Business Post Contributor
By Oremade Oyedeji
Growing up in Lagos, the perception of the Chinese craft and culture was a mixed feeling. Like an average child in Lagos, the believe was that products from China don’t last and the easiest way to get your fellow lad angry was to call his gadget Chinko (i.e a funny way to describe made in China).
Despite this, children love the kung fu art from China. Growing up then, my cousin, Oye, was a very passionate martial kung fu art student in his school, Greensprings Secondary School; that’s a school where most of their graduates end up in the United States of America and trust me, that is not a school that any child would ever mistakenly describe as Chinko.
Contrary to the dislike that comes with the choice of China made gadgets for any Lagos child then, the kung fu art student were always loved.
Today, kung fu kids are imbibed with the spirit of confidence, self-defence skills, self-expression and a sense of community.
Like an adage in Yoruba, omo buruki ni ojo ire tie (this loosely means a bad/stubborn child can also be useful at a point in time).
So, typically like a Lagos bread boy, Akinwumi Adesina, who made all headlines in recent weeks, has also responded in self-defence to the to the President of United States America, Donald Trump.
What we read in the news was that Dr Adesina was accused of violating the bank’s code of ethics. Well, other frivolous accusation levied against him was that AfDB was approving loans to African countries. Are you getting it? Perhaps, that the main issue is they want to change the rules, or probably want to have a veto power in how Dr Adeshina runs an African development bank. And honestly, somehow, maybe they do, because seeing AfDB 10 biggest shareholders, five of them are non-African.
Nigeria controls 9.1%; US 6.5%; Egypt 5.5%; Japan 5.4%; South Africa 4.9%; Algeria 4.1%; Germany 4%; Canada 3.8%; Ivory Coast 3.7%; France 3.6%.
What will happen if African countries stop borrowing money from a Western controlled multilateral bank? When two warring sides decide to call it quit, it’s called a truce — an agreement to end the fighting.
When there’s a truce, the two sides stop attacking each other, catch their breath, and try to work out a peace deal. A truce isn’t a permanent solution: it’s more like a time-out. The truth is Dr Adesina is just a child victim of circumstances.
On a lighter note, this trending screen shot of a twitter joke @wizzkidayo posted “Buhari/Trump same person, only difference be say one sabi use twitter pass the other. Clueless!”
Swiftly responding was one @Donald_trump@170 who said “please stop comparing me to Buhari, he is more clueless!!!”
It didn’t end there, one @Mbuhari001 also tweeted “Trump have (has) been respecting you since, but this thing that you did right now, I will go in war with American and you know you can’t stop me!!!”
Me: thinking…. trade war or Biafran war.
That twitter handle self is suspicious to me, what if it’s the Buhari of Sudan that tweeted (lol).
Multilateral Financing Strategy
It seems former President Olusegun Obasanjo had us all covered. Like a Yoruba adage says ‘what an elder sees while sitting, even the best graduating student of the Chinese Kun fu class (as introduced earlier in the article) can never see while standing.
Like a typical African man, he is a polygamist by nature. In his response letter trending all over, in paragraph 2, he emphasized that, Dr Adesina has done well, having taken the bank to greater height and achieving general capital increase and in paragraph 3, he acknowledged how Adesina successfully raised funds from foreign donor.
Well, I think former President Olusegun Obasanjo all had it figured out when he created another multilateral bank, African Finance Corporation in Lagos during his tenure as president.
According to CBN’s Africa Finance Corporation, Information Memorandum prepared by KPMG in December 2006, the corporation would be owned by commercial banks in Africa, institutional investors and Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to the memorandum, a minimum of 51% ownership is expected by the Africa run private corporation, which already addresses the America claim of control and veto power currently rocking African Development Bank.
Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is a pan-African multilateral development financial institution established in 2007 to bridge Africa’s infrastructure investment gap through the provision of debt and equity finance, project development, technical and financial advisory services, with total assets base currently at $6.6 billion (2019).
During the Africa Finance Corporation infrastructure summit in 2017, Obasanjo expressed confidence in the ability of African Finance Corporation to position the investment firm at the forefront of African infrastructure rebirth.
Using the platform, he also narrated his team’s experience and with lessons learnt from visiting Singapore. Singapore evolved from a developing nation to first world status. When Obasanjo was asked the question where he wants to see African Finance Corporation in 5 years from now during the summit, he said, he wants to see an AFC that would have tripled or quadrupled its investment in infrastructure in Africa.
“I see an AFC that would become a household name everywhere in Africa. I see an AFC that would be competing, or if you like complementing, the World Bank’s equivalent —which is IFC—and maybe AfDB if not overtaken them,” Obasanjo said during a panel discussion.
Just recently, you will recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu of Lagos State announced a major infrastructural development in Lagos of N844 billion for financing the 4th Mainland Bridge by African Finance Corporation, amongst many others.
Former President Obasanjo was joined in his call at the panel of discussion by AFC first chairman and founder, Charles Soludo, and others. Obasanjo, during the panel session also expressed optimism about growth in African infrastructure.
In conclusion, when the foundation is solid, galvanizing for geometric growth is easy. The foundation for financing public private partnership for Nigeria’s infrastructure is no doubt planning. Nigeria and Africa are on track.
Nice