25 October 2016, Abuja – The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has assured a Chinese investment company that the agreement between Cina and Nigeria has been presented to President Muhammadu Buhari for action.

He said it had also been tabled before the Federal Executive Council (FEC). He called on the Chinese Company, NORINCO, to fast-track its investment prospects in Nigeria.

Kachikwu is referring to MOU with Nigeria at an Investors Road Show in China in June. According to a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by Mr Idang Alibi, Director of Press and Public Relations to the minister, the NORINCO team was at the minister’s office as a follow-up to the road show.

“He has been given the go-ahead to actualise the memorandum.

“It was on this basis that the minister inaugurated a high-powered inter-ministerial implementation committee to spearhead the actualisation of the terms of the MOU.

“He has requested that NORINCO makes the process of accessing the over five billion dollars investments pledge accessible for the Nigerian government.

“The nation is anxious that this money should be available for use in the 2017 national budget,’’ according to the statement

It further quoted the chairman of NORINCO delegation, Liu Yujiang, as saying “the visit by my team is to concretise the terms of the MOU. “Our areas of interest cover defence, oil and manufacturing among others.

“We promise that NORINCO will fully cooperate with Nigeria and help to develop local companies to contribute to the growth and development of the Nigerian economy.’’

During the show in China, many Chinese companies, including NORINCO, made a pledge of about 80 billion dollars investments to the Nigerian economy, especially in the oil and gas industry.

The MOU covered new investments spanning five years in the oil and gas industry on pipelines, refineries, gas and power, facility refurbishments and upstream financing.

Kachikwu led a powerful team of the top management and key stakeholders of the NNPC to the NNPC-China Investors’ Roadshow 2016 held in China.

The forum commenced on June 26 and was attended by the managing directors of major oil giants in China like Sinopec Group, Sinopec/Addax, Cinda Securities Limited, Jereh Group.

• Vanguard