1. Nigeria faces a huge infrastructure deficit estimated to cost $30 trillion over 30 years, including a shortage of 720,000 houses per year, 150,000km of unmotorable local roads, and poor quality healthcare facilities. 2. The power sector in particular is in poor condition, with insufficient and unreliable electricity hindering economic development, though renewable energy presents investment opportunities. 3. To finance infrastructure development, a government official's strategy would involve documenting investment opportunities in the power sector, exploring new financing sources, reallocating existing funds, avoiding future costs, and delivering resources more efficiently.

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FINANCING STRATEGY FOR NIGERIA’S INFRASTRUCTURAL DEFICIT
Good infrastructure contribute significantly to human development, poverty reduction
and ultimate attainment of sustainable development goals. However, It is no longer a
news that infrastructure is in sorry state in Nigeria. Transportation, water and sanitation,
health, education, road, housing, power sector are near collapsed. This is a huge deficit
of life saving infrastructure for the growing population. The statistics are there to testify.
It is estimated that about $30trillion is needed for economic infrastructure over the next
30years if the country must meet its developmental agenda. For instance, the federal
mortgage Bank of Nigeria stated that the country will need to build about 720,000 units
of houses per annum at a cost of N56 trillion per annum to close the housing deficit gap.
Also, National road network is about 200,000km with about 150,000km (67% of the
national road network) belonging to local government. And over 50 percent of the local
government road is unmotorable and 90 percent of the road are unpaved.
On health, the story is the same. The quality of health care services delivered is poor.
Most of the primary health care facilities that are supposed to meet the health needs of
the poor and rural dwellers are in a poor state due to poor budgetary allocation and
inefficient expenditure. The maternal mortality ratio for Nigeria remain quite high at 814
per 100000 livebirths according to 2016 World Health Statistics. 24.4 percent of household
members in Nigeria still practice open defecation. According to national bureau of
statistics, 42.6 percent of households does not have access to good sanitation facility.
Importantly, the state of energy (electricity) which is the hub of economic and
technological development is nothing to write home about. It is a known fact that the
engine of life worldwide is the uninterrupted electrical power supply. We also know
that there is a very strong link between the per capita consumption of electrical power
and the state of physical advancement of a nation. This means that if the energy
consumed per person in a nation is very high, more industries will be working, which
leads to a strong economy.
The implication of all these is that country needs several trillions of naira to address its
infrastructure challenges at the time economy is financially challenged. Above all,
provision of adequate and uninterrupted electricity will be prioritized due its catalytic
role it can play in growth and development.
In this short piece, efforts will be made to see how finance could be mobilized to develop
electricity sector to optimum capacity.

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At present, the sources of finance for Nigeria are tax revenue, foreign direct investment
FDI , official development assistance and other official flows and personal remittances.
With over $2billion needed for national electrification project, right financing mix is sine
qua non. Blended finance and green bonds are the way to explore.
One of the areas for investment opportunity is renewable energy – power generation
using renewables sources of energy: solar, wind, biomass.
As a government official who has been saddled with responsibility of identifying and
mobilizing finance for development, my strategy would be to :
Develop date base to show investment opportunities in the power sector – it is
important to briefly document developmental stages of the electricity
infrastructure in Nigeria showing issues, challenges and possible solutions.
Demography to support the critical needs must be presented.
Explore available new resources for the power sector – efforts will be made to
stimulate further reforms in the sector. The issues of subsidy must be critically
looked at. power sector must be commercially viable to attract investors.
Realigncurrent expenditurestowards the power sector - all measureswill betaken
to re-orient existing financial flows towards the sector.
Avoid the need for future expenditures - freeing up resources for investment in
other areas. any measure that can prevent or reduce future investment needs by
eliminating/amending existing counter-productive policies and expenditures
Deliver financial resources more effectively - any measure or strategy that can
enhance cost-effectiveness/efficiency, synergies and/or favour a more equitable
distribution of resources.