Enugu Govt Plans $2bn Diaspora Investment Forum

Gideon Arinze in Enugu

The Enugu State government has announced plans to host the first ever Diaspora and Investment Forum that would see the state rake in $2 billion dollars in additional investments in April 2024.

Governor of the state, Peter Mbah, who made this known yesterday, while addressing a press conference, said the forum was part of his administration’s resolve to move the state’s economy from a public sector to a private sector driven economy and also explore the opportunities in the state’s dormant assets.

To achieve this, he said that his administration would host an Investment and Economic Growth Stakeholder Roundtable in September 2023, which would be the precursor to the launch of the Forum in April.

“The roundtable will engage bilateral and multilateral development partners, as well as senior-level executives from commercial banks, public and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, and other domestic financial institutions for a systematic discussion on advancing viable investment opportunities in the state as my administration steers Enugu State on a path to private sector-led economic transformation,” he said.

He noted that the forum would be multi- stakeholder and fully transactional platform championed by the government to match project sponsors, domestic and international financial institutions; private investors including the diaspora investing community, and development partners to viable investment opportunities in the state that can deliver optimal risk-adjusted returns for the global investing community whilst also increasing Enugu State’s global competitiveness and driving suitable development outcomes in the state.

Mbah explained that his administration has made concerted efforts to identify commercially viable investment and business opportunities that cut across multiple sectors including energy, agribusiness, tourism, and transport, as well as the data center economy.

“We intend to pursue new investment partnerships with financiers, project sponsors and developers, and technical assistance providers to structure, implement and unlock these value transactions,” he said.

“The forum will invite public and private project sponsors, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds, infrastructure funds, private investors, the African diaspora, and bilateral and multilateral development financial institutions to co-invest in Enugu State”.