President, African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina says the bank would invest $12bn in the power sector in Africa in four years with the goal of leveraging on the aviation sector. The AfDB is a multilateral development finance institution aimed at fighting poverty and improving the living conditions on African continent by promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programmes that are likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region.
”Without electricity, you really cannot operate any effective and efficient airline industry and so this is one of the top priorities of the bank. “We are investing in the power sector $12 billion in the next four years with the goal of leveraging between 45 to 50 million dollars in this sector because I firmly believe that Africa cannot develop in the dark. “So we must fast track that and when we have electricity, everything functions, even for the aviation industry and the tourism industry is actually quite linked to the aviation industry as well.”
The bank’s investment in the sector covered building new airports in Ghana, Senegal, Casablanca and building of new infrastructure in Morocco.
As for Nigeria, the bank president said the government was developing a new aviation sector investment plan, adding that the government was interested in a number of areas.“First is we are looking at how to support more investment in airport infrastructure; they are also looking at how to create aircraft maintenance, repair and also overhaul facility.“But one of the biggest problems in Africa is we do not have any aircraft leasing facilities and that is one of the things that the government is looking at.“We are looking at upgrading some of the navigational infrastructures.“So as a bank, we are very strong supporters of the government. The bank’s portfolio in Nigeria is over $6billion. He added.
It would be recalled that the bank had earlier promised to increase its investment in Nigeria by $4.1bilion between 2016 and 2017and raise it up to $10billion by 2019.
Reportedy: Fikayo Owoeye
