Former Governor Boni Haruna has said that Nigeria’s widening infrastructure deficit is caused by  “discontinuity of policies”, not  insufficient funding.

Mr Haruna made the observation on Thursday, in Abuja, in a goodwill message at the 2026 Infrastructure Dialogue.

The former governor decried  the culture of abandoning projects, noting that political interests often override the long-term nature of infrastructure development.

“Infrastructure takes time to evolve. There are many  abandoned projects in the country because successive governments often executes different  projects  from their  predecessors.” Mr Haruna said.

Mr Haruna, therefore, called for the “legislation of continuity” on  critical national projects for successive administrations.

“Once a project passes Federal Executive Council and National Assembly approval, it should be binding. Some countries like South Africa succeeded because their programmes are backed by  essential laws, not just policy. The country must also insulate technical institutions like the Bank of Industry from political control,” the ex-Adamawa governor added.

Convener of the event, Onuoha Nnachi, identified “contract overpricing” as a “cancer” eating away at Nigeria’s development.

Mr Nnachi said, “Contract overpricing is cancerous to Nigeria’s infrastructure. I can use a soil type definition to increase the cost of a one-kilometre road from two billion to five billion naira, and there is nothing you can do about it.

“If we don’t tell ourselves the truth, as Nigerians, we cannot solve this peculiar problem. We must move from fragmented efforts to coordinated, prudent financial management.”

(NAN)