Government can’t fix Nigeria’s road project infrastructure deficits alone ~ Mayowa Michael Adeleye

The need for infrastructure investment especially road projects is among the key issues that Nigerians hope that Buhari-led Government will bring CHANGE.

From the hospitals that heal us to the roads and bridges that link us, there’s no question that Nigeria's infrastructure is in urgent need of renewal. And while a recent announcement by the federal government of N200-billion in 2016 Budget for road infrastructure funding is a welcome development, much more needs to be done.

Nigeria’s current federal road projects infrastructural deficit is estimated to be in excess of N 2 trillion. It is unlikely that federal government can close this gap on their own. That is why innovative funding approaches are required.

Yes, the FG budgeted N200bn for federal roads construction financing in the 2016 National budget which is  an improvement over the N18bn budgeted for road project in 2015.

However, according to Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, ongoing road projects alone awarded by the PDP GEJ-led government before APC-PMB led government were about 266 roads already-awarded in the various states with liability in excess of N2trillion to complete them.

What the last administration did was to budget N18billion for all the roads in the country, knowing the liability was in excess of N2trilion.

So, looking at the approved N200 billion for roads project in 2016, you know that that is not enough to meet the chronic roads network infrastructural deficit in Nigeria.

Federal Government must urgently consider alternative sources of funds to deliver more road projects. There is need for FG to seek alternative funding sources away from the annual ritual of statutory funding through the budget.

The Public Private Partnership 3Ps with toll gating with technology is an option. Some discussions and ideas have to be generated on how to seek additional funds outside the budget.

There has to be a way to increase funding since the annual budget ritual cannot address the funding gap. It's obvious that Federal government do not have enough resources to complete all the previously awarded but un-completed road projects at present.

For example, part of the benefits of the recent President Buhari's official visit to China was the signing of the MoU for foreign direct investment of $1 billion USD (N200bn) for the development of a new greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under a tripartite agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank, Sinohydro Corporation Limited and Nigerian  Federal Government.

Nigeria government must welcome more and more private companies that can offer innovative solutions by investing in long term assets, and strong appetite to invest in Nigerian road network infrastructures, to keep our country moving forward.

Its impressive to hear from Mr Fashola that the focus of Buhari led Federal Government for now would be to complete some of the road projects already awarded but uncompleted by GEJ led administration and not to undertake awarding any new road construction projects.

Some of the key federal road projects to gulp the N200bn in the 2016 Budget include:

Kano-Maiduguri Road (N16bn)
Abuja-Lokoja Road (N10bn)
Apapa-Oshodi Road (N5bn)
Sokoto-Kontagora Road (N4bn)
Ilorin-Jebba Road (N6bn)
Itu-Ikot-Ekpene Road (N6bn)
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (N50bn)
2nd  Niger Bridge (17bn) etc

Nigeria has the potential of becoming Africa leader in the use of public, private partnerships (or P3s) to help fund capital projects like hospitals, transit project and airports. The need is urgent and growing.

The states and federal governments, insurers and other capital financing private investors need to work together to develop standardized P3 documentation for smaller to bigger projects and to find ways to bundle smaller projects together to achieve greater scale.

PPP Nigeria can in fact be created as government agency to develop and share P3 best practices and to encourage and increase the use of P3s throughout Nigeria. Such agency will play leadership role, expertise, and influence directly on the P3 market nationally.