Turkey seeks energy investments in Nigeria

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkish investors may develop refinery and energy infrastructure projects in Nigeria, while also calling for a boost to security cooperation, during a joint press conference with his Nigerian counterpart.

“Inefficiencies in Nigeria’s refinery capacity have led fuel and electricity shortages. We can develop joint projects in this area, in which Turkey has a rich know-how,” Erdoğan said in Ankara on Oct. 19, adding that he and Muhammadu Buhari talked about how to improve energy cooperation at a closed meeting earlier that day.

Erdoğan also called for Turkish businesspeople to develop refinery and energy infrastructure building projects in Nigeria.

“There are a lot of potentialities in terms of investment. Already a lot is being done in the education and the health sectors,” Buhari said.

“This will be strengthened and Nigeria is prepared to receive Turkish business people to come and explore more of Nigeria’s potentialities,” he added.

Erdoğan also said Turkey saw no difference between the Boko Haram, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have orchestrated the deadly coup attempt of July 15, 2016.

“These organizations are the killers who feed off the blood of the innocent,” he said.

Asked how Turkey could help Nigeria defeat Boko Haram, Erdoğan replied that intelligence cooperation was of the utmost importance.