The Federal Government will require a total sum of $16bn (N3.15tn) in the next five years to address the challenges of infrastructure in the transport sector.

The Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Aminu Dikko, gave the figure on Wednesday in Abuja during a capacity building programme for officials in the Ministry of Transport.

Giving a breakdown of the $16bn, the ICRC boss said the sum of $5bn (N985bn) would be required in the aviation sector, while $11bn (N2.17tn) would be needed to bridge the infrastructure gap in rail and other transport segments.

He said in view of this, there was a need to develop the capacity of government officials, particularly in the area of Public Private Partnership, in order to attract the needed funding from the private sector.

Dikko stated, “In the next five years, just transport alone, excluding aviation, the government will require at least $11bn, and another $5bn is required in aviation to bridge the infrastructure gap. This is a large sum of money that the government obviously does not have. So, we are left to look at other sources and PPP is one of those sources.

“If you look at our airports in the country, they need improvement and this can be done through PPP. Whether it is operating and managing them or expanding them. Also, we have been struggling to do a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, and this is something that the private sector can do without all the bottlenecks that traditional procurement can bring.”

Represented by the Director, Support Service Department, ICRC, Mr. Mohammed Bamali, the DG said the training would prepare officials of the ministry for the number of projects billed for concession under its supervision.

Dikko said as part of measures to boost commerce and industry, the Federal Government would concession the ports in Lekki and Badagry, among others.

The ICRC boss urged participants to champion infrastructure rebirth in the country using the tools and techniques learnt at the seminar.