Joseph Bakare
Nigeria and Germany have entered into a €365 million development and investment partnership, covering energy infrastructure, agriculture, and private-sector development. The agreement was signed at the German Embassy in Abuja, committing €65 million in fresh financial and technical cooperation alongside a €300 million export credit guarantee framework designed to mobilize long-term investment into strategic sectors.
The €65 million component targets concessional financing for small businesses, renewable energy, and women-led enterprises, while the €300 million export credit line is structured to support both public and private sector investments.
Germany’s Deputy Director General for Economic Cooperation, Philip Knill, described Nigeria as “a giant in Africa” and reaffirmed Germany’s support for the Presidential Power Initiative — a collaboration with Siemens to expand Nigeria’s electricity grid capacity to 25 gigawatts.
Major German firms including Siemens, SAP, Bayer, and STIHL are already exploring opportunities across Nigeria’s energy, digital transformation, and agricultural mechanisation sectors. Existing programmes under the partnership have already reached over 16,000 SMEs and approximately 600,000 smallholder farming households, with the latter recording productivity and income gains of up to 90 per cent.