President Bola Tinubu has called on international development financiers to see Africa as a destination for growth and prosperity.
Speaking at a meeting with a delegation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, led by its Managing Director, Makhtar Diop, the Nigerian leader urged global financiers to consider more strategic investments in agriculture, infrastructure, research, and development in the continent.
President Tinubu said the IFC and the World Bank need to see Africa differently, stating that he was glad an African is at the helm of affairs at IFC, and as an African, understands that the potential for growth, peace, stability, and prosperity is here.
Acknowledging that Nigeria holds the second-largest IFC portfolio in Africa with an active investment portfolio of $2.1 billion as of April 2024, President Tinubu highlighted the importance of some critical infrastructure projects embarked upon by his administration, such as the 700km Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto – Badagry Expressway.
Addressing Newsmen shortly after the meeting,
Makhtar Diop informed that he is on a working visit to Nigeria, and had engaged in productive discussions with Nigerian partners to enhance agriculture, increase food production through irrigation farming, upgrade transport networks, and bolster regional integration.
Expressing IFC’s long-term commitment to growing agribusiness in Nigeria, he announced that IFC has signed a $23.3 million loan agreement with Johnvents Industries Limited, a leading agribusiness for economic development and agricultural transformation, to develop the cocoa sector.
He pledged IFC’s commitment to long-term investments in Nigeria, adding that its single largest investment in Africa is in Nigeria, where it has invested $1.2 billion in the fertilizer industry.
(Editor: Ken Eseni)
