FG Needs $1.5 Trillion in Ten Years To Bridge Infrastructure Gap – Buhari

Nigeria needs $1.5 Trillion in ten years to close its infrastructure gap, this is according to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. 

President Buhari said this at the Glasgow COP 26 high-level side event on improving global infrastructure hosted by the President of the United States of America, President Joe Biden, EU Commission, Von Der Leyen, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

President Buhari encouraged international investors that Nigeria is ready to receive investment in infrastructural development in the country.

The words of the president were: “My administration has established a clear legal and regulatory framework for private financing of infrastructure to establish a standard process, especially on the monitoring and evaluation process, We look forward to working with you in this regard.”

He continued: “There is a nexus between infrastructural development and the overall economic development of a Nation, my administration identified this early enough as a major enabler of sustainable economic development and the realization of other continental and global development aspirations particularly the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

“On my assumption of office in 2015, Nigeria faced a huge infrastructural deficit and the total National Infrastructure stock was estimated at 35% of the Gross Domestic Product. In solving these problems, we embarked on a massive infrastructure expansion program in the areas of Healthcare, Education, Transportation, Manufacturing, Energy, Housing, Agriculture, and Water Resource.”

The President claimed that his administration has provided more financial resources for these policies, charted new international partnerships, and pursued liberalization policies to allow more private sector participation. He further said his administration introduced the revised National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan – a policy document that ensures that Nigeria’s infrastructure expansion projects are cross-sectorally integrated and environmentally friendly.

His words were: “Build Back Better World” plan, an initiative of the G7 countries, is expected to be a values-driven, high-standard, and transparent infrastructure partnership. It is our fervent hope and expectations that this plan will be pursued to its logical conclusion in order to bridge the infrastructural gap between the North and South. The aim of pursuing quality infrastructure investment is to maximize the positive economic, environmental, social, and development impact of infrastructure and create a virtuous cycle of economic activities while ensuring sound public finances. This virtuous cycle can take various forms in stimulating the economy.“