Nigeria plans to invest $172 billion in mining, agriculture and other sectors

International company Nigeria Backbone Infrastructure Limited has announced its intention to invest $172 billion in the development of various infrastructure sectors in the country.

The investment, which uses alternative financing options, will be used in the mineral resources, energy, agriculture, housing and transportation sectors over the next 22 years, the company said in a statement on Saturday.

The administration of President Bola Tinubu has openly reiterated its commitment to increasing the flow of foreign direct investment into the country as well as promoting alternative financing for the construction of necessary infrastructure projects.

Last year, Industry, Trade and Investment Minister Doris Aniete said the government had raised $30 billion in commitments from foreign investors.

Despite this amount, Nigeria still needs investment to bridge the infrastructure gap, which according to the implementation of the National Integrated Master Plan would require $3 trillion over 30 years.

Group President Henry Owonka announced that the company, together with foreign partners, is seeking approval for a joint venture model that will facilitate planned investments in the country.

Owonka stressed that the company intends to align with the infrastructure plan of the current administration, noting that the steady inflow of investments proposed by the company is better than isolated investments by other investors, especially in the mining sector.

He said: “What we are looking for is to structure our investment program, we are not looking for sovereign guarantees that will drain foreign exchange reserves, but innovative ways to secure the natural resources that the country has in abundance. The president has verbally approved our request.

“The company has expressed interest in investing in a range of commodities. We are seeking approval for the joint venture model because that way we can attract more investors not only within the country but also outside. Because when you have a joint venture with the government, it is better and that is what we want, rather than them just handing us land.”

The CEO, while outlining the plans for the mining sector, noted that the company is ready to invest $4 billion “to explore the mineral resources, but we need data, and this is also one of the offers that we have come up with, so that we can bring our expertise and help the government get accurate data, and then we can explore these minerals. This partnership will help the government plan to reduce its dependence on oil. We are also doing this across all the ministries, because it is $172 billion of investment.”

During a presentation at the Ministry of Mineral Resources Development, Chief Operating Officer Clement Kwegyir-Afful explained that the aim of the investment is to reduce the huge infrastructure deficits in the country.

“The current administration is seeking several investments from the private sector to bridge the infrastructure gap. NBIL has come together as a team to support the government in fulfilling this mandate without any sovereign guarantee.

“We want to help solve the energy gap through renewable energy, so one of our subsidiaries focuses on renewable energy and how we can solve that. We will introduce innovative ways of financing through financial engineering to raise funds that will solve the infrastructure gap.”

The statement continued: “Mineral exploration is an area that the government wants to use to create another source of income from oil, and that is one of the strong areas that we want to focus on. That will bring in another form of income.

“It will take a significant amount of money to do that, so over the next 22 to 23 years, we are going to invest $172 billion. If you spread that out over the years, that’s $6 billion a year in investment out of the many amounts that the president is looking for.

“We have divided our project into phases. The first phase will be the one that will have the greatest impact on the Nigerian landscape, so we are looking at hospitals, renewable energy, mineral exploration and exports, because those are our biggest concerns, and also some deep-water ports,” he added.