Nigeria, Others Benefit From AFC’s $9.9bn Investment in Agric, Infrastructure

Nigeria and 34 other African countries have benefited from $9.9 billion in investments from the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) in agriculture and infrastructural development.

According to the organisation, the $9.9 billion investment aims to grow Africa’s agricultural sector by leveraging the continent’s fertile land to feed the world, thereby boosting the revenue base of the African countries, including Nigeria.

Also, it noted that its investment in infrastructure was aimed at controlling the adverse effect of climate change on the continent.

Speaking at the event of the company’s 15th anniversary at the weekend, President and CEO of AFC, Samaila Zubairu, said the company in its 2021 financial report had an impressive performance, driven by high impact investments and its strong credit profile.

“This has been a year of solid progress in our core objectives of building value to Africa’s economies through instrumental infrastructure driving growth and job creation.”

“We have proven over our 15-year history that we can successfully build a track record in infrastructure investment in Africa, and there has never been a better time to do so”.

“Our new identity reinforces our role in working to advance Africa’s instrumental role as a global growth engine. Through impact investing in infrastructure, we are committed to helping the continent position itself for greater success in a world of growing crisis and complexity,” Zubairu said.

On his part, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, said Africa was lucky that AFC was born in Nigeria.

“What Nigeria tried to do is to say that because we are the largest economy in Africa, because we are the largest populated country in Africa, that we, as Nigeria, need to play a leading role in the establishment of a development finance institution that will truly help to finance funding of projects, particularly infrastructure projects in Africa and particularly, in Nigeria.”

Remarking, the Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, who is a former governor of the CBN, said, “AFC was set up to be a game-changer in terms of its catalytic role in moving Africa forward. It is one institution, one major institution, a pan-African institution where the private sector came in, the public sector came in, and purely African capital, in terms of its ownership, we set it up to be, and it was hundred per cent African capital.”

Agro Nigeria