By Theodore Opara

African Development Bank ADB has affirmed its commitment to support SAGLEV Electromobility Limited, the only fully electric vehicles assembly plant in West and sub-Saharan Africa and other entrepreneurs in the continent who venture into manufacturing in a bid to help Africans industriallise.

The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi  Adesina  made this known when he embarked on a familiarization tour of SAGLEV’s state-of-the- art assembly plant at Imota, Lagos

The visit was part of his ongoing efforts to support regional sustainable industrial development and climate-resilient transportation infrastructure.

Speaking to journalists during the visit, the ADB boss reiterated its commitment to keep supporting African entrepreneurs. 

Commending the chairman of Saglev, Dr. Gbenga Faleye for championing the production of Electric Vehicles in Nigeria, the AfDB boss highlighted the importance of Electric Vehicle in saving the planet earth.

‘’We support entrepreneur and he is a great entrepreneur. We want to ensure we have companies that are also manufacturing in Africa. We can’t just be importing stuffs. So, manufacturing in Africa is a problem. For us, as AfDB, part of our work is industrialization. That is what you see here.

Referring to SAGLE V, he said, ‘’they need power, infrastructure to be able to lower cost of production. Even related to that, electric vehicles require power to charge. That is why, at the bank, in the last 10 years, we have connected more than 28 million people to electricity. We are investing heavily in energy, even right here in Nigeria.

‘’ For him, he is doing the right thing in Nigeria. Helping him is going to be a good asset. Cost of capital is always a challenge. He has put his equity into this. Cost of capital is five times higher than any other part of the world. We can help in many ways to risk lending to companies like this with world class facilities to assemble and manufacture electric vehicles.

‘’We also have lines of credit we provide for many commercial banks in Nigeria to support companies like this and our role, my role is also to be a champion and make sure wherever I go, I champion a good course,’’ he stated.