In the Reitersaal with Nigeria's Budget Minister

On 10 October 2025 we stood beneath the glass roof of the Reitersaal at Oesterreichische Kontrollbank. We were guests at an evening for Nigeria's Federal Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu. Some 14,600 panes make up that roof, over what was once the courtyard of Palais Montenuovo. Beneath them stands Anton Dominik Fernkorn's St George fountain.

Vienna and Lagos are our two desks, so an evening about Nigeria and Austria sat squarely on our map. Just over two weeks earlier we had been at the Lagos end of it, running BWT's stand at Big 5 Construct Nigeria. Now the traffic came the other way. Prosper Africa, an Africa-focused consultancy with a hub in Vienna, gave the reception with the commercial law firm AKELA. Its title was "Nigeria & Austria: Building Strong Bonds for the Future".

By the hosts' account, no Nigerian Budget Minister had visited Vienna before. Senator Bagudu came with a delegation from Nigeria's budget and finance ministries for three days of meetings, including talks at the Vienna Stock Exchange. Capital was the point. Abuja has set up ESME Nigeria, a government-owned vehicle for green technology, and the hosts reported plans to place bonds of up to 1.5 billion euros in Vienna.

Minister Bagudu was among the speakers that evening, with Dr Michael Spindelegger, a former Austrian Vice-Chancellor. "Nigeria and Austria can achieve a lot together", the hosts later quoted the minister as saying. The guests came from business, politics and diplomacy. We spoke with Minister Bagudu ourselves.

Water is part of ESME Nigeria's green portfolio, and it sits near the middle of our practice too. Our BWT partnership covers Nigeria, and we design the water systems of estates in Lagos. Bonds raise the money, but water still has to move through pipes, and that part is engineering. It is the part we do.

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