Afreximbank invests $75 million to boost research at Africa Medical Center of Excellence
By Ojoma Akor
President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, Dr. George Elombi, says the bank has provided a $75 million grant to drive research at the African Medical Center of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja, Nigeria.
AMCE is a 500-bed medical health facility developed by the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in partnership with King’s College Hospital, London (KCH).
Speaking at Afreximbank’s mid-year media roundtable in Abuja, Elombi said the investment aims to transform treatment for sickle cell disease, cancer and other conditions that disproportionately affect Africans.
He said Afreximbank has established the Africa Life Sciences Foundation to mobilize appropriate risk capital to drive research efforts at the hospital.
He said the bank is also positioning the hospital not only as a world-class treatment facility but also as a leading center for medical research and innovation.
“We have already put an endowment of $75 million to create a research center at the AMCE,” Elombi said.
Elombi said the AMCE is already making an impact, with patients who previously traveled abroad for treatment now receiving specialized care in Nigeria.
He described the hospital as a quaternary referral facility, equipped with some of the most advanced medical technologies available globally.
According to him, the center offers highly specialized cardiology services and other advanced procedures previously unavailable in Nigeria, thereby reducing the need for medical tourism.
He said sickle cell disease remains a major priority because it disproportionately affects people of African descent and requires African-led research to develop better treatments and long-term solutions.
According to him, the research program will help scientists understand why patients from different African populations may respond differently to treatments for diseases such as sickle cell disease and cancer.
He explained that identifying these patterns could lead to new medical discoveries, patents, and commercial opportunities while improving patient care across the continent.
“If we don’t do that research, the data will be collected here and analyzed elsewhere. Others will develop the innovations and benefit from the intellectual property, while Africa loses both the knowledge and the economic value,” he said.
He also highlighted the hospital’s investment in advanced cancer treatment technology, including the installation of a cyclotron, a specialized machine that produces radioactive isotopes used in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
He explained that because many medical isotopes have very short lifespans and cannot easily be transported over long distances, producing them locally will significantly improve access to advanced cancer care in Nigeria and across West Africa.
Funding sources now more diversified
Elombi said Afreximbank has significantly diversified its funding sources in recent years, reducing reliance on Western capital markets.
He disclosed that about 38 percent of the bank’s liquidity now comes from Africa, another 38 percent from Asia, with the remainder sourced largely from the Middle East and other markets.
He added that the bank has also mobilized substantial deposits from African central banks and corporations through its Central Bank Deposit Program, strengthening liquidity while reducing dependence on expensive international borrowing.
The Afreximbank president also called for the establishment of an African credit rating agency, saying that African professionals are best placed to assess risks in light of the continent’s economic realities.
He said the initiative, being supported through the African Union’s African Peer Review Mechanism, would provide investors with assessments that better reflect African contexts while maintaining international standards.
“Risk must be understood within its environment. African experts understand African markets and can assess them objectively,” he said.
According to him, the proposed agency will eventually operate independently under private-sector management to ensure professional credibility and neutrality.
PAPSS expanding across Africa
On the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), Elombi described the platform as one of the continent’s most important financial infrastructure projects, enabling businesses to settle cross-border transactions in African currencies without first converting to the US dollar.
He said PAPSS now connects 28 African countries and more than 190 commercial banks and payment switches, although he acknowledged that wider adoption is needed.
“We are dealing with about 600 commercial banks across Africa, so we need many more institutions to join the platform,” he said.
Elombi explained that PAPSS already supports products such as the African Currency Marketplace, which enables airlines and businesses to settle local-currency balances across borders more efficiently, easing pressure on foreign-exchange markets.
He added that the PAPSS Card, a continental payment card designed to facilitate cross-border transactions within Africa, is expected to be launched after the newly established management team completes its rollout plans.
Addressing questions on cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, Elombi said Afreximbank does not view digital assets as competitors to PAPSS.
Instead, he said the bank believes regulated payment systems and properly backed digital currencies can complement one another, provided they maintain public trust and financial stability.
—urges African media to change the narrative
He called on African journalists to reshape global perceptions of the continent by reporting more stories of innovation, industrialization and economic progress, arguing that persistent negative narratives contribute to unfair assessments of African economies and institutions.
He also pledged greater engagement with African journalists, promising easier access to PAPSS executives and technical experts to improve public understanding of the payment system and Afreximbank’s broader development agenda.
“We want to work with the media regularly because telling Africa’s development story is a shared responsibility,” Elombi said.
“If we continue to project only war, hunger, conflict and failure, the world will continue to believe that Africa is defined by risk,” he said.
According to him, African media have a responsibility to tell balanced stories that also highlight new factories, hospitals, airports, refineries, technological innovation and democratic progress taking place across the continent.
He said journalism, like banking, should serve a broader developmental purpose.