The Federal Government has opened conversations with the International Finance Corporation – a member of the World Bank Group – on policy formation to utilise the capital market and other available funding options within Nigeria to fund infrastructure development through Public Private Partnership.
This was the focus of a meeting between the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the World Bank Team, who were on a fact-finding mission on how to develop and unlock the capital market in Nigeria.
A statement signed by the Acting Head, Media and Publicity, Ifeanyi Nwoko, disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja.
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 said that alternative finance options like unlocking the capital market to fund PPPs were at the heart of his innovative financing policy agenda.
Speaking further after the technical meeting, Ewalefoh said that funding was at the core of infrastructure development. Hence, it would be a milestone to unlock the capital market.
“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. 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 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,” he said.
He, however, 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.
He said 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.
He stressed that in the area of PPP processes, the Commission had activated the charge by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and has streamlined its processes to ensure accelerated delivery of PPP infrastructure projects.
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.
She commended the ICRC for its role in regulating PPPs, urging it to work with other players to develop new products and build investor confidence.
Canziani noted that there were several untapped interests from potential international investors.
The World Bank IFC’s visit to ICRC is one in the series of meetings it has lined up with strategic government and private stakeholders that are germane to its course.
