TICAD7: Japanese Bank, Toyota Group announce plan to invest in Nigeria

Two Japanese companies, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and Toyota Tsusho, Friday in Yokohama, Japan, told President Muhammadu Buhari that they were prepared to invest in different sectors of Nigeria.

The companies made the disclosures when President Muhammadu Buhari held respective investment talks with their top officials at the margins of the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), which ended Friday.

According to a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, while the bank said it was interested in investing in oil and gas as well as infrastructure, Toyota Tsusho on the other hand, said it would invest in energy, healthcare and automobiles.

Adesina said the Toyota group also stated that it would be prepared to register its presence all over Nigeria and build an advanced medical diagnostics centre that would put paid to foreign medical trips in search of cutting edge medical diagnosis.

According to the statement, while officials of the bank were led to the meeting by its Deputy Governor, Nobumitsu Hayashi, Toyota Tsusho, on the other hand, which he described as a part of the Toyota conglomerate, was led by the President/Chief Executive Officer of the group, Ichiro Kashitani.

The statement explained that the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, expressed its preparedness to support projects involving Japanese companies in Nigeria adding that Buhari welcomed the bank, informing the team that the country had introduced the ease of doing business platform for the purpose of removing bureaucratic bottlenecks.

Furthermore, Adesina said Buhari urged Toyota Tsusho to consider setting up a car assembly plant, assuring that Nigeria had the capacity to accommodate the group’s investment for positive returns.