(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Usman-300x192.jpg) The National Planning Minister, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman has urged the private sector to take advantage of the huge capital outlay of the proposed National Integrated Infrastructure Master plan (NIIMP) to invest in the project and reap the expected huge returns on investments.
Dr. Usman, who stated this in his address at a dinner organised by the Business Support Group (BSG) for the handover to the Minister, of the input of the private sector to the NIIMP in Lagos, last weekend, stressed that the private sector would be expected to play a more significant role in financing infrastructure development in the country, especially as the draft NIIMP expects 48% of the required funding to come from the sector.
Dr. Usman further noted that the NIIMP which is being developed by the National Planning Commission, aims to raise Nigeria's stock of infrastructure from the current 35-40% of GDP to 70% of GDP by 2043.
According to him, the plan "will require huge investment of over USD2.9 trillion. It also implies that infrastructure spend would have to increase reasonably quickly, from the current 3-5% of GDP to an average of 9% over the 30 year period with an estimated 2% of the GDP spent on maintenance of infrastructure."
Describing the NIIMP as a 30-year master plan for accelerating infrastructure development in the country, the Minister explained that, "the main objective of setting up the Business Support Group (BSG) of the NIIMP was, in fact to harvest from the private sector; it's perception of the required enabling environment as well as the specific actions required to achieve it." He said further that
"There is no gainsaying the fact that the current infrastructure stock in the country is grossly inadequate to meet the demands of the economy. It is clear that we cannot grow the economy at the desired rate, reduce poverty to an appreciable level and create jobs in sufficient quantity for our teeming youths, given the current state of our infrastructure. More directly, inadequate infrastructure is one of the main reasons responsible for Nigeria's inability to compete effectively, in a highly competitive global economy."
Dr. Usman however, noted that the great potential for private sector participation places additional responsibility on the public sector.
"It calls on governments at all levels to intensify effort in creating the enabling environment to attract private investors."
The Minister further explained that the draft NIIMP captures the "overall investments required in infrastructure, over the next 30 years and contains a financing plan and sector and regional strategies, as well as a priority projects portfolio."
Earlier, Chief Oba Otudeko and Mr Aigboje Aig-imoukhuede who are both Co-Chairs of the BSG thanked the Minister for galvanising a process of planning that has strategically brought both the public and private sector together in the quest for national development.
They further stated that the private sector has endorsed public private partnership as the most potent globally accepted model for infrastructure development, and urged the government at all levels to provide the enabling environment for meaningful investment.
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Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria