On 16 October 2025, African leaders and heads of financial institutions gathered in Washington at the initiative of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to explore innovative financing for the continent’s development. For the politician, it is important that Africa trades rather than waiting for aid. This means investing heavily in infrastructure with the support of financial institutions and the private sector.
Africa’s development has long been constrained by its reliance on aid and external borrowing. In 2023, the continent received around US$61 billion in official development assistance. Against this backdrop, on 16 October 2025, African leaders and heads of financial institutions gathered in Washington. Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo emphasised the need for a paradigm shift.
“We can no longer depend on aid. We have talked about trade instead of aid. We are now also emphasizing, greatly emphasizing investment and trade. We are not going to develop Africa on the basis of aid. We are not going to develop Africa on the basis of borrowing money for current expenditure. We are going to develop Africa on the basis of investment in every area of our development”
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, Former President – Nigeria
For former President Olusegun Obasanjo, it is imperative that development banks and the private sector work to facilitate the establishment of infrastructure to facilitate trade. For him, institutions such as Afreximbank play a vital role in transforming these opportunities into real development projects. In 2024, the pan-African bank approved US$22 billion, disbursed US$18.7 billion and reported a net profit of US$973.5 million, demonstrating its growing impact on Africa’s estimated annual financing gap of US$800 billion. According to Dr George Elombi, African multilateral banks offer guarantees and frameworks that encourage foreign and domestic investment.
“One of the mechanisms put in place by African states to encourage foreign investment into the continent were the institutions that they created. The African multilateral financial institutions. These institutions provide most of the guarantees that the foreign investors were looking for. And quite some time was spent also having that discussion about it because the institutions have the capacity to bring that investment at home.”
GEORGE ELOMBI, Incoming president of Afreximbank – Cameroon
By structuring trade finance, supporting value chain development and investing in regional initiatives such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), President Obasandjo demonstrates how the continent can finance its own transformation, turning strategic ambition into tangible development outcomes.
