DataPro Webinar Calls for Best Infrastructure Funding Options

With the current economic realities and the emerging infrastructural gaps in Nigeria, there is an urgent need to explore other financing options aside from the direct funding of the government in order to meet the expectations of the citizenry.

This was the summary of the submission of a panel at the 2023 webinar organised by DataPro Limited, a technology-driven rating agency, on Thursday.

Panelists at the event with the theme: ‘The Role of Subnational and Credit Rating Agencies in Infrastructure Development’, which included MD, Africa Plus Partners, Mr. Adeniran Ajakaiye; Chairman Skymark Partners, Mr. Egie Akpata and a director from African Development Bank, Mr. Peter Onyago, said the faster we accelerate infrastructure development in our continent, the quicker we can stop the brain drain and lift our people out of poverty.

DataPro Chairman, Mr. Abimbola Adeseyimo, explained that the goal of the webinar was to provide an annual platform for all stakeholders within the capital market and others in  affiliated sectors of the economy to brainstorm on how the African continent and by extension, the West African countries and Nigeria can utilise the value proposition 

of the credit rating industry as an enabler of economic development and prosperity.

The keynote speaker and the CEO of Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc, Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu, said there is a need for improved transparency in the infrastructure project generation process, higher certainty concerning the framework conditions for project execution and reduced risk for the operation phase, pointing out that a long-term infrastructure pipeline and better, broader, and more independent cost-benefit analysis are the major levers to pull to accomplish this goal.