President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwunmi Adesina has revealed that the bank has invested about $4bn in Nigeria. He made the assertion during a visit to the state house in Abuja on Tuesday, 24th April 2019.
“We have 60 operations in Nigeria for a total of $4.5bn and about $2.8bn of that is in the private sector in the banking industry, financial sector, in particular about $1.7bn in the public sector.
“We have very exciting projects here; one is the transmission of power. Mr President mentioned it to me that power continues to be a problem.
We have invested over $4m in the Transmission Company of Nigeria to continue to improve power transmission.
“We have also invested heavily in the northeast of Nigeria; we have put in almost $258m to support the rehabilitation both in terms of health, education, sanitation and water.
Adesina noted that the bank has also provided skills for persons as a way of reviving areas that have been battered.
He said the AfDB mobilized $38.7bn of investment to Africa during its African Investment Forum out of which about $7.1bn came to Nigeria.
“He (Buhari) expressed appreciation in the work we are doing and his great support for the African Development Bank.
We are in the period of a general capital increase for the bank and with that support, we believe you will see a different Africa completely under this new general capital increase of the bank.
“One of the things that we said was that Nigeria’s contribution under the last general capital increase of the bank was $360 million but we lend to Nigeria $4.5 billion, almost 15.5 per cent. Every dollar that Nigeria gives to the bank, we lend $15 in return, so it is a great investment.
“I assured Mr President that under the new general capital increase of the bank, we are talking to our investors about this, so if we get enough money, hundreds of people will be connected to electricity,” he said.
