The African Development Bank (AfDB), the French Development Agency (FDA) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) have pledged to invest $618 million in the Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme (I-DICE) in Nigeria.
The President of the AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina disclosed this at the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum on the sideline of the 77th United Nations General Assembly, New York.
He said, “The programme would support the creation of 225 creative start-ups and 451 digital technologies small and medium-sized enterprises (digital SMEs). It would create 6.1 million jobs and add $6.4 billion to the economy.
“That is the power of international partnerships working for Nigeria. Investors must recognise this and invest. The future is not just digital; the future will be driven by digital revolution.
“Today, Nigeria has five of the seven unicorns in Africa and raised almost $1.4 billion of the total of four billion dollars raised by Fintech companies across Africa in 2021. When you think of financial services digital innovations, think Nigeria, with Flutterwave, OPay, Andela and Interswitch holding the status of unicorn companies, worth at least one billion dollars each.
“This financing will boost food and agribusiness value chains across Nigeria and make Nigeria more competitive,” he said.
“The bank had invested $4.5 billion in Nigeria, adding that the country remained an attractive investment destination.
The bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and IsDB had provided $540 million to develop Special Agro-industrial processing zones to help unlock the agricultural potential in Nigeria.
“The National Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan shows that Nigeria will need total financing of $759 billion to support infrastructure over a 23-year horizon (2020-2043).
“These covers tackling the crippling lack of energy to power the economy, including power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, water and sanitation, and transport infrastructure.”
“Nigeria and other African countries need debt relief. They cannot run up the hill carrying a backpack full of sand,” he said.
The AfDB president also stressed the need for international partnerships to tackle climate change.
Source: NAN
