ENOH T. EBONG, is director of the United States Trade and Development Agency. In this interview with GBEMI FAMINU, she talks about the agency’s interest in helping Nigeria and Africa achieve economic growth and development with special focus on healthcare, digital infrastructure and clean energy.
Can you tell us about the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and your work in Nigeria?
The USTDA is an independent government agency and we are focused on promoting high quality infrastructure because infrastructure is the underpinning of economic growth and development. We want to bring the best of US technology, goods and services to the projects that we support so we want to make sure that essentially concepts and ideas for the development of infrastructure can be prepared so that they can get financing which is really important.
A huge part of these projects is financing and catalyzing financing to implement the projects and so we provide grants to for feasibility studies, technical assistance and pilot projects which we call our projects preparations work to ensure that these projects can be financed, implemented and sustained overtime
We also do partnership building activities which are critical for building relationships while bringing our partners and stakeholders either in the private sector or public sector to connect with U.S technologies, U.S companies and U.S financiers to bring them together.
We do that through industry workshops and conferences, and a very important tool called the U.S trade mission, which is bringing applications to the United States to be able to experience what we have to offer. Those are the main tools and that’s what we focus on in terms of infrastructure development and catalyzing projects for investment.
Going forward, we will have continued engagement, continued partnership, exploration of innovative ways of addressing challenges.
How does USTDA help catalyze financing into infrastructure projects?
For example, talking about the project preparation work in the digital infrastructure space, one of our huge focus is increasing access to clean power, access to internet and digital connectivity and access to good health.
So for example, in the ICT and digital infrastructure space, we are working with many companies for this cause. I visited Hotspot, a company that’s focused on trying to increase access by building over 2000 mobile network base stations in different parts of the country, which will increase access especially in rural areas so it stands to increase by about 6 million new subscribers and about 1.3 million data users and this is really important for a variety of activities. We provided funds for a feasibility study to provide a framework on how it makes sense and how it can be implemented.
So that’s one example that’s ongoing now. There have been others such as the Haven Hail Synergy whose project has already achieved some financing. Setting up mini grids and battery storage in 110 communities across the country and they’ve already started with a part of that portfolio.
That’s a way of getting key reliable power off the grid so that communities can get access to power and they’ve already begun to implement the project and have already begun to get financing from local financiers based on the feasibility study that we supported. We are also doing some on-grid work as well.
These are some examples in the clean energy and digital space which shows the kind of work that we do and so we really are here to develop even more projects.
To start with, we make sure that the projects are well prepared so that when the financiers come, they feel confident that they can take the risk and invest so that’s number one for the project preparation piece.
Another important way under our partnership building, where we work to make connections with financiers, whether it is in the United States with our sister agencies, like the Export Import Bank of the United States, or US International Development Finance Corporation, or it could be finances here like Infracredit, which we have a partnership agreement with, it could be regional banks or multilaterals, because we also work with World Bank, IFC and many others.
Essentially, we will go to wherever the money is and we will partner with financiers as we open our portfolio and pipeline of projects to show them what we are doing and see what can be done to make sure these projects are prepared to their standards and specifications. That way we are helping to provide an ecosystem where the projects are well prepared, and where they’re connected to the financiers.
We will also proactively find out the interest and focus of these financiers so that when we are doing our project and business development activities, we keep those standards and requirements in mind.
What are some of the major opportunities you see for USTDA in Nigeria and in turn how will Nigeria benefit from these opportunities
I read about Nigeria’s energy transition plan and I think there’s a lot of opportunity in the clean energy space and I am meeting with an official from the energy technical office to discover how we can help because clean energy is a very important sector for us.
In terms of supporting the plan, there are a number of interesting opportunities, where I think there is a lot of opportunity to help Nigeria achieve the goals it has set in the clean energy space and I’m looking forward to learning more about that. I think digital connectivity is very strong and it has been an important part of our portfolio here and we see an increasing need for that.
Our healthcare portfolio is smaller but it is growing and I see continued opportunity there as well. I think those three sectors will be where there is growth and because we are very partner-driven, we will continue to listen to the priorities of our partners and we’re flexible enough that within our mandate, we can then meet those needs in the context of those sectors.
Over the years we have seen an increased interest in the transition from fossil energy to cleaner energy sources. How will the agency help Nigeria accelerate its transition to cleaner energy?
I think the agency has a role in being able to use our tools, whether it’s piloting, testing for feasibility, bringing technical assistance on board and to continue to make sure these projects can be financed. We’ve done some work regarding the on grid side of things particularly looking at transmission, we recently brought a delegation of both public and private sector individuals from Nigeria to the USA including the TCN in order to expose them to new technologies and provide what might be needed to try and tackle the challenges in a clean and reliable way.
Therefore we are bringing our technologies, providing our tools and making sure there’s a lot of financing available for projects which is a key piece in being able to accelerate the transition.
I think it also involves focusing on as many projects as possible, we have done and alluded to the off grid work that we are doing to bring as many communities as we can and there is a lot of technology that is developing all the time.
Also communication is very key in all of these so that consumers are aware of this transition and they see the benefits.
Can you tell us more about the U.S. Africa Strategy that was launched in August?
I was privileged to accompany secretary Blinken to South Africa in August where the initiative was launched and personally I appreciate the way the Biden administration is approaching our relationship with Africa. It is one that is clearly set and based on equal partnership on trust, mutual benefit and collective prosperity and Secretary Blinken made it very, very clear that we are working with African nations on critical issues of global importance and national security and Africa has a very important role to play in those conversations.
The focus on partnership and equal partnership is so resonant with an agency like USTDA because that’s how we do our work. The strategy itself has been very clear on its focus of fostering openness on delivering really important security and economic dividends to people, as well as advancing climate adaptation, conservation, and making sure that we are all moving forward in a positive climate while supporting democracy and freedoms across board.
The strategy is one that’s very thoughtful and it puts us all as equals trying to work through complicated issues but it’s also tied with other initiatives that then bring the substance to some of the things that we’ve mentioned.
An example of that is the Partnership for global infrastructure and investment, which is a way that’s going to make sure that economic opportunity is attained so we, as an agency, are very well suited to work under this overall strategy, initiatives like those focused on infrastructure and investment and be the practical implementation of the framework that is set by the Secretary and the administration which has been set exceedingly well.
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We are very clear on what we as an agency have to do to make sure that it is uplifted and that we give it substance in the work that we do which is in infrastructure development and in making sure that economic growth and recovery occurs as a result of infrastructure.
We also bring partnerships into it by bringing our private sector, and matching them with the Nigerian private sector or public sector as well.
Going forward, what should Nigeria and its business community expect from the USTDA?
Going forward, we will have continued engagement, continued partnership, exploration of innovative ways of addressing challenges. We’re not afraid to take considered risks, as we’re in the early stages of project development and we want to delimit risks for the banks and the private sector.
We want to be innovative and creative which is something I see in our partners all the time and the business community can expect that kind of focused willingness and openness to work together in partnership.
They can expect the continued focus on clean energy, on digital infrastructure, on healthcare infrastructure which are really strong for us.
They can also expect from us continued dialogue because I think that it’s important always to be clear of what works and what doesn’t work because we’re always focused on results in the end, so we want to make sure that we continue that key dialogue, and that we continue to be good ambassadors for our country’s focus as set in the US strategy towards Africa, and in the different initiatives.
And then we really focus on partnership for global infrastructure investment as well as really important instruments in showing how these can be put into practice, how it can be translated into action, and how it can result in change, advancement and growth and I think that’s the most important thing that people can expect.
