Nigeria’s infrastructure delivery is a huge source of worry as the country’s population is expanding and urbanization is growing, exerting enormous pressure on existing stock, which is grossly inadequate and unable to catalyze development and progress.
Deficit has become a byword for describing or defining infrastructure in the country, whether the story is about energy, road transport or housing. This deficit, coupled with weak policies, are holding the country’s progress back, according to experts.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the Africa Development Bank Group (AfDBG), was quoted as saying that with its huge infrastructure deficit, Nigeria requires $2.3 trillion as total infrastructure investments sum over the next decade to be able to brace the international stock benchmark of 70 percent of gross domestic product.
Adesina, who was referencing the 2020 National Integrated Infrastructure (NIM) master plan, explained that of the $2.3 trillion, the energy sector requires $759 billion, transport sector requires $575 billion, while housing and regional development need $253 billion.
Nigeria’s low infrastructure stock is most manifest in transport, especially roads and bridges, which impedes not only real estate development, but also growth and progress in trade and commerce.
Total length of roads in the country, according to Adedamola Kuti, an engineer and former federal controller of works in Lagos, is about 200,000 kilometres out of which 34,000 kilometres belong to the federal government. The rest are owned by the state and local governments at 16 percent and 66 percent respectively.
The condition of these federal roads, which are mostly highways that connect states and regions, is so poor that only about 35 percent of the network is motorable.
This calls for concerted efforts at various stakeholder-levels to unlock solutions that will accelerate adequate delivery, leading to progress in the country. In other words, there is need to evolve collaborative solutions among relevant stakeholders rather than parties doing blame game
Though the public and private sectors have been doing their best individually and collaboratively to ramp up infrastructure delivery in the country, their best, so far, has not been good enough.
This, however, finds explanation in the fact that Nigeria is a vast country, and meeting its infrastructure needs is a daunting task, especially given the limited resources available.
While significant investments have been made, they are still far from sufficient to bridge the gap which is why experts suggest that the key to progress lies in sustained and deliberate development efforts, ensuring continuity in policy direction and consistent funding for major projects.
It is noteworthy that some engineering and construction firms operating in the country have made significant contributions towards infrastructure delivery in the country and their footprints are all over the place for everyone to see.
One of such firms is Julius Berger (JB), the German construction giant, whose operations in Nigeria date back several decades. The company prides itself as a true partner in Nigeria’s progress, contributing significantly to the nation’s infrastructure landscape.
From the construction of the iconic Eko Bridge in 1965 to the Central Bank of Nigeria headquarters in Abuja, the Abuja Airport Runway which was completed in a record six weeks; Gas to Liquids projects in Escravos and Bonny, and the complex Bodo-Bonny Road, JB has consistently delivered on key national projects and its work has been instrumental in shaping Nigeria’s economic and infrastructural growth.
These contributions, those made by other construction firms as well as governments at both national and sub-national levels, are yet to make significant dent on the existing gaps, meaning that there are inherent challenges that are impeding progress.
The primary challenges, according to industry operators, are inadequate funding and the need to build local capacity. They add that “insecurity poses a major obstacle because, without a stable and secure environment, progress in infrastructure development is significantly hampered.”
In the area of funding, because budgetary allocations are often insufficient, experts have suggested financing innovations and alternative funding mechanisms that can close budget gaps.
This explains why the federal government, for instance, has explored alternative funding mechanisms, including the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund which is managed by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). It has also employed the Sukuk bonds and the Tax Credit Scheme.
Though these models have been effective, operators reason that expanding their application can provide sustainable financing for critical infrastructure projects, adding that much more still needs to be done.
Budget performance in this part of the globe is almost always below par which is why experts canvass regulatory streamlining for faster approval processes and adoption of global best practices from global infrastructure leaders, that is, learning from successful models.
To ensure progress and a complete departure from the current situation where contractors remain at construction sites forever or abandon projects altogether, operators recommend that the government should adopt transparent and competitive bidding processes, strict adherence to environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) guidelines, and stakeholder-engagement from project inception.
“Frameworks like the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model have been effective globally. Additionally, implementing digital procurement platforms and independent project monitoring mechanisms can enhance efficiency, accountability, and sustainability in infrastructure development,” they say.
Many infrastructure projects in the country have suffered undue delays as a result of government’s arrogant posturing, in some cases, which brings it in conflict with relevant stakeholders including host communities.
To avoid these delays, which impede progress and economic growth that infrastructure projects are aimed to serve, the operators suggest further that, even though conflicts are inevitable when dealing with multiple stakeholders, they can be managed effectively through transparency and accountability.
In their view, “engaging all relevant parties early, maintaining open communication, and ensuring that projects align with the interests of communities and businesses can help to prevent disputes and facilitate smoother project execution.”
Another major factor militating against infrastructure delivery and national progress in Nigeria is cost of either constructing new roads or maintaining existing ones. It is very expensive here relative to what obtains in other African countries.
A civil engineer and private estate developer who did not want to be named told our reporter that the cost of road maintenance in Nigeria isn’t much lower than the cost of building a new one, citing South Africa where, he said, maintaining a kilometre of road costs an equivalent of N7.6 million as against Nigeria where it is estimated at between N100million to N1billion per kilometre.
The engineer recalled that in 2013, the Federal Government awarded contract for the reconstruction of the 127-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at N167 billion, which was equivalent to $1 billion at that time in terms of naira exchange rate to the US dollar.
In the same year, he recalled further, a similar contract was awarded for the 1,028-kilometre Lagos-Abidjan Road project. The Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) which awarded the contract estimated that project to cost between N167 billion and N240 billion.
“The six-lane ECOWAS project connects five major cities in the region namely, Lagos, Nigeria; Cotonou, Benin Republic; Lome, Togo; Accra, Ghana and Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. In other words, the number of kilometres to be covered by that project is 8 times more than Nigeria’s Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project; and the cost per kilometre is far lower than that of Nigeria,” he said
He pointed out that, at the projected maximum cost of N240 billion, the cost of the ECOWAS road per kilometre would be N234 million while the six-lane Lagos-Ibadan Expressway contract awarded by the Federal Government at N167 billion cost N1.3 billion per kilometre.
The engineer, therefore, advised that against all odds, the country should create enabling environment that could reduce construction cost for contractors, contending that doing that would allow for increased infrastructure delivery as solution to progress.