FACT CHECK: Has The Saudi Gov Agreed To Invest In Nigeria’s Refineries, Support CBN’s Reforms?

VERDICT: FALSE & MISLEADING

PLOT: The Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) had on 10th November 2023 reported via X (formerly Twitter) that Bola Ahmed Tinubu had secured investment from the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after meeting with the crown prince of the oil-rich Gulf state, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on 10th November 2023.

First of all, it is important to note that Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t meet exclusively with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as portrayed by NTA, but rather with other African Heads-of-States who attended the ‘Saudi-Africa Summit’ organised by the kingdom to foster investment opportunities between the continent and the oil-rich kingdom.

As verified from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s official press, Saudi Gazette, no explicit agreement was or has been reached between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia for investment in Nigeria’s refineries or the CBN, as per NTA’s report.

Further investigation reveals that the blueprint laid out for the project encompasses Africa as a continent without particularly specifying what projects and financing go to which member countries in the African Union (AU).

CONCLUSION: While this arrangement seems to offer a lot of promise for Africa as a continent, the $1bn project is only in its initiative stage and has not been fine-tuned to cater for specifics, thus no tacit agreement has been reached for any specific project in Nigeria. We can exclusively report that this claim by NTA is FALSE & MISLEADING.

Eighteen-Eleven Media