• Kagame slams Trump’s minerals coercion
• APM Terminals commits $600m to Nigeria

President Bola Tinubu has projected that Nigeria will attract close to $20 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2026, driven by transparency, efficiency, and openness.
 
This came as his investment drive received a major boost yesterday, with global port operator APM Terminals pledging a fresh $600 million investment in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
 
Tinubu said during the Africa CEO Forum ongoing in Kigali: “This year alone, I can beat my chest that Nigeria is attracting close to $20 billion in foreign direct investment.”
 
The president said he had put in place the incentives necessary to attract investment into Nigeria and removed bottlenecks that discouraged investors.
 
Tinubu’s projection comes two months after he approved a production tax credit to fast-track Shell’s $20 billion Final Investment Decision (FID) in the deepwater project.
 
Tinubu also suggested that African countries develop an exchange-trading platform to enable the 54 countries on the continent to trade their resources among themselves.
  
“Look around the entire continent of 54 countries. There’s none of us without a particular commodity. Why not start an exchange commodity platform, where we can trade with one another?” he said.
 
Speaking on Nigeria’s survival amid the Middle East conflict, Tinubu said if Dangote refinery had not been established, the country would not have survived due to its over 200 million population.
 
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said Tinubu was aggressively marketing Nigeria to global investors and positioning the country as a leading destination for investment across critical sectors of the economy.
 
On the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, the minister said Tinubu’s engagements at the forum focused largely on mobilising investments into Nigeria, particularly in the power, mining and infrastructure sectors.
 
Meanwhile, Rwandan President Paul Kagame opened the largest private-sector gathering in Africa with a sharp critique of how the United States and other global powers interact with the continent.
 
Addressing an audience of 2,800 global business leaders and government officials at this year’s Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Kagame framed the geopolitical landscape as one where Africa is “rich in everything except leverage”, specifically slamming the extractive nature of foreign engagement.
 
Kagame also expressed praise for African countries – including Zambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe – that rejected bilateral health deals with the United States over access to private health data and African minerals rights.
REGIONAL President, APM Terminals Africa-Europe, Igor van den Essen, disclosed the $600 million commitment during a meeting with Tinubu on the sidelines of the ongoing Africa CEO Forum in Kigali.
 
Van den Essen said the proposed investment would support the modernisation of the Apapa port, expand logistics infrastructure, and strengthen long-term private sector participation in Nigeria’s maritime industry.
 
Tinubu welcomed the commitment, noting that Nigeria was repositioning itself for greater competitiveness through ongoing economic reforms and infrastructure renewal.
 
Earlier, van den Essen had commended Tinubu’s reform agenda and policy direction, which he said boosted investor confidence and created fresh momentum for long-term infrastructure investments.

He described Nigeria as a strategic hub within APM Terminals’ African operations, citing over two decades of collaboration and substantial existing investments in the country’s port ecosystem.
 
He reaffirmed the company’s commitment to expanding its footprint in Nigeria through the development of world-class terminal infrastructure and technology-driven port operations.
 
In a separate meeting with executives of Winme Group, Tinubu called for deeper investment partnerships to unlock opportunities in logistics, mining, shipping, and integrated infrastructure development.