Nigeria Needs N35.8trn Yearly to Solve Infrastructure issues

• Nigeria Needs N35.8trn Yearly to Solve Infrastructure issues

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, on Monday said for Nigeria to effectively tackle its infrastructural challenges, the Federal Government needs around $100 billion or N35.8 trillion yearly for the next 30 years.

The minister made the statement at a workshop on ‘Maximizing finance for development of infrastructure in Nigeria’ organised by the World Bank Group in Abuja.

According to her, the estimate was based on the country’s population growth rate and urbanisation, adding that the country would focus on increasing its infrastructure stock from the current 30 percent of the Gross Domestic Product to at least 70 percent by 2043, 30 years from now. An estimated sum of $3 trillion.

She said, “Nigeria requires an estimated sum of $3tn to bridge its infrastructure gap over a 30-year period. This amounts to roughly $100bn per year, with a total federal budget of less than $30bn for 2019 and the dependency of Nigeria’s income on oil revenue with unpredictable global price fluctuation, Nigeria no doubt lacks the fiscal space to self-finance the required infrastructure investment.”

She, however, said the government will have to source for funding as the nation’s budget alone can not address the challenge.

It should be recalled that the former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, also called for more funding to address the nation’s infrastructure earlier this year.

“We have realised that there is need for more investments to cover the infrastructure deficit in the country. We are trying to figure out how to raise $140 billion to achieve this over the next four to five years. This is something the government is taking a very hard look at and we are thinking of how to partner with great countries like America as well as other nations and businesses around the world,” Enelamah said.