Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola has called on global players to aid Africa with infrastructure development, knowledge and skill which they already have in developing the continent.

 Fashola outlined his vision in his Davos Comment as published in the current edition of leading monthly journal The Banker magazine of the Financial Times Group, London, United Kingdom. The edition is specially published to include focus on the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting which took place in Davos, Switzerland, last week.

The World Economic Forum is an independent international organisation committed to improving the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

It is a yearly forum that sets the agenda for the global economy which is usually followed by international businessmen and women and other global decision makers including institutions and governments.

According to a release by the Nigerian Representative of The Banker, Mr Kunle Ogedengbe, Fashola noted that lack of adequate infrastructure in Africa effectively stunted the continent’s economic development.

While comparing Africa with the BRIC nations, the governor observed that the large infrastructure deficit in Africa as compared to the four countries gave a stark reminder of the large infrastructural deficit in the continent.

The BRIC countries refer to Brazil, Russia, India and China. The acronym, BRIC, was formed by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs to refer to Brazil, Russia, India and China. They are countries with the largest growth and most powerful emerging economies.

According to Fashola, “in Africa, the average kilowatts-hours of electricity produced per person is 682. This compares with 1,627 (2.4 times higher) in the BRICs.

Road density (kilometres of road per 1,000 square kilometres) in Africa is only eight, while it is 39 (4.9 times higher) in the BRICs. Rail density. Moreover, it is 3.2 in Africa versus 7.4 for the BRICs.”