Low investment, poor maintenance fingered for infrastructure poverty in Nigeria

Cumulative low investment and poor maintenance of national social and economic infrastructure over the years are responsible for the deficit in urban infrastructure estimated to run into trillions of naira, experts have said.

The experts add that rapid urbanisation, urban sprawl and poor governance traits, such as lack of transparency and accountability as well as massive corruption have deprived the country’s urban areas of the much needed hard and soft infrastructure, noting that this has

impacted negatively on economic growth, hampered progress and prosperity as well as impoverished the people.

Adegoke Akinbamide Omobayo of Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, who stated this at a forum, also said that poor infrastructure has deprived most urban dwellers of access to the economic network of the city with the attendant urbanisation of poverty.

BusinessDay had earlier reported that infrastructure deficit in Nigeria puts 15 percent additional burden on the cost of doing business in the country.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, former minister of education, who made this revelation at a conference, also states that Nigeria requires sustained expenditure of almost $14.2 billion per year over the next decade, or about 12 percent of its GDP, to close this gap.

“The country also needs to spend about $10.5 billion to fix federal infrastructure alone, especially power, as against its current expenditure of about $5.9 billion per year on federal infrastructure which is equivalent to about 5 percent of its GDP”, she said.

Omobayo explained that urbanisation of poverty resulted from urban infrastructural deficit particularly electricity, transportation, telecommunication as well as water and sanitation facilities.

“Electricity supply in particular has sent many urban dwellers out of jobs, particularly artisans such as electricians, iron benders, hair dressers, fashion designers (tailors), among others, who largely depend on electricity and cannot afford the cost of generating sets”, he said.

Continuing, he said, “This has resulted in increased unemployment, underemployment and joblessness; thus, the widespread poverty in the urban areas is casting a shadow of doubt over the promise of good life cities hold for human race when they first emerged”.

BusinessDay