A clear vision on Nigeria in 2020

In 2009, GE signed its first ambitious company-to-country (C2C) agreement with Nigeria as a clear sign of its commitment to the African powerhouse. Fast-forward five years, buoyed by the success of the first C2C agreement, a renewed C2C is in place. The C2C serves as GE’s holistic commitment to Nigeria’s future. The commitment is not only about foreign direct investment, but also about job creation and ensuring that Nigerian growth is sustainable and local talent is supporting the booming economy.

While Nigeria is already the biggest economy in Africa, sustaining economic development will depend on a multitude of factors, including the development of key sectors. As a global infrastructure company, GE recognised the need to establish a partnership with the Nigerian government to drive progress in critical sectors of power infrastructure, healthcare and transportation. By supporting Nigerian economic development, the real opportunity for economic upliftment can materialise and the flow-on effect of social upliftment will follow.

The C2C is a strategic framework that outlines how GE and Nigeria will collaborate in achieving the country’s ‘20:20:20’ vision, making it one of the world’s biggest economies by 2020. The measurement of success will be contingent upon significant reform and growth across all key sectors and a higher rate of employment.

Energy

Reforming the power sector is seen as vital for Nigeria’s future as current power generation falls short of demand. GE has supported the government and private companies in financing, designing and building power infrastructure as part of a commitment to generate another 10 000 MW of electricity over the next ten years. Eight power plants have been returned to full operating capacity, bringing more reliable and consistent power to the country.

Healthcare

With a population of more than 173 million people and a healthcare sector defined as ‘ailing’, there is also an urgent need to rejuvenate Nigeria’s healthcare sector to improve the quality and availability of healthcare for all Nigerians. The Nigerian government has pledged to provide free medical services to the most vulnerable and basic services to children under five, pregnant women, the over 65s and people with disabilities. But to meet this commitment, the necessary infrastructure and workforce needs to be in place. To this end, GE is providing financing and equipment to a new 75-bed women’s hospital in Abuja. 300 clinicians have received training through GE on clinical leadership, technical support and life support to ensure that local healthcare workers have more capacity and expertise to manage trauma-related illness.

Transport

The transportation and logistics sector is crucial to moving goods around Nigeria. It is cited that road and rail development in Nigeria could be at the heart of job creation if it is used to foster youth employment and skills development. Key to this is improving the rail network, which has seen GE support the Nigerian Railway Company by providing 25 locomotives and training 100 of its engineers. The next five years will see GE working with partners to develop a local locomotive assembly facility to service the region.

Significant developments have been made across key sectors in the past five years, including the creation of hundreds of jobs for Nigeria’s people. As the country continues to progress, the C2C agreement will help promote exponential growth by laying the foundations of one of the world’s next great economies.

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