President Muhammadu Buhari stated on Tuesday that during a ten-year period, Nigeria will require 1.5 trillion dollars to achieve an acceptable level of the National Infrastructure Stock.
According to a statement signed by presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu, President Buhari gave the figure in Glasgow at a COP 26 high-level side event on improving global infrastructure hosted by US Vice President Joe Biden, EU Commission President Von Der Leyen, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
‘‘Nigeria is ready for your investments in infrastructural development in the country.
‘‘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 told world leaders at the high level meeting on the margins of the climate change conference.
President Buhari also stated that his administration was committed to expanding Nigeria’s infrastructure, recognizing that fresh investments in important sectors of the economy would help the country pull 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.
‘‘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 infrastructure deficit and the total National Infrastructure Stock was estimated at 35% of our Gross Domestic Product.
‘‘In solving these problems, we embarked on a massive infrastructure expansion programme in the areas of Health care, Education, Transportation, Manufacturing, Energy, Housing, Agriculture, and Water Resources.
‘‘We provided more financial resources for these policies, charted new international partnerships and pursued liberalization policies to allow private sector participation.
‘‘We introduced the revised National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan – a policy document that ensures our infrastructure expansion projects is cross-sectorally integrated and environmentally friendly, ’’ he said.
The President congratulated the G7 countries on their groundbreaking initiative to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment for low- and middle-income countries.
He stated that the G7 countries’ “Build Back Better World” program is expected to be a values-driven, high-standard, and transparent infrastructure collaboration.
‘‘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,’’ he said.
The President also called for the environmental impact of infrastructure investment to be made transparent to all stakeholders, noting that this will enhance the appreciation of sustainable infrastructure projects and increase awareness of related risks.
