Nigerians in Diaspora have commended the African Development Bank (AfDB) for its funding and capacity building supports for key projects critical to the socio-economic transformation of Nigeria and other countries in Africa.
A statement issued by the Nigeria Country Department of the bank on Friday, indicated that the representatives, who comprised women and youth groups, lauded the development finance institution at a forum organized by it as part of its ongoing mid-term review strategy for Nigeria.
While declaring open the forum, the AfDB’s Director-General for Nigeria, Mr. Lamin Barrow, expressed the hope that the interactive forum would allow for frank exchanges on the bank’s activities, projects and programmes in the country.
The development finance expert reiterated the bank’s commitment to participation by women, youth, the diaspora and other key groups in processes that inform the institution’s initiatives in its regional member countries.
Barrow stressed that stakeholder groups were crucial in the drive towards innovation and entrepreneurship to unlock opportunities in various sectors, including agri-business, industry and the digital economy.
In her remarks, the Senior Special Assistant to Nigeria’s President on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, also commended the bank for its leadership in engaging national and sub-national actors and described the high-level stakeholder engagement was timely and strategic.
According to her, the forum was the first time the country is seeing a multilateral development finance institution provide such support in the recent past.
Similarly, Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike Dabri-Erewa, thanked the AfDB for its support to women as well as reaching out to Nigerians in the Diaspora and pleaded for more support of the bank for Nigeria.
Specifically, she canvassed the bank’s support for more Diaspora-related initiatives, adding that the Diaspora Commission looked forward to working more closely with the bank in this area.
Also speaking, Mr. Femi Boyede, President of the Nigeria Trade and Investment Centre, Canada, also charged Nigerians in the Diaspora to consider clustering for project partnership as a strategic step towards positively impacting the nation’s economy.
Other stakeholders also lent their voice to the need for the AfDB to promote the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) and to effectively extend financial support and training to women, small and medium enterprises and smallholder farmers.
According to them, this will enable them to take advantage of the bank’s Special Agriculture Processing Zones (SAPZ) initiative.
