FEC Greenlights Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund to Bridge Nigeria’s Development Gap

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the creation of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund. The fund will seek alternative ways to fill the infrastructure gap in the country.

The Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, stated that the Fund would focus on agriculture, energy, technology, healthcare, infrastructure, and education.

The Integrated Infrastructure Masterplan, commissioned in 2020, analyzed that Nigeria would require close to a trillion dollars within the next 10 years to address its infrastructure deficit.

This much is definitely hard to mobilise, but the government is eager to use infrastructure as a catalyst for driving development, thus the prompt the need to think outside the box to achieve its objective, as stated by the Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, Dr. Zacch Adedeji.

“There’s no way you can attract the kind of investment that is required, but when you have this kind of fund that has interest in investing this critical National asset, take for instance, Badagry-Sokoto road, if it is done properly, in eleven hours, everything produced in Sokoto will be at the sea. The implication of that is that everything produced in the north is just eleven hours to the work”.

Minister Wale Edun announced that the Ministry of Finance received approval for a 15 billion Yen loan from Japan to promote agriculture..

“It is essentially free money. Ten years moratorium and one percent interest rate. It’s a kind of bilateral support that doesn’t put a strain on Nigeria financially, and of course, helps in the agriculture sector”.

The Ministry of Youth Development has been granted approval by FEC to establish a 30% youth quota for government appointments. This initiative is intended to develop the youth’s decision-making and civic engagement skills..

The Minister, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim, said FEC had also given them approval to restructure and institutionalise the 75 billion Naira Nigerian Youth Investment Fund, approved in 2020, with annual release of 25 billion Naira.

While explaining that her Ministry had secured approval for the immediate release of 50 billion Naira, out of the 75 billion Naira, she said the aim was to encourage the youth into establishing their own enterprises in priority sectors, through the formation of clusters across the 6 geopolitical zones in the country.

Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi explained that FEC approved the construction and rehabilitation of 28 roads and bridges, while dropping one project for further scrutiny.

“The project I requested that it should be stepped down so that I can look at it again is the Biyu-Kanga-Kamba-Gaya to the border with Niger Republic causing about 158 billion. Council also approved the Buruku bridge that is going across Katsina-Ala River in Benue State, and is costing about 83.799 billion

Approval was further given for the rehabilitation of the 92-kilometre Shaki to Okerete Road in Oyo State.