The Federal Government has stressed the need for adequate local and foreign investments in infrastructure to boost the nation’s economy.
Mike Onolememen, minister of Works, made this known in Benin at the 2014 Professor Ambrose Alli Distinguished Annual Leadership Lecture Series, organised by the Visionary Leadership Services.
Onolememen, in a key note address titled “Leadership, Good Governance and Infrastructure Development in Nigeria,” stated that good and sustainable infrastructure was necessary in the country to serve as a catalyst for economic growth and creatively engage Nigerians and generate wealth for the country.
The minister, who recalled the state of infrastructure found in the nation’s rail lines, power sector, sea and airports, decades ago, noted that the federal government had focused its attention on infrastructural development in the last few years, following the realisation that it holds the key to the actualisation of government’s transformation agenda and “Nigeria’s vision 20:2020, under the leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
“Infrastructure in Nigeria today is far from being adequate. This is even more evident when compared to countries such as Brazil, Turkey, India and South Africa. A look at some of the statistics indicates the inadequacies of infrastructure in Nigeria. In the road sector for example, Nigeria has a total of about 200, 000 km of roads, out of which only 65, 000 km are paved in bitumen.
“For Nigeria to be among the first 20 economies in the world, our road infrastructure needs to grow from 200, 000 km to about 300, 000 km.
While calling for more private sector funds through Public Private Partnership to supplement the increasingly limited resources of the government, Onolememen disclosed that the federal government had an enabling environment for investors, in form of enactment and reforms, which had accounted for the success recorded by some domestic and foreign investors.