Nigeria needs $3tr for infrastructure —Udoma

About $3.05 trillion will be required over the next 30 years to implement the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma disclosed in Abuja on Thursday.

The plan which will be executed in collaboration with Federal and State governments as well as the private sector will see the public sector taking 52 per cent of the load with the private sector underwriting the balance in the first five years of the plan.

The minister who received the report of a three-day pre-summit workshop from the Infrastructure Private Public Partnership Summit Group (PPPSG) said the NIIMP is a blueprint for accelerated infrastructure development in the country over the next 30 years (2014 -2043); which seeks to raise the stock of infrastructure from the current level of 20-25 per cent of the GDP to at least 70 per cent by 2043.

The PPP Summit Group has a responsibility to chart a course for the PPP funding in some critical sectors as well as establish a private sector led Community of Practice to work in collaboration with government across all levels to ensure the successful implementation of infrastructure roadmaps.

Investments in the NIIMP are geared towards meeting infrastructure requirements of the major sectors of the economy including energy, transport, ICT, agriculture, water and mining, housing, social infrastructure and security and vital registration.

The plan outlines a financing plan for the public sector component of the investment requirement with four major options – public budgets, loans, pension funds and sovereign wealth fund as well as public private partnership (PPP)

He reiterated the importance of infrastructure in turning the economy of the country around and pointed out that in his resolve to revamp the economy, President Mohammadu Buhari is determined to attract as much private sector investment as possible to enable a quick turnaround.