The European Union(EU), through its special purpose vehicle – Global Gateway initiative – will disburse €150 billion in four years by 2027 to Nigeria and other African countries, with Nigeria set to feature prominently in the investment package in a move to further enhance infrastructural development in the country.
The initiative will enable Nigeria to achieve enhanced infrastructure connectivity, including transport, energy, and digital networks; support agriculture, economic growth, health and education; promote sustainable development and environmental protection; and foster cooperation and partnerships with Nigeria and other partner countries.
In Nigeria, the initiative is supporting the following sectors: Digital, climate and energy, transport, education and research, and health.
Head of cooperation, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Massimo De Luca, who disclosed this during a media briefing in Lagos at the weekend, explained that, the initiative is deliberately designed to enhance connectivity, promote sustainable development, and strengthen economic ties between the EU and its partner countries, including Nigeria.
“The EU has projects in Nigeria and in the region. During the period of 2021 to 2024, as EU Delegation in Nigeria, we implemented about €700 million in cooperation from the EU in Nigeria alone.
“Our activities in Nigeria are very important. The EU, plus the the EU member states with embassies in Nigeria here in Nigeria, in Abuja in particular, together, we still represent the biggest donor partner for Nigeria.
“For the EU, over the last two years, the focus has been very much on what we call the Global Gateway. Global Gateway is indeed a massive initiative. It is about €300 billion in finance to be deployed mostly in Africa, but also in other developing countries in Latin America and Asia,” he said.
De Luca explained that, the EU, through the Global Gateway initiative, instead of focusing solely on capacity building, technical assistance, and trying to lift up the capacity of the country in specific areas, it uses investments as the anchor. “This is exciting but a bit unusual for us because it requires us from the Development Cooperation department of the EU to work closely with investors. Investors can be in the private sector or public sector. We don’t discriminate, as long as they commit to an investment that needs to be sustainable for the long-term,” he said.
Noting that finance for the focus sectors is essential for the initiative, he added that, “The instrument that we use is not necessarily the use of grants or contracts for technical assistance, but finance becomes an essential part. There must be a loan or equity. There must be somebody ready to put finance in the project. This is done to ensure the viability of the project.
“This is why our relation with EuroCham, for example, has been so important because they aggregate European investors already present in Nigeria, and they can work with us to identify the priority projects they would like to pursue.”
De Luca further disclosed that the EU is supporting Nigeria’s digital transformation plan by working closely with the minister of Communications and Digital Economy of Nigeria, Bosun Tijani, particularly through the deployment of 90,000 km of fibre optic cables throughout the country, establishment of systems for e-governance, and the development of digital skills, particularly for young Nigerians.
He said, “For the time being, we are majorly focusing on digital skills in many ways. When it comes to involvement with the private sector, for example, for the deployment of the 90,000 km of the fibre optic cables throughout the country, that investment will not be done by the government. The government is establishing a special purpose vehicle, which will be 50-50 or 51-49. But the investment, that is, the money, must come from the private sector.
“In this respect, we are looking at what we could do to spur the private sector to jump into the special purpose vehicle. That could be a blend of a grant for the functioning of the special purpose vehicle and a loan for the actual works that need to be done.
“When it comes to e-governance, we are talking about establishing the protocols that are necessary for the public administration to operate and interoperate, and to procure the infrastructure – software and hardware – to a point that will allow that interoperability.”
