The Shell Group is preparing to invest $15bn in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday.

The president disclosed this at the Commonwealth Business Forum at Guildhall, London, where he also canvassed for a healthier business relationship among Commonwealth nations.

“Before I came here (Commonwealth Business Forum), the Shell group came and saw me; they are preparing to invest $15bn in Nigeria. They came and broke the news to me,” the president said.

Earlier in a keynote address, the president said the Commonwealth nations “must avoid trade wars and work collectively to preserve the global trading order”.

In a statement by his spokesman Mr Femi Adesina, the president also challenged the member states to support regional integration.

The Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) with the subject “Making Business Easier between Commonwealth Countries” was part of events at this year’s Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting (CHOGM).

Buhari said member-countries must also support regional initiatives and domestic structural reforms that focus on the priorities of individual countries.

He identified trade and investment facilitation to generate resources for sustainable development; ease of doing business and regional integration that expands markets with safeguards against injurious trade practices from third parties; more inclusive growth with the empowerment of women and the youth as factors that are capable of making business among Commonwealth countries easier.

President Buhari called on the Commonwealth Business Forum and prospective investors in the Nigerian economy, to participate in the 2018 UK/Nigeria Trade and Investment Forum” at the London Stock Exchange. (Daily Trust)