President and Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Samaila Zubairu, has said the public-private partnership is a vital tool in achieving Nigeria’s infrastructure development goal.
He stated this during a webinar hosted by Atlantic Council and the US-Nigeria council, themed investing in infrastructure for economic recovery in Nigeria: the launch of InfraCorp held on Tuesday.
Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) is an initiative that aims to develop Nigeria’s infrastructure for post- COVID economic recovery by raising no less than N15 trillion ($36.7 billion) from global and local investors.
The project is handled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and AFC.
Speaking at the webinar, Zubairu said that infrastructure is essential in achieving economic recovery, adding that Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit requires an annual investment of $13 billion to fix it.
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This he noted cannot be handled by the government alone, adding that they will provide policies and frameworks like the InfraCorp while the private sector can invest substantial funds.
“Looking at investment efficiency in Nigeria, you see the need to encourage private sector participation, the idea behind InfraCorp is to figure how private sector capital can be mobilized to close the infrastructure deficit gap,” Zubairu said.
Speaking on the InfraCorp, he said the project aims to improve the country’s infrastructure focusing on energy, transport &logistics, digital infrastructure &communication and other sectors of the economy that can drive investments that will induce economic growth in Nigeria.
He also mentioned that the committee set up to oversee the affairs of InfraCorp is working on providing policies and conditions that will attract local and global long term investors.
Speaking on the perceived risk of the initiative, Emmanuel Ukeje, special adviser to the CBN governor on financial markets, said the InfraCorp initiative is based in Nigeria and the financing arrangements are available in Naira and Dollars.
He said as a new entity, beyond the major handlers of the project, InfraCorp will be run by experts across necessary fields like asset managers, fund managers, project managers and developers, etc.
He said the presence of all these experts is to effectively recognize and mitigate possible risk in order to encourage potential investors. He added that Nigeria’s high infrastructure deficit gap will however ensure impressive returns on investments.
Uche Orji, Managing Director& CEO of the NSIA said investment returns are a function of investment type, adding that investors will make their choices based on balanced elements.
He noted that because it is Nigeria, investors may be skeptical but transparency, accountability and good governance will help to establish investor’s confidence.
Orji said consequently, processes are ongoing to select the best hands to handle the project. He added that KPMG has been selected as a transaction adviser while applications are still ongoing for other participants.
