T

he Bakrie Group, one of Indonesia’s most widely diversified business groups, plans to invest up to US$1 billion in mining, oil palm and rubber plantations in Nigeria, the government of the West African nation announced.

Nigerian Trade and Investment Minister Olusegun Aganga said in Abuja on Monday that the investments would be made in the southern Akwa Ibom and Ogun states and would expand to six other states within five years.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with 167 million people, aims to create millions of jobs in four years through ensuring “a conducive environment for attracting foreign direct investment into the country,” Aganga said as reported by Bloomberg.

The Nigerian government wants to improve its investment climate and overhaul its domestic
industries.

Nigeria needs to invest $67 billion in the next four years on infrastructure development, Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Nov. 14.

According to the Nigerian trade ministry, good investment opportunities and revenue possibilities had encouraged the Bakrie Group to invest in Nigeria.

Indra Bakrie, a son of Bakrie Group chairman Aburizal “Ical” Bakrie, was optimistic.

“Nigeria is a developing country that is rich in natural resources. Its law and financial systems,
including communications, the transportation sector and its stock exchange are also well developed,” Indra said.

The investment plan was announced less than a month after Forbes magazine reported a sharp drop in Ical’s ranking on its list of Indonesia’s wealthiest people.

Although Ical remained one of the 40 richest businessmen in the country in 2011, the magazine said that Ical’s wealth recorded the most significant decrease.

Ical’s ranking on the list dropped to 30th with a total wealth of $890 million, down from 10th position with $2.1 billion in 2010.

Forbes said that the wealth of Ical, now the chairman of the Golkar Party, dropped sharply because his business group had to sell half of the family’s ownership in the publicly listed mining company Bumi Resources to pay debts.

Meanwhile, PT Bakrie and Brothers, Tbk (BNBR), a part of the Bakrie Group, announced on Tuesday that it cancelled its plan to raise Rp 1 trillion ($110.7 million) this year after receiving a cash injection from PT Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal Tbk.

BNBR said earlier that funds raised from the bond offering would be used to pay its $60 million debt to global financial services group Credit Suisse, which will mature in March 2012. (fem)