The Afreximbank has drummed up support for the newly launched Investopedia, a digital platform to attract investment and close Nigeria’s infrastructure gap, by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.
Representing Afreximbank at the platform launch, Director, Client Relations (Anglophone West Africa – AWAF), Peter Olowononi, described the development as a roadmap connecting Nigeria’s 36 states to global and African capital, reports Channels TV.
He reaffirmed the Bank’s support for sub-national growth through initiatives like the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET), which has already facilitated over $2 billion in trade and investment deals.
“Development must be decentralised,” he noted.
“It must begin in cities, provinces and regions, and flow outward to shape national and continental progress,” he said.
At the launch of the Forum’s Investopedia in Abuja, the governors said Investopedia was launched because the $2 billion yearly foreign investment inflow was less than 0.5 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
While speaking, the Director-General of the NGF, Abdulateef Shittu, said the infrastructure financing gap in the country was estimated at $100 billion annually, and nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.
According to him, the Forum’s Investopedia represented a new dawn in Nigeria’s investment readiness at the subnational level.
Shittu explained that, “The infrastructure financing gap in Nigeria is estimated at $100bn annually, nearly $1tn over the next decade. At the same time, states collectively budgeted more than 17.5 trillion for capital projects in 2025, reflecting their commitment to transform infrastructure and social services. Yet, financing constraints and fragmented entry points often prevent investors from engaging at scale.”
