Charles Nwaoguji
Federal government has said that Nigeria requires an estimated sum of $3trillion to upscale its national infrastructure over the next 30 years.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, said that this breaks down to an average of $100billion annually.
Adebayo, who stated this at the virtual presidential dialogue policy meeting at the weekend, said that President Muhammadu Buhari Administration has taken strategic steps to resolve the power issue.
“This is evident in the conclusion of negotiations with Siemens AG to revitalise the power sector as well as expand the generation and supply capacity from 11,000 megawatts to 25,000 megawatts by 2025,” he stated.
Also, the minister said that the Federal Government is concluding plans to secure a $3billion loan from the World Bank to bridge the gap between what is provided for in the current tariff, and the cost to businesses.
On Insecurity in the country, he said the current administration has adopted a “call-to-action” approach tackling security challenges as evident in the increase in yearly budget allocation to strengthen the respective taskforces– the military, air force, police and others with the necessary tools.
He pointed out that this includes commissioning of a new Air Force Base (271 NAF Detachment) in Birinin Gwari, Kaduna State in May 2019 and acquisition of several air force fighter jets, drones and military transport aircraft.