‘$39 billion needed annually to tackle Africa’s infrastructure deficit’

All is set for the 1st Regional Summit of the World Council of Civil Engineers (WCCE) tagged Afrisummit 2023 with the Theme: “Infrastructure Deficit and The Challenge of Development in SubSahara Africa”, which will hold at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja on Thursday, 10th and Friday 11th August, 2023.

The two-day summit according to the organisers will focus on issues surrounding infrastructural development in Africa as speakers from Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia and the United States expected to address participants that will have in attendance among others the governor of Nasarawa State, Engineer Abdullahi Sule who will be the special guest of honour and the President of the WCCE, Jorge Emilio Abramian as chairman of the event.

Addressing the media at WCCE Africa Office in Abuja on Wednesday, the Continental Representative of WCCE for Africa, Engineer (Dr) Aishatu Aliyu Umar, said the huge economic and potential of the African continent was being hampered by infrastructure deficit wedge on the path of its growth and development.

Aliyu Umar said the lack and shortage of investments in infrastructure in Africa is evident in limited access to power, telecommunications, efficient transportation systems, security of lives and properties, road networks, portable water supply and others. She however added a whole lot is required for infrastructure in Africa to fill the available gaps for the growth of the continent.

“Despite the huge economic and political potentials of Africa, infrastructure deficit is a wedge on the path of growth and development. Currently, there are limited access to power, telecommunications, efficient transportation systems, security of lives and properties, road networks, portable water supply, etc. The physical structures that support the smooth running of the African Society are in short supply compared with demand.

“Investments in Infrastructure have consistently lagged behind the huge demand. Electricity is only accessible to about 40% of the population, a third of the rural population has access to roads while only 5% of agriculture is under irrigation.

“Looking at Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 9 which demands, the development of quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, a whole lot are required for infrastructure in Africa to fill the available gaps. Moreso, with a population of over 1.1 billion people, and requiring over 39 billion dollars annual infrastructure expenditure running through the next decades, a herculean task is before the various governments in Africa.

“It is because of the aforementioned that experts have been drawn from across the globe to identify the deficits, challenges posed and proffer solutions that would help African governments with policy reforms in this regard. Given the array of experts particularly in the field of Civil Engineering as resource persons, and the response of engineers and built industry professionals in terms of registration for the summit, there is no doubt that it is headed for outstanding success.”

The chairman, Summit Planning Committee and a former national chairman of the Nigeria Society of Civil Engineers (NICE), Dr Robie James Owivry, in an interview with Nigerian Tribune said the summit will take into consideration on how to put an end to incessant building collapse not just in Nigeria but in Africa, construction of good and durable road network, constant power generation and others through robust presentations that will be discussed by the speakers and the communiqué made available to the media at the end of the summit.

“As we are all aware, the issue of building collapse is a recurring decimal. In recent times in our country and elsewhere in Africa, this is a problem that has been identified. With the theme of the summit, it is very clear that we are ready to address and tackle that. Parts of the challenges we are taking about in terms of development goes hand in hand with the problem of building collapse.

“This summit, as I speak with you, has well-researched papers that will be presented during the program. And I can assure you that we have germane solutions to these challenges. I don’t want to preempt what this summit will give us in the next couple of days but rest assured that there are well-researched papers that will address these issues adequately so that by the time we are done with this program, the issues of challenges attached to building collapse will be a thing of the past,” Owivry told Nigerian Tribune.