The African Business Roundtable in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria hosted the Nigeria International Partnership Forum in New York, in the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. President Muhammadu Buhari participated in well attended programme which took place on September 22nd at the St. Regis New York Hotel, New York.

The theme of the programme “Scaling Up International Economic Partnerships for Nigeria in a Post Covid World” reflected the urgency to launch concrete measures to fast-track the inflow of international capital into Nigeria, especially in the face of the daunting challenges of a post-COVID world and the impending slow-down of the global economy.

The Nigerian Economic Partnership Forum succeeded in bringing together a cream of international leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurs and opinion shapers from across the globe to discuss concrete measures and effective pathways to significantly increase development partnerships, give market access and scale up international investment into key sectors of the Nigerian economy. It was indeed the foremost global gathering of leaders coming together at the highest level to map the future of the international economic, political and security landscape, explore business opportunities, outline priorities and forge international investment partnerships with Nigeria.

Achievements of the Event

A key element of the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum was the securing of partnerships and commitments from members of the international business and development community. The following announcements were made at the forum.

- French company, aDryada, a developer and operator of biodiversity carbon projects announced that they have ring-fenced $100m for Nigeria. aDryada’s founder and CEO, Fabio Ferrari, gave a presentation on Climate Change and "Outlining Priorities and Opportunities for Nigeria". During the closing plenary he made the announcement that the $100m budget is to finance bio-diversity projects in Nigeria. Mr. Ferrari then met with the Honourable Minister of Environment and has since had follow-up meetings with both Lagos and Ondo State Governments. If all of the projects being explored move forward, there is potential for the $100m mark to be exceeded.

- The Group Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Segun Ogunsanya, spoke on "Technology for Development - Next Steps in the Transformation of Nigeria’s Digital Economy". Mr Ogunsanya touched on Airtel’s ambition to drive digital and financial inclusion and access to education for people and communities across Africa through the provision of data and mobile services. To this end, during the closing plenary Mr. Ogunsanya formally announced their pledge of $60m. This will be used to ensure the digital literacy of school children across Nigeria and the continent.

- NNPC Limited was an avid supporter of the NIEPF program. They set up a booth in the foyer in front of the main hall for investors to better understand NNPC’s new structure. The NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, participated in the first plenary session and also as a panelist on "Nigeria’s Oil and Gas - Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead". This was a very well attended session. NNPC was well represented by both the Group Managing Director and the NNPC Chairperson, Senator Marjory Okadigbo, and key members of their senior leadership. During the afternoon plenary session NNPC was able to sign an agreement with Honeywell UOP worth over $400m to build a refinery in the Niger Delta.

- The largest announcement of the day came from Sun Africa Ltd, a US based consortium. During the afternoon plenary session Sun Africa signed an initial MOU with the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning as part of their plan to invest $1.5bn in five solar storage plants in Nigeria. This project was well received and significant progress has been made to take this forward after the forum.

The programme beamed a strong focus on Nigeria and shaped the international economic agenda at the highest level at a time leaders from across the globe head were gathered in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly.

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About the African Business Roundtable

The African Development Bank Group set up the African Business Roundtable in 1990. Today the ABR is Africa’s foremost and continent-wide association of businesses and business leaders, and is the representative of the African Business Society to the United Nations. An independent, non-partisan, non-profit private sector funded organization, The African Business Roundtable is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and is the only organization representing the African Private Sector within ECOSOC.

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