Infrastructure

As of the middle of 2012, Nigeria had a population of roughly 167 million people and a land area of 924 000 km2. Nigeria is the seventh most populous nation in the world and has the highest population density in all of Africa. With an estimated population of over 11.2 million, Lagos is one of the biggest cities in sub-Saharan Africa and the biggest urban region in Nigeria.

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Score Cards

70%

Road infrastructure deficit

$3 trillion

country’s financing shortfall for infrastructure over the next 30 years.

132nd

of 137 Countries in Global Competitiveness Index - Infrastructure (2018)

131st

of 137 Countries in Global Competitiveness Index - Quality of overall infrastructure

0.03168

Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) - 2020

35%

of GDP is the country’s infrastructure stock

56%

of Nigerians have access to electricity

68%

of all roads in the country are in deplorable condition

70%

Road infrastructure deficit

$3 trillion

country’s financing shortfall for infrastructure over the next 30 years.

132nd

of 137 Countries in Global Competitiveness Index - Infrastructure (2018)

131st

of 137 Countries in Global Competitiveness Index - Quality of overall infrastructure

0.03168

Fixed broadband subscriptions (per 100 people) - 2020

35%

of GDP is the country’s infrastructure stock

56%

of Nigerians have access to electricity

68%

of all roads in the country are in deplorable condition

Summary

As of the middle of 2012, Nigeria has a population of roughly 167 million people and a land area of 924 000 km2. Nigeria is the seventh most populous nation in the world and has the highest population density in all of Africa. With an estimated population of over 11.2 million, Lagos is one of the biggest cities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the biggest urban region in Nigeria.

Nigeria has made important progress in improving much of its infrastructure in recent years. Compared to a number of Sub-Saharan countries, Nigeria has relatively advanced power, road, rail and information and communications technology (ICT) networks that cover extensive areas of the country.

Inadequate mass transportation has encouraged the use of motorcycles for commercial and public transportation while it has been outrightly banned in some states. Water transportation has also continued to stagnate along with other systems, even though the country has about 3,300 kilometres of navigable inland waterways.

While these ought to provide easy access to the coast from the hinterland, they have not been adequate for navigation due to a lack of dredging and availability of modern vessels. The power transmission grid is national in scope, with most major generation facilities linked to the grid, but the quality of supply is low. There is broad coverage by mobile communications, although there are coverage gaps in the northern parts of the country.

A number of important reforms in infrastructure have been launched in recent years. The ports sector is exploring pragmatic reforms in the transition into landlord models and terminal concessions to attract private investment into the sector. The power sector is undergoing a major restructuring that is paving the way for performance improvements.

Addressing infrastructural challenges will require a substantially larger annual level of investment in infrastructure, a significant increase in annual allocations for routine and periodic maintenance to ensure reliable infrastructure services, and increased attention to the institutional arrangements that support the infrastructure network of the country and the related services. Recent studies suggest that if the infrastructure endowment of Nigeria were raised to that of the Africa region’s middle income countries, it would boost annual GDP growth.

Sources: AFDB, NBS