Abuja: President Bola Tinubu called on African countries to take collective action and strengthen regional cooperation to actualize transformative development on the continent.
Tinubu, represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, made the call while declaring open the Fourth Annual Meeting of Africa Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF), hosted by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
He said that the shrewd use of sovereign wealth funds was crucial in the ongoing efforts to close the infrastructure gap, build climate change resilience, and create job opportunities for the continent’s growing youth population.
The president said that the forum’s meeting, with the theme: “Leveraging African Sovereign Wealth Funds to Mobilise Global Capital for Transformative Development in Africa,” was timely.
According to him, the meeting is held when the world is witnessing rapid transformation and is pressured to think outside the box.
Tinubu said it was time to position the continent to seize the opportunities rooted in the wave of global change.
He urged African nations to take a cue from evolving sovereign wealth funds worldwide, which had moved beyond serving as mere fiscal buffers to becoming architects of national transformation.
“Our future lies not in working in silos but in pursuing regional cooperation and collective ambition.
“Our sovereign wealth funds must become the anchors for pan-African investment platforms that de-risk projects, standardize processes and deliver sustainable outcomes at scale. This is not just a strategy. This is a necessity,” he stated.
The president acknowledged that Africa is currently facing a development dilemma. It contends with limited fiscal space amid growing expectations and demands for long-term capital to fuel inclusive and sustainable growth.
He, however, identified creativity as a solution to the puzzle.
“There can be no greater inspiration to reimagine how we invest in setting up critical infrastructure, strengthening our climate resilience, promoting food security through agricultural innovation, supporting micro, small and medium enterprises or embracing digital economy to create jobs and expand opportunity.
“None of these is possible without catalytic institutions that combine strategic foresight with sound financial discipline.
“This is why the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority stands as a steward of our sovereign capital and a vehicle for delivering strategic infrastructure.
“It is a catalyst in our national quest to redeem renewable energy, healthcare, agriculture, etc. It is also a hub for pioneering innovative capital mobilization solutions tailored to the realities of our continent,” he said.
Tinubu noted that ASIF had the pan-African apparatus to harness the collective strength of the continent’s sovereign investment institutions, just as he maintained that the time to act was now.
“We must act now to close the infrastructure gap, build resilience to climate change and create jobs for our expanding youth population.
“This is precisely why platforms like the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum are not just relevant but essential.
“ASIF offers a pan-African mechanism to harness the collective strength of our sovereign investment institutions.
“It gives us the power to share knowledge, co-invest across borders and speak with a unified voice in the global financial ecosystem.
“Through this kind of collaboration, we will attract the scale of capital required to unlock Africa’s latent potential,” he stated.
The Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the meeting would focus on how African sovereign wealth funds could achieve three things through effective domestic, continental and global partnerships.
The first one, Umar-Sadiq said, was how Africa could offer the right balance between the risk-takers and the conservative investors managing wealth for future generations in Africa.
“Secondly, how we can collectively co-create a sustainable investment vehicle that can mobilize global capital at scale to channel towards propositions that offer as much emphasis on commercial returns.
“Thirdly, how we can position ourselves as the preferred financial and strategic partners of choice, with the right blend of domestic influence and capital for global investors seeking market exposure in our respective sovereigns,” he said.
The managing director said ASIF hoped the forum would catalyze turning the ‘perfect blend of expertise’ into actionable, transformative outcomes.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, listed the stakeholders’ priorities at the forum.
Edun said the priorities included capital mobilization at scale, regional and intercontinental collaboration, human capital, and policy alignment, which were critical for transformative development across the continent.
He said the ASIF meeting would birth significant transactions that could mobilize the required resources, drive economic transformation across Africa, forge impactful partnerships and build a sustainable future.
Prof. Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank, emphasized the need for stakeholders to keep African sovereign wealth funds on the continent by investing in domestic markets.
Oramah noted that the forum could help reshape Africa’s development financing to give the continent greater opportunity to determine its developmental trajectory.
Also, Mr Obaid Amrane, Chairman of the African Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF), expressed the forum’s commitment to facilitating sovereign investors’ participation in Africa’s transformation.
He said that in just three years, ASIF had made significant strides in enhancing Africa’s global positioning and closing the infrastructure funding gaps across the continent.
A Pan-African activist, Prof. P.L.O. Lumumba, called on leaders across Africa to leverage the continent’s huge resources to invest in the future of unborn generations.
According to him, political and economic leaders on the continent have an intergenerational duty to care for unborn generations.
Lumumba noted that Africa’s resources were inexhaustible and that leaders must invest in the future of the generations to come.
