Getting to the Root of Nigeria’s Infrastructure Challenges

In January 2015, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) called for stronger emphasis on infrastructure by African leaders saying that the big challenge is that Africa spends less on infrastructure than other continents.

Recently, many countries in the African region are hungry for infrastructure investments, and now is the best time for African governments and their development partners to focus on fast-tracking resources. Stakeholders realize that infrastructure is vital for transformation, but sectors including agriculture, good governance, health, education systems are also important.

Truth be told, Africa’s transformation cannot occur with weak governance, health or education systems or within a context of prevailing food insecurity or other negative health dangers including HIV-AIDS, malaria and Ebola.

Now that agriculture contributes up to 25 percent of Africa’s GDP and employing about 60 percent of the population, the continent still imports $25 billion worth of food every year. This necessitates AfDB’s promoting participation of anchor investors in private sector investment in agriculture. The annual financing need for African infrastructure is about $95 billion, according to AfDB, of which only $45 billion is currently invested each year, from African governments, development finance institutions and the private sector.

Building on these facts and figures, some finance experts argued that Africa’s transformation largely depends on how well countries mobilize inputs from a range of stakeholders, promote infrastructure through new mediums such as investing in their human capital, and foster good governance to enable a business-conducive environment.