President Bola Tinubu has called on international development financiers to see Africa as a destination for growth and prosperity.

Speaking at a meeting with a delegation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, led by its Managing Director, Makhtar Diop, President Tinubu urged global financiers to consider more strategic investments in agriculture, infrastructure, research, and development on the continent.

Acknowledging that Nigeria holds the second-largest IFC portfolio in Africa with an active investment portfolio of $2.1 billion as of April 2024, the President highlighted the importance of some critical infrastructure projects embarked upon by his administration, such as the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Expressway.

The leader of the delegation, Mr Diop, had informed the President that during his working visit to Nigeria, the IFC will engaged in productive discussions with Nigerian partners to enhance agriculture, increase food production through irrigation farming, upgrade transport networks, and bolster regional integration.

Expressing IFC’s long-term commitment to growing agribusiness in Nigeria, he announced that IFC has signed a $23.3 million loan agreement with Johnvents Industries Limited, a leading agribusiness for economic development and agricultural transformation, to develop the cocoa sector.

Mr Diop said the Corporation was ready to partner the Nigerian government on new investments in irrigation, road infrastructure, and logistics around the airport under a Public Private Partnership.

He congratulated President Tinubu on his one year in office and commended his bold decisions to revamp Africa’s largest economy.

He pledged IFC’s commitment to long-term investment in Nigeria, adding that its single largest investment in Africa is in Nigeria, where it has invested $1.2 billion in the fertilizer industry.

RN