The African Development Bank (AfDB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the French Development Agency (FDA) have announced plans to invest $618 million in Nigeria’s Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme (I-DICE) to increase funding for Nigerian creatives.
This was revealed by AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina during the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum at the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The fund will also support 225 creative start-ups and 451 digital technologies small and medium-sized enterprises, or digital SMEs, according to the AfDB.
What they are saying
Adesina disclosed that the enterprises would create 6.1 million jobs and add $6.4 billion worth of economic productivity to Nigeria’s economy.
- “That is the power of international partnerships working for Nigeria. Investors must recognise this and invest. The future is not just digital; the digital revolution will drive the future.
- “Today, Nigeria has five of the seven unicorns in Africa and raised almost 1.4 billion dollars 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,” Adesina said.
The AfDB chief added that the bank had invested 4.5 billion dollars in Nigeria thus far and that the country remained an appealing investment destination. In addition, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the IsDB provided $540 million to develop Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones in Nigeria to help unlock agricultural potential, boost food and agribusiness value chains, and make Nigeria more competitive.
Adesina emphasized the importance of reducing Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit, citing the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, which shows that Nigeria will require 759 billion dollars in total financing to support infrastructure over a 23-year period (2020-2043).
“This covers tackling the crippling lack of energy to power the economy, including power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, water and sanitation, and transport infrastructure,” he said.
