Just weeks after Egypt secured $35bn from the UAE, Nigeria also sought to strike gold with Qatar, offering the Gulf nation investment opportunities in lithium mining, gas development, sports and tourism.

With a delegation of around 50 people, including members of his cabinet and the organised private sector, President Bola Tinubu had just one message when he visited Doha last month: come and invest in Nigeria.

The president, while pleading with the Gulf nation to invest, asked Qatari authorities to report to him any Nigerian government official demanding a bribe.

“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,” Tinubu told Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, his Qatari counterpart.

The Qatari Emir, however, told Tinubu that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund did not belong to him but to its citizens, and that the country must thus be careful before committing money abroad.

“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,” he said, promising to send a team of officials to Nigeria after Eid al-Fitr for further discussions on investment opportunities.

Nigeria needs Qatar’s expertise

Dele Alake, Nigeria’s solid minerals minister, made a presentation on the country’s huge lithium deposits and Nigeria’s readiness to exploit them in the face of the high demand for lithium. The Nigerian delegation also sought Qatar’s assistance in developing its gas potential, which remains largely untapped.

The discussion culminated in the signing of seven memorandums of understanding, including a cooperation agreement in the field of education; the establishment of a joint business council between the countries; and a cooperation agreement in the youth, sports and tourism sectors.

Failed promises

This is not the first time Nigeria is courting Qatar for investments. Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, visited Doha in 2016 in search of investments. Qatar’s emir reciprocated the gesture when he visited Abuja in 2019.

Buhari seized the opportunity, saying: “We invite you to invest in our refineries, pipelines, power sector, aviation, agriculture, education and many others. Nigeria needs Qatar’s expertise.”

In 2021, then-foreign minister Geoffrey Onyeama said Nigeria was in advanced talks with Qatar to invest $5bn in Nigeria.

However, the discussions did not culminate in any notable investment except for Qatar increasing its humanitarian efforts in the restive Kaduna and Borno states.

“Qatari are in several countries. They are in South Africa and Rwanda but not in Nigeria,” Nigeria’s foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar remarked on the sidelines of the recent visit.

Qatar’s initial response to Tinubu’s visit was somewhat hostile and the proposed meeting between the leaders was almost cancelled.

In a leaked letter signed by Qatari authorities a week before Tinubu’s proposed visit, the Arab country said the planned business and investment forum would not be feasible due to the lack of a legally binding agreement between Qatar and Nigeria to promote investment.

Qatar further stressed that its commerce and industry minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim al-Thani, “will be carrying out official missions outside the country during the visit period” which makes him unavailable to meet with the Nigerian side for business and investment purposes.

However, Nigerian officials hurriedly pulled strings to save the administration from embarrassment and ensured the Qatar visit was not cancelled. Nigeria quickly established a joint business council with Qatar through which investments would flow.

Will Qatar invest?

Egypt, also facing economic challenges, received a huge boost after securing $35bn 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.

However, Qatar is not expected to make a similar investment in Nigeria due to Qatar’s investment style, says economist Majid Dahiru.

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.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has seen foreign investors leave due to insecurity, corruption and challenges relating to foreign exchange. Consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble announced its exit from the country last year, along with pharmaceutical giant GSK, among others.

Nigeria blues

Oil majors have also been divesting and selling their onshore assets largely due to the insecurity in the volatile Niger Delta region. This has forced Nigeria’s foreign direct investments to drop significantly, leading to a forex scarcity that further hampered Nigeria’s currency.

Corruption in Nigeria has also scared away investors, hence Tinubu’s request to the Qataris to report any corrupt official to him. The Nigerian leader also says the forex challenge has been largely solved and thus foreign investors will no longer experience challenges while trying to repatriate their profits.

Will Qatar take the plunge or continue to play the waiting game as it has over the past five years?

Economist Dahiru tells The Africa Report that Qatar will not invest in greenfield investments – setting up a facility from scratch – and does not have an appetite for risk.

Dahiru doubts the Gulf nation will invest in Nigeria.

“If Nigeria had studied Qatar, we wouldn’t have gone there to seek investments in the first place. Qatar does not set up businesses overseas from scratch … They sit in Doha and invest in thriving foreign companies,” says the notable public affairs analyst.

Qatar’s investments in Africa have followed a similar pattern.

• Over the past three years, Qatar 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.

Economist Muda Yusuf tells The Africa Report that Nigeria needs to make the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other critical businesses public so that the likes of Qatar can invest.

“Nigeria needs to look for viable projects with which they can invite Qatar to invest since Qatar does more brownfield investments. Instead of taking loans, Nigeria could do financialisation of NNPC and invite the Qataris to buy a stake,” says Yusuf, who heads the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise.