The dearth of key infrastructure in several sectors of the economy has continued to limit Nigeria’s growth potential and worsened the state of local manufacturing, a sector faced with many problems.

In 2023, a report by the International Trade Office of the US Department of Commerce decried that Nigeria’s infrastructure stock amounted to 30 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP), falling short of the international benchmark of 70 per cent set by the World Bank.

The report added that robust infrastructure is extremely important in growing the economy and improving quality of life, pointing out that traditional funding sources like budgets and bank loans are not capable of meeting the growing demand for infrastructure development.

The 2019 Global Competitive Index Report ranked Nigeria 130th out of 141 economies surveyed for quality infrastructure facilities. With a score of 48.33 out of 100 points, the country still has an over 50 per cent infrastructure deficit.

Also, Nigeria was ranked 24th out of 54 African countries in the 2020 Africa Infrastructure Development Index (AIDI). With a low score of 23.26, Nigeria lags behind Egypt with 88.3 points.

To tackle this challenge, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the Infrastructure Corporation (InfraCorp) creation in October 2021, to boost funding for capital projects. It was established in partnership with the African Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), with a seed investment of N1 trillion. The funding was expected to grow to N15 trillion by 2026.

According to the Manufacturer’s Association of Nigeria (MAN) CEO’s Confidence Index (MCCI) Q2 2024 report, poor and non-existent infrastructure is one of the top five major hurdles facing local manufacturers in the country. MAN noted that inadequate infrastructure is one of the biggest factors militating against sustainable economic growth and hindering productivity.

It noted that its members are forced to spend heavily to provide basic infrastructure by themselves, all of which raise production costs and prevent them from being competitive in the market.

Executive Director of Universal Luggage Industries Ltd and former MAN chairperson, Apapa branch, Frank Ike Onyebu, regretted that despite trying to draw the government’s attention to the problem of decayed and non-existent infrastructure in the country, it has come to no avail.

He said successive governments promised to fix the infrastructure problem but never did, but instead, worsened the tax burden on producers that are already struggling to provide what the government refused to make available.

Wondering what the government does, he lamented that manufacturers provide everything for themselves to produce and facilitate the movement of goods and services around the country, with zero help from the government.

“We provide our own roads, water, electricity, security, transport and so on from funds we cannot spare. There is no single public infrastructure that functions optimally in Nigeria. The government sees these things as non-existent and even when we cry out, they turn a blind eye, and we have to do it ourselves. The moment government officials see us do these things ourselves, they suddenly swoop in and start taxing and making outrageous demands. Look at the electricity issue in the Amuwo-Odofin industrial axis; businesses here came together to buy cables, poles, transformers and so on, after years of begging the authorities for electricity.

Look at the state of the roads here, we were almost cut off from civilisation because our vehicles couldn’t access this axis. I don’t understand this country, businesses are being frustrated daily; yet the government doesn’t do much to lessen our burdens in any way,” he said.

President of the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), Joseph Segun Ajanlekoko, said Nigeria needs at least N35 billion yearly till 2040 for infrastructural needs, putting annual loss due to poor road maintenance at N80 billion.

“With 195km of road network of which only 60,000 km are paved, most of these roads were constructed in the 80s and early 90s. A kilometre of asphalt road in Nigeria is estimated to cost N1 billion, four times the average cost of a kilometre asphalt road in other African countries,” he said.

Lamenting the infrastructure decay, he said the country must invest $3 trillion over the next 30 years to close the infrastructure deficit.