Nigeria can leverage on stronger ties with Russia to drive FDI—Heritage Bank
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, has drawn the attention of the Federal Government on the advantages inherent in deepening partnership with the Russian Federation.
Speaking at the just concluded meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in Moscow, Russia, he said Nigeria can break the jinks of infrastructural backwardness if it can by leveraging the massive technological ingenuity of the Russian nationals and corporate citizens.
He said building stronger ties with Russia will grow international private sector partnerships with Russians in needed sectors like infrastructural development, aviation, technology, solar, hydropower energy, and mining.
Sekibo in an interview said “If we carefully listen to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, he said the Russian investment in Africa had increased over the years to almost $20 billion in 2018. This clearly shows Africa and Nigeria especially, need to key into these investments and get the best out of them”.
“What we are seeing in Russia today is a testimony that they are giants in several areas of development, and Nigeria has a lot to learn and gain from them. Today, Nigeria suffers from huge infrastructure deficit, and a lot could be achieved from other countries of the world including Russia.
Heritage Bank boss argued that “Russia is advanced in technology and in mining and I feel such cooperation with them will help Nigeria harness its mineral resources. We have huge mineral resources deposit in a lot of states in Nigeria and we can tap from the wealth of experience of Russia either in training of geologists or mining practices.”
Business Hilights recalls that Russia remains one of the leading global investors in iron and steel and may partner with indigenous stakeholders to revive several ailing iron and steel mining sites across the nation’s Middle belt region.
