President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has challenged the leadership of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to move beyond theoretical discussions and aggressively mobilise the continent’s resources for real economic advancement. Speaking during a high-level delegation visit to the State House in Abuja, the President emphasised that Africa must halt the trend of exporting raw materials without processing if it wants to secure its economic future.
The President reinforced that his administration’s difficult decisions, including ending the fuel subsidy and merging exchange rates, were vital survival steps designed to wipe out systemic corruption. To build on these reforms, President Tinubu urged Afreximbank to design concrete financial frameworks that support value-added manufacturing, particularly within the solid minerals sector.
“The conscience and the future of Africa depend on what you and your team can do and will do for Africa as a whole, and the time has come for us to start doing things together as Africans. We have solid mineral deposits such as lithium and others that can be used, and you, as the financial partner, should be able to come with investment guarantees for the production and value addition in batteries and other manufacturing ecosystems,” the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated.
Unlocking Agriculture and the Livestock Economy
Addressing long-standing domestic challenges, President Tinubu explained how his administration is re-engineering internal friction into economic drivers. He pointed to the newly established Federal Ministry of Livestock Development as a key vehicle for turning decades of farmer-herder clashes into commercial opportunities for the citizenry, while creating vital jobs across the cotton, ginnery, and textile pipelines.
To achieve food security and industrial depth, the President advocated for a strong synergy between Afreximbank and the Bank of Agriculture. He noted that targeted investments must flow into cash crop production including cocoa, palm kernel, and palm oil to guarantee that local agricultural value chains deliver tangible financial returns for local communities.
“I created the Livestock Ministry to create economic opportunities for Africans. The cotton, ginnery and garment industries are job creators. If we partner well and incorporate these ideas and do less talking and really put our heads into developmental programmes, we can turn it around,” the President noted.
Institutional Backing and Infrastructure Financing
Responding to the President’s charge, the President and Chairman of the Board of Afreximbank, Dr. George Elombi, disclosed that the financial institution has injected between $15 billion and $20 billion into the Nigerian economy over the last five years. Dr. Elombi, who led the delegation to update the presidency on the bank’s active portfolios, confirmed that a significant portion of this capital is driving trade, healthcare delivery, and heavy infrastructure.
Highlighting specific interventions, the bank chief revealed that Afreximbank has committed $2 billion to rejuvenate Nigeria’s textile and garment industry. Furthermore, the bank is actively financing landmark infrastructure projects across the country, including the multi-billion dollar Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the strategic Kano-Maradi Railway line, positioning Nigeria as a competitive regional trade hub.
Reversing Health Tourism Through Local Investments
The development bank is also making major interventions in the West African health sector to stem the tide of medical capital flight. Dr. Elombi invited the President to tour the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) currently under construction in Abuja, which stands as a flagship investment aimed at providing world-class healthcare directly on the continent.
Supporting this trajectory, the Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Owan Enoh, stated that the administration’s Eight-Point Renewed Hope Agenda serves as the definitive structural blueprint for this transformation. Enoh concluded that the federal government’s aggressive focus on diversifying away from crude oil dependency via digital tech, solid minerals, and agro-allied manufacturing is successfully building a highly resilient economy.
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