Nigeria welcomes Russian investments and is interested in expanding them, Ben Akabueze, the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, told Sputnik.
“We would like to see, you know, a scaling up in the cooperation with Russia,” Akabueze said on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings in Washington, DC. “We're looking to see investors coming, and Russian investments will be welcome.”
In addition, he said that infrastructure is a major area Nigeria would like to see Russian investment in.
“But, you know, even in oil and gas, I mean, Russia has become a significant player globally in oil and gas. I don't recall that any of the Russian oil companies have any significant investment in that sector,” he said. “Power is another major area. But even in agriculture, Russia is a big player in global agriculture as well.”
Moreover, the West African country would be happy to engage in cryptocurrency payments with Russia to settle trade between the two nations, Akabueze noted.
“Nigeria was the second country globally to launch a digital currency. So it's something that we're quite happy to engage on,” he said. “But we're not trading on digital currency. But digital currency, yes, can be a means for settling the trade.”
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told Sputnik in February that Nigeria supports the Russian plan to exchange payments with African states in digital currencies, as it would promote trade and development for countries in the region.