Nigeria close to naming board, CEO for InfraCo

All four fund managers for InfraCo have been selected including Afrinvest led by Oxford trained IK Chioke who has been appointed to the board of NSIA which is a major investor in InfraCo. BusinessDay learnt that this could be a major source of conflict for Mr Chioke and his company

The Nigerian government will soon name the board and chief executive officer for the newly created Infrastructure company InfraCo, set up in partnership with the private sector.

To this end, the government had advertised spaces in prominent newspapers including the Financial Times and Economist last month of which about 400 people responded.

Professional Services firm, KPMG pruned this down to 59 and then 8. Interviews for the 59 applicants could be held next week after which announcement will follow. The board candidates are already selected according to a BusinessDay source.

The source also said that there could be room for one international face on the board as well as a well respected Nigerian with strong understanding of the pension industry and its financing.

A major task of the board and CEO will be how to wrestle control of assets from ministers who are so far not showing any willingness to hand over assets in their control to InfraCo. Without such assets there will be nothing for InfraCo to finance and upgrade or modernise.

President Muhammadu Buhari gave the go-ahead for the launch of the infrastructure company with initial seed capital of N1Trillion naira.

Infraco is set up in partnership with the private sector and is expected to grow its capital and assets to N15 trillion over time to fund public projects like roads, rails and power.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said upon its take-off, with the credibility of the listed promoters and the quantum of funds, the corporation will meet the infrastructural needs of the economy through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Isaac Anyaogu

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States