Nigeria Needs $2.3trn In 30 Years To Solve Infrastructural Deficit — Osinbajo Reveals

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria Vice President, would need $2.3 trillion in the next 30 years to renovate the country’s infrastructure deficit.

He affirmed that the government’s resources would not be enough to handle the deficit, adding that the only way is to partner with Public-Private Organisation in one way or the other.

Osinbajo, in a statement, cited statistics from Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017 – 2020 to support his claim.

The vice president said, “Nigeria will require at least $2.3 trillion over the next 30 years to bridge this gap.

“The review of budgetary allocation for capital expenditure even over the past decade will show that government resources are completely insufficient for this purpose.”

Osinbajo further states that while the government can take either commercial or concessionary loans to develop infrastructure, he added that it would be an additional weight on a usually considerably leverage balance sheet.

He added, “There is a large pool of investable funds from both local and international investors for the development and maintenance of infrastructure.

“But these are only accessible where there is a business case to be made for developing public infrastructure.

“So, for both institutional and individual investors, there is far more comfortable with lending or with equity participation were a private sector entity partners with a public authority owner of the infrastructure.

“This way, the public partner can play its natural role of a regulator (regulation and policy), leaving the business to the private sector whose reason for being in business. So, for investors, PPP presents the best of both worlds.”