Lagos: An Economic Expert, Prof. Kevin Urama, says Nigeria can unlock substantial resources for development by leveraging pension funds, sovereign wealth assets, and other domestic institutional investors. Urama, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Chief Economist and Vice President for the Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, highlighted this potential in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Urama outlined strategies for mobilising long-term capital to support economic growth, noting that institutional investors across Africa currently manage about four trillion dollars in assets. However, he mentioned that only a small fraction of these resources is being directed towards development financing on the continent. He emphasized that Nigeria is well-positioned to benefit from this pool of capital due to its strong banking sector, sovereign wealth fund, pension industry, and growing financial institutions.
Urama suggested that the government should create frameworks that enable national development banks, pension funds, commercial banks, and other financial institutions to invest more effectively in productive sectors of the economy. He explained that stronger mobilisation of domestic institutional capital would also encourage foreign investors to participate in development projects as partners.
He linked this strategy to the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD), which aims to improve cooperation among African financial institutions and strengthen the continent’s ability to mobilise and deploy capital at scale. Urama highlighted the importance of harnessing diaspora resources, noting that Africans abroad are expected to remit about 104.8 billion dollars to the continent in 2024.
He suggested that structured investment instruments can help channel a greater portion of these flows into infrastructure, agriculture, education, health, and other productive sectors. Urama called for greater engagement with high-net-worth Africans, stressing that the continent’s wealthy individuals control substantial resources that can be invested in local economies if appropriate risk-mitigation and investment frameworks are established.
Furthermore, Urama emphasized that deeper domestic capital markets, stronger institutions, and effective risk management are essential in attracting long-term investment and accelerating economic transformation across Africa.