Vice President Shettima calls for impact-driven investments and private enterprise to boost Africa’s growth and reduce aid dependency

Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for a decisive move away from aid-dependent development models toward impact-driven investments, emphasising that Africa’s sustainable growth will rely on patient capital, blended finance, and private enterprise.

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Shettima made the remarks at the Africa Social Impact Summit High-Level Policy Engagement held at the State House, Abuja, where he was represented by Hauwa Liman, Technical Adviser on Women, Youth Engagement and Impact.

He stressed that development must extend beyond public spending to include long-term investments in human capital, productive systems, climate resilience, digital infrastructure, and inclusive markets.

“The future of this continent will not be financed by aid alone. It will be driven by patient capital, catalytic capital, blended finance and private enterprise deployed with discipline and guided by impact,” he said.

He described impact investing not as philanthropy in disguise, but as “strategic capitalism” linking sustainable returns to stable societies, educated workforces, healthy populations, and resilient ecosystems.

Shettima highlighted Nigeria’s alignment with this approach under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, citing reforms in education, health, social protection, agriculture, climate action, digital infrastructure, and financial inclusion.

He stressed that no government can deliver Africa’s development agenda alone, noting that platforms such as the Africa Social Impact Summit enable co-investment and co-delivery with policymakers, development partners, private sector leaders, and civil society organisations.

“The stakes are too high for disunity. Development is not done to people; it is built with them. Progress demands coalition,” he said, warning that fragmented efforts could undermine growth and opportunity, particularly for youth and women.

Echoing Shettima’s remarks, Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Executive Director (South) of Alternative Bank, stressed the importance of public-private collaboration and stable policies to unlock blended finance for inclusive growth.

She noted that blended finance projects often outperform purely commercial models, citing an initiative in Kano that provided women access to electric vehicles as an example of socially impactful yet commercially viable investments.

Demola-Adeniyi emphasised that inconsistent policy frameworks remain a major barrier to financing impactful projects and urged predictable governance to achieve Nigeria’s development ambitions, including the administration’s one-trillion-dollar economy target.

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The engagement, hosted by the Office of the Vice President in partnership with Sterling One Foundation and the United Nations Nigeria, focused on “Scaling Action: Driving Inclusive Growth Through Policy and Innovation,” and highlighted the need for coalition-building and strategic investment to achieve sustainable continental development.