Nigeria Needs $100bn Annually to Bridge Infrastructure Gap, Says ACEN

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria, ACEN, has said that Nigeria will need  about $100 billion in annual infrastructure investment to address its estimated $2.3 trillion infrastructure deficit.

President of ACEN, Kunle Adebajo, disclosed this at the association’s 48th annual conference and dinner held in Lagos.

According to him, “Our infrastructure deficit is estimated at $2.3 trillion and government spending covers less than 30 per cent of the annual need. So the gap is huge, and the gap of that size will not be closed just by money. It must be closed by productivity, more infrastructure, better designed, delivered on time, and maintained for its full life.”

Adebajo said artificial intelligence could improve infrastructure development by accelerating engineering processes, improving project planning and reducing mistakes.

He added that  AI-powered tools can also test road alignments and drainage designs, analyse construction schedules, identify possible delays and detect structural defects through drones and computer vision.

Adebajo identified inadequate knowledge, poor adoption, insufficient infrastructure investment and the absence of locally generated data as challenges to effective AI deployment.

He said: “We need to create our own local data. AI at the moment tends to be based a lot on the Western world. We need to be able to show it how to do it and tailor it to Nigerian requirements. AI can actually level the field now for Nigerian firms and practices.

“For so long, we’ve lamented that our firms are too small to compete from multilateral work, but used effectively, AI will allow a firm of maybe 30 people to do the analytical drafting and documentation and have that capacity that previously required a firm of 300.”

He, however, warned that engineers must retain responsibility for decisions made using the technology, stressing that professional judgment could not be delegated to algorithms.

The ACEN boss announced plans to establish a task force on AI in consulting engineering to promote responsible adoption, address confidentiality, verification and professional liability, and ensure clients are informed when AI-generated products are used.

President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, said it was working towards Nigeria becoming a permanent member of the International Engineering Alliance by June 2027.

Represented by COREN Vice-President, Olaoluwa Ogunduyile, he said emissaries of the alliance from Ireland, China and Australia had visited Nigeria to assess its engineering education system, with further assessments conducted at Nile University, Abuja, and Covenant University.

Speaking, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ali Rabiu, said infrastructure development must be based on proper planning, sound engineering design, sustainable financing, quality construction, effective supervision and disciplined maintenance.

Rabiu said roads, railways, ports, airports, electricity, water and digital infrastructure remained critical to economic growth, industrialisation and national competitiveness.

Also speaking, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC),  Tokunbo Ajanaku, said AI offered opportunities to improve infrastructure management but could not replace engineering judgment.

Sanwo-Olu said Lagos recorded about 1.6 million road movements daily, with 226 vehicles per kilometre, compared with the Nigerian average of fewer than 20 vehicles per kilometre.

He said the figures highlighted the need for intelligent monitoring and preventive maintenance to improve infrastructure management.

He said, “For many years, our attention has understandably been on building new infrastructure to meet growing demands, but we must give equal attention to how we manage what we have built, how we anticipate failures before they occur, and how we ensure that public investments continue to deliver value long after commissioning.

“This is where artificial intelligence offers opportunities, not solutions.offers opportunity for prediction, data harnessing, opportunity for a clearer understanding of deterioration processes, but it does not replace the engineering decision.”