Abuja: The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to accelerating private sector participation in infrastructure development.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, it has unveiled a series of reforms and strategic initiatives aimed at closing Nigeria’s multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure gap. The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, shared this at the Chief Executives Officers (CEOs) Roundtable, themed ‘The Future of Infrastructure Funding’, in Abuja on Tuesday.
He highlighted the infrastructure deficit, estimated at more than three trillion dollars over the next 30 years, as a significant challenge and an opportunity for economic transformation. Ewalefoh emphasized that the focus should not only be on financing physical assets but also on financing the future of national productivity, regional integration, and inclusive growth.
Ewalefoh stated that public resources alone are insufficient to meet the required investment scale. He noted that the future of Nigeria’s infrastructure relies on innovative, private sector-led, and de-risked financing models that mobilize long-term capital and deliver sustainable value. According to him, the ICRC is taking decisive steps to strengthen the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework through a new strategic direction anchored on six key pillars: time-bound project delivery, inter-agency collaboration, service delivery optimization, strategic partnerships, project categorization, and innovative financing.
He commended President Bola Tinubu’s recent policy reforms, especially the project approval thresholds, which empower MDAs to independently approve PPP projects below N20 billion, with the requirement of obtaining ICRC’s compliance certificate. Ewalefoh described this reform as a strategic signal of trust and partnership that will enable faster decision-making, decentralized implementation, and greater responsiveness to investor timelines.
Ewalefoh also pointed out that sustainable infrastructure funding would depend on capital availability, institutional credibility, policy coherence, and disciplined implementation. He urged closer collaboration among government agencies, private investors, and development partners to create a flexible and inclusive financing ecosystem. This ecosystem would connect domestic pension and insurance funds to viable infrastructure assets through innovative risk-mitigation tools.
Additionally, Ewalefoh acknowledged the critical role of development finance institutions and multilateral agencies, such as the African Development Bank (AFDB), in catalyzing investment through blended finance and guarantees.