By BASHIR ADEFAKA with agencies
Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has promised to revamp Nigeria’s existing refineries within three years through its state-owned oil company, Aramco.
It also promised to support the reforms being implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Saudi government made these pledges during a bilateral engagement between President Bola Tinubu and Saudi Arabia’s leader, Crown Prince, HRH Mohammed Bin Salman, according to a statement issued on Friday by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris.
The minister said the Saudi Crown Prince commended the recent reforms by the CBN and also promised to support Nigeria in other areas.
He said: “To support the Central Bank’s ongoing reforms of Nigeria’s foreign exchange regime, the Saudi Government will make available a substantial deposit of foreign exchange to boost Nigeria’s forex liquidity.”
“Prince Bin Salman commended the economic reforms being implemented by President Tinubu and expressed the commitment of the Saudi Government to supporting these reforms and enabling Nigeria to reap the full benefits. According to him, Saudi Arabia is very eager to see Nigeria thrive under President Bola Tinubu, and realize its full potential as the economic giant of Africa.”
He added: “In addition to these, Prince bin Salman also highlighted Agriculture and Renewable Energy as areas of investment interest for Saudi Arabia, in Nigeria, to help the country attain food and energy security, respectively.”
“The Crown Prince hinted that the refinery investments in Nigeria will be led by the Saudi state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, with the revamp to be completed within a two- to three-year timeframe.”
The DEFENDER reports that Saudi Arabia, a newly admitted member of the BRICS countries, is involved with the current dedollarisation process by Russia and China which is about 97 percent comolet3d.
