Uche Usim, Abuja
To address the infrastructure gaps in the country, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has advised corporate bodies in the country to leverage on Presidential Order 007 to raise infrastructure bonds at concessionary rates to support the Federal Government’s efforts to address the perennial challenge.
Emefiele gave the charge at the weekend while inspecting on-going road construction from the Apapa port to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway tollgate being undertaken by the Dangote Group.
The CBN Governor commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Executive Order 007, which opened the opportunity for private companies to intervene in infrastructure.
According to him, the Apapa port road being constructed by the Dangote Group was comparable to those constructed in countries with more developed technology.
Emefiele said: “It is a good thing for this country. When we talk about the ease of doing business, you can imagine a situation whereby people have been complaining about the ease of transporting their goods out of the Apapa port. This road before will help address that challenge.”
While commending Dangote for taking the initiative, Emefiele expressed hope that the road would ease the traffic challenge on the route, particularly for trucks conveying cleared goods from the ports.
He further commended the Dangote Group for using local content, stressing that “this is 100 percent local content. Alhaji Dangote uses his cement on this road, the rods I understand are coming from African Foundries that smelted waste steel, which is converted into iron bars and are being used for the road.”
Speaking earlier, Alhaji Aliko Dangote assured that the first phase of the construction would be ready before the end of December 2019.