The Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lamido Yugufa, has stated that the Nigerian Capital Market has the capacity and is well-positioned to finance Public-Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in the country.

Yuguda made this remark at the 2023 Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) National Workshop held in Abuja last week.

While speaking on the theme, “Leveraging the capital market to drive public-private partnership for effective national economic growth”, Yuguda, citing a World Bank report, pointed out that Nigeria’s current level of public spending on infrastructure is one of the lowest globally.

He added that this lack of investment has resulted in a significant infrastructure gap, which has adversely affected the quality of infrastructure and limited access to essential services.

Yuguda, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Corporate Services, Ibrahim Boyi, said that given the current rate of capital expenditure, it would take approximately 300 years to bridge Nigeria’s infrastructure ga

He stressed the need for a new approach to financing infrastructure development in Nigeria to stimulate economic growth and argued that leveraging public-private partnerships is essential, and the capital market can play a crucial role in this regard.

His words: “This is an infrastructure financing model that is a common choice in many developed nations of the world. Capital markets allow governments and private sector partners to raise debt capital for PPP projects. Governments can issue bonds to finance their share of the project costs while private companies can secure loans or issue corporate bonds for their contributions’’.