From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, has said the Federal Government will spend a total of N3.53 trillion on infrastructure and human capital development in 2022.
This was even as Ahmed said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is prioritising spending on infrastructure and human capital to catalyse rapid economic development in the country.
Ahmed stated this during a town hall meeting organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture on the achievements of the Federal Government in infrastructure development yesterday in Abuja.
Ahmed added that Nigeria’s economy and the population remained the largest in Africa with over $400 billion in gross domestic product and over 200 million people.
She further said that the country’s huge and growing population offered both an economic challenge and opportunity in the light of constrained revenue proceeds brought on by several multi-dimensional factors, including the global pandemic and its impact on the domestic economy.
Ahmed also said against the backdrop of the challenges, the current administration has successfully implemented a range of infrastructure programmes that have had a positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of the citizenry.
She reiterated that good quality infrastructure is important, not only to engender and accelerate economic growth but also to ensure and enhance inclusive growth for all within a nation space.
“Subsequently, this administration continues to prioritise spending on infrastructure and human capital to catalyse rapid economic development. In 2022 alone, we plan to spend about N1.42 trillion on infrastructure and N2.11 trillion on human capital development,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed further recalled that the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme (RITCS) was launched in 2019 to leverage private sector capital and expertise to construct, repair and maintain critical road infrastructure in key economic corridors and industrial clusters in Nigeria.
She stated that the RITCS scheme was designed to complement and ameliorate the burden of funding significant capital outlays on road projects by the Federal Government.
Ahmed said as a model, the RITCS adopted the use of tax expenditures, via tax credits, to finance the construction of critical road and bridge infrastructure projects, while utilising an innovative PPP mechanism that is aimed at the incentivisation of private sector participation and capital investments.
“The Scheme commenced in 2019, with the President’s approval of 19 Road Projects covering 769.16 km and located in 11 states across the six geopolitical zones. Subsequently, construction commenced with the reconstruction of the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki-Ojota Road in Lagos State (34 km), re-construction of Obajana-Kabba road (43km) in Kogi state – both invested in and undertaken by Dangote Industries Limited, while the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited undertook the construction of the Bodo-Bonny road and the bridges across the Opobo channel in Rivers state (40 km).
“Since the inception of the RITCS, the President has approved 14 additional roads, bringing the total to thirty-three (33) Road Projects, covering a total length of 1,564.95 km as of 2021. These additional projects are in 19 States across the six (6) geo-political zones in the country. In the last three years (2019 – 2021), about N78 billion worth of tax credits has been issued to investors under the RITCS. In addition, the NNPC is to finance the construction of 21 roads across the country,” Ahmed also said.
On the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) Infrastructure Development Projects (NIF), Ahmed disclosed that over a period of seven years (2015 – 2021), the government invested and completed 13 projects across seven key sectors, including healthcare, education, agriculture, financial services, and housing.
“Some of these completed projects comprise the UFF-NAIC Agri Fund, established with Old Mutual to invest in processing opportunities with backward integration to primary agriculture; the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) – an agriculture-focused private equity fund for agricultural SMEs across Nigeria. Another is the AFAM III Fast Power – a N10.4 billion investment in the procurement and local assembly of Solar Home Systems, as part of the FGN solar strategy for the electrification of 5 million households.
“In the healthcare sector, we have completed three (3) infrastructure projects worth US$22.5 million, which include the NSIA-LUTH Oncology Centre, which has provided services to over 4,000 patients since its commissioning. The NSIA-FMCU and the NSIA-AKTH Diagnostic Centres – two (2) ultra-modern facilities located at Abia and Kano states. Furthermore, both diagnostic centres have provided services to over 47,000 clients.
“Through the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and the Family Homes Funds (FMF), the Ministry has contributed to the housing infrastructure development in the country with the implementation of the mortgage-based affordable housing scheme. In the last three years (2019 – 2021), the Scheme has recorded a total of over 13,542 houses.
“Furthermore, through the NIF, there are ongoing projects such as the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), which is a US$300 million NSIA investment, established to attract capital and accelerate the completion of key infrastructure projects, which includes the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (LIE), Second Niger Bridge (2NB), and Abuja-Kano road (AKR). Some of the projects are approaching completion with LIE at 79 per cent, 2NB at 83 per cent and AKR at 27 per cent,” Ahmed further said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, said President Buhari’s statement that 100 million people could be lifted out of poverty over a 10-year period, is not mere conjecture but already happening.
Fashola explained that projects by the Federal Government provided employment first to companies who bid for and win the contracts and help them to pay for the employment of immediate staff and others like labourers, artisans, et cetera.
Fashola added that through them, other Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs), who employ the largest number of people in every economy, are employed to supply diesel, sand, cement and other construction materials.
“This is a major economic exchange involving billions of naira distributed across the Nigerian economy. In the works sector, it also helps the establishment of Contractors’ laboratories (67) and seven Pavement Evaluation Units (PEUs) in each Geopolitical zone of the country and FCT which carry out independent and Confirmatory Quality Control and Quality Assurance tests and evaluation on all ongoing and completed Works.
“They also conduct Road Condition Surveys and geotechnical investigations for pavement structural design and geometric design. The number of operational laboratories, including the seven PEUs is therefore 74 and because the laboratories require Technical Staff to function, a total of 1,702 personnel are currently engaged in them with additional hands engaged as drivers and cleaners in each laboratory.
“The investment in infrastructure has also facilitated, the engagement of 353 Supervisory Consultancy firms to work with the Ministry staff on Quality Control, Quality Assurance and other technical issues on some of the highway projects across the country. Each consultancy firm employs a minimum of four staff headed by a chief engineer with other engineers and staff assisting him, hence the consultancy firms also employ 1,412 personnel.
“Instructively, every contract has a VAT component of 7.5 per cent collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Out of this, 85 per cent goes to the states every month to supplement their income to enable them to carry out their own responsibilities.
“Apart from this quantifiable impact, there are unseen values like property appreciation for landowners. So, when President Buhari says 100 million people could be lifted out of poverty over a 10-year period, it is not mere conjecture, it is already happening. However, this laudable visionary goal would not be realised by what the Federal Government is doing alone, but by an aggregation of the positive actions of the three levels of government, including the 36 States and Local Governments and the Federal Government. This means that President Buhari has been making the economy work for the people by facilitating the ease of doing business through access to farms and markets, reducing journey times and, therefore, putting more money in the pockets of Nigerians, as well as the creation of direct and indirect jobs,” Fashola said.
In his remarks, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the town hall meeting, the 21st edition since the ministry kick-started the programme in Lagos in 2016, was one of the more than half a dozen town hall meetings which it has slated for the year 2022 to showcase the achievements of the administration of President Buhari as the administration gradually winds up.
Mohammed commended the National Orientation Agency (NOA), which he said, worked tirelessly with officials of the Ministry of Information and Culture to organise the event.