen our strategic partnership; we want to strengthen our economic and political relationship,” he said.
NAN
