The chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa, Tony Elumelu, has urged African governments to unlock the continent’s vast pension funds.

Mr Elumelu made the call during the inauguration of the white paper on mobilising over $4 trillion untapped domestic capital across Africa, presented by UBA in Washington on Thursday. He urged them to fix the continent’s perennial electricity crisis if they truly desire to power inclusive growth and innovation.

Mr Elumelu said that the continent can no longer depend on foreign capital for development while sitting on idle resources that could be put to productive use. According to him, sustainable development must be financed from within, beginning with the continent’s pension and sovereign funds.

He said that trillions of naira and dollars in pension assets were currently locked up in low-yield instruments such as treasury bills and sovereign securities. He said that such funds could be channelled into infrastructure, manufacturing, and renewable energy.

“Getting pension funds and investing them in treasury bills is not what will help Nigeria or Africa develop. You need to go and invest in critical sectors. There might be a five per cent or ten per cent loss, no problem, we will learn over time. But we need it to work for the African people,” he said.

Mr Elumelu said that the U.S. pension funds played a pivotal role in financing industrial and technological growth. He commended Nigeria’s establishment of the Contributory Pension Scheme under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He described the CPS as a visionary reform, but stressed that the time has come for those funds to go to work for national development.

Mr Elumelu said that the pension fund was one of the best initiatives Nigeria had undertaken, which must now be deployed strategically. He said that more than half of Africa’s population still lacked access to electricity.

“This situation is unacceptable and incompatible with the ambition of building a digital and AI-driven economy. Electricity is so critical to powering data and AI revolution. Over 50 per cent of our people do not have access to electricity. It is unacceptable. Our youth are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for systems that work,” he said.

Mr Elumelu said that the power sector remained the single most critical barrier to Africa’s transformation. According to him, without reliable energy, the continent’s digital ambitions will remain a mirage.

“We have been saying ‘Africa rise’ for 25 years. Let us get to work and fix things, starting with improving access to electricity,” he said.

Mr Elumelu said that the UBA white paper, which was unveiled at the global meeting, calls for collaboration among African governments, development finance institutions, and private investors to mobilise domestic resources for long-term growth. He urged policymakers to demonstrate leadership by creating the right environment for investment.

He said that local capital mobilisation would signal seriousness to international investors and attract even more funds into Africa’s growth sectors.

“Once we begin to mobilise our own trillion dollars, others will come in because they will see that we are serious. Our youths are talented, resourceful, and ambitious. They do not want handouts, they want systems that work,” he said.

The UBA chairman also said that Africa’s young population held immense potential, adding that this potential will only be realised when governments commit to solving the foundational challenges of electricity, access to finance, and governance.

(NAN)