The Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers (NIHTE), has called for a major overhaul of Nigeria’s infrastructure planning to make roads, bridges, drainage systems and other public assets resilient to the growing impacts of climate change.

It said that the country’s infrastructure challenge was no longer simply about constructing more facilities, but ensuring that they remained functional and safe throughout their intended lifespan despite changing environmental conditions.

The Acting National Chairman of NIHTE, Dr. Bola Mudasiru, disclosed this in Abuja, at the 2026 Annual Conference of the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Bwari Branch, where he presented a paper titled, “Sustainable Infrastructure, Resilient Nation: Engineering Solutions for Growth and Climate Action.”

The NIHTE boss said Nigeria faced an estimated $100 billion annual infrastructure financing gap, which was being compounded by increasingly frequent flooding, coastal erosion, extreme heat and unpredictable rainfall.

Mudasiru said more than 123 million Nigerians were living in urban areas, with urbanisation growing by about 4.1 per cent annually.

He added that the 2020 National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) had projected infrastructure investment requirements of about $2.3 trillion by 2043 in order to raise Nigeria’s infrastructure stock to 70 per cent of GDP.

He said the figures reflected the scale of Nigeria’s development challenge, noting that infrastructure deficits directly translated into poor connectivity, inadequate services and increased vulnerability to climate-related disasters.

The engineer said infrastructure planning based on historical climate patterns was becoming increasingly unreliable.

He said: “Traditional engineering designs were often developed using historical rainfall, temperature and flood-return data, whereas Nigerian cities were now experiencing more frequent and severe climate events.

“We do not inherit infrastructure from our predecessors. We borrow it from our successors. Every design decision we make today is a gift or a burden to the engineers, communities, and economies of the next generation.

“Engineers who treat climate as a secondary concern are building in failure by default. The construction problem is now a climate risk problem first.”

He warned that infrastructure designed without considering future climate conditions could become vulnerable long before the end of its intended lifespan.

Mudasiru urged engineers to incorporate climate projections into the design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure projects.

He added, “Nigeria’s population had exceeded 220 million and could approach 400 million by 2050, with most of the growth expected to occur in urban centres.

“In Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Ibadan as cities facing mounting pressure on transport networks, drainage, housing, water supply and other essential infrastructure.”

He cited projections that Lagos could have a population of about 24 million by 2030, saying the anticipated growth would put enormous pressure on infrastructure systems already struggling to meet current demand.

The engineer said more than half of Nigeria’s population could be living in urban areas by 2030, making sustainable urban planning an urgent national priority.

Mudasiru argued that governments should stop judging infrastructure projects primarily by their initial construction costs.

He called for the adoption of Whole-Life Costing (WLC), which considers the cost of constructing, operating, maintaining, rehabilitating and eventually replacing infrastructure.

He said the approach would help prevent governments from investing in assets that appear cheap initially but become expensive to maintain or vulnerable to climate damage.

According to him, the objective should be to deliver infrastructure that provides value throughout its lifespan rather than infrastructure that merely meets the lowest initial cost.

He also called for climate resilience to be incorporated into government budgets at the federal, state and local levels.

Rather than waiting for floods and other disasters before releasing funds for repairs, he said authorities should invest in preventive measures and risk reduction.

Mudasiru said climate-resilient infrastructure should be regarded as an economic investment capable of protecting businesses, jobs and public assets.

He explained that infrastructure capable of remaining operational during extreme weather events would help minimise economic disruption and protect productive activities.

He also linked infrastructure resilience to investment attraction, saying investors were more likely to commit long-term capital where infrastructure risks were properly assessed and managed.“International capital follows predictable, manageable risk,” he said.

He maintained that effective climate-risk management would improve investor confidence and strengthen Nigeria’s standing with international financial institutions.

The NIHTE leader identified poor access to reliable infrastructure and climate data as another obstacle to effective planning.

He called for comprehensive, geo-referenced registers of federal and state infrastructure assets to enable authorities to determine where critical facilities are located and assess their vulnerability.

He also recommended harmonising floodplain mapping among relevant government agencies and incorporating satellite-based land-cover information into planning approval systems.

Mudasiru further advocated an open-access national hazard-data platform to provide engineers and planners with reliable information for infrastructure development.

He said regional climate models specific to Nigeria should also be incorporated into engineering standards and codes to guide future projects.

Mudasiru blamed weak enforcement of planning regulations for some of the flooding problems confronting Nigerian cities.

He identified construction on drainage channels, development within floodplains, blocked waterways and uncontrolled expansion into high-risk areas as major concerns.

“These are institutional failures that engineering solutions alone cannot resolve. They require political will and regulatory enforcement,” he said.

He urged authorities to enforce drainage setbacks and remove illegal structures built on active waterways.

He further proposed mandatory flood-risk disclosure for property transactions and criminal penalties for developers who construct buildings on officially designated floodplains.