AFDB, Others Invest $618 Million in Nigeria’s Digital Programme

African Development Bank (AFDB), French Development Agency (FDA), and The Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) have invested the sum of $618 Million in Nigeria’s Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme.

President of the African Development Bank (AFDB), Mr. Akinwumni Adesina while speaking at Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum held in New York, disclosed that investment in the program would help in the establishment of 451 digital technology SMEs and 225 creative start-ups.

Adding that the enterprises would create 6.1 million jobs and add $6.4 billion to the Nigerian economy.

He said, “That is the power of international partnerships working for Nigeria. Investors must recognize 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.”

Mr. Akinwunmi further stated that $540 million have been provided by the International Fund for Agricultural Development and ISDB to develop Special Agro-industrial processing zones to help unlock Nigeria’s agricultural potential.

Noting that the funds will boost food production and agribusiness value chains across Nigeria and make Nigeria more competitive.

He also called for increased international partnerships in Nigeria, adding that the bank had invested $44 billion in infrastructure in Africa over the past six years.

Furthermore, Mr. Adesina disclosed that the growth in Nigeria would depend on its ability to fix its infrastructure deficits.

His words, “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.”