Nigeria to Boost Economic Ties with Spain, Targets Europe-Africa Growth

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

Nigeria is intensifying efforts to attract Spanish investment, aiming to reposition its economy as a strategic bridge between Europe and Africa. The push was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, during a high-level engagement with Spain’s leading business confederation, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE).

A statement by the Minister’s Media aide Alkasim Abdulkadir says, the meeting is a deliberate move to reset Nigeria’s the bilateral economic relationship with Spain.

He says the Minister highlighted Nigeria’s reform trajectory, demographic advantage, and continental trade access, while aligning with Spain’s economic and migration policy interests.

Yusuf Tuggar specifically seeks a long-term framework for Nigeria, including productive capital, technology transfer, and value-chain partnerships. Beyond the traditional energy and gas sector, he says Nigeria is shifting from an oil-dependent economy to a stabilized economy driven by diverse non-oil sectors like agriculture and agro-processing, infrastructure, industrial development, business process outsourcing, technology and creative industries.

Tuggar says Nigeria remains Africa’s largest market and a natural gateway to West and Central Africa, noting that investments anchored in the country can access a continental market of over 1.3 billion people under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Minister concludes by assuring the Spanish investors of ongoing reforms to improve the ease of doing business, regulatory transparency and investor protection, while inviting Spanish firms to see the country not as a risk frontier but as a platform of opportunity for sustainable Europe-Africa growth.