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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has praised President Bola Tinubu as the “chief marketer” for Nigeria, spotlighting transformative reforms that are drawing investor interest in power, mining and ports at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
Oyedele described Tinubu’s bilateral engagements as “very exciting”, focusing on mobilising investments.
“You know one very exciting thing about Mr President is that he is never tired of marketing Nigeria; he is the chief marketer for the country, and so we had several discussions mostly focusing on economic opportunities. How can we mobilise more investment, particularly in the area of power? And we also had interesting discussions around mining as well as opportunities to even support private sectors’ more businesses,” he said.
He highlighted pledges in port development, solid minerals mining and private enterprises, crediting Nigeria’s improved storytelling.
“By telling the story that is credible and you are not just saying what we can do, Mr President has the credentials to demonstrate all he has done and his commitment to demonstrate even more compelling going forward,” Oyedele added.
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On Tinubu’s meeting with Guinea’s President, Mamady Doumbouya, the minister likened it to a “big brother and younger brother” dynamic, applauding Guinea’s loyalty to ECOWAS amid past pressures.
“Mr President commended the President of Guinea for not withdrawing from ECOWAS… I think there is also a lot the two countries can do together in the area of development, some of which is iron ore and partnership. We are stronger together,” he noted. Both leaders left “very happy with the engagement”.
Oyedele positioned Nigeria as Africa’s example amid forum talks on scale, speed and institutions.
“From the AFRICA CEO Meeting, Nigeria has done a lot of very transformative reforms… still the largest economy by scale/skills/opportunities/population, seeing that we have done it. It wasn’t meant to be easy, but it was necessary, and now we are on that track towards winning,” he stated.
The forum stressed execution over rhetoric, tackling finance for value addition, labour-intensive growth in agriculture, manufacturing and tech to lift Africans from poverty.
“The leaders in the room recognised that the time for rhetoric is over and it is now time for execution,” Oyedele said, expressing excitement to serve “not just for our country but for our continent.”
