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•Stanbic IBTC commends reforms in infrastructure financing

Dike Onwuamaeze

The federal government has declared that Nigeria’s journey towards sustainable economic growth hinges on building resilient infrastructure that could be facilitated with private partnership funding. 

This declaration was made yesterday in Lagos, by the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, during the Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc’s “Thought Leadership Session” with the theme “Driving Gas and Infrastructure Opportunities in Africa: Focus on Nigeria.”

Ewalefoh said: “Infrastructure forms the foundation of any thriving economy. Without it, a sustainable future remains out of reach. 

“Our journey toward sustainable economic growth hinges on building resilient infrastructure. This is more than just a challenge; it is a call to action.”

He added that in as much as the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was a major contributor to the Nigerian economy and plays a vital role in the country’s revenue generation, “there is still a need for more investment in infrastructure, such as pipelines, processing plants, and storage facilities, to fully realise Nigeria’s gas potential.”

He emphasised that, “the government is committed to leveraging private-sector financing to achieve this.”

Noting that Nigeria was at a crucial juncture in its journey towards national development, Ewalefoh said the government was committed to expanding infrastructure and fostering strategic partnerships with private investors to achieve sustainable growth.

He said: “Recognising that sustainable and modern infrastructure is a vital driver of economic and social development, the government is focused on ensuring investments in critical infrastructure that support long-term economic prosperity.

“Nigeria’s huge infrastructure deficit requires that the government think outside the box, with the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund catalysing to drive infrastructure development, given the country’s budget constraints.”

According to him, this has made the government to shift its focus from ‘briefcase’ investors to attracting specialist, capital-ready partners for Nigeria’s critical infrastructure projects.

He, therefore, said that Nigeria must act proactively by exploring and implementing innovative financing solutions that would support projects and initiatives while ensuring financial sustainability and efficiency.  

He said; “We are leveraging the private sector expertise and investment for public projects and services and helping to enhance the funding of infrastructure in Nigeria.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu charged me to ‘accelerate investment in national infrastructure through innovative mobilisation of private-sector funding.’”

Ewalefoh said one of the first moves he made was to reduce regulatory requirements to access finance and close transactions by putting in place policies that streamlined the processes and knocked out bureaucracy and bottlenecks.

“The enabling environment is being created to allow private investments to thrive. One of the things that we deed when we came on board is to streamline most of our processes that today it is easy for any investor to approach us to fashion a way whereby we can develop that project,” he said.

In his welcome remark, the Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Mr. Wole Adeniyi, said infrastructure remains a bandwagon of economic development that connect industries, empower communities and foster trade.

Adeniyi said Stanbic IBTC recognises the transformative power of finance in development and commended the government for creating investment friendly policies, saying the current, “reforms are more than policies as they are blueprint to for a future when gas fund industrialisation and infrastructure drive inclusive prosperity.”