Nigeria Needs $2.3tr To Close Infrastructural Gap- Minister

The minister of state for finance, budget and national planning, Clem Agba has disclosed that, based on the reviewed national integrated infrastructure master plan, $2.3 trillion is needed to close infrastructural gap in the country.

Agba made this known during a media parley in Abuja on Monday.

He said the new master plan provided the roadmap for building a world-class infrastructure that would guarantee sustainable growth and development in Nigeria.

Agba added that the country has a $2.3 trillion infrastructural gap and plans to ensure that 70 percent of the infrastructure stock from the current 30 to 35 percent is closed by 2043.

The minister added that the plan also prescribes an expenditure of $150 billion annually to achieve this target.

He said his ministry, through the infrastructure department, had ensured an annual production of national infrastructure report to track the level of implementation and development on infrastructure across all sectors while also coordinating the review of the national road safety strategy (NRSS:2021-2030) to assist in the reduction of road accident fatalities on Nigerian roads.

Agba also said Nigeria’s budgetary processes were much more transparent and participatory now, as all stakeholders, especially the citizens, were carried along and enabled to make input into the processes.

The minister further said the country has been accepted into the membership of the Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group, a transnational body established to drive a “set of best practice disclosure principles”.