Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 16 (IANS) Nigerian Foreign Minister H. Odein Ajumogobia Wednesday asked Indian companies to look closely at investing in his country’s oil, energy and financial services sectors that offer huge potential after deregulattion for foreign investment.

“We have done massive reforms in poor, banking and finance and oil and gas sectors. They are wide open for foreign investment and offer huge opportunities to Indian companies,” Ajumogobia, here on a four-day visit since Tuesday, told a business meet here.

“Our ongoing reforms in petroleum, oil and natural gas sectors will be complete by May, when a law is enacted to revamp the relevant policies,” he told the meeting, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

In financial services, 85 small banks had been consolidated into 25 well-capitalized entities, he said, adding: “The Nigerian economy can grow at double-digits once the power deficit is fixed. Last 10 years, we grew at an average of 7 percent.”

Earlier, during his meetings with India’s Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, New Delhi sought more oil from Nigeria, higher stake for its state-run oil firms in the Nigeria’s hydrocarbon assets and enhanced economic ties.

Reddy told the minister that India’s annual requirement of Nigerian crude oil would be around 18 million tonnes, as opposed to some 13.2 million tonnes of crude oil imports from the country in 2009-10.

“We are also interested in tying up liquefied natural gas from Nigeria immediately as our requirement is projected to go up by 12-15 million tonnes per annum in the near future,” Reddy told the visiting minister.

Reddy also offered technical assistance from India’s state-run oil enterprises to the Nigerian counterparts in areas related to refining, pipelines, marketing and research and development.

Ajumogobia, who met Sharma earlier, indicated that his government was considering to dilute a part of its stake in the state-run natural gas firm and that Gail India was being considered one of the parties.

Officials said Gail India was also interested in petrochemical and city gas projects in Nigeria and was pursuing its participation in the Nigerian gas master plan project, for which a proposal had been submitted to the authorities.

Ajumogobia is also here to attend the 5th session of the India-Nigeria Joint Commission, which he co-chairs with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, amid growing trade, economic and diplomatic ties between the world’s largest and Africa’s biggest democracies.

According to official data, India’s trade with Nigeria grew over 50 percent during the first half of this fiscal, with the two-way merchandise import and export set to cross $12 billion.

Indian investments have also risen in Nigeria, estimated at $5 billion.

Minister Sharma told the visiting minister that in view of the potential for economic engagement between the two countries, they must push for the early conclusion of the proposed bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement.

“The complementarities of Nigerian and Indian economies needs to be harnessed for more extensive bilateral engagement,” Sharma said, adding more Indian companies were keenly pursuing interests in areas such as power and petroleum.

He said there were over 100 Indian companies in Nigeria mainly in telecom, hydrocarbons, textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, plastics, software and auto sectors.

Indian automobile companies have significant presence in Nigeria, he added.