The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved the establishment of a company, Infra-Co, saddled with the responsibility of tackling the nation’s infrastructure deficit.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

Akande said the company would take off with an initial seed capital of N1tn which will come from the  Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and the Africa Finance Corporation.

He said Buhari has directed Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to chair a steering committee tasked with setting up the company.

The statement read, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of a Public Private Partnership styled infrastructure company named Infra-Co with an initial seed capital of N1tn.

“It is envisaged that over time, the entity will grow to N15tn in assets and capital.

“The initial seed capital for the entity will come from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, and the Africa Finance Corporation.

“The board of Infra-Co will be chaired by the Central Bank Governor and include the Managing Director of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, President of the Africa Finance Corporation, as well as representatives of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. The board will also have three independent directors from the private sector.”