Nigeria’s transportation, utilities and communications infrastructure is extensive, but in many respects decrepit and often critically overburdened. The rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and its ongoing expansion has repeatedly been identified as one of the critical challenges facing the country’s government. For this it will need foreign investment on a huge scale, as even the windfall oil revenues that the country has enjoyed in recent years are not equal to the task.
President Umaru Yar’Adua has vowed that his new administration will continue the infrastructure improvements begun by his predecessor Olesegun Obasanji. His budget for 2008 reflects the importance the government attributes to this, with some N225bn ($1.95bn) – nearly 7.8% of total expenditure – dedicated to the power sector alone.
