Riyadh FII Summit: Nigeria, U.S. discuss infrastructure financing

President Muhammadu Buhari says the Nigerian government is willing to mobilise additional capital from development finance institutions to upgrade critical infrastructure in the country.

His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

He said the president met with U.S Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, in Riyadh on Wednesday and they had positive discussions on investments in Nigeria under the new United States International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC), which provides $60 billion for investments in developing nations.

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Speaking at the meeting held on the margins of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum, President Buhari said Nigeria would leverage on the U.S facility to address current challenges confronting its power sector as well as general upgrade of infrastructure.

The president thanked the U.S government for supporting Nigeria’s anti-terrorism efforts.

President Buhari and Mr Mnuchin also discussed areas of strengthening Nigeria’s ongoing collaboration with the U. S. on stopping terrorist financing.

Mr Mnuchin was accompanied by Brent Macintosh, Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and Marshall Billingslea, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing in the United States Treasury Department.

The Treasury Secretary used the occasion to introduce Mr Macintosh who was recently promoted Under Secretary for International Affairs by President Trump after the previous Under Secretary David Malpass was elected President of the World Bank.

The Nigerian leader congratulated Mr Macintosh on his elevation and requested for his continued support to Nigeria especially in accessing the 60 billion dollars infrastructure fund under the USIDFC.