IFC moves to unlock private capital for Nigeria’s risky sectors

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is seeking to develop innovative financing platforms and risk mitigation solutions that can unlock more private capital for strategic sectors of the Nigerian economy, including agriculture, infrastructure and small businesses.

Division Director, Nigeria and Central Africa at the IFC, Olivier Buyoya, disclosed this during a press conference in Lagos ahead of the 2026 Africa Financial Summit (AFIS), scheduled to hold in Luanda, Angola, on November 3 and 4. Buyoya said the approach forms part of the IFC and World Bank Group’s new five-year Country Partnership Framework, which seeks to bring stakeholders together to co-create solutions to some of the continent’s major financing challenges.

The objective is to mobilise capital that already exists within the financial system but is not being deployed to strategic sectors because of perceived risks. “The idea is how do we create platforms, solutions, so that we can mobilize funding that is out there but not being deployed in those sectors because they are deemed risky,” Buyoya said.

Kanyi Daily reports that Buyoya highlighted agricultural financing as one of the areas requiring urgent intervention, noting that Nigerian commercial banks currently allocate less than 5% of their lending to the sector. He said increasing financing to agriculture is critical to improving food security and creating jobs, particularly as African economies seek to expand domestic production. The IFC and World Bank Group are therefore working on structures that can provide greater comfort to financial institutions and capital market players to lend to sectors traditionally considered high risk.

Principal Investment Officer at IFC, Dafe Oraka, said the corporation is also expanding its use of local currency financing as African businesses face significant currency volatility. He said IFC historically provided much of its financing in US dollars because it operates from a dollar balance sheet. However, currency volatility across markets such as Nigeria has increased the need for longer-term financing denominated in local currencies.

Oraka cited IFC’s partnership with Access Bank as an example of the new approach. IFC and Access Bank signed a local currency borrowing framework agreement in May that is designed to enable the bank to source local currency across multiple African markets where it operates. The arrangement is expected to support the provision of long-term local currency financing to small and medium-sized enterprises and other businesses across the continent.

Director of AFIS, Hicham Al Morabet, said the summit was established in 2021 as a partnership between IFC and the Jeune Afrique Media Group to bring together key stakeholders across Africa’s financial services industry. The platform brings together banks, insurers, development finance institutions, fintechs, policymakers and other financial sector players. According to Al Morabet, AFIS has evolved from being primarily a platform for dialogue towards greater coordination and tangible outcomes.

“The purpose of the project was always to foster financial integration on the continent and to make the financial sector players on the continent work together to make the sector stronger and to finance the real economy,” he said. The 2026 edition will be held in Luanda under the theme of strengthening Africa’s financial sector and mobilising capital for economic development. The organisers expect more than 1,250 senior financial industry leaders to attend, including bankers, insurers, fintech executives, capital market specialists, regulators and policymakers.

Nigeria’s specialised infrastructure credit guarantee institution, InfraCredit, has secured a $50 million subordinated unsecured 10-year debt facility from the IFC. InfraCredit said the facility would strengthen its capital structure and enhance its capacity to support a growing pipeline of infrastructure transactions and mobilise long-term local currency financing across sectors including renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, digital infrastructure and green growth, telecommunications, healthcare, transportation and other productive sectors of the Nigerian economy.