President Bola Tinubu has called for German investment in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy such as power and rail transportation.
A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said Mr Tinubu made the call at a meeting with German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, on the sidelines of the G20 Compact with Africa Economic Conference, on Monday in Berlin.
The president said that German investment was needed in critical growth-enabling industries in energy, transportation, and electric power generation, transmission and distribution.
The President said the staggered and unsteady implementation of the Siemens-supported Presidential Power Initiative should take new urgency.
“For me, I am very much committed to pursuing all aspects of the Siemens power project and the skill development opportunities that will emerge from that project for our talented youth who can participate in sustaining the industry,” Mr Tinubu said.
He also said Siemens can play a role in Nigeria’s rail network with the provision of ultra-modern trains and railways as it is doing in Egypt, where it is constructing 2,000 kilometres ultra-high speed rail network across 60 cities.
To this, the German Chancellor expressed readiness, but said there was a need to resolve administrative and financial hurdles brought about by governance problems in the sector.
Mr Tinubu drew the attention of the German leader to the need for the German business community to focus on value-additive processing in Nigeria’s solid minerals, agriculture, automobile and other job-creating areas.
Mr Tinubu later exchanged views with German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, before attending the Compact with Africa summit.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
