“There is nowhere in the world where you will find a return on investment at the level of what you will see in Nigeria. A massive market of over 200 million skilled Nigerians, always industrious and ready to work,” Bola Tinubu, the president of Africa’s most populous country, told Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, his Qatari counterpart last month when he led a 50-member strong delegation to the oil-Arabian country on an investment-fishing tour.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is at almost $500 billion and Nigeria is enticing the Gulf nation with her lithium and gas resources. The country is also dangling her sports and tourism industry before Qatar.
The Qatari Emir, in response to the investment opportunities dangled before them by the Nigerian president, promised to send a team of officials to Nigeria after Eid al-Fitr for further discussions. He said: “The investments we have made around the world have been very fruitful. This is because we take our time and study opportunities before we invest the common wealth of our people. It is not my money. The money we invest belongs to the future generations of Qatar”, The Africa Report reported.
Following the visit, the two countries signed seven agreements which are cooperation agreement in the field of education; regulation of employment of workers with the Government of Qatar; establishment of a joint business council between the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture; in addition to a cooperation agreement in the field of youths and sports.
Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, made similar forays by visiting Doha in 2016 in search of investments. There was a reciprocal visit by the Qatari emir in 2019. During Buhari’s trip, he told the Qatari authorities: “We invite you to invest in our refineries, pipelines, power sector, aviation, agriculture, education and many others. Nigeria needs Qatar’s expertise.”
Qatar already has investments in Africa. Over the past three years, it has invested in Rwanda by buying a 60% stake in a $1.3bn international airport. It also purchased a 49% stake in RwandAir. The Gulf nation made a similar investment in South Africa in March. Qatar’s national oil company along with TotalEnergies announced plans to buy a stake in a licence to seek oil and gas off South Africa as part of their plans to develop the Orange basin area in neighbouring Namibia. Egypt, also facing economic challenges, recently received $35bn worth of investments from the UAE to develop a prime stretch of its Mediterranean coast. The deal with one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investment funds is for the development of the Ras El Hekma peninsula and could eventually attract as much as $150bn in investment, according to Egypt.
The Qatar Investment Authority has a massive portfolio invested in thriving businesses, mainly in the West. The small Gulf country of fewer than three million people is notable for purchasing French football club Paris Saint-Germain in 2011. It also bought Harrods department store in London, formerly owned by Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Qatar, through its investment authority, owns stakes in other notable companies across Europe including Siemens, Volkswagen, Valentino, Sainsbury’s, Porsche, Barclays Bank, Credit Suisse, Heathrow Airport, Glencore, Miramax, Total, Canary Wharf Group and Royal Dutch Shell, among scores of other firms.
Why Africa? Africa has vast natural resources – copper, cobalt, oil, gas, gold, bauxite, lithium, manganese, timber, graphite, and several more. Africa accounts for 70% of the global reserves of platinum, 52% of cobalt and 48% of manganese. The Democratic Republic of Congo alone accounts for 70% of global supplies of cobalt. However, China accounts for a high percentage of refining of the strategic minerals: cobalt (73%), nickel (68%), lithium (59%) and copper (40%). Also, Africa has the largest sources of solar resource potential in the world, as the globe transitions to renewables. The renewable energy revolution will depend on these critical metals for the manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels, battery energy storage systems and electric vehicles. There will be so much money to make, as the size of the electric vehicles market is estimated to rise from $7 trillion currently to $57 trillion by 2050, with projections showing a 500% increase in demand for cobalt, graphite and lithium in the next two years. The continent has huge untapped investment potential. It is home to over 1.4 billion people. That is a huge market to ignore. And Africa seems to be where the action is at now. The US, Europe, China and Russia are all scrambling for a foothold on the continent, so, why not an oil giant like Qatar? Africa is in dire need of development and Qatar has the wealth to make that happen. The kingdom is less likely to meet anti-Qatari sentiments and political animosity toward it as pertains in the US and Europe.
