Fashola supports real sector investment

ayodele johnson

February 1, 2016 10:55 AM

There should be a meaningful investment of the government’s resources on items that can yield substantial results in the future

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has called for the investment of the pension fund in the rehabilitation of infrastructure.

He shared a vision about Nigeria and Africa, in which he sees the country being at the forefront of people management.

According to Fashola, “I see a future for Africa led by Nigeria, using the resources of the People to build a future that include the people”.

In Nigeria alone, he said, “They have $289 million in Dangote Cement , $98million approved but yet to be drawn for Notore Fertilizer, $230million in MTN Nigeria, $270million in Erin Energy (formerly CAMAC) and $150million in Mainstream Energy Solutions (in the power sector of Nigeria). By contrast, the question to ask is what is the home based pension fund doing? If as I have shown, the visiting pension fund from South Africa has a total of $897million in our economy.

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“The answer is obvious, that is why we are here, that is why my host in their invitation spoke of suitable investible vehicles with low risk profiles and sufficient comfort as the reason that continues to hamper the drive to make visible economic impact.” The minister however, said such investment should be channeled towards building of roads, hospitals, educational facilities, railways, inland water ways with the aim of generating employment for the people, creating wealth for the country and improving the standard of living for all and sundry.

Concerning education, he said “Our ‘Adopt a School Initiative’ where we opened a structured platform for private individuals, and corporations to enter into schools, which were hitherto the investment preserve of Government and religious missions (Christians and Muslims) is another area of our successful use of private capital coupled with government funding like the World Bank supported Eko Project.

In the long run, there should be a meaningful investment of the government’s resources on items that can yield substantial results in the future.

ayodele johnson