The Nigerian government estimates that the country would need an investment of $2.3 trillion over the next 23 years in order to solve its massive infrastructure deficit. This is in response to a request to the United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UK-NIAF) for aid in facilitating workshops to raise awareness and fostering public understanding regarding the Reviewed National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) (2020-2043), as the FG approved vehicle for delivering infrastructure projects in Nigeria at the national and sub-national levels. Given the current political climate and the need to prevent redundancy efforts, it argued that the aid was crucial and exigent.
During Monday’s visit to his office in Abuja by the UK-NIAF support for the President Infrastructure Plan, the minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Atiku Bagudu, was briefed outlining this information. In his address to the guests, Samuel Nwozuzu, Director of the Ministry’s Infrastructure Department, placed emphasis on the importance of raising awareness of the NIIMP by the Ministers of the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council, as a propeller for infrastructural development. According to him, MDAs limited ability to discern financially viable projects pose an inherent constraint to infrastructure development and as well to private sector investments.
Federal and state govt’s have benefited from several NIAF support.
He encouraged NIAF to help accomplish this goal by bolstering the Ministry’s institutional capability and that of other relevant MDAs. Additionally, he requested that the NIAF assist in the development of the 2023-2027 NIIMP Implementation Plan, which he said was outstanding. To ensure a coordinated effort in infrastructure planning, he also encouraged partners to provide the necessary resources to aid the states including the FCT, to create an integrated master plan for their infrastructure that reflects state focus and is in line with national goals. He also requested more aid so the Ministry could create a National Infrastructure Register to keep tabs on national infrastructure stock.
For several crucial infrastructure projects, the federal and state governments have benefited from NIAF support in the context of capacity building for MDAs, Public Private Partnership in project creation, and assistance in mobilizing nearly $600 million in grants and concessionary funds. In addition to developing a $7.2 billion pipeline of climate-smart infrastructure projects, it has collaborated with a wide variety of Federal and selected Sub-National MDAs to create a decision support tool that has been adopted by the Budget Office of the Federation to setup the project pipelines of infrastructure-focused MDAs in the 2023 Appropriation Act.
NAIF aims to increase accessibility of capital for infrastructure.
UK-NIAF was founded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) in response to the federal government request for aid to enhance infrastructure and the quality and reliability of associated services. On the other hand, NAIF is aimed to strengthen the ability of the federal and state governments to plan, fund, and execute infrastructure delivery in Nigeria so that more Nigerians have access to these services. Its overarching objective is to increase the accessibility of capital for infrastructure development, especially through public private partnership (PPP) projects.
Through its comprehensive approach, the NIIMP creates sector objectives, priority programmes, and important enablers for efficient execution, all of which contribute to a holistic picture of infrastructure development in Nigeria. Reviewing the NIIMP in 2020, shows that the country needs to invest USD 2.3 trillion over the following 23 years, beginning in 2021, to increase the stock of infrastructure from 30 percent of GDP to at least 70 percent of GDP by 2043. This goal requires an annual investment of USD 150 billion from 2022-2027.
Robust collaboration between private and public sectors is crucial.
Of the required financial resources, the Public sector is to assume accountability for 48 percent, with the remaining 52 percent to be contributed by the private sector. This is in light of the limited resources of the lean public sectors. It is widely acknowledged that the successful execution of the Reviewed NIIMP and the National Development Plan necessitate a robust collaboration between the private and public sectors. Experts posit that it is important for both the federal and state governments to prioritize the utilization of Public Private Partnership as a means to effectively address the shortfall in infrastructure funding.
Related Link
UK-NIAF: Website
