Visionless Buhari abandons N398TRN National Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan

Visionless Buhari abandons N398TRN National Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan

The Federal Government seems to have abandoned a 30-year roadmap for infrastructure development for Nigeria, known as the Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP). The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) is a 30- year roadmap for building world class infrastructure that will guarantee sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria. It would have enabled the country bridge its huge infrastructure deficit by taking advantage of the vast opportunities in the domestic and global economies to improve the quality of life of the citizenry.



However,four years after completion, the plan has joined hundreds before it on the list of abandoned reports gathering dust on shelves of government agencies in the country.

The plan projected that Nigeria needs N398.1 trillion ($2 trillion) for infrastructure development over three decades. The plan was to serve as key component of capital budgets since 2014 with a target annual expenditure of N6.57 trillion ($33 billion), being 5.4 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the five-year period running from 2014 to 2019.

But in total disregard to the recommendation by the report, the Federal Government budgeted N1.75 trillion in 2016, N558.03 billion in 2015 and N1.1 trillion in 2014.

The initial five-year operational period (2014-2019) of the plan has an investment portfolio of N26.9 trillion ($166.1 billion) in order to deliver priority infrastructure projects across the country. But three years on, government has allocated N3.3 trillion for capital expenditures.

The NIIMP indicates that Nigeria has to increase investments in infrastructure from the current N1.83 trillion (about $ 10 billion) annually to N9.34 trillion (about $51 billion) by 2018. While the capital allocation in the 2016 budget leaped by over a trillion naira from what was budgeted last year, the allocation still fell short of the N6.57 trillion recommended in the NIIMP. The plan was to be financed through annual budgets of states and federal governments, public debts and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).

The Federal Government over the years committed huge funds into developing the NIIMP through an elaborate and inclusive process including the work of 11 Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and Business Support Group (BSG), which provided private sector perspective and expectations.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the outcome of this process was validated at national and sub-national levels, journalists trained on monitoring the implementation and the inputs of international development partners were captured.

The Ministry of Budget and National Planning which spearheaded the document acknowledged that infrastructure development in Nigeria is currently hindered by multiple legislative challenges, which hinder capital inflows and obstruct private sector involvement.

The Ministry said at the official website of the NIIMP that “in total, changes will be required in about 20 different legislations” to enable successful implementation.

However, the Ministry failed in its promise to draft a bill for the NIIMP which would be sent to the National Assembly as an executive bill. In anticipation of the launch of the plan, the Ministry in 2014, created an Infrastructure Delivery Coordination Unit (IDCU) headed by a senior staff, Mr. David Adeosun, for the implementation of the NIIMP.

The Unit was to take charge of; master plan monitoring and evaluation, programme management and development, communication and capability building, projects support and private sector investment, support high-priority projects and attract private sector investment.

On why the Federal Government failed to initiate a legal backing for the plan, the Head of the Infrastructure Delivery Coordination Unit (IDCU), Mr. David Adeosun, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the issue of drafting a bill to give the document a legal backing was not finalized.

“The issue of legalising a plan was neither here nor there because it is difficult to legalise a living document. A document that is not sacrosanct. A document that will be reviewed as new things happen,” he said.

Adeosun said what could be done was to make sure that each successive government that has a plan in place would adopt and continue to implement the NIIMP as the document will outlive successive administrations.

The Unit seem to have been handicapped by the non-implementation of the document by the Federal Government.

An indication that the Federal Government may have decided to dump the document is the delayed launch for four years.

The plan ought to have been launched in 2013 after its preparation and the Federal Government failed to do so. On two separate occasions the launch was scheduled in 2014 and early 2015.

The planned launch in early 2015 was cancelled at the last minute after the Press had been invited and the programme of events was prepared.

When asked of the fate of the masterplan, a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Budget and National planning, Mr. Bassey Okon Akpanyung, told journalists that the Ministry had forwarded the document to the Presidency for consideration.

Akpanyung said the fate of the document now rested on the Presidency and that the next line of action would come from there.

Speaking on the delayed implementation, Adeosun explained that the Ministry was trying to capture the priority areas of the present administration and incorporate it into the document.

“We are supposed to have the first implementation plan. We have started the process but we couldn’t conclude it due to change in government. We want it to capture the areas of the present administration so that you are not doing something that is at variance with their priority area,” he said.

Responding to Daily Trust on Sunday on the matter, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, asked our correspondent to check the 2016 budget. The vice president’s spokesman also suggested that the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, be asked for comments.

“Please check the budget and if need be, ask Mr Babatunde Fashola who is the works minister,” Akande wrote in a text message to our correspondent.

The Ministry’s Deputy Director of Information, Mr. Salisu Badamasi Haiba, had late last year blamed political activities that characterized 2014 and early 2015 for impeding the implementation of the masterplan.

Haiba said the infrastructure plan was still on course as the Commission had not received any counter directive to discontinue the plan from the incumbent President. He said the plan was part of the details of the briefing which the NPC presented to the President recently.

The decision of the Federal Government to raise capital allocation from the 11 per cent of total allocations in 2015 budget to 29 per cent this year was geared towards reflating the nation’s contracting economy. Over the years, recurrent expenditures had gulped the chunk of the nation’s resources while capital projects suffered neglect. This led to a huge infrastructure deficit.

To reverse the trend, capital expenditure was raised to N1.75 trillion in the 2016 budget from the N558.03 billion allocated for the same purpose in the 2015 budget.

The Federal Government budgeted a total of N6.06 trillion for 2016, an increase of 35 per cent over the 2015 budget provision of N5.067 trillion.

Despite the low amount of funds allocated for capital projects last year, only 73 per cent was utilized by MDAs during the period.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, said, “In any case, even if all the amount allocated for capital projects was released, it would not have made a major impact. This may partly explain why the performance of the economy in 2015 was so poor.”

He painted the capital challenge of the country thus: “We have poor and dilapidated roads, epileptic power supply, a virtually moribund railway system and airports needing refurbishments.”

However, Nigeria’s infrastructural need is worse than the picture painted by the minister.

Daily Trust on Sunday analysed key projects in the current budget spread across the regions that will impact the economy positively.

There are over 40 capital-intensive projects in the budget spread across the six geo-political zones cutting across power, railway, aviation, water, housing, agriculture, education, health and special intervention programmes.

Analysis showed that the South-West got seven critical projects in the budget to be financed with N62.22 billion this year.

The projects include N8.7 billion for the reconstruction and pavement strengthening of sections of Benin – Sagamu expressway, N40 billion for Lagos – Ibadan Expressway (Section I) and N5 billion for the rehabilitation of Apapa – Oshodi – Oworoshoki Road.

Other projects that will directly benefit the South-West include N6 billion for dualisation of Ibadan – Ilorin (Section II), N324.2 million for completion of rural electrification scheme in 23 communities in Ondo, N1 billion for construction of Dam Embankment at Ile-Ife and N1.2 billion for construction of Dam embankment, spillway, inlet and outlet structures at Jare Earth Dam.

The North-Central also got a chunk of the capital allocations in the budget as it got N25.38 billion for eight critical projects including N14.2 billion for the construction of Oju/Loko Oweto Bridge to link Loko and Oweto and N4.8 billion for rehabilitation of Ilorin – Jebba – Mokwa – Bokani road.

Other projects that will directly benefit the North-Central are N1.2 billion for construction of 2X60MVA connection of Gurara to National Grid, N1.1 billion for the generation of 700MW from Zungeru Hydro Power Project and N8.5 billion for the completion of Itakpe – Ajaokuta – Warri 326KM rail track and structures.

Other are N18.3 billion for the completion of Abuja (Idu) – Kaduna 186.5KM single track rail line, N1.06 billion for airside rehabilitation of Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja and N500 million for construction of dam embankment at Galma Dam.

The budget contains about five projects that will directly benefit the North-West region, totalling N25.38 billion.

The projects include the N13 billion for dualization of Kano –Maiduguri road (Sections I-V), N8.8 billion for rehabilitation of Sokoto – Tambuwal – Kotangora – Makira Road, N2.6 billion for dualization of Kano – Katsina road (phase I), N250.7 million for completion of ongoing electrification project in Kano State and N232.1 million for construction of Hadejia Valley Irrigation Project.

Daily Trust on Sunday also identified five critical projects in the budget that will benefit the South-East region, totalling N20.22 billion.

These projects include N13 billion for concession of the 2nd Niger Bridge, N5.5 billion for rehabilitation of Enugu – Onitsha Road, N497.5 million for construction of Terminal Building at Enugu Airport, N232.13 million for rehabilitation of Adani irrigation project and N990 million for construction of dam embankment at Adada River Dam.

There are four critical projects that will benefit the South-South and North-East regions to be executed with N8 billion and 4 billion respectively.

For the South-South, the projects include N6 billion for dualisation of Odukpani – Itu-Ikot Ekpene Road in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states and N2 billion for dualization of Sapele – Agbor – Ewu Road (Section I).

For the North-East, they include N2.8 billion for completion of Gombe-Numan-Yola road (phase II) and N1.5 billion for construction of dam embankment at Kashimbila Dam.

There are several projects in the budget that are not region-based as the benefits cut across all parts of the country.

Such projects abound in the power sector in which Udoma revealed that the target was to optimize and deliver consistently 7,000mw of power.

Some of the projects in the power sector that are not specific to regions include N5.5 billion for construction of 215MW Gas Power Plant and N235.7 million for coal to power development in Enugu, Benue, Gombe and Kogi.

Others are N303.9 million for the completion of ongoing construction of ITC/TDN and installation of injection and distribution substations and N305.3 million for the completion of small scale renewable energy power plants development.

In the railway subsector, the budget provided for N60 billion counterpart funding for the Lagos – Kano Standard Guage Rail Line, N60 billion counterpart funding for Calabar – Lagos Standard Guage Rail Line and N3.2 billion for provision of power, water, station building and fence for rail lines.

In the aviation subsector, the budget included N432.5 million for procurement and illumination of Thales Navigational Aids at Kano, Jos, Minna, Maiduguri and Port-Harcourt, N865 million for Procurement and Installation of Airfield Lightening System at Port Harcourt, Kano, Lagos, Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe and Akure, N2 billion for Purchase of Calibration Aircraft and Equipment plus N870.4 million for procurement, illumination and flood lightening of 16 Airports.

The budget also captured N204.2 million for supply/installation of pressurised/centre pivot irrigation system nationwide, N100 million for World Bank Assisted urban water sector reform project, N200 million for ADB assisted rural water supply and sanitation initiatives and N1 billion for construction of solar motorized boreholes nationwide.

The budget also provided N35.6 billion for construction of 1,973 blocks of 7,068 housing units in six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

For agricultural development, the budget captured N1.3 billion for construction and rehabilitation of rural roads, N1.3 billion for support to 187,500 farmers, N939.7 million for extension services, N940 million for development of strategic grazing reserves and N940 million for price stabilization, buy-back, and price guarantee scheme.

The Federal Government budgeted N342.1 million for secondary schools quality assurance programme across six geo-political zones, N817.1 million for statutory visitation and monitoring of 90 federal tertiary institutions and N2.1 billion for servicing ongoing and new local and foreign scholarships.

Health-related projects that are not region-specific included N12.6 billion for vaccines, devices and operations programmes for Polio, Measles and Yellow Fever and N1.3 billion counter-part contributions for procurement and distribution of antiretroviral drugs and contraceptive commodities.

For the first time, N500 billion was appropriated for social intervention projects in five areas domiciled in the office of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

About N191.5 billion was appropriated for job creation aimed at employing 500,000 teachers and empowering 100,000 artisans.

N93.1 billion was budgeted for school feeding of 5.5 million children for 200 school days while N68.7 billion was allocated for conditional cash transfer of N5, 000 per month for 1 million beneficiaries.

The budget also captured N140.3 billion for enterprise programme to support one million market women, 460,000 artisans and 200,000 agric workers while N5.8 billion was appropriated for STEM education grant for 100,000 students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Analysts say that it is important for the Federal Government to revisit the NIIMP document in prioritising projects to be included in the 2017 budget being prepared at the moment.

The NIIMP document which has 2043 as its terminal date, provides that in the first five years of the plan, investments in energy, transport, social infrastructure and housing should be given priority due to their current relative level of under-investment.

An executive summary of the NIIMP document indicates that the investments will grow over the next five years at an annual growth rate of 50 percent for energy, 39 percent for transport, 32 percent for social infrastructure and 23 percent for housing.

The growth path had expected Nigeria to raise its investments in infrastructure to N10.17 trillion ($51.1 billion) annually as from 2014.

Speaking on the non-implementation of the NIIMP and the infrastructure challenge in the country, the President of the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dr. Abdul Alimi Bello, said infrastructure deficit has remained a major problem confronting the economy and manufacturers in general.

“Infrastructure means so many things. We really want to operate under optimum condition. For example, we manufacturers need a lot of infrastructure to succeed. We need stable power to be able to produce competitively, we need to move our products at cheaper costs and reduce our cost of production,” he said.

He said the infrastructure challenge in Nigeria has increased the cost of production making it difficult for manufacturers to survive in the country.

“The cost of production is so high. You can’t compete internationally and a lot of factories are closing down due to high cost of production,” he said.

He told Daily Trust on Sunday that the non-implementation of the master plan may not be unconnected with lack of resources.

“What is before this administration is much more than that (the master plan). They met what they never expected and as I am talking to you now, there are many things this administration is battling,” he said.

He expressed optimism that once the government tackles the bigger things before it such as corruption and dwindling revenue, other areas would be given attention.

The cardinal objectives of the NIIMP document are; “Close to 50% of investments would be directed at the roads sub-sector, in order to refurbish cross-national highways and expand the regional road network and linkages to other modes of transportation. Priority would be given to generation capacity and expansion of transmission infrastructure, as well as construction of supporting gas infrastructure.

Expansion of mobile network capacity and the broadband fiber optic network would be the priority. Priority would be given to increasing the number of housing units in order to close the current and projected housing deficit estimated at 17 million housing units.

Priority investments would be in construction of facilities for education, hospitals, women and youth development, and sports. Priority would also be given to investments in national vital registration system and construction and rehabilitation of facilities for all security institutions.”

-DAILY TRUST