President Umaru Yar’Adua has said that Nigeria required about $9bn annually to meet its infrastructural needs.
Yar’Adua, who spoke at the opening of the 13th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, argued that without boosting infrastructure, the country’s dream of becoming one of the top 20 economies in the world by 2020 would end up a mere wish.
He said, “Surveys consistently identify infrastructure as the major hindrance to the attainment of higher economic growth rates. Infrastructure deficit has resulted in higher costs of doing business, declining rates of capacity utilisation, and a lower quality of life for a majority of our population.
“Our abysmal infrastructural challenge remains the greatest impediment to economic growth. We lag behind many comparable developing countries in terms of infrastructure development indicators.
“It has been estimated that Nigeria will require an annual infrastructure investment ranging between $6bn and $9bn per year.
“It is clear that the resources available to government despite high oil prices are inadequate to cope with these many challenges.”
The President expressed displeasure with the level of commitment by the private sector to the infrastructural challenge in the country.
“Except in the telecommunications sector, the volume of private sector investment in infrastructure is still very scanty,” Yar’Adua said.
He reiterated that his administration was determined to increase private sector participation in the provision of infrastructure in the country.
Besides, the President said that the government would enhance its capacity to provide infrastructure that are less attractive to the private sector.
He also said that his administration would strengthen its ability to effectively regulate infrastructural development and service provision.
He commended the Nigerian Economic Summit Group for the NES, which it organises annually in collaboration with the National Planning Commission.
“It has over the years evolved to become a vibrant and credible platform for engendering productive partnership between the public and private sectors towards the accelerated growth of the nation’s economy,” Yar’Adua said.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Nigeria : Positioning for the Top 20 League’, he noted that the goal was attainable “only if we recommit ourselves to deepening, broadening and accelerating the reform process initiated by the previous administration.”
The President therefore, urged the business community to create the necessary linkages with the capital markets, both local and international.
He added that the business community needed the capital markets to access capital for accelerated development of critical infrastructure as well as the human capital of the nation.
He said the nation should take advantage of the great possibilities provided by the competitive opportunities and advantages in the knowledge and technology-driven world.
“Innovation is a prime driver of change in the global economy today. The most successful countries are those that have supported critical thinking and invested heavily in harnessing and nurturing the creativity, ingenuity and inventiveness of their people,” the President said.
Earlier, the Chairman of NESG, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, had said that the realisation of the objective of taking Nigeria to the top 20 on the world economic scale was a huge task.
Chijama Ogbu and Oscarline Onwuemenyi, Abuja
The Punch
Thursday, September 6, 2007
