The United Arab Emirates has positioned Nigeria as a major destination for multi-billion-dollar investments spanning agriculture, technology, infrastructure, mining and trade, with the country’s Minister of Investment, Mohamed Alsuwaidi, admitting that Gulf capital is currently underexposed to Africa’s largest economy.
Alsuwaidi said this at the first Investopia Africa event held in Lagos on Monday, where discussions surrounded a wide range of opportunities that could translate into investments running from hundreds of millions to several billions of dollars, depending on sector readiness, regulatory clarity and the availability of credible local partners.
Speaking during a fireside chat with Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, the UAE minister said, “Opportunities around agriculture. The UAE has big interests in companies like Louis-Dreyfus and Unigroup. So, investment in agricultural land is for the export of products. You know, that’s a couple of hundred million, maybe.
“I think investment around infrastructure, whether it’s in public transport, utilities, power, water or wastewater recycling, is crucial. Again, it depends on legislation and opportunities. It could be in the tens of millions if I look at it from that perspective.
“I think in terms of connectivity and trade facilitation, whether it’s through capital or whether it’s through infrastructure like warehousing or others. A few billion there. I’m throwing out the billions here, just quantifying numbers in my head. I think the technology space is huge.
“We talked about smart metering, fibre-optic laying, small data centres, and cloud solutions. Again, in the billions. You can’t build a data centre for less than $100m today. Then mining. Again, huge opportunity.”
