Lagos — The Minister of Finance, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, said yesterday that the economy would grow by 13 per cent, when the twin challenges of infrastructure and the Niger-Delta crisis were tackled.

Usman said the poor and inadequate infrastructure had kept the economy on a single digit growth rate, with the private sector pushing most of the changes.

He told the News Nigeria (NAN), while responding to questions about the recent Nigeria Infrastructure Summit, that the resolution of the Niger-Delta issue would have a strong impact on the economy.

"Unfortunately, infrastructure has been more of a setback to the potential of the growth in the economy. Most of the growth recorded of recent have been essentially led by the private sector and agricultural sector," he said.

Usman said the decay in infrastructure had affected development in other sectors, adding that the spotlight would now be on its funding through Private Public Partnerships (PPP).

"The infrastructural constraints have been more of a set back and that is why we held the conference to look into the issue," he said.

The minister said the government was already making efforts to tackle the infrastructure challenge, by establishing an Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Institution (ICRI), to be chaired by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

He said the appointment of Shonekan, a former Head of Interim Government and Malam Mansur Ahmed, as the Director General of the ICRI, was yet to be ratified by the National Assembly.

On realisation of the Vision 2020, Usman said it was achievable, with the commitment to reaching a steady annual 13 per cent growth rate for the economy in the next 12 years.

The Vision 2020 blueprint, which harmonises all the economic targets of the MDGs, the seven-point agenda and the NEEDs II, seeks to place the country among the top 20 economies of the world by 2020.