By Musa Adamu
Abuja
Federal government has averred that for the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) to be successfully implemented, both States and federal government must establish infrastructure delivery units (IDU) within the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to drive implementation.
Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Sulaiman, who stated this, spoke at a meeting with states’ commissioners of economic planning/chief executives of planning agencies from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.
“The very essence of this meeting is aimed at strategizing on the implementation of the national integrated infrastructure master plan (NIIMP) and the development of the states integrated infrastructure master plan (SIIMP) as endorsed by the national economic council (NEC), and approved by the federal executive council [FEC] respectively,” he said.
Commending the states commissioners for attending the meeting, he said the gesture gave credence to the acceptance by the entire critical role of infrastructure in economic development of any nation.
He also stated that the National Planning Commission (NPC) adopted an extensive, elaborate and inclusive process in the development of NIIMP with inputs from the public and private sectors, international development partners, professional bodies, academia and civil society, among others.
He also said the draft was also taken round the six geo-political zones of the country for more inputs from students’ bodies, traditional rulers and States institutions.
“The approval of NEC and FEC has made NIIMP a policy document of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for a coordinated and accelerated infrastructure development that will guide all tiers of government in infrastructure planning and development.”
He stated that NIIMP was intended to raise Nigeria’s stock of infrastructure from the current 20-25 per cent of GDP to at least 70 per cent of GDP by 2043.
He said it would also identify the investment required to bridge and expand Nigeria’s infrastructure across different asset classes, including energy, transport, ICT, housing, water, agriculture, mining, among others over the 30-year period.
“The first 5 years operational plan (2014-2018) of NIIMP, has an investment portfolio of $166.1billion (N26.9 trillion) to be able to deliver priority infrastructure projects out of which the public sector share is $86 billion.”
On the significance of engaging the states to drive its implementation, the Minister, said the development and implementation of the SIIMP as an extension of NIIMP in the states would help the nation to have a unified drive in all sectors of our infra structural development.
