79th UNGA: Nigeria secures US Chamber Of Commerce’s $320m for mortgage financing, SMEs, others
The United States Chamber of Commerce has on Monday in New York committed the sum of $320 million to support President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s commitment towards mortgage refinancing and women’s empowerment.
This was announced at a US-Nigeria Executive Business Roundtable hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, Nisha Biswal, of the American International Development Finance Corporation with a portfolio of $1 billion, that it was investing $200 million in mortgage refinancing in Nigeria.
The sum of $100 million has also been earmarked for FCMB to finance SMEs in Nigeria, with particular interest in women empowerment. The US Chamber of Commerce also announced that $20 million has been approved for a firm, Robust International, for processing of cashew nuts in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who is leading the federal government delegation and representing President Tinubu at this year’s UNGA, met with other members of Nigeria’s delegation to strategize on Nigeria’s engagements in New York.
Biswal said the American Chamber remained committed to working with Nigerians in the development and pursuit of sustainable economic policies.
The Vice President, while appreciating the gesture of the group, reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to investor-friendly policies.
He says, “I urge you to give Nigeria the benefit of the doubt. The current administration led by President Bola Tinubu is the most investor-friendly administration in the history of Nigeria. When fuel subsidy was an albatross around Nigeria’s neck, President Tinubu, from day one, hit the ground running by withdrawing the fuel subsidy and unifying the multiple opaque foreign exchange markets.”
Earlier the same Monday, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, led other members to brief the Vice President on the activities and itinerary lined up for him in New York, saying the Shettima is expected to deliver President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s national statement at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly.
The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, is also expected to meet with the Secretary General of the UN. Aside from other heads of state lined up to meet with the Vice President, there are also scheduled meetings with the heads of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, the President of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director General of the International Atomic Agency, and multinational companies, among others.
Also on the itinerary of the Vice President is a meeting with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and a host of other international partners.
Top Nigerian officials present at the meeting included the Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani; Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye; Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji; Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate; and Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite.
Others are Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Alake; Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Kunle Salako; Minister of Defense, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed, among many others.
