FG mobilises N1.92tn for real sector In order to aid the development of different sectors of the economy, the Federal Government has entered into series of agreements with international funding agencies. IFEANYI ONUBA, writes Within two years of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, $12bn (N1.92tn) funding agreements have been concretised by the Federal Government to finance the real sector of the economy. This is according to figures obtained from the Ministry of Finance. The amount from a mid-term report of the ministry was mobilised to fund sectors that are critical to the transformation agenda of the President. The sectors are agriculture (N202bn); environment (N91.2bn); transport (N640bn); water resources (N126.03bn); Niger Delta (N50bn) and health (N30.35bn) Others are power (N451.12bn); education (N39.97bn); Information and Communication Technology (N16bn) and job creation (N94.4bn). There are also aviation, housing, Federal Capital Territory and works, where N80bn, N48bn, N80bn and N44.8bn have been secured in that order. An analysis of the source of funding revealed that out of the N202bn secured for the agric sector, N30bn credit risk guarantee was given to Nigeria’s commercial banks to support the supply of fertilisers and seeds by the private sector Similarly, $500m (N32bn) was obtained from the World Bank to support the Agriculture Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration for staple crop processing in the six geo-political zones as well as the FADAMA project. In the same vein, it was learnt that the Federal Government was currently negotiating $500m (N80bn) for 18 cassava processing mills and 40 rice processing units, while another $75m (N12bn) for rural access mobility project from the China Export-Import Bank was being discussed. In the environment sector, the report showed that $450m (N72bn) was secured for erosion and watershed management in Abia, Anambra, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Edo states, while $120m (N19.2bn) was collected for flood and waste management in Oyo State from the World Bank. For the transport sector, findings showed that $4bn (N640bn) Letter of Comfort to support investment in the Lekki Deep Seaport was obtained from the Ministry of Finance. The report also revealed that the N126.03bn for the water sector was secured as follows: World Bank, $320m (N51.2bn); Islamic Development Bank, $186.34m (N29.81bn); and African Development Bank, $281.32m (N45.01bn). The funds, it was gathered, were used to finance water reform and urban water supply in Cross River, Rivers and Kaduna states, as well as irrigation project in Osun state. For the aviation sector, about $500m (N80bn) was secured from China EXIM Bank for five new airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Lagos, Enugu and Port-Harcourt; while $300m (N48bn) was secured from the World Bank for housing liquidity facility. Similarly, the report showed that $200m (N32bn) was secured from the China EXIM Bank for various road projects, while $80m (N12.8bn) was obtained from the World Bank for the construction of the second Niger Bridge. However, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, explained that the funds were mobilised at concessional rates for the real sector. She said while some were given to the country at zero interest rates, others were secured at single digit rates with moratorium of 40 years. The minister said, “We have been very active to mobilise – sometimes zero interest – very low interest concessional financing for our sectors; money that is zero interest and 40 years to repay with 10 years of grace, the type that you cannot find easily anywhere. “So, we have been very careful to do that and we have mobilised money for almost every sector, agriculture from China EXIM Bank and from the World Bank for environmental and transport sectors. “You know, we’re doing even guarantees so that we can have some of our infrastructure developed; for example, a letter of comfort to develop the Lekki Deep seaport. So, when you see all these things being developed, you know that Finance (ministry) has done some work to make resources available or guarantees that make it work.” She said the government was also working on a public-private partnership arrangement to finance the second Niger Bridge. Okonjo-Iweala said, “On the second Niger Bridge, we’re now working on a public-private partnership arrangement where we’re going to co-invest with some investors that have been identified from outside with PPP to make sure that this bridge gets built. “As we speak, they’re already on site trying to do some of the initial groundwork. We work with the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and other banks to try to make this happen.” She said for the power sector, a $1bn Eurobond would be raised to make gas available for the delivery of electricity to Nigerians. The minister said, “In power, we are going to go to the market very soon to raise a Eurobond of about $1bn for the power sector. We know that power is what we need in this country; that’s what we have focused on. “So, all that money will make gas available to fire the power and the emergency gas plan of the minister of Petroleum Resources, which has already been yielding results in terms of making gas available to make our power situation better. But we want to support them to improve even more. So, we raise resources for that.” Okonjo-Iweala also said the fund secured for job creation had helped to create more jobs for the youth. She said, “We are managing some job creation programmes apart from what we are doing for the real sectors of the economy, mobilising money for them in addition to the budget to create jobs, like the 3.5 million jobs targeted by the Agriculture ministry in 2015. “It is the resources we mobilise that will help them to deliver that. But we are also managing some direct job creation being undertaken and implemented by government.” The minister said from the community services programme designed to create 370,000 jobs a year; about 178,000 jobs have already been created.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:41:02 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015