Atiku Abubakar
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, said on Wednesday that the incessant and continued total collapse of the National Grid is too much for the Nigerian people to bear.
The national grid collapsed on Wednesday for the 6th time this year plunging parts of the country into darkness.
To solve the power challenge, Atiku proposed an advanced strategy for funding infrastructure which will lead to creating a conducive environment for investors to come in and stabilise the power sector.
“Due to the priority that I place on the power sector upon which the successes of other sectors are hinged, I am proposing innovative financing of infrastructure that will involve the facilitation of a review of the financial, legal, and regulatory environment to promote private investment in power, among other sectors.
“I’ll promote the incentivisation, with tax breaks, a consortium of private sector institutions to establish an Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF) to primarily mobilise domestic and international private resources for the financing and delivery of large infrastructure projects across all the sectors of the economy.
“The IDF will have an initial investment capacity of approximately US$20 billion,” Atiku promised.
Atiku, a proponent of liberalization and privatisation said he will cause the creation of an Infrastructure Development Credit Guarantee Agency to complement the operation of the IDF by de-risking investments in infrastructure to build investor confidence in taking risks and investing capital.
