First Bank Building

Executive Director, Corporate Banking, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Kehinde Lawanson, has stressed that an enabling framework is critical to the success of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in transportation infrastructure financing and development in Nigeria.

Speaking at the recent US-Nigeria Infrastructure Conference in Washington DC, a statement at the weekend quoted Lawanson to have pointed out that creating an enabling environment would enhance the participation of more organisations from the private sector, as well as attract foreign investments needed to address the nation’s huge infrastructure deficits.

The event focused on bridging the current infrastructure gap and showcasing vast opportunities in Nigeria’s infrastructure sector, with special emphasis on roads and bridges, rail, ports, airports, agro-allied cargo operations, housing, water, and information communication technology among others.

“There are attractive opportunities in infrastructure financing driven by a huge deficit and a strong desire by the private sector to plug the gap. An enabling regulatory framework would shore up investments in this regard to meet the estimated $15 billion required annually to adequately fund Nigeria's infrastructure deficits and advance Nigeria’s quest to emerge as one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020,” Lawanson added.

Senior government officials, who spoke at the conference, emphasised Nigeria’s position as a viable investment destination in terms of infrastructure financing, with Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US, Prof. Ade Adefuye, leading the charge of urging foreign institutional investors in the US and other nations to take advantage of these opportunities.