Since its inception in 2017, the Nigerian Infrastructure Credit Enhancement Facility (InfraCredit) has reshaped Nigeria’s infrastructure financing landscape by providing local currency guarantees that de-risk investments and enable long-term project financing. Born from a partnership between the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), InfraCredit was initially backed by a $25 million contingent capital injection from GuarantCo. This was followed by an additional $27 million equity investment from InfraCo, another PIDG entity, in 2020. These capital boosts expanded InfraCredit’s balance sheet and capacity to support large-scale infrastructure projects.
By December 2024, InfraCredit had guaranteed 24 transactions worth over ₦200 billion, drawing participation from 21 domestic institutional investors, including pension funds, banks, insurers, and fund managers. Its guarantees enabled average bond tenors of 11 years, far exceeding the market’s 3.2-year average. This financing helped fund projects in renewable energy, transport, logistics, telecoms, and off-grid power, opening these sectors to long-term local capital for the first time. A notable early success was the ₦8.5 billion green bond by North South Power in 2019—the first of its kind and the longest-dated corporate bond in the Nigerian market at the time.
Between 2017 and 2022, InfraCredit’s net income from investments and guarantees grew by 1,000%, with its portfolio touching over one million lives and supporting more than 1,000 MSMEs. The impact of this local model has led PIDG to replicate similar facilities—InfraZamin in Pakistan (2021), Dhamana Guarantee Company in Kenya (2024), and ongoing partnerships in Cambodia, Vietnam, Ghana, and Francophone West Africa. With a goal of reaching $500 million in guarantees by 2026, InfraCredit exemplifies a sustainable approach to financing Africa’s infrastructure—grounded in domestic capital and long-term partnerships.
