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| Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala wants African people to be able to transform their own lives. Photograph: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images |
Nigerian finance minister, in Liberia as part of UN development panel, wants innovation, infrastructure and jobs for Africa
Better infrastructure, more jobs and innovative ways to pay for both are needed to ensure Africa's development, the Nigerian finance minister said on Friday.
Improving access to electricity, building rural roads, and providing water and sanitation, particularly in increasingly crowded urban areas, "matter so much" to Africans, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the Guardian.
"How do you transform the economy? You've got to provide the basic infrastructure for people to transform their own lives," she said. "You're killing many birds with one stone. If people have power, the welder in a rural area can make money, a woman can make money, children can read, health centres can have cold storage facilities."
