Nigeria's infrastructure: a continental perspective

Abstract

Infrastructure has made a net
\n contribution of around one percentage point to
\n Nigeria's improved per capita growth performance in
\n recent years, in spite of the fact that unreliable power
\n supply held growth back. Raising the country's
\n infrastructure endowment to that of the region's
\n middle-income countries could boost annual growth by around
\n four percentage points. Nigeria has made important strides
\n toward improving much of its infrastructure. Compared to
\n many African peers, Nigeria has relatively advanced power,
\n road, rail, and information and communications technology
\n (ICT) networks that cover extensive areas of the
\n nation's territory. In recent years, Nigeria has
\n conducted several important infrastructure sector reforms.
\n The ports sector has been converted to a landlord model, and
\n terminal concessions now attract private investment on a
\n scale unprecedented for Africa. The power sector is
\n undergoing a restructuring, paving the way for performance
\n improvements; the sector is finally on a path toward raising
\n tariffs to recover a larger share of costs. Bold
\n liberalization measures in the ICT sector have resulted in
\n widespread, low-cost mobile services, Africa's most
\n vibrant fixed-line sector, and major private investments in
\n the development of a national fiber-optic backbone. A
\n burgeoning domestic air transport sector has emerged, with
\n strong private carriers that have rapidly attained regional significance.