By Emeka Mamah

ABUJA — Nigeria needs about $128 trillion for infrastructural development to bring her to the level of other developing countries in the world.

This was contained in a presentation made to the National Economic Council, NEC, by the Minister of National Planning, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, on his blueprint for accelerated National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, NIIMP, in the next 30 years based on the need to raise the current infrastructure stock as percentage of GDP from current 35 per cent to a minimum of 70 per cent in Abuja recently.

According to the report, Yuguda said his presentation was based on the plan to bring infrastructure development in Nigeria in line with the country’s growth aspirations, adding that the country’s core infrastructure stock was “far below the target benchmark compared to some Asian and Latin America countries like Brazil, India, Indonesia and even some African countries like South Africa.”

Yuguda said the current total infrastructure stock as at 2012 gave Nigeria 35-40 per cent of GDP compared to Brazil, India and South Africa which were at “47, 58 and 87 per cent,” respectively, adding however, that the plan required “states’ collaboration and private sector’s participation.”

The minister identified the priority sectors to be developed as energy and transport, which required the federal and state governments to provide 52 per cent of total investment, with private investors providing 28 percent.

However, in accepting Yuguda’s postulations, members of NEC, which is headed by the Vice President Namadi Sambo, spoke of the need to correct the inconsistencies in the population figure in some states in the South-East and South-West by aligning the figures to the current GDP statistics since the figures were based on the pre-GDP re-basing figures.