Nigeria said the funds required for projects being co-developed with China Exim and China Development Bank, and mobilise any additional funding required from development partners.
Nigeria government has approved the establishment of a Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), which is to be managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and invested $650 million in critical road and power projects across the country.
The PIDF will secure counterpart funds required for projects being co-developed with China Exim and China Development Bank, and mobilise any additional funding required from development partners.
The Nigerian economic council made the announcement of the seed funding at a meeting presided over by Nigeria's president, Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Thursday, May 18, 2018.
The government said the initiative is to eliminate the risks of project funding, cost variation and completion that have plagued the development of the nation’s critical infrastructure assets - such as the 2nd Niger Bridge, Lagos to Ibadan Expressway, East-West Road, Abuja to Kano Road, Mambilla Hydroelectric Power - over the last few decades.
This commitment by the President and NEC, allows all State Governments to own an economic interest in the project companies that will be professionally developed and managed by the NSIA.
The investments, the government said, will yield returns which will diversify revenues to states, improve the fiscal sustainability profile of the federation and ensure Nigerians benefit from modernised infrastructure for decades to come.
The government also approved $995 million for the reconstruction » of the phase II of Abuja – Keffi – Akwanga – Lafia – Makurdi road.
Babatunde Fashola , Minister of Power, Works and Housing, said the $995 million for the execution of the project would be obtained from the China-Exim Bank as loan. 