MDG targets threatened as budget on infrastructure shrinks 32% to N128bn

The proposed N128.6 billion budgetary allocation to the Federal Ministry of Works and Infrastructure in 2014 is raising concerns among Nigerians who feel that the federal government might just be paying lip service to the actualisation of one of its Millennium Development Goals, which is improving social development to meet the needs of its citizens.

The ministry’s budget is only 3 percent of the country’s proposed N4.6 trillion budget currently awaiting approval by the National Assembly. This also dwarfs that of the preceding year by 32.7 percent. The total allocation to the ministry in 2013 was N191.2 billion, but it is now down to N128.6 billion in 2014.

A closer look at the budget reveals that only N100.1 billion, which can at best only feed Nigeria’s 70 million children on three square meals per day for three consecutive days, has been allocated to the ministry for its capital projects, which include construction, rehabilitation and completion of most road projects and provision of other amenities across the federation.

Given the foregoing, analysts have criticised the proposed infrastructure budget, describing it as inconsiderate in view of the country’s growing population.

“Generally, Nigeria’s attitude to infrastructure is quite poor,” both on the part of government and the citizens, Ibidire Lams, a real estate developer, told our reporter in a phone interview.

“Infrastructure is the main driver of some sectors of the economy such as real estate, but it is appalling that we developers build homes and other amenities such as link roads to our estates, which primarily should be the responsibility of government, and this to a large extent affects our bottom line and even the economy at large,” Lams further explained.

Opuiyo Oforiokuma, managing director, ARM Infrastructure, while responding to questions from BusinessDay, said, “When one considers the enormous scale of Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit in power, transportation, and other utilities, the closure of which deficit will take trillions of dollars to finance, and many years to attain developed world standards, it should be evident that even the most developed countries in the world would struggle to implement a quick-fix solution to a problem of the scale that Nigeria is currently contending with.”

He further explained that many developed and developing countries have turned to private-sector participation models to deal with their infrastructure challenge and Nigeria shouldn’t be different.

“The large scale of Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit is such that new infrastructure will be needed on a massive scale if the country is to achieve its full potential and be globally competitive, especially against peer nations. All of this will require a great deal of planning, political will, large amounts of money, and suitable skills and capabilities to deliver,” Opuiyo said.

“Private sector capital definitely has the appetite to invest in Nigerian infrastructure assets as we have already seen in the recent privatisation of the Gencos and Discos, and in other sectors such as roads, ports, etc. However, the sustainability of investor appetite will be tied to government’s ability to implement reforms and other enabling legal, regulatory, and economic support frameworks, to make it attractive for this private capital,” he added.

ODINAKA MBONU