The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu has said that the roadshow embarked upon by Nigeria to China in order to showcase investment opportunities has the potential to realize up to $75.6 billion.
He said this while briefing journalists after the Federal Executive Council Meeting held yesterday. Of these, he said about $69 billion was to NNPC and government-related potential investments and $6 billion to the private sector.
“I will say that the target we had while going to China was to raise $40 billion, which is the total cost of our infrastructure gap for the oil industry but we had commitments for about $75.6 billion, $69 billion of which were NNPC and government-related potential investments and loans, and the rest directly to the private sector. If we get even 20 per cent of that, that will be a major achievement for us.” ThisDay quotes Kachikwu as saying.
He was however quick to explain that this figure was just potential and actual investments may not ireach those levels. In fact, he said 20% would be an achievement.
The good news though is that about $3-4 billion worth of facility lines are currently available with the only delay belong settlement of the investment packages between the respective parties involved. This process, Kachikwu said, may take up to one year to materialize.
“We have a one-year period to work on these, and we expect that some will come earlier. But there are some facility lines that are almost readily available close to about $3 or $4 billion, but the investment packages will take us time.”
