David Adonri, the chief executive of Highcap Securities, has said, for Nigerian to benefit from its membership of the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the country’s heavy industrial base must be available to support the commercial enterprises and light industries.
He made the remark in an exclusive interview with Techeconomy correspondent on Tuesday.
According to Adonri, the objectives for the establishment of FEDA are quite laudable.
It will fill a gap in the financing of bankable export oriented activities that will promote intra-African trade which AfCFTA seeks to promote.
Nigeria officially signed the Establishment Agreement for the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), an impactful investment platform managed by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
With this accession, Nigeria becomes the 16th nation to join the Agreement, denoting the growing interest FEDA receives from African countries.
This announcement comes three decades after Afreximbank’s started operations in Nigeria, marking an important moment and Nigeria’s unwavering dedication to bolstering both Afreximbank and FEDA’s objectives.
The Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA) serves as Afreximbank’s impact investment arm, established to offer equity, quasi-equity, and debt capital.
Its primary aim is to bridge the substantial funding gap, especially in equity, essential for catalyzing transformation within Africa’s trade sector, amounting to billions of dollars.
The signing of the FEDA Establishment Agreement is anticipated to facilitate its ratification in the foreseeable future, further empowering FEDA’s initiatives in Nigeria and beyond.
David said:
“For Nigeria to benefit from the fund, the country’s heavy industrial base must be available to support the commercial enterprises and light industries that will financed by FEDA to produce goods and services that will be competitive in the international market arena. I don’t think FEDA will finance a nation’s engineering infrastructure.
Expressing excitement on the development, Prof. Kenneth Oramah, the president and chairman of the Board of the Afreximbank and FEDA, said that the partnership will boost trade development across the continent.
He said,
“We extend our sincere appreciation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the signing of the FEDA Establishment Agreement. This significant achievement further strengthens the already robust partnership between Afreximbank and Nigeria, one of the Bank’s foremost supporters. The partnership will enhance investments in sectors critical to the development journey of Nigeria.”
Countries that have also signed FEDA’s Establishment Agreement comprise Rwanda, Mauritania, Guinea, Togo, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Sierra Leone, São Tomé and Príncipe, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and Egypt.
