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Chapel Hill Denham on Wednesday said that Nigeria needed N2.8 trillion annually from private sector sources to fund infrastructure.

Mr Bolaji Balogun, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, made the assertion at the 2015 Nigerian Debt Capital Markets (DCM) workshop organised by FMDQ OTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Lagos.

Balogun said that the country’s present finance approach was not sustainable to tackle infrastructure challenges.

He said that banking sources were unable to meet the growing finance need of the nation’s infrastructure.

The chief executive officer said that banks had to grow loans at about 20 per cent per annum to meet the requirement, compared to about nine per cent stimulated by 2009 to 2014 Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).

An agricultural expert also on Thursday said that N12 trillion would be needed to feed Nigerians by 2050, when its population is expected to hit 340 million.

Mr Sotonye Anga, Coordinator of the Agribusiness Community of Agricultural Stakeholders of Nigeria (CASON) gave the figure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

According to him, Nigerians currently spend N17 billion to feed the 170 million population.

Anga noted that in the next 35 years Nigeria’s population would double and that its 340 million people would need to feed.

“Nigerians spend average of N100 in one day, meaning that they spend N17 billion and that translates to N510 billion every month and N6.2 trillion annually.

“Nigerians will eat every day, irrespective of any situation and by 2050 our population will double to 340 million.

“As the population increases, our national food spending will rise to N12 trillion.

“We, therefore, need a fundamental shift in government policy in favour of agriculture,’’ Anga, who is also the National Publicity Secretary of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) said.