Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, on Tuesday, inaugurated the National Council on Infrastructure, saying the move would bridge the nation’s infrastructure gaps while widening the frontiers of Public-Private sector collaboration.
This was according to a statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, titled ‘Osinbajo notes progress in infrastructure, inaugurates new council with public-private collaboration.’
Prof. Osinbajo, who formally inaugurated the Council during a virtual meeting which he presided over on Tuesday, stated that, “For efficient and effective implementation of infrastructure projects, the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan recommended the establishment of the National Council on Infrastructure and its Technical Working Group.”
He noted that the Buhari regime’s National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan was developed to provide “an integrated view of infrastructure development in Nigeria with clear linkages across key sectors and identifies enablers for successful implementation in line with the current economic realities.
He revealed that the NIIMP takes stock of existing infrastructure and is aimed at raising Nigeria’s infrastructure stock to at least 70 per cent by the year 2043.
“A well-coordinated and strategic approach will be required to harness private resources to increase the stock of Nigeria’s infrastructure to the desired level by the year 2043,” Osinbajo said.
He added that the National Council on Infrastructure is to provide policy direction on infrastructure matters and drive the creation and sustenance of the expected synergy and linkages between the public and the private sector to enhance the implementation of the Infrastructure Master Plan, while the Technical Working Group is to provide guidance to the Council and advise on all infrastructure related matters.
He further cited the Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road (funded through the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund); the construction and upgrading of about 5,000 km of major road projects across the country through the Sukuk bond, as evidence of the Federal Government’s deliberate and massive investment in road, rail and power infrastructure for rapid economic development.