Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja disclosed that the plan of the Federal Government to raise a $25 billion Infrastructure Fund from the global community and establish long term bankable projects was gaining attention.
Speaking during a courtesy call on him by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, led by a former Minister of Industry, Chief Nike Akande, the Vice President said the idea of the Fund was to attract commercial partners and other investors to help develop the country’s infrastructure.
“We have seen considerable, favorable interests from some sovereign wealth funds and other nations,” Osinbajo said. A statement by the Vice President’s spokesperson, Mr. Laolu Akande, also quoted Osinbajo as saying that the China-Exim Bank had agreed to finance the railway projects linking Lagos and Kano as well as Lagos and Calabar. According to the statement, the vice president said the fund will generate some economic activities and create jobs.
The Vice President reiterated the federal government’s determination to raise revenue internally to fund the budget including through an expansion of VAT coverage but not an increase of the VAT rate. He said: “At 20% coverage the VAT coverage now, the federal government intends to do much better giving a boost to the country’s tax revenues.”
Also speaking, the leader of the delegation, Akande, who declared the support of the chamber for federal government’s fight against corruption, acknowledged that in the current economic situation that the Buhari Presidency was having to deal with, “there are no easy choices.”
She challenged the Central Bank of Nigeria to find a foreign exchange regime that would boost the confidence of investors and remove uncertainly. In a similar development, the Vice President also received a delegation from the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON. Speaking during the meeting, Osinabjo noted that telecom was a critical sector of the economy, adding that “there is no question at all about the importance and contribution of the sector, especially since the 2001 privatization.”
