N10trn Needed to Curb Bond Infrastructure Deficit in Nigeria -- Fashola

In order to meet up with the infrastructural deficit and advance the course of Nigeria’s development in the next decade, a total of N10 trillion infrastructural bond is needed, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has said.

Fashola stated this on Monday at a meeting with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Works to defend his ministry’s 2018 budget performance and 2019 budget proposal.

The minister, who drew legislative commendations from the committee for his achievements so far in the road sector, made the comments in reaction to suggestions that alternative funding mechanisms for road construction and maintenance in the country were necessary.

He said while government was constrained to operate within the current budgetary limits, it had considerably scaled up performance using the Sukuk Bond over which, he said, government had no allocation control.

Speaking on the issue of road construction and rehabilitation relative to the availability of funds from annual appropriations, the committee chairman, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu), noted that the minister “has done considerably well in the light of inadequate cash flow from budgetary releases”.

Fashola, therefore, called for a N10 trillion infrastructure bond which could take care of the nation’s infrastructural issues and deficit going forward.

“If such is created, we can draw from it without resorting to the annual budget, but of course with legislative backing to solve our problems once and for all,” he said.

The minister, however, in the interim, expressed confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari’s willingness to sign the Road Infrastructure Fund Bill, provided the provisions didn’t conflict with existing laws governing the sector.

Lawmakers also took the minister up on his seven-point priorities, noting that the pace of implementation left much to be desired.

They said many roads and bridges across the country had become death traps – failing even while still under construction with many others still waiting for attention.

Toby Okechukwu, the committee chairman, at this point, asked the minister to intimate the committee on how the 2019 budget can capture road maintenance in the country so that existing roads don’t fail as obtained in the past.

A breakdown of the 2018 appropriation showed that a total of N715.6 billion was allocated, out of which the sum of N399.4 billion was for capital projects.

The main ministry, he said, got N56.7 billion while parastatals got N42.639 billion, and overhead for the ministry took N13.23 billion, as personnel cost gulped N17.25 billion.

On the implementation side of things, the sum of N144.263 billion was released for capital, representing 40.4 percent of the appropriation.

Fashola said an additional release of N27.5 billion from the Sukuk bond was made, taking the total to 48.1 percent.

He said there were several certificates that had accrued for work done which were not captured due to delay in payment which made it impossible to include them in the rate of implementation, saying that contractors were still working and opening new sites.

Fashola also noted that the ministry was making interventions in public institutions, using the national infrastructural maintenance framework which was approved by FEC (Federal Executive Council), but came late as all budget proposals had been submitted and approved by FEC in 2018.

He appealed to the committee to help facilitate the inclusion of the component in the 2019 budget to enable the correction of electrical, plumbing, and general structural issues of buildings relating to federal courts and universities.

source:Independent