President Bola Tinubu calls on African nations to deepen regional cooperation and strategically deploy sovereign wealth funds to accelerate development, emphasizing infrastructure, climate resilience, and job creation

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]frican Development Strategy received a significant push from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who urged African nations to deepen regional cooperation and strategically deploy sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to accelerate development across the continent.

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Speaking on Monday in Abuja at the opening of the 4th Annual Meeting of the Africa Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF), President Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, emphasized that the coordinated use of these national reserves is essential for closing infrastructure gaps, enhancing climate resilience, and creating employment for the rapidly expanding youth population.

The event, hosted by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), centered on the theme: “Leveraging African Sovereign Wealth Funds to Mobilise Global Capital for Transformative Development in Africa.”

“This forum comes at a time when the world is undergoing rapid transformation and is under pressure to think outside the box. For Africa, this is the moment to position itself to seize opportunities arising from these changes,” the President stated.

He encouraged African countries to emulate evolving global SWF models, which now play central roles in national transformation rather than solely serving as fiscal stabilization tools.

“Our future lies not in working in silos but in pursuing regional cooperation and collective ambition,” Tinubu asserted.

“Our sovereign wealth funds must become the anchors for pan-African investment platforms that de-risk projects, standardise processes, and deliver sustainable outcomes at scale. This is not just a strategy. This is a necessity.”

While acknowledging the fiscal pressures African governments face amidst heightened expectations for inclusive and sustainable growth, President Tinubu highlighted that innovation and creativity in resource utilization will pave the way forward.

“There can be no greater inspiration to reimagine how we invest, whether in setting up critical infrastructure, strengthening our climate resilience, promoting food security through agricultural innovation, supporting micro, small and medium enterprises, or embracing the digital economy to create jobs and expand opportunity,” he said.

President Tinubu commended the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority for its pivotal role in championing strategic infrastructure projects, describing it as a “catalyst” in Nigeria’s development agenda, particularly in renewable energy, healthcare, and agriculture.

He noted that the ASIF platform represents a vital step toward fostering integration among Africa’s sovereign wealth institutions, with the potential to pool expertise, capital, and networks across borders to drive investment into high-impact projects.

“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,” he stated.

Our sovereign wealth funds must become the anchors for pan-African investment platforms that de-risk projects, standardise processes, and deliver sustainable outcomes at scale. This is not just a strategy. This is a necessity.

He described the launch of the ASIF Investment Platform as a bold initiative capable of galvanizing financing for cross-border infrastructure and driving the continent’s sustainable development.

President Tinubu praised the NSIA’s leadership for collaborating with like-minded funds and international partners to craft long-term investment strategies tailored to Africa’s unique challenges.

In his address, Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, urged stakeholders to focus on large-scale capital mobilization, human capital development, policy alignment, and intercontinental collaboration.

He emphasized these elements as critical to unlocking transformative growth across Africa.

“We are optimistic that this meeting will produce significant transactions that can attract the needed capital, build impactful partnerships and catalyse economic transformation across the continent,” Edun said.

President of the African Export-Import Bank (AfreximBank), Prof. Benedict Oramah, called for a shift in investment philosophy, advocating for African sovereign wealth funds to be retained within the continent to finance domestic projects.

“There is a misconception that Africa lacks bankable projects. The potential across the continent is massive. The issue lies in how we approach investment strategy. Sovereign fund managers need to prioritise domestic investments that have a long-term impact,” Oramah noted.

ASIF chairman, Mr. Obaid Amrane, highlighted the forum’s notable progress since its inception three years ago, positioning Africa more competitively on the global stage and bridging infrastructure financing deficits.

He reiterated the forum’s commitment to ensuring that sovereign investment remains central to Africa’s transformation.

“While Africa remains open for business, we are focused on enabling sovereign investors to play an active role in projects that change lives across the continent,” Amrane said.

Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq, Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, underscored that the gathering’s focus was on how Africa’s sovereign wealth funds can leverage partnerships at domestic, continental, and and global levels to deliver economic transformation.

He stressed that these funds must balance taking bold investment risks for impact with maintaining the discipline needed to preserve wealth for future generations.

Sadiq noted the continent’s imperative to collaborate on developing a sustainable investment platform capable of attracting large-scale global capital.

Such a platform, he added, should support initiatives that deliver strong commercial returns while also generating meaningful social impact, enabling Africa to address its developmental needs through financially sound and socially responsive investments.

Umar-Sadiq concluded that African sovereign wealth funds must position themselves as the strategic partners of choice for international investors, combining their domestic knowledge and financial capacity to create an attractive market proposition.

He confirmed that several investment and strategic agreements would be signed during the meeting to reinforce a collective commitment to economic transformation through collaboration and long-term capital deployment.

Also speaking at the forum, renowned Pan-African scholar, Prof. PLO Lumumba, urged African leaders to take greater responsibility for future generations by investing within the continent rather than exporting capital abroad.

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“It is our intergenerational duty to deploy the continent’s vast resources for the benefit of those yet unborn. Africa is not poor; our wealth is simply misallocated. Sovereign funds should remain in Africa to secure its future,” Lumumba stated.