The International Finance Corporation says it would send a mission to Nigeria to explore scalable investment structures that could unlock private capital.
Managing Director of the Corporation, Diop Makhtar, announced this in Kigali, Rwanda, during a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on the sidelines of the just concluded 13th Africa CEO Summit.
Makhtar, who led an IFC delegation that included Regional Vice President, Africa, EthiopisTafara, and Director, Central Africa and Nigeria, IFC, Dahlia Khalifa, said IFC is interested in discussing modalities for collaboration with Nigeria in energy, housing, and livestock production.
He lauded President Tinubu for the bold reforms initiated by his administration, especially the removal of the fuel subsidy and the harmonisation of the nation’s exchange rate.
Makhtar described Nigeria’s reform process as courageous and transformative, sending a strong signal to international investors about the country’s commitment to difficult but necessary reforms.
He said local currency facilities and banking partnerships, including structures involving Nigerian financial institutions such as Access Bank, could strengthen efforts towards interstate financial integration, ease trade, and enhance business across the continent.
Makhtar said African leaders faced common development challenges and must collectively drive what he described as “African Renaissance” built around strong African institutions and regional economic champions.
At the meeting, President Tinubu reaffirmed Nigeria’s openness to harnessing private capital for institutional development.
He stated that it has become imperative for African pension funds to evolve into strategic development finance instruments capable of supporting major infrastructure and productive-sector investments.
President Tinubu also said African leaders, as well as the private sector, must focus on mobilising African institutional capital to finance infrastructure, energy transition, and long-term economic transformation across the continent.
He said this is fundamental to the realisation of the continental effort to upscale development across the continent and lift it out of its present socio-economic challenges.
He said the continent must also focus on decentralising energy systems and transmission infrastructure to attract private-sector investment, including strengthening regional interconnectivity and transmission lines as part of Africa’s long-term industrialisation agenda.
“If you want Africa to leapfrog, then energy transmission and decentralisation are important. The funding gap is there, and we must work together,” the President said.
A State House statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President, Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the meeting discussed mechanisms for using institutional investors, local currency financing structures, and swap arrangements to deepen infrastructure funding.
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