Nigeria loses about four percent of its annual Gross Domestic Product growth because of poor infrastructure, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said.
This amounts to $17.1 billion yearly using the 2020 GDP figures.
The AfDB President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, represented by the Director-General, AfDB Group, Nigeria Country Department, Mr. Lamin Barrow disclosed this as a panelist at an investors Webinar to showcase the investment opportunities from the Federal Government’s reform and privatization.
According to him, Nigeria’s infrastructure “is one of the main constraints to industrial development and national competitiveness. Estimates indicate that Nigeria’s infrastructure constraints cost the country around four percent of its yearly Gross Domestic Product growth”.
Given the huge amounts needed to bridge the country’s infrastructure gap, which is about $100billion annually for the next 30 years, he said time has come to create an enabling environment for Public-Private Partnerships to close Nigeria’s infrastructure gap.
Adesina stated that the AfDB is “working closely with the ECOWAS Commission and the concerned countries to finalize the feasibility studies for the landmark Abidjan-Lagos Highway.
He also submitted that while “the federal government had spearheaded various reforms in the banking sector that have enhanced the resilience of the financial system, there is need to stay the course in completing the bold reforms initiated to restructure the energy sector”.
