The Chairman, Association of Nigerian Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Mr. Olukayode Pitan, has said that DFIs need fresh ideas, creative approaches and collaborative efforts to bridge the financing gap and drive the transformative changes that Nigeria desperately needs.

Pitan said this, yesterday, at the third Annual General Assembly of the association in Abuja.

Stakeholders in the development finance sector in Nigeria attended the event, themed, “Innovative Financing for Developmental Impact”.

Pitan, the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BOI), described the theme as apt, especially as Nigeria is currently home to an estimated 200 million citizens projected to be the largest population growth in Africa by 2050 to about 400 million people.

He said that as the country strives to achieve sustainable development goals and address global challenges, it has become increasingly clear that traditional financing models are inadequate.

Pitan explained that although innovative financing presents a veritable tool for DFIs to raise additional resources for development, specific market failures and institutional barriers prevent private investment from flowing to developing countries.

According to the BoI boss, key challenges that have impacted development aspirations include asset deterioration, weak corporate governance and risk management frameworks, among others.

These issues, he noted, have also influenced the success and growth of DFIs and private sector players.

Speaking on the importance of international cooperation and solidarity in advancing innovative financing for developmental impacts, Pitan said developed countries could support developing countries by providing resources, technology transfer and capacity building.

“Multilateral institutions, therefore, have a critical role to play in coordinating efforts, mobilising resources and ensuring the effective implementation of innovative financing mechanisms,” he said.

Similarly, Head of Treasury and Financial Institutions at Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Banji Fehintola, said that DFIs in line with new developments and global practices must be innovative and more intentional about making impact.

“As DFIs, we need to start thinking about diversifying our product offering. The issue of having one solution for every problem needs to change. We need to be innovative, and for us to be innovative, we need to invest in attracting the right people,” he said.

Highlighting focus areas for DFIs, he said they must think differently in solving problems and think of different types of equity instruments that can be introduced into the capital structure to attract different types of lenders that would support its capital base.

“As DFIs we need to focus on project development and think about how to support that capital base regularly as capital is a major pillar for our credit rating so we need to,” he said.