The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in its Independence Day message said that Nigeria needs to seek innovative ways of effectively funding infrastructure development, citing failures of budgetary allocations over the years.
This was disclosed by the LCCI boss, Dr Chinyere Almona, on Friday.
She added that infrastructure financing was one of the major challenges facing the nation, as it would be beneficial to Nigeria’s economic preparedness and productivity.
What the LCCI said
“Budgetary allocations have proved to be grossly inadequate for effective funding of infrastructure in Nigeria, neither can we continually depend on debt financing as the debt profile is already at an unsustainable threshold.
“It is thus imperative to seek innovative ways of effectively funding infrastructure in Nigeria. We need to develop new strategies to attract private sector capital to the infrastructure space.
“This should cover the broad spectrum of infrastructure provision – roads, railways, airports, waterways, electricity, and transition to renewable energy,” she said.
The LCCI boss added that the effective implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act was critical to reforming Nigeria’s oil and gas sector to attract more Foreign Direct Investments, as improved FDI rate reduces burdens on Nigeria’s FX markets.
“All of these are essential to reduce the systemic distortions and disruptions resulting from the current model of foreign exchange management.
“It is important as well to deemphasise demand management and scale-up strategies to support the supply side of the forex make,” she said.
The LCCI added that government needs to urgently deal with the escalating cost of governance, fiscal leakages, and revenue optimization issues, citing rising acute revenue challenges as an increasingly disturbing scenario at all levels of government.
In case you missed it
Recall that Nairametrics reported last week that InfraCorp Plc, a N15 trillion infrastructure fund that will enhance finance for capital projects, will be created in October, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The CBN added that the project, which was designed by the CBN in collaboration with the African Finance Corporation and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, will aid in addressing the country’s infrastructure deficit.
