The Nigerian government has been granted approval to establish a 15 trillion naira ($39.5 billion) infrastructure development company with the country's sovereign wealth fund.
InfraCo PLC will be co-owned by the government, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Abuja, which has 649.8 billion naira in assets, and the Africa Finance Corp. The AFC is a banking institution that funds and develops projects in sectors including power, transportation and logistics and natural resources.
The approval was noted in a news release detailing the outcome of the bank's monetary policy committee meeting held on July 20 and published last week.
The company will leverage local and international funds to rebuild critical infrastructure across Nigeria, the release said. Assets will be managed by an independent infrastructure manager "that will mobilize local and foreign capital to support the federal government in building the transport infrastructure required to move agriculture and other products to processors, raw materials to factories, and finished goods to markets," the release added.
Details on when a manager will be appointed were not available.
The 15 trillion naira in assets are expected to cover an initial five-year period.
Spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment.