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FG has begun discussions with the World Bank to explore funding options for infrastructure development through Public Private Partnership (PPP).
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The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) met with a World Bank team to discuss policy formation and utilization of the capital market to fund infrastructure development.
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The ICRC Director General, Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, emphasized the importance of unlocking the capital market to fund PPPs.
The Federal Government has opened conversations with the International Finance Corporation a member of the World Bank Group on policy formation to utilize the capital market and other available funding options.
This is done within Nigeria to fund infrastructure development through Public Private Partnership.
A statement signed by the Acting Head, Media and Publicity, Ifeanyi Nwoko, disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja.
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According to the statement, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) met with a World Bank team to discuss policy formation and utilization of the capital market to fund infrastructure development.
Speaking during the meeting, the ICRC Director General, Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, said that the visit of the team was an important one that could redefine the space of infrastructure development in Nigeria.
He emphasized that alternative finance options like unlocking the capital market to fund PPPs were at the heart of his innovative financing policy agenda.
“The World Bank and IFC were here to see what we can do in unlocking the potentials of the capital market in funding infrastructure development.
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“We deliberated on the opportunities, the challenges and the importance of having access to the huge fund available in the capital market to fund infrastructure.”
“In my deliberation, I focused more on the potential for investors to invest in Nigeria based on the viability and bankability of projects in Nigeria.”
“At the end of the day, we agreed that viability is not a problem but there are other risks that investors were weary of and also the lack of information about the opportunities that abound in Nigeria as a key investment destination,” Ewalefoh said.
He urged the global bank to do more in supporting Nigerian government agencies with funds and capacity development to come up with more eligible pipelines of projects. Ewalefoh also stated that the ICRC was going to do more to communicate the investment potential of Nigeria, adding that there was a nexus between the investment opportunities in Nigeria and the role the capital market can play in tapping into those potentials.
In her remarks, the leader of the World Bank delegation, Patricia Canziani, said that the essence of the meeting was to gather information that would enable the bank to introduce its Joint Capital Markets Programme in Nigeria.
“The purpose of our visit is to introduce the J-CAP programme, which we have introduced to 20 countries Worldwide, and the purpose of the programme is to work together with the stakeholders in Nigeria and identify ways to support the development and roles of capital market in Nigeria.”
“The Capital Market holds many opportunities for funding PPP. Nigerian Capital Market already has different products, but we can support the development of newer products in the country,” she said.
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