The Nigeria Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA) yesterday raised the alarm that the neglect of infrastructural development across the length and breadth of country may cost the nation a whopping $878 billion by 2040 if the trend continues.
Mr. Mauricio Alarcon, 2nd Vice President of NECA, while presenting the address of late Dr. Mohammed Yinusa, President of NECA at the 62nd Annual General Meeting (AGM), also called on the Federal Government to make Nigeria more productive through deliberate political will and constitutional reforms that are targeted at eliminating States and Local Governments’ dependence on the monthly revenue allocation in Abuja.
NECA, while commending President Mohammadu Buhari for signing the executive order 07, aimed at fostering partnership with the private sector and government on infrastructural development, noted that in as much as partnership is desirable and in the right direction, the burden of infrastructural development lies with the government.
“Successive governments in the last forty years have neglected infrastructural development and this will lead the nation to a projected deficit of $878 billion by 2040”.
NECA, according to the associations is also worried about the partial implementation of the 2018 budget allocation of N2.87 trillion to capital expenditure, representing just 31% of total budget, adding that the gradual reduction in the budgetary allocation to infrastructure from N2.87 trillion in 2018 to N2.03 trillion in the 2019 budget is also of great concern.
“According to the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan draft of 2013, Nigeria requires about $2.9 trillion (N87 trillion) in 30 years to close the infrastructural gap. With the contending needs for scarce funds by all sectors government will do well to sustain the enlistment of the private sector as a critical partner in this onerous task of infrastructural development.
“There is an urgent need to make our country more productive through deliberate political will and constitutional reforms that are targeted at eliminating States and Local Governments’ dependence on the monthly revenue allocation in Abuja. State Governments must think out of the box to make their State economically viable and sustainable in the long term, eliminating high cost of governance and frivolous expenditures under the guise of security votes.”
The post Nigeria Loses $878bn To Infrastructural Deficiency – NECA appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Independent
CLICK HERE TO READ FULL CONTENT
Brought to you by: RIDBAY | WEBSITE DESIGN & DIGITAL MARKETING
