Nigeria requires $75bn in 5 years to sustain recovery growth

By Benjamin Umuteme

Abuja

The Managing Director Infrastructure Bank, Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye has said that Nigeria needs to sprnd $75 billion over the next five years if it is to sustain its robust economic recovery and growth.
Mr. Oyinloye, said this in Abuja at a forum for set 1988 Economics Class, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Added that capital investments in infrastructure was a reliable avenue for engendering sustainable economic growth and development.
In a paper he presented on “Economic Indices and Relationship with Infrastructure Development” Mr. Oyinloye, noted that infrastructure is a vital ingredient for boosting productivity and economic growth in any country.
“According to the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), Nigeria needs about $35 billion per annum for a succeeding period of five years to sustain robust economic growth.
“That is what we need but we have never gone beyond about $12 billion; so it estimated that the infrastructure funding needs for the next 30 years is in the region of $3 trillion.
“The NIIMP relies on empirical data to identify critical linkages between economic growth, sustainability and Infrastructure development.
“And emphatically noted that developed economies typically record core infrastructure stock and value of about 70 per cent of this stock as proportion of their GDP.
“With power and transportation infrastructure usually accounting for at least half of that total stock volume.
“In contrast to national benchmark however, Nigeria’s core infrastructure stock is estimated as at today to be around 20 to 25 per cent of our GDP,” he said.
He, however, said it was important to utilize relevant economic indices to ascertain its level of investment.
He explained that for emerging and frontier economies, the imperative for governments in terms of infrastructure investments was to attract private participation in infrastructure financing.

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