Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has attributed some laudable achievements of the bank to its formidable partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID), an affiliate of the UK responsible for administering overseas aid.
Speaking at the UK-Africa Investment Summit, tagged “Sustainable Infrastructure Forum”, the former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture commended the DFID for its strong support towards Africa.
He said, “The DFID is a key strategic partner of the African Development Bank (AfDB.org) . Since joining the African Development Bank in 1983, the DFID has been a lead supporter of the African Development Bank. It’s strong and consistent support for the African Development Fund has helped us to support the development of low-income states, especially the fragile states.
And just think of the impact that our work has had on infrastructure alone in the past four years. The African Development Bank, through its operations, has helped to connect 18 million people to electricity, 101 million people with access to improved transport and 60 million people with access to improved water and sanitation.
Without any doubt, DFID and the UK government’s investment in the African Development Bank pays off and delivers huge impacts in Africa.”
Urging investors to consider the bright prospects in Africa, he explained,
“There’s much talk about the infrastructure financing gap. But we should now be framing this differently as the infrastructure demand opportunity for financing.
And the opportunities are many: from railways to ports, airports, water, sanitation, ICT and energy. That’s a $68-108 billion annual investment opportunity.
Investors tapped early into information and communications technology infrastructure in Africa. Those investments became game changers for Africa.
Just under two decades ago, Africa had fewer telephones than Manhattan in New York. Today Africa has over 440 million cell phone subscribers. Returns on digital infrastructure are very high as the continent expands broadband infrastructure to boost connectivity and improve services.
commenting further on the opportunities available in the energy sector, he added:
“Take the case of energy. Unmet demand is for some 600 million people for electricity. Huge opportunities exist for investments in renewable energy, especially for hydropower, wind, solar, thermal and geothermal.
But many of these opportunities can’t be realized unless we invest a lot more in project preparation to make projects bankable. The African Development Bank through its NEPAD infrastructure project preparation facility has helped to mobilize financing for $8.5 billion of infrastructure projects. That’s a leverage ratio of 1:525.”
