A Dutch firm , Cownexxion , has indicated interest in building cattle ranches in Nigeria .
Mr Klaus Struilesma of Cownexxion disclosed this yesterday when President Muhammadu Buhari met with Chief Executive Officers of Dutch companies on the sidelines of his official visit to The Hague , Netherlands .
According to a statement by the special adviser on media and publicity to the president , Femi Adesina , over 20 CEOs of Dutch - owned companies were at the roundtable meeting .
The federal government is mulling the idea of building cattle ranches in some states as a way of stemming the tide of killings due to the incessant farmers/herders clashes in Nigeria.
The presidential spokesman also noted in the statement that Mr David Suddens of Vlisco said the company would invest on 400 hectares of land for a textile park in Nigeria.
At the meeting , Mr Hein Schumacher of FrieslandCampina also described Nigeria as “a most important country to us ,” adding that the conglomerate would invest about 11 million euros in a “ ready to drink project , using 100% locally sourced milk . ”
He also pledged continuous training for dairy farmers, and provision of fortified milk for school pupils .
Adesina disclosed that Mr Andrew Brown of Shell , which has done business for over 60 years in Nigeria, with over 3 ,000 local employees , said the company would maintain its emphasis on oil and power generation , while Mr Roland Pirmez of Heineken commended the government for “ stability in exchange rate for the past six to eight months. ”
He added that the company was also planning to use renewable energy for its power needs ,
President Buhari assured them of a safe and secure Nigeria , where their investments would be safe , and yield handsome returns .
Adesina quoted Buhari as saying: “ Stability was the first thing in our campaigns . You have to secure a country first, before you can efficiently manage it . Before businesses can thrive , security is paramount .
“ That is why we lay so much emphasis on securing the country . After security , our next emphasis is reviving the economy , and then , fighting corruption” .
He commended the many Dutch - owned companies operating in Nigeria for dealing fairly , noting that with many of them , “ the relationship dates back more than two generations , and it is now almost a blood relationship rather than commercial . ”
Urging the businesses to build factories in Nigeria and source raw materials locally rather than wholesale import , President Buhari said he is impressed with the economic cooperation between Nigeria and Netherlands .
Speaking specifically about Royal Dutch Shell and the harnessing of Nigeria ’s gas potentials , the president said , “We are more of a gas than petroleum producing country . We should be making more money from gas today than we make from petroleum , but the plans we made were scuttled .
“ When I was Petroleum Minister ( in the 1970 s ) for three - and - a - quarter years , the plan we had was to have 12 LNG trains by 1983, but more than a generation later , we are just on the 7 th train . This was because some people came , and did just what they liked. If they knew what they were doing , we would have gone very far by now .
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