EU To Support Africa’s Infrastructure Drive With €150bn In 4 years

The European Union (EU) through its Global Gateway initiative has promised to disburse 150 billion Euros to Nigeria and other African countries to enhance infrastructure in over eight sectors. The disbursement of the fund which commences from this year to 2027, aims to enhance connectivity, promote sustainable development, and strengthen economic ties between the EU and its partner countries, including Nigeria. The EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, who revealed this at the launch of the Global Gateway initiative in Abuja, added that the bloc would support Nigeria to achieve enhanced infrastructure connectivity, including transport, energy, digital networks; support agriculture, economic growth, health and education. She said: “It will also promote sustainable development and environmental protection; and foster cooperation and partnerships with Nigeria and other partner countries. “We are living in an increasingly fragmented world. The war that Russia started against Ukraine last year, the military takeover in Niger in July, and the escalation in Israel-Palestine conflict are just stark reminders of that. “In such a world, the Global Gateway strategy is our positive offer to build resilient connections in the world through strategic partnerships to jointly address the challenges of our times from fighting climate change to improving health systems. “Together, we intend to mobilise 300 billion Euros in investments by the year 2027, and half of them for Africa; it is 150 billion Euros by the year 2027; Nigeria features prominently in the Global Gateway investment package”, the commissioner added. Urpilainen further clarified that the EU would support the 5G rollout in Nigeria, as part of its efforts to support the digital economy as well as also working on a potential loan to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the digital and print sectors. According to her, the EU had committed financial resources to support the energy sector, including the setting up of mini grids and small hydropower plants for productive and public purposes. “In 2022, we launched a digital economic package for Nigeria. With EU and European Investment Banks, investments worth 820 million Euros, it is a lot of money,” she added. The EU commissioner described education as “the most transformative investment anyone could make. So, an empowerment project is being launched in North Western Nigeria in cooperation with government to promote quality basic education in the northern regions.” Urpilainen assured that the EU’s long-term commitment would support investments in key sectors of the Nigerian economy, namely Agriculture (€42,000,000), Energy (€37,000,000), Health (€45,000,000), Digital (€55,000,000), Education (€45,000,000), and Social Protection (€46,000,000). In his remarks, Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, said that the Global Gateway initiative was aimed at achieving collective regional and global prosperity was in full alignment with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda. He explained: “The core of this administration’s agenda is a developed Nigeria that is not only for a few, but for all, providing the Government the opportunity to actualize its plans in sectors that it wants to focus on. “Africa’s relationship with Europe has deep historical roots, and has been built on years of shared values, collaboration and mutual respect. “While we enjoy geographical proximity, we also have increasingly intertwined culture, and more importantly, a shared future,” the minister added. Tijani pointed out that working with the EU gave Nigeria the opportunity to leverage its structure and historical resources for global development, particularly for Africa.

CSOs call for debt rescheduling with China, others

Over 50 civil society Organisations have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reschedule Nigeria’s debt with China. In a communiqué signed by Action Aid Nigeria, BudgIT Foundation, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Heinrich Boell Stiftung Nigeria, OXFAM Nigeria, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), and 48 others, the CSOs noted that the present situation where the country was spending 80 per cent of its resources to service debt was unsustainable. Analysts have said that the country spends over 90 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing. The federal government has put Nigeria’s debt profile at N77 trillion including the Ways and Means from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The group noted that the huge debt burden has put the country in a position where it would be difficult to fulfill its commitments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and contribute to the attainment of the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. According to them, instead of making accelerated progress, the country, like many others on the continent, is regressing. They therefore urged the National Assembly to review the existing debt management strategy with a view to strengthen it. “Adhering to relevant legal and institutional fiscal frameworks is important in the context of high and rising debt levels. Although the country has a comprehensive legal framework that specifies processes and obligations of government entities to manage debt, these are not always complied with. For example, annual borrowing plans are not made available to the public and borrowing occurs without being attached to any particular projects, contributing to a lack of transparency and accountability.  “National Assembly should review the existing legal and institutional frameworks relevant to debt management with the view of closing existing loopholes and strengthening transparency and enforcement. For example, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and Debt Management Office should be empowered to sanction breaches of existing laws and regulations. “Lawmakers should carry out loan approvals with proper scrutiny and approvals be subject to public hearings and input. Public disclosure of, for example, the terms and conditions of loans, and borrowing plans are critical steps to increase transparency and accountability in Nigeria.   “The Nigerian government and its decision-makers should reduce its reliance on borrowings from the international capital market and commercial loans. There is a need to more strictly adhere to the provision of the law on maintaining concessional loans,” the group said. While noting that Nigeria’s high debt levels is a function of poor revenue mobilisation through taxes and other means, they urged the federal government to introduce measures that would address the country’s revenue challenge. “An enhanced Debt Sustainability Analysis that integrate climate and other sustainability risks, and climate resilience benefits, as well as estimates of a country’s financing needs for climate change adaptation, mitigation, and achieving the broader goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for the SDGs; “Access to debt restructuring for all debt-distressed, climate-vulnerable low and middle-income countries, and a speeding up of debt relief talks; “A debt restructuring framework that incorporates adequate incentives to ensure private creditors participate and bear a fair share of the burden; “A departure from regressive conditions attached to debt restructuring frameworks (i.e. cutbacks on social spending), giving room to countries to develop their own plans to advance development and climate resilience (guided by SDG commitments and NDCs); “The inclusion of disaster clauses in lending deals with public and private creditors to allow countries to divert debt payments to disaster relief; “The possible establishment of a new Global Debt Authority, designed to operate in an inclusive manner, independent of creditors or debtors, and the development of an international legal framework for sovereign insolvency,” the communiqué read.