Infracorp targets N15trn to fix critical infrastructure – Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) is expected to raise N15 trillion to support investment in critical infrastructure in the country. The Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, who is also the chairman of InfraCorp, said the money will be raised from Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), banks and […]

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) is expected to raise N15 trillion to support investment in critical infrastructure in the country.

The Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, who is also the chairman of InfraCorp, said the money will be raised from Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), banks and Eurobond.

Emefiele, who disclosed this during the InfraCorp Term Sheet Signing with Independent Asset Managers, said the team will go to work immediately because Nigeria has a huge infrastructure deficit.

“There’s a lot of liquidity that is being held by our pension managers, I understand from the last count that the size of Nigeria’s pension funds is over N13trn and I’m told in another three to five years, Nigeria pension assets will rise to almost N25trn.

“In other countries where infrastructure corporations have worked, pension funds money have been used to develop infrastructure of those countries,” he said.

The apex bank chief said, at its inception, InfraCorp will be working on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and the 2nd Niger bridge projects, which are considered commercially viable projects.

“We must begin to come to a realisation that, for us to have good infrastructure and good roads, you will need to make them commercially viable and to make them commercially viable means we have to pay for them and Nigeria is not the only country where pedestrian roads or rails or airports are made commercially viable.

“We are putting private sector capital here and we need to ensure that the capital is returned to the providers of capital,” he said.

The Chief Executive Officer of InfraCorp, Dr Lazarus Angbazo, said the term embodies a set of relationships and the partnership that would exist between the infracorp and the assets managers.

“It is inclusive of the division of responsibilities, it clearly states what the rights and responsibilities of each party will be and it defines the operatory between the infracorp and the asset managers as well as the governance structure by which we are going to execute the mandate of Mr President as nurtured by the promoters,” Angbazo said.

The Infrastructure Asset Managers are the AAA Consortium, Chapel Hill Denham, Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers here in Nigeria, and Sanlam Infraworks.

InfraCorp is a dedicated privately-managed infrastructure and industrial vehicle that will harness opportunities for Nigeria’s infrastructure development by originating, structuring, executing and managing end-to-end bankable projects in that space.