President Bola Tinubu has said that Nigeria is well-positioned to power the clean energy future of Europe and the world with its high-grade lithium deposits. He made the declaration during a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands at his official residence, known as The Catshuis in The Hague, on Thursday, 25 April. In a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu said Nigeria offers immense opportunities across a pool of sectors and that his administration is deepening reforms to enhance the investment climate.
He said the country seeks robust, balanced, and mutually beneficial partnerships that will bring about value-addition in areas like solid minerals. President Tinubu asserted that Nigerians have tremendous confidence in themselves and that his confidence in the Nigerian people gave him the courage to make difficult decisions on their behalf, given his full awareness of the need to give Nigerians the long-term tools they need to succeed.
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands noted that President Tinubu’s economic reforms have engendered greater confidence in the Nigerian economy by international investors and that Dutch investors have activated another set of $250 million worth of new investments over the next few months, including a $100 million investment in a waste-to-wealth industrial facility in Lagos State. “You are promoting democratic governance and the solutions it can bring in dealing with problems of development. I saw how you went through democratic channels to remove an incumbent president in 2015 in partnership with President Buhari and how that has led to development in your country. I saw you take the courageous decision to deal with fuel subsidies and other reforms, and we are interested in what allowed you to make the decisions that many before you could not take.
And you took those decisions early in your term. It shows rare determination. And your stand in ECOWAS, all these point to your commitment to leadership,” the Prime Minister stated. According to the statement, President Tinubu further expressed his firm commitment to developing the developmental partnership between the European Union (EU) and Nigeria, noting that symbiotic economic ties remain the best long-term path to sustainable and mutual prosperity rather than one-sided relationships in which bilateral trade is skewed too much in one direction.
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