Buhari Commissions AfDB Nigeria Country Office in Abuja

Buhari’s Media aide, Adesina in a statement, noted that the annual meetings had hitherto been the only setting for group dialogue between the governors and the management of the bank.

He said AfDB has earned a special place in the heart of the country and pledged Nigeria's commitment to continue to be a major player in the bank towards making it strong to deliver on its vision.

Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the inauguration of AfDB's Nigeria Country Department Building in Abuja on Thursday said Dr. Akinwumi Adesina the bank's president had confirmed that the money would be given to the country as sector loans.

He said, "When we requested support from the bank, the response was swift".

"The signalling effect of that singular act gave the country's foreign reserves the much-needed boost which helped stabilised the Nigerian currency - the naira", Adeosun said.

Africa's infrastructure requirements run to $130-170 billion a year- far higher than the long-accepted figure of $93 billion a year, according to the bank's new estimates.

She said that the Bank had made Nigeria the first regional member country to host the Bank-owned office complex. "FARA, the CGIAR System Organization, and 11 of its 15 worldwide agricultural research centres most active in Africa have embraced the Bank's initiative and are co-sponsoring the program to revitalize and transform agriculture through TAAT within the shortest possible time while restoring degraded land and maintaining or strengthening the ecosystems that underpin agriculture".

" Our investment can only increase as we expect the level to reach eight billion dollars in 2019". The Bank approved a budget support loan of $1 billion in November 2016. Our investments are structured around our High 5 priorities: "Light up and power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa", Adesina said.

The AfDB boss disclosed that the bank had invested $500m in the Development Bank of Nigeria and would also be committing $200m in the Transmission Corporation of Nigeria. This leaves a financing gap of as much as between $68 and $108 billion.

The Bank, he added, is providing United States $263 million toward the rehabilitation of basic livelihoods in the northeast, with the expectation of providing water, sanitation, hygiene and health services that will benefit 14 million people, including 1.9 million Internally Displaced Persons.

The African Economic Outlook is produced annually by the African Development Bank.

The report said growth in Southern Africa almost doubled past year to 1.6%, up from 0.9% in 2016.

They also called for an increase in capital mobilisation to allow the bank to meet its mandates for Africa, in view of considerable reduction in official development assistance.

"I highly commend the Government for all the hard work and efforts to change the trajectory of the economy for good".