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The CEO of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, has refused to invest in Nigeria despite a recent visit by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to the Middle East country.
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President Tinubu’s visit earlier this year was aimed at attracting investment from the emirate in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, which is in dire straits due to a lack of funds.
Africa Intelligence, however, reports that after much consultation, al-Kaabi who is also the emirate’s energy minister is not open to his company investing in Nigeria.
“The company headed by the gas-rich emirate’s energy minister is put off by the business climate in the Niger Delta where Western majors have been scaling down for a decade,” AI said in the report.
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Tinubu was said to have signed landmark agreements with Qatar when he visited the country in March.
The Nigerian President and Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, witnessed the signing of historic agreements between both nations.
The agreements were aimed at opening a gateway for leveraging the potential of cooperation in pivotal sectors of education, enterprise development, investment promotion, youth empowerment, mining, tourism and sports.
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Before the signing at the Qatar Presidential Palace, Tinubu assured his host of Nigeria’s preparedness to welcome investors into the country.
He also pointee to his administration’s ongoing reforms that encourage innovation, returns on investments and multiculturalism.
Assuring the international business community, Tinubu vowed to crush entrenched interests and obstacles to strengthen investor’s confidence.
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He told Qatari investors that Africa’s largest economy and its systems are being reformed and upgraded.
Tinubu urged captains of industries to report any government official, who demands a bribe or any form of inducement at any point in their business endeavours.
Speaking at the Nigeria-Qatar Business and Investment Forum in Doha, he pledged to dismantle all bottlenecks to profitable and legitimate enterprise.
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