Juliana Twiwo- Obalonye, Abuja
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has advised the Federal Government to invest its idle pension funds estimated at N9.56 trillion for infrastructural revolution in the country.
According to him, African countries with over $1.8trillion pension and sovereign wealth assets, could leverage on such huge resources to develop infrastructure in the continent.
According to him, the biggest thing to happen to Africa is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), saying the free trade area itself is worth over $3.3 trillion dollars.
Adesina, who stated this when he addressed State House correspondents in Abuja, yesterday, expressed the hope that the effective implementation of AfCFTA would transform the continent to a greater height.
He also supported the creation of a single currency by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), named ‘ECO’, describing it as a great idea.
“I think that at the end of the day the biggest thing to happen to Africa is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). That free trade area itself is worth over $3.3 trillion in terms of trade.
“Obviously being able to trade in various currencies, it’s not optimum to trade in so many currencies. So it makes common sense to have a unified currency and of course for that to even been achieved – the Eco, I support Eco greatly, I think it’s a great idea to do.
“But obviously, there are a number of convergence criteria that would have to be met and I am sure that our President is taking with other presidents to be sure that they can meet those criteria and the region can be fully integrated,” he said.