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Tag: AfDB

  • AfDB okays $12b for energy

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed $12 billion to its New Deal on Energy for Africa programme.

    Sub-Saharan Africa  has 14 per cent of the world’s population and accounts for four per cent of global energy investment. Analysts at the bank note that several countries, including Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana and Kenya, are on track to reaching universal electricity access by 2030.

    Public, private and civil society stakeholders, including government agencies, development partners and investors in the energy sector in a workshop at the weekend, discussed the technical, commercial, regulatory and financial issues in Africa’s fast-growing energy market.

    The inaugural edition of the Africa Energy Market Place (AEMP) brought together more than 300 participants and featured case studies from five countries – Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zambia.

    Representatives from each country delivered presentations on the accomplishments, investment opportunities, challenges, and the long-term outlook for their  energy industries.

    AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, underscored the dire situation of Africa’s energy environment. “Africa has a lot of energy potential but potential doesn’t create anything … We cannot continue to accept Africa being referred to as the ‘dark continent’. We need to act speedily to accelerate our plans to light up and power Africa,” Adesina said.

    Participants at the AEMP had insightful and thought-provoking discussions in country-focused workgroup sessions, looking at identifying quick wins in sustainable financing models, commercial and investment prospects, energy access and efficiency and regulatory reforms.

    Discussions also focused on governance, risk management, beyond-the-grid and renewable energy solutions, training and capacity building.

    The AEMP is an industry-wide, collaborative platform convened by the African Development Bank to address barriers to mobilizing and scaling-up private investment into the energy sector by bringing together key stakeholders in the continent’s energy sector. Specifically, it seeks to address Africa’s dismal energy and electricity production and consumption, which currently stands at 150kWh/capita.

    Declaring the event open, Jacques Chevalier, the Director of Cabinet of Côte d’Ivoire’s Petrol and Renewable Energy Development Ministry observed that energy plays a critical role in Africa’s economic transformation, particularly in improving the living conditions of Africans. “Côte d’Ivoire is fully committed to total electrification of the country and we welcome the foresight and vision of the African Development Bank, especially with respect to the Bank’s Light Up and Power Africa initiative,” Chevalier said.

    The issues discussed during the AEMP are based on the latest research by the Bank and on inputs received from governments, according to Amadou Hott, African Development Bank’s Vice President in charge of Power, Energy, Climate and Green Energy complex. The next AEMP meeting to review the progression of projects and investment opportunities in the sector will be on the sidelines of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) scheduled in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2018.

     

  • AfDB donates to returning Yobe IDPs

    About 4,662 returnee Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Yobe State have benefited from the livelihood support of the African Development Bank (AfDB)-Assisted Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme.

    The 4,662 beneficiaries are drawn from 57 communities of Gujba, Gulani, Geidam and Yunusari Local Government Areas.

    The IDPs will get 95,000 juvenile fish; animal tractions; dignity kits for women; rams; goats; chicken; improved seeds; insecticides and improved cooking stoves.

    At the distribution last Friday, Commissioner for Water Resources Surajo Wakil said the programme is aimed at achieving food security and to create wealth for women and youths.

    Wakil stressed that the goal the AfDB Programme was not only to increase access to clean water and sanitation, but improve the economic life of the people in the designated communities.

    He said: “N800 million has been committed to procure and distribute the items. Of the 4,662 beneficiaries, 3,000 are women, considering their sacrifice and vital role to their families and society.

    “Upon returning to their ancestral communities, they need livelihood support for healthy and productive life.”

    Wakil announced that the programme earlier distributed fertilizers, herbicides and improved seeds of Sorghum, millet and sesame to 200 households.

    He hailed Governor Ibrahim Gaidam for investing in water, sanitation and other livelihood support to rural communities, and warned the beneficiaries against selling the items but use them maximally to improve their lives.

    The Programme Manager, AfDB- RWSSP, Musa Chalimno, said the gesture is a counter- terrorism measure to cushion the people’s suffering.

    Musa hinted that a contract worth N1.8 billion has been approved for the digging of 409 boreholes in hard-to-reach areas of the four affected councils.

    He said: “The 409 boreholes comprise 258 hand pumped boreholes and 151 motorised boreholes, costing N1.8 billion. The boreholes would be built in schools, markets, VIP latrines and other public places. The completion period for the hand pumps is six months while the motorised borehole is nine months.”

  • AfDB shops for $1.2tr to bridge investment gap

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) will embark on a roadshow in Abuja next week, to mobilise key stakeholders towards putting together a pipeline of bankable projects ahead of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF).

    Through the Africa Investment Forum, the AfDB, and its partners will screen and enhance bankable projects, attract co-investors, and facilitate transactions to close Africa’s investment gaps, estimated at $200 billion to $1.2 trillion a year.

    The infrastructure financing needs alone, according to AfDB, “are estimated at between $130billion and $170 billion a year.  Today, total commitments stand at just $63 billion in 2016. This represents a financing gap of approximately $67billion to $107 billion a year, in just infrastructure.”

    Nigeria’s National Infrastructure Master Plan (NIMP) 2014-2044 estimates that the country needs about $3 trillion over the next 30 years to bridge its infrastructure financing gap.

    The AfDB noted that “it is clear that traditional fund providers at different levels of government do not have the required resources. External funding sources are therefore inevitable over the long-term.”

    The roadshow is in line with its continued efforts to support Nigeria and other African countries to accelerate the development of infrastructure.

    AIF is Africa’s own investment marketplace for accelerated economic transformation – is scheduled for November 7-9 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    Working with multilateral institutions, the private sector, and governments, the AfDB said it is helping Nigeria and other African countries to develop investment-ready projects for investors, fund managers and others managing substantial assets.

    The Abuja roadshow will include a briefing session, interaction with key industry players, and presentations from Nigeria’s senior Presidency and Finance Ministry officials on the country’s development priorities and project pipeline that could benefit from the AIF partnership.

  • AfDB ranks fourth in 2018 index

    The 2018 Aid Transparency Index Report (ATI), has ranked African Development Bank (AfDB) 4th among 45 development organisations that share transparent and open data on project impact, result and evaluation.

    A statement signed by AfDB Chief Communication Officer, Mr Chawki Chahedi on Wednesday in Abuja, said the 2018 ATI report had lifted the bank by six positions since 2016.

    According to Chahedi, ATI has been the only independent organisation measuring transparency in the world’s major development and humanitarian agencies.

    “The improved ranking reflects the bank’s operational capabilities, the efficacy of its systems and processes, including a strict adherence quality reporting, disclosure of its programmes, projects, aid and financial interventions.”

    He said that it was a laid down procedure that organisations provide information on the objectives of their operations.

    “But only four Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) like the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and AfDB publish details of their pre-project impact appraisals, evaluations and review documents and results.”

    The statement also quoted AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina as saying “proactive stakeholders relations and governance anchored on transparency are critical and at the heart of the impact-driven work that makes the AfDB Africa’s leading DFIs”.

    “The latest ranking on the global aid transparency index reflects the bank’s alignment to its strategic priorities and unwavering commitment to Africa’s development and transparency agenda.”

    The Bank said a signatory to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) since April 2011, the bank had recently launched a new projects portal, publishing data according to IATI’s international standards on transparency.

    It said the aim was to make information about its development spending easier to access, use and understand.

    The bank said open data supporters had endorsed the index, adopted by the United Nations, African Union, European Union, the United States government and other international and regional bodies.

  • AfDB: low productivity at heart of rural poverty in Nigeria, others

    The low productivity encountered for maize, sorghum and other key staples and the high consumer prices paid for food are at the heart of rural poverty in Nigeria and other Africaan countries, the African Development Bank (AfDB)  said at the weekend.

    Speaking at a stakeholders meeting aimed at creating a plan for agricultural transformation in Africa, through the adoption of regional and home-grown technologies that are enhanced by strategic partnerships of agriculture multi-stakeholders and experts, its Director, Agriculture and Agro-Industry, Dr. Martin Fregene, expressed satisfaction partnering the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

    He said: “At the heart of rural poverty in Nigeria and Africa, and at the heart of the high consumer prices we pay for food is a low productivity that you encounter for maize, sorghum and other key staples. Feed Africa, the bank’s initiative has its biggest pillar – improving productivity. We are very happy to be working with NIRSAL because they help to facilitate finance to all the actors in the value chain. NIRSAL also has proven experience. Many do not realise that when the government reach 15 million farmers with seeds and fertilizers, under the growth enhancement support programme, NIRSAL financed all the seed and fertilizer companies in that programme. We look forward to reducing prices for consumers and also increasing income for our farmers in rural areas.

    “We are happy to be working with NIRSAL on the Feed Africa and Technologies for African Transformation (TAAT) Programme and we look forward to reducing prices for consumers and increasing incomes for smallholder farmers in rural areas of Nigeria.”

    NIRSAL has offered to support the Anchor Borrower Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Aliyu Abdulhameed, said the success of the initiative was overwhelming.

    He said: “ABP is a massively successful programme of the Federal Government but even if you have sufficient yield, the yield itself is another factor because while the government can provide NIRSAL all the financing required, it is one thing to make the farmer raise his yield from half a ton of 800kilos to between four and five tons that is required.

    “We know that we have sufficient resource and opportunities in Africa, and Nigeria in particular. We have land resource, water resource, we have market opportunities, but the technologies required to leapfrog our yield from subsistence level to what can be commercially viable and can create surplus for the communities and the market, and in order to substitute for import is what is needed.

    “Any yield improvement by smallholder farmers means generation of revenue; generation of revenue means the capacity for us to be able to enable them to get financing, because financing can only come when you can demonstrate sufficient revenue. Sufficient revenue is tied to yield; yield is tied to science, technology and innovation – that is what the TAAT programme of the African Development Bank (AfDB) represents.”

    Addressing the challenge of the preponderance of fake and adulterated fertilizers, Aliyu said from NIRSAL’s point of view, the problem will be the fertilizer industry itself; it is not the question of manufacture of supply.

    “It is the downstream supply chain that is unstructured that is not controlled and regulated. The farmer is there at one end of the chain, the manufacturer or importer is on the other end of the chain. What happens between the farmers and the manufacturers, the logistics system has to be controlled, quality control parameters have to be applied even during goods in transit.

    “When we consolidate this partnership with International Institute of Transforming African Agriculture (IITA) and AfDB using the TAAT veritable tools to ensure that farmers under the ABP, immediately increase their yields from the average of what they have now to almost double or triple what they produce typically in the country,” Aliyu said.

    With this, I believe that the GDP (gross domestic product) of Nigeria will increase by the sheer volume of the produce that farmers will produce with this effort,” she said.

    He said AfDB has developed a programme called the in order to see how African agriculture production can leapfrog in order to meet the requirements of the 21st century rapid population growth, and the fact that Africa imports up to $35 billion of food commodities from around the world.

     

     

    The meeting was aimed at creating a plan for agricultural transformation in Africa, through the adoption of regional and home-grown technologies that are enhanced by strategic partnerships of agriculture multi-stakeholders and experts.

    Abdulhameed said NIRSAL found in the AfDB and TAAT systems a one-stop shop that can give us the capacity and the technology that is required to be applied on the ground to support primary production of almost all the key commodities that are required in Nigeria and leapfrog the technology gap overnight and we believe in NIRSAL, being a risk-taking company, it is important for us to support any technology that improves yield.

    “The good thing about what we do in NIRSAL is that we bring all the ecosystem parties together around fertilizer – from the farmers, to the transporters, to the goods insurance transit insurance companies, to manufacturers around the table, because we create financing for them. We are then able to impose rules that say nobody should tamper with the bags of fertilizers, nobody should adulterate that fertilizer, and we are going to enable the farmers to be able to know whether the stitches on those bags have been tampered with. Don’t forget that we enable finance, so, we have leverage control behaviour right along that chain,” he said.

    According to the Kenton Dashiell of Technology for African Agriculture (IITA), “IITA has been based in Nigeria for fifty years. We are the leader and coordinator for all the institutes that are bringing their skills and expertise on the various crops and animal value chains that are going to transform agriculture here in Nigeria.”

    The meeting was an outcome of the recently concluded 4th Cassava Conference and Meeting of TAAT Compact Leaders in the Republic of Benin. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to invest $120 million over the next three years to boost productivity and transform nine commodities in Africa which include cassava, rice, maize, sorghum/millet, wheat, livestock, aquaculture, high iron beans and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. The transformation of these nine commodities will be achieved through TAAT, a key platform for driving the Feed Africa strategy of the AfDB.

     

  • AfDB promises to support Aregbesola’s administration complete projects

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has promised to support the Rauf Aregbesola administration complete some of its projects.

    Top officials of the AfDB at a meeting with Governor Aregbesola at the Government House in Osogbo, the state capital mentioned the MKO Abiola International Airport among the projects.

    The AfDB team led by its Country Director Mr. Ebrima Faal, said he and his entourage were in the state on a one-day exploratory mission to support the state’s developmental agenda.

    Faals, whose team later inspected facilities at the Technical College in Osogbo and the waterworks in Ede, said the visit had given the AfDB the opportunity to see the developmental efforts of the current administration in the state and to determine the subsequent steps to be taken to support the State.

    At the Osogbo Technical College, the AfDB delegation was taking round various departments and workshops where modern equipment for carpentry, shoemaking and other machines were on display.

    Read Also: AfDB okays $120m to boost cassava, others

    Technical engineers at the Ede Waterworks conducted the AfDB team round the facilities, including the water dam and the water treatment equipment.

    The AfDB delegation was accompanied by the Senior Technical Adviser to Osun State Governor on Development Partners and International Relations, Dr. Michael Olugbile and members of the State Executive Council, including, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Dr. Dauda Olalekan Yinusa, and Commissioner for Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Hon. Ismail Adekunle Jayeoba-Alagbada.

    Dr. Olugbile, who acknowledged the ongoing support of AfDB for the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) project in the state, said the visit of the AfDB delegation was to attract more donor assistance to the State in order to support the developmental agenda of the Rauf Aregbesola administration.

    He said the visit would also lay a solid foundation for incoming administration.

    According to him, the AfDB would support Osun state government on the upgrading and completion of the nine Technical Colleges in the state.

    He added that the AfDB would also support Osun on Urban water schemes and to complete the Osun airport christened MKO Abiola Airport.

    Responding, Aregbesola, who showcased his administration’s numerous achievements to the team, appealed to the AfDB to fast track the process of its intervention in the state.

    The governor said: “I am in a hurry to achieve many things. Please, I cannot be patient to see this happening. Please let us move fast to achieve this because my tenure will soon end as governor of this state.”

  • AfDB scores Aregbesola high on social investment programmes

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has hailed the Rauf Aregbesola administration in Osun State for economically developing the state through the implementation of its people-oriented policies and programmes.

    The AfDB scored the state high on its social investment programmes.

    It described the programmes as most laudable, impactful and commendableý in the democratic history of the country.

    The leadership of the AfDB, led by its Country Director, Mr Ebrima Faal, gave the commendation during a visit to Governor Aregbesola at Government House in Osogbo, the state capital.

    Faal lauded the state’s Six-ýPoint Integral Action Plan, which he said was in line with the organisation’s objectives.

    He said: “We are here to commend the state government for being committed to human and capital development as we have seen the positive impacts made in the lives of the citizens.

    “We have seen the wonderful works going on across the state, particularly the massive infrastructural development and the efforts the state is making to turn around the economic fortunes of the state.

    “We are enthused to be here to express our commitment to support the state in some critical areas of interest, in line with our primary objective, to stimulate the economy of our people in the continent.

  • AfDB okays $120m to boost cassava, others

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) yesterday said it will invest $120 million between the next two and three years to boost the productivity and transform cassava and other eight other commodities on the continent. The nine commodities are cassava, rice, maize, sorghum/millet, wheat, livestock, aquaculture, high iron beans and orange fleshed sweet potatoes.

    “Transforming cassava on the African continent would help African nations to cut imports and redirect about $1.2billion into African domestic economies,” its Director for Agriculture, Dr Martin Fregene, said at the fourth international conference on cassava, being organised by the Global Cassava Partnerships for the 21st Century, GCP21, in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

    The cassava conference is being attended by more than 450 local and international partners in the cassava sector, coming from research and development organisations, government, farming community, and the private sector.

    The bank’s investment in cassava comes at a time when African governments are scaling up efforts to end food imports and create wealth.

    Fregene said cassava was a strategic crop for Africa’s food security and wealth creation for youth, and women, adding that “another dimension to the importance of cassava is in nutrition where cassava can enhance the nutrition of children directly or as feed for poultry and other livestock.”

    With the largest volume of cassava coming from Africa, cassava supports more than 350 million people in Africa.

    The Minister of Agriculture for the Republic of Benin, Dr Gaston Dossouhoui said cassava remained the cheapest staple consumed by Africans, adding that “addressing the constraints of cassava production in Africa will have a positive impact on African farmers.”

    He lauded AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina for his commitment of investing in agriculture and cassava, in particular.

    The minister also commended the GCP21 for organising the cassava conference, emphasising that it would contribute to knowledge sharing that would help in removing the bottlenecks in the cassava sector.

    Deputy Director-General for Partnerships for Delivery at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Kenton Dashiell, said unlocking the potential of cassava required partnerships and close collaboration of partners to address the constraints facing cassava.

    Dashiell commended GCP21 for filling the gaps in cassava R&D by organising a series of conferences with experts sharing knowledge on innovations in cassava.

     

    This year’s conference is supported by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), National Institute of Agricultural Research of Benin (INRAB), Faculte des Sciences Agronomique – Universite Abomey-Calavi (FAS-AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research (CORAF/WECARD), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CGIAR Research Programme on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB), International Center for Agricultural Development (CIRAD), the Institute for Research & Development (IRD), French Embassy in Benin, French Institute, NIRSAL, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Cibus, China’s TAGRM, Inqaba Biotec, PRASAC, Interteck, Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Cassava Seed System (BASICS), Sino-Food Machinery, OC, NextGen Cassava project, and CTA.

    Founded in 2003, GCP21 is a not-for-profit international alliance of 45 organizations and coordinated by Claude Fauquet and Joe Tohme of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). It aims to fill gaps in cassava research and development to unlock the potential of cassava for food security and wealth creation for poor farmers.

  • AfDB eyes $1tr from African agric sector

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) yseterday call on African governments to create the right environment for the private sector to lead the continent’s industrial revolution.

    “We cannot say we have leadership when we still have 65 per cent of the land in Africa uncultivated. We must develop solutions to agriculture and ensure that the sector can grow to a $1-trillion business,” its President, Akinwumi Adesina, said.

    Participants at the 53rd Annual Meetings of the AfDB in Busan, Korea also advocated for a balance between the role of the state and the private sector.

    Korea was presented as a good model for industrialisation which African countries can learn from.

    “Korea’s example is incredible. Korea was as poor as any African country in the 1960s with a low per capita income; today, thanks to the determination of its people and its commitment to industrialisation, Korea is the 11th biggest economy in the world, an example Africa should learn from,” Adesina said.

    Discussions focused on the theme of the 2018 Annual Meetings, “Accelerating Africa’s Industrialisation,” and the need to tell the great stories of Africa – the story of a resurgent continent ready to take its rightful place in the industrial world.

    Adesina explained that industrialization was selected as the theme of the 2018 Annual Meetings to further showcase what Africa can learn from a country like Korea.

    According to him, “there is nowhere better than Korea to address this theme. Korea’s incredible success over the last 60 years provides a perfect model to the AfDB to redouble its efforts towards Africa’s economic development.

  • AfDB okays $100m to expand fertilizer production

    The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $100 million senior loan to Nigerian firm, Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals Limited, to support the company’s plans to double its fertilizer production from 1.4 million tons of urea to 2.8 million tons per annum.

    The bank’s intervention follows a previous loan extended to Indorama in 2013 for the commissioning of another urea fertilizer plant with a production capacity of 1.4 million tons per annum.

    The completion and exploitation of that plant in 2016 helped turn Nigeria from a net fertilizer importer to a self-sufficient producer, and now a net exporter of fertilizer. In 2017, 700,000 tons of urea were exported to markets in West Africa, North and South American markets. Production from the new plant will predominantly target export markets.

    A statement from the AfDB expalined that the project will also address the problem of inadequate fertilizer utilisation, which is considered one of the principal constraints to agricultural growth and development in Nigeria, and the entire African continent.

    Director, Industrial and Trade Development at the AfDB, Abdu Mukhtar, said: “This project will build upon the success of Train-I in increasing the domestic supply of urea fertilizer in Nigeria, making it easily available and leading to cheaper prices for the Nigerian farmer.

    “It will also help further address labor issues in a local region wracked by poverty, inequality and political tension by creating high paying technical jobs and will count towards climate change abatement by reducing amounts of flared gas.”

    Fertilizer production support is well aligned with regional and national priorities, as well as the bank’s assistance strategy in Nigeria, and is an important step towards the goal of radically transforming Africa’s agriculture sector and making the continent self-sufficient in food.

    Despite a large population of farmers, Nigeria spends at least $6 billion per year on food imports. A contributing factor to low domestic crop yields is low consumption levels of fertilizer in Nigeria-and indeed Africa as a whole, which averages only 10-15 per cent of global levels.

    The project supports the medium term economic recovery and growth plan of the Federal Government  and the bank’s regional strategy to link regional markets in West Africa. Urea exports of 20 per cent will be made to South Africa and West Africa (Cote D’Ivoire & Senegal). Regional integration will be further strengthened by the export of increased agriculture production in Nigeria.

    The Indorama Eleme Complex has been a success story of public private partnerships in Nigeria, with several benefits including import substitution of raw materials to over 450 downstream industries; increased crop yields of over 30 per cent; training of 200,000 farmers on the proper use of fertilizers expected to reach 2 million by 2021; creation of 50,000 jobs, and an annual contribution of $2 billion to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP). The estimated $1.1 billion cost of the Project is to be financed with equity of $100 million and debt finance of $1billion which will be provided by development finance institutions. All the financiers have now provided their final Board approvals for the project.