Nigerian financial services firm the ARM Infrastructure Fund is close to raising $250-million, much of it coming from pension funds,
in the country’s first infrastructure fund, to invest in transport, energy and utility sectors across West Africa.
Nigeria, home to 170-million people, requires around $50-billion a year for the next decade to develop badly needed infrastructure, especially for power, roads and water, to help boost economic growth.
Nigeria’s pension assets have grown to $25-billion in 2014, from under $4-billion seven years ago. “We are setting up a new infrastructure fund. This will be the first time pension funds are actually going to invest in infrastructure,” ARM MD Opuiyo Oforiokuma said.
ARM has interests in real estate, insurance and capital markets. It developed Nigeria’s first toll road under a private-public
partnership in the commercial hub of Lagos.
“We don’t have basic roads, power supply and water. All of these have significant consequences for the economy, the social wellbeing [of Nigeria],” Oforiokuma said, adding that Nigeria generates 4 000 MW of electricity, compared with Brazil, which generates 100 000 MW.
By: Reuters
