President Bola Tinubu is using the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, to make an aggressive case for Nigeria as the continent’s premier destination for large-scale investment, according to the Presidency.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, the Presidency framed the Kigali gathering as one of the administration’s most consequential investor engagements, positioning Nigeria at the centre of Africa’s next phase of economic transformation.
Dare said Tinubu’s core message to investors is that Nigeria remains one of the world’s most profitable markets, where businesses that scale effectively can earn returns far above conventional global benchmarks. While many emerging markets target returns of 20 to 25 per cent, he argued that Nigeria has repeatedly outperformed such projections, driven by its population size, expanding consumer demand, and ongoing structural reforms.
He cited the experience of MTN Nigeria, which entered the market in 2001 and has since grown into one of the country’s most valuable listed companies, generating trillions of naira in annual revenue. MultiChoice’s DStv operations in Nigeria were also highlighted as an example of how urbanisation, rising incomes, and demographic scale have turned the country into one of the firm’s strongest commercial bases.
According to the Presidency, these cases illustrate a broader reality: beneath Nigeria’s well-known challenges lies one of the deepest consumer markets in the world and one of Africa’s most entrepreneurial populations. The country, Dare said, offers expanding infrastructure prospects, a fast-growing technology ecosystem, abundant mineral resources, and a youthful workforce capable of powering industrial growth across the continent.
The Africa CEO Forum, which brings together more than 2,000 chief executives, investors, financiers, policymakers, and sovereign wealth managers, is described by the Presidency as a marketplace for capital and ideas, where the policy choices shaping Africa’s competitiveness are debated and refined.
Nigeria’s delegation is using the platform to showcase reforms including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate liberalisation, tax modernisation, infrastructure concessions, power sector restructuring, gas commercialisation, and digital economy initiatives. Dare stressed that these measures are part of a deliberate strategy to restore macroeconomic credibility and attract long-term, patient capital.
He acknowledged that the reforms have created short-term turbulence but insisted that global investors understand such periods often precede the most attractive opportunities in emerging markets. With its strategic location, access to the African Continental Free Trade Area, and accelerating urban growth, Nigeria, he said, intends to anchor Africa’s next wave of industrialisation.
Kigali, in this context, is cast not merely as a diplomatic stop but as a launch pad for Nigeria’s renewed continental investment outreach, with Tinubu personally leading the pitch that reforms are advancing, opportunities are widening, and risks are increasingly manageable.
