The Dual-Sided Benefits of The New €44 billion Development Fund For Both Nigeria and Europe

With the news, yesterday, that the European Union had launched a new €44 billion Africa economic development fund aimed at helping Nigeria and other African countries drive economic growth and development, many African countries will already be counting possible gains they can obtain from the facility expected to be available by early 2018.

Obvious gains as stated by the President, EU, Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, for the Nigerian economy include coverage of identified risks to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs).

“Our aim is to help developing economies.  We have decided to create the European external investment fund which is targeted at covering main risks to attract private investment. This kind of fund was really efficient in the European union (EU) where we created investment for strategic investment and we believe this fund will go a long way to help the African economy.” Ansip said.

In addition, the fund aims to harness the potential of the digital industry in Nigeria, which the EU sees as one of the areas with the strongest growth potential.

“Our aim is to support digital development in Africa and also help to build healthy economies in developing countries. The EU is the biggest donor of digital development aids. We believe the fragment of digital aid is little in developing countries, this is where we are. The European Union wants to support digital development in Africa. We will like to provide financing to build strong and healthier economies in developing countries in Africa.” ThisDay quotes Ansip as saying.

However, according to Ansip, the European Union also will benefit from the new loans presented to Africa. According to him, the European Union is already hosting more than 1 million refugees and migrants many of whom come from Africa. The fund would go a long way in reducing the number of refugees who seek greener pastures in European countries.

“This fund meant for supporting development in African countries will be beneficial to the European countries as you know today that most people in Africa prefer to leave African countries to seek greener pastures in European countries. We are faced with lots of refugee crisis. To tackle this menace, we can provide some help to those countries to help build their economies instead of seeking refuge in Europe,” he said.