The Nigerian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Afreximbank to establish a $3 billion Nigeria industrialisation financing for an industrial park and light manufacturing.
The deal is expected to create 20,000 jobs nationwide across economic, industrial, and agro-processing zones.
Doris Uzoka-Anite, the minister of Trade and Investment, signed the MoU on behalf of Nigeria on the sidelines of the ongoing Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM) 2024 in the Bahamas.Â
The intervention aims to support the development of the automotive sector and the compressed natural gas (CNG) value chain, enabling Nigeria’s automotive and transport industries to thrive.
According to reports, the facility will cover technical and financing support for the diaspora investment fund scheme.
Also, the agreement signifies the partnership between the trade and investment ministry, the Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (Arise IIP), and Afreximbank to resuscitate the cotton, apparel, and textile industries.
Reports also say the Arise IIP is owned by Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Equitane and is designed to finance, build, and operate integrated, tailor-made industrial zones with added value.
The facility will also create about 20 jobs for Nigeria and attract investments valued at over $2 billion.
Afreximbank announced that the facility will span the cotton belt in Nigeria and create many jobs across the textile value chain, bringing back the formerly thriving industry.
Nigeria has been championing alternative energy sources, with the adoption of CNG as an alternative to petrol and other energy sources across the country,
The clamour for alternative and cheaper energy sources has gotten stronger as companies began to build CNG stations across the country.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that the federal government said that every one million cars converted to run on compressed natural gas would save almost $2.5 billion annually.
At the South-South/South-East stakeholders engagement meeting on the Presidential Initiative on CNG, which took place in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Friday, Michael Oluwagbemi, the initiative’s programme director, shared more insights about it.
According to Oluwagbemi, the project had the potential to lessen the inflation that was plaguing the country’s economy.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at TimesNow.com.ng
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
