Nigeria needs $2.9 trillion to build infrastructure in 30 yrs —Minister

MINISTER of National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, has said the Federal Government requires about $2.9 trillion for the development of infrastructure in the next 30 years.   

Speaking at the infrastructure roundtable organised by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Lagos, on Monday, the minister called on stakeholders to collaborate with the Federal Government in infrastructure development, stating that budgetary resource alone was not adequate to meet the infrastructure requirements of the country.

He maintained that Nigeria needed to invest an average of $25 billion per annum between 2014 and 2018 to develop infrastructure, compared with about $10 billion the government had spent.

According to the breakdown given by him, transport, agriculture and energy sectors required $800 billion, $350 billion and $900 billion respectively, while housing, information communications technology (ICT), social infrastructure and vital registration and security would attract $300 billion, $300 billion, $150 billion and $50 billion respectively.

The minister said the government’s operational plan was that public sector would contribute 52 per cent of the total infrastructure, while 48 per cent would be taken care of by the private sector.                                              

Also speaking, Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, identified dearth of infrastructural facilities as the  hindrance to the growth of the nation’s economy.

He noted that critical area Nigeria needed to develop was the human capital, stressing that economic growth would only be achieved under good governance.  

In her keynote address, the Director-General of SEC, Ms Arunma Oteh, said infrastructure was the lifeblood of any economy, adding that no economy could grow without a reasonable stock of critical infrastructure.