The Minister of National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr Abubakar Sulaiman, said on Thursday that N26.9 trillion would be required between 2014 and 2018 to implement the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP).
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Suleiman, who disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja, said the plan is aimed at delivering quality infrastructure across different sectors, including energy, transport, housing, water and agriculture.
“For the younger generation, implementation of the NIIMP will not only deliver quality infrastructure, it will also create millions of jobs.
“An estimated 600,000 additional construction workers will be required to maintain and expand existing infrastructure in the next five years.
“In addition, about eight million people will be required to operate expanding infrastructure during the same period,’’ the minster said.
He said in the spirit of implementing the plan document, the commission partnered with Africa Infrastructure Summit Group (AISG) to market the document to investors.
“Today’s event symbolises the outcome of this partnership. Through this partnership, the NIIMP will be marketed to the world. Investment opportunities in the NIIMP projects will be promoted,’’ he said.
Suleiman said the annual Infrastructure Summits would be jointly organised with the AISG in November.
The minister said the purpose of the summit was to bring all the relevant stakeholders together to share ideas on how to generate huge investment interest in Nigeria’s infrastructure.
Also speaking, Principal Consulting Partner of AISG, Mr Onuoha Nnachi, said the group would support the Federal Government in selling the content of the NIIMP document to investors
Nnachi said it would provide infrastructure data analysis to enable investors to get interested in infrastructure development in Nigeria.
According to him, the group will hold African Infrastructure Summit in November to educate investors on the need to invest on transportation infrastructure in Nigeria. (NAN)
