Vice President Kashim Shettima has announced that Nigeria is ready to welcome private investors to help fix the country’s roads, electricity, and other major infrastructure needs.
He made this known while speaking at a public-private partnership (PPP) event held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The gathering, organised by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), brought together government officials and business leaders to discuss ways of narrowing Nigeria’s huge infrastructure gap, which is estimated at over $2 trillion.
Speaking on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, Shettima said Nigeria isn’t just looking for investors with money, it wants genuine partners who are ready to create real value and help move the country forward. According to him, relying on government money alone is no longer enough to develop the country.
He noted that the Tinubu administration has introduced economic reforms, including changes to the foreign exchange system and the removal of fuel subsidies, to make Nigeria more attractive to investors.
Shettima said the government’s target is to raise the country’s infrastructure level from about 30% of the economy to 70% by the year 2043. He also pointed out that Nigeria, with over 230 million people and growing fast, offers one of the biggest markets in Africa.
“We have the numbers and the potential,” he said, encouraging investors to bring their money and ideas.
The Vice President urged participants at the summit to go beyond just talking and instead focus on signing deals and starting real projects.
Meanwhile, the Director General of the ICRC, Jobson Ewalefoh, said Nigeria is serious about using PPPs to solve its infrastructure problems. He mentioned that many important projects are already in progress, such as highways, hospitals, and dams.
He assured that all PPP projects would meet legal and financial standards and thanked both the government and international partners for their continued support.
