Between the end of February and the beginning of March 2024, President Bola Tinubu was billed to embark on a trade and investment trip to Qatar, but lo and behold hell was let loose as some naysayers opined that the trip would no longer hold as the Qatari emirate/government had declined the invitation.
This negative narrative was gaining traction in the media space until the federal government debunked the storyline, and reassured Nigerians that the President was still on his way to the Middle East country.
The government was ultimately proved right as President Tinubu, along with his team visited Qatar on a two-day visit and met with the highest authority in the country, Emir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He also had an audience with some senior members of the Qatar government, with all the meetings targeted at stimulating foreign direct investments to Nigeria.
Regardless of the hullabaloo in the media about the trip, it has turned out to be fruitful and beneficial to the country. In multiple bilateral agreements signed by both countries, they are expected to serve as a gateway for promoting cooperation in different areas, such as education, enterprise development, investment promotion, youth empowerment, mining, tourism and sports. In concrete terms, agreements were also signed by Nigeria and Qatar in the areas of education and regulation of employment of workers.
Furthermore, both countries signed an agreement to establish a Joint Business Council (JBC) between the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA). This is apart from the one in the field of youth and sports.
The bottom line of the president’s visit to Qatar is that it offered a vista of opportunities for citizens of both countries in several areas, and these include tourism, business events, and a memorandum of understanding in combating illicit drug trade and psychotropic substances.
In our quest for growth and development, the role of foreign direct investors is a necessity, and President Tinubu has used the opportunity of the Qatar visit to announce the readiness of Nigeria to welcome foreign investors.
Also, his tendency to use such visits to promote the vitality of Nigerian youths, as well as the strength they possess in driving the growth of the country is quite encouraging. He sees them as self-reliant, energetic and confident in themselves. Surely this recognition will motivate the foreign investors to troop to Nigeria in the hope that the workforce is already in place.
The trip which had a retinue of cabinet members covering the relevant sectors can be described as a showpiece of several business and investment opportunities in Nigeria.
Having set the ball rolling, I believe that the Qatari business community will in no distant time begin to tap into the vast investment potential in Nigeria. With such a move, the President has also demonstrated in clear terms that he is the chief marketer of Nigeria to the world. Again the doubts that were raised before the trip have been dispelled and the cynics have swallowed their words.
Let me state here that with the numerous transformative policies enunciated and being implemented by the Tinubu administration, foreign investors will soon choose Nigeria as their destination, and the economy will once again witness a boost.
It is therefore imperative that the citizens keep hope alive, and give the federal government the requisite support to enable it to succeed, while the cynics should exercise restraint in projecting their country in bad light to the outside world.
Chukwudi Enekwechi is an Abuja-based public affairs analyst
