IFC chief visits Nigeria to boost private sector growth

Makhtar Diop, managing director, International Finance Corporation (IFC) will be visiting Nigeria and is scheduled to meet with key government figures, including President Bola Tinubu, to discuss how to unlock private investment and growth in Nigeria’s critical sectors. The visit is from Monday June 3 to Thursday June 6.

In Abuja, Diop will meet with Bola Tinubu, President of Nigeria, Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy of Nigeria and Olayemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and other senior government officials.

While in Lagos, Diop will hold strategic engagements with the private sector, including with business leaders across various sectors and women entrepreneurs, on fostering partnerships, unlocking opportunities, and scaling initiatives that support inclusive growth, job creation, and innovation.

Diop’s visit is said to highlight IFC’s commitment to support sustainable private sector growth and job creation in the country, which is increasingly pivotal in revitalizing the country’s economy.

His engagements are said to be focused on enabling private sector-led expansion in Nigeria’s manufacturing, energy, agribusiness, industrial, technology and creative sectors and how IFC can deepen its support for the country’s growth strategy.

IFC has been engaging in Nigeria for more than 30 years and is scaling up its support for private sector development in the country — which is among IFC’s top 10 portfolios globally and IFC’s second largest portfolio in Africa, after South Africa.

IFC has an active investment portfolio of $2.13 billion in key sectors in Nigeria, including manufacturing, agribusiness, energy, digital technology, infrastructure, and financial markets.