General
Africa Requires $700b Yearly to Finance Development Needs
By Dipo Olowookere
Financing Africa’s development needs will require an estimated $600-700 billion per annum and according to the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) African Economic Outlook 2018, of this, about $130-170 billion a year in infrastructure will be needed.
It is estimated that by 2050, just 32 short years from now, Africa’s growing population will tip the scales at a whopping 2 billion, with a youth of 840 million. In the process, the continent will overtake the populations of China and India combined.
To address these challenges, the African Development Bank has launched the Africa Investment Forum, a platform to mobilize private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds and the private sector to facilitate infrastructure projects with the capacity to transform the continent.
The Premier of Gauteng Province, Africa’s seventh largest economy, David Makhura, endorsed the Forum as a game changer for financing Africa’s infrastructure development at the launch of the African Investment Forum in Johannesburg.
“It’s an honour to receive a vote of confidence from one of the most influential, respected and credible institutions of our continent. I want to assure the African Development Bank, and members of the African and global investor community that we are ready to host a highly successful Africa Investment Forum in November. We have an impeccable track record of hosting continental and global events of the magnitude and significance represented by the Africa Investment Forum,” Makhura said at the formal launch of the Forum.
The Bank and the Government of Gauteng Province recently signed a memorandum of agreement to host the inaugural edition of the Africa Investment Forum from November 7 to 9, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Makhura referred to the Africa Investment Forum as more than a Davos of Africa, stating that “we as the Gauteng Provincial Government are very pleased to have won the bid to host this biggest and unparalleled investment platform on the African continent. It’s a great platform that will translate Africa’s professed potentials into real opportunities and progress.”
He added, “The November Inaugural Africa Investment Forum fits very well with the investment drive of President Ramaphosa and will be one of the most important platforms for our government and local businesses to pitch for greater levels of investment. Gauteng-based investment companies have already invested more than $30 billion in different regions of Africa. We have a 15-year infrastructure masterplan with a portfolio of bankable projects that require more than $150 billion over 10 years.”
While Africa is the next investment frontier, there is an urgent need to bridge the gap between available capital and bankable projects, said African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, noting the Africa Investment Forum will help make Africa a place where its young people want to live and thrive in.
“The overall Investment gap for Africa to achieve overall economic development is actually much higher and stands at $200 billion to $1.2 trillion a year. Impediments to bankable projects must be resolved to create win-wins for governments, development finance institutions and other relevant stakeholders. Africa must invest in its own development if it wants others to do so,” he said.
“This is the essential reason for the new approach of the Africa Investment Forum, a multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary platform that will incentivize collaboration for the economic and social development of Africa. This will primarily be about transactions and investment deals for Africa’s economic development and not a talk shop.”
Adesina noted that financing Africa’s development is and has always been a collective and cooperative task, requiring broad-based partnerships with the private sector.
“We know that the money is there. By 2020, there will be close to $111 trillion assets under management globally that are invested around the world often at very low interest rates. Within Africa, the assets under management of domestic institutional investors will rise to $1.8 trillion by 2020, tripling from $634 billion in 2014. Most of this money isn’t invested in Africa. But Africa should invest in its own development if it wants others to do so.”
Key industry leaders have endorsed the Forum as a unique opportunity for the private sector to invest in transformative projects across key sectors of strategic interest in Africa.
Investor Relations and Communication Executive at Harith General Partners, Pule Molebeledi, described the investment guarantee component of the AIF as a game changer.
“This will be a major catalyst for projects that are currently stuck in the pipeline,” he said.
The African Development Bank is committed to working with other multi-lateral development partners, private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance funds, private sector and stakeholders to ensure that the Africa Investment Forum becomes Africa’s key springboard for African investment and for meeting the continent’s massive infrastructure and development needs. This is the first time ever that several multilateral development banks will come together on a single platform designed to bring a major pipeline of bankable projects to completion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has said it would continue the probe of a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Ahmed Farouk, despite the withdrawal of the petition by Mr Aliko Dangote.
The agency said it had received a “notice of withdrawal” of the petition against Mr Ahmed, submitted by a legal counsel to the petitioner.
Recall that Mr Dangote had alleged that Mr Ahmed, a public servant, spent over $7 million in public funds on the education of his four children in different schools in Switzerland, allegedly paying fees upfront for a period of six years.
In December, the businessman demanded the arrest, investigation, and prosecution of the former MD for allegedly living above his means as a public servant.
In the petition, Mr Dangote listed the children and their schools in Switzerland, including the amount paid for each of them to establish his allegations and verification by the anti-graft agency.
Mr Ahmed denied the allegations, describing them as “wild and spurious”.
The ex-NMDPRA boss has since resigned from his position, prompting a withdrawal of the petition by the businessman.
However, the ICPC said in line with the provisions of sections 3(14) and 27(3) of its enabling law, it would continue to investigate the matter in line with its statutory mandate and in the interest of transparency, accountability, and the fight against corruption for the benefit of Nigeria.
“The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is in receipt of a letter dated January 5, 2026, titled “Notice of Withdrawal of Petition against Engineer Farouk Ahmed,” submitted to the Commission by Dr. O.J. Onoja, SAN and Associates, legal counsel to Alhaji Aliko Dangote,” a statement by the spokesperson of the commission, Mr J. Okor Odey, partly read.
“The letter from O. J. Onoja SAN, states that the petitioner has withdrawn the petition dated 16 December, 2025, submitted against Engineer Farouk Ahmed, the immediate past ACE/CEO of the NMDPRA, in its entirety, and that another law enforcement agency has taken over.
“The ICPC wishes to state categorically that, in line with the provisions of sections 3(14) and 27(3) of its enabling Act, the investigations in the interest of the Nigerian people and the Nigerian state have already commenced and are presently ongoing,” the statement added.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have commenced impeachment proceedings against Governor Sim Fubara.
The exercise commenced on Thursday and if successful, it would see the removal of Mr Fubara from office by the state parliament.
This is coming less than less than four months after he was restored as the Governor of the oil-rich state from a six-month suspension on democracy in the state.
In March 2025, President Bola Tinubu suspected Mr Fubara and the Rivers State House of Assembly over political tension between the Governor and his predecessor, Mr Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
A peace deal was reportedly brokered by Mr Tinubu between Mr Fubara and Mr Wike but things fell apart a few months after.
The Rivers Assembly is populated by loyalists of Mr Wike and has lawmakers from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
A few weeks ago, the Governor decamped from the PDP to the APC, in a move described as a masterstroke because it was calculated that it would free Mr Fubara from the grip of Mr Wike, who has been expelled from the PDP but yet to join the APC.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The petition filed by Mr Aliko Dangote to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) against the former chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Mr Farouk Ahmed, has been withdrawn.
The businessman had accused Mr Ahmed of using his office to enrich himself and living above his means.
According Mr Dangote, the former NMDPRA chief spent about $7 million belonging to Nigerians for the primary education of his four children in Switzerland.
In the heat of this, Mr Ahmed resigned from the position, with the ICPC promising to further look into the matter.
It was gathered that the owner of the Lagos-based Dangote Petroleum Refinery has withdrawn his petition against Mr Ahmed from the ICPC because a similar complaint is already being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The ICPC, in a statement signed by its Head of Media and Public Communications, Mr John Okor Odey, on Wednesday said, “The ICPC is in receipt of a letter dated January 5, 2025, titled ‘Notice of Withdrawal of Petition against Engineer Farouk Ahmed’, submitted to the commission by Dr. O.J. Onoja, SAN and Associates, legal counsel to Aliko Dangote.
“The letter states that the petitioner has withdrawn the petition dated December 16, 2025, submitted against Engineer Farouk Ahmed, the immediate past ACE/CEO of the NMDPRA, in its entirety, and that another law enforcement agency has taken over.
“The ICPC wishes to state categorically that, in line with the provisions of Sections 3(14) and 27(3) of its enabling Act, investigations in the interest of the Nigerian people and the Nigerian state have already commenced and are presently ongoing.
“The ICPC will therefore continue to investigate this matter in line with its statutory mandate and in the interest of transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption for the benefit of Nigeria.”
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