The African continent needs to invest between US$160 billion (about N$2.8 million) and US$170 billion (about N$2.9 million) annually to lay the foundation for sustainable growth.
This is according to Angolan president João Lourenço, speaking at the third Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure Development in Luanda, Angola, from 28 to 31 October.
The summit focuses on building a sovereign Africa. Leaders therefore united to finance connectivity and integration.
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The event made a resounding call to action by African leaders, who emphasised that unlocking the continent’s full potential as a global growth engine depends on bridging its vast infrastructure financing gap.
Lourenço, who doubles up as the chairperson of the African Union (AU) says Africa must move from words to action.
“This summit represents a decisive step towards mobilising the resources needed to enhance connectivity and integration across our continent,” he said at the event.
The summit was co-hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Union Development Agency (Auda-Nepad) under the theme ‘Capital, Corridors, Trade: Investing in Infrastructure for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Shared Prosperity’.
It also seeks to accelerate strategic and bankable projects that will advance the AfCFTA) – a market of 1.4 billion people.
AUC chairperson Mahmoud Youssouf said Africa is entering a new phase of self-determination, one in which the continent must take ownership of financing, planning, and implementing its own development.
He said infrastructure investment is not merely technical but deeply political and strategic, vital to Africa’s economic sovereignty, competitiveness, and unity.
Youssouf also called for an African-driven ecosystem for development financing through domestic resource mobilisation, stronger private sector participation, and greater access to climate funds.
The chairperson of the AUC framed infrastructure investment as a deeply political and strategic imperative for Africa’s economic sovereignty.
“We are shifting from a logic of assistance to a logic of alliance, where partners align their engagement with priorities defined by Africa itself. What we are building here are not merely roads and bridges.
We are building an Africa that is connected, confident, and sovereign,” he said.
Auda-Nepad chief executive Nardos Bekele-Thomas said the AU, alongside African financial institutions, has already raised US$1.5 billion (about N$25.9 billion) to execute high-impact cross-border projects.
This is since the previous summit in Dakar, Senegal.
“The lesson from Dakar is clear: we can no longer treat financing as a fragmented market of scattered deals. We must transform it into a unified strategy,” Bekele-Thomas said.
She detailed new financial instruments, including the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa’s Project Development Fund, which has achieved a first close of US$118 million (about N$2.03 billion) and is managed by Africa50.
The AU commissioner for infrastructure and energy, Lerato Mataboge, said Africa’s economic aspirations, from industrialisation to integration, hinge on the strength of the infrastructure that connects and empowers its people.
“We cannot talk about the Africa we want without first building the infrastructure we need.
The foundations of prosperity rest on what we build today – our roads, our power grids, our digital networks, and our ports.
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To realise our ambitions, we must embrace two principles: prioritise African financing, skills, and innovation in infrastructure, and advance projects that drive industrialisation.
“Only then can we truly measure our progress by how we’ve built and industrialised our continent,” the commissioner said.
Thrree key agreements were signed at the summit, which includes a partnership between the African Social Security Association and Auda-Nepad to channel African pension funds into continental infrastructure.
Another agreement was with Qatar Airways establishing a US$500-million (about N$8.6 billion) endowment for renewable energy and climate-aligned industrialisation, and lastly, the establishment of the Angola Export and Trade Facility to promote regional cooperation and trade.
The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.
