ICRC – Mr Aminu Diko, the Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulator Commission (ICRC) on Thursday urged state governors to establish Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework to boost infrastructure development in the country.Diko made the call at the 4th National PPP Stakeholders’ forum with the theme: “Aligning Interest” held in Abuja.
According to him, one of the mandates of the commission is to collaborate with states governments to establish a cohesive national PPP framework.
“This cannot be achieved without the support of the governors of the states. Among the governors, only Niger and Kogi have shown significant interest in this collaborative effort,’’ he said.
He commended the effort of the two governors and urged other state governors to take a leaf from them.
According to him, PPP procurement will always have significant impact on the nation’s economy.
Commenting on the forum, he said that the focus would be on three major sectors – transport, health and power.
“Today’s event specifically aims at deepening our knowledge of PPP through the benevolence of Price Waterhouse Coppers (PWC) who decided to sponsor this event.
“It will allow us to benefit from experience from other jurisdictions.
“Initiating a national PPP framework and developing PPP projects required high technical knowledge and capacity,’’ he said.
Sen. Ken Nnamani, the Chairman Board of ICRC, said the demand for social infrastructure was almost insatiable, adding that investment in any sector by private sector entity was guaranteed to yield impressive return.
He challenged the ICRC and similar agencies entrusted with responsibility of nurturing PPP model as a preferred mechanism for public procurement to ensure the success of every PPP transaction.
“A study of successful PPP projects from across the world will show that it is not that difficult to align the interests of partners once both parties approach the project in good faith.
“In an economy as huge as Nigeria’s with a vast market size and an expansive consumer base, every sector is rich in opportunities for private sector participation and public-private sector collaboration,’’ he said.
Gov. Idris Wada of Kogi said that achieving the transformation agenda of President GoodLuck Jonathan required PPP collaboration.
He attributed failures of many projects in the country to none involvement of PPP, adding that with PPP capacity and efficiency in project management would improve.
“We have situation where many projects operate for few years and start to decline, it is of great value to partner with the private sector in many projects we do.
“It will bring about great value to the system, reduce project failure and reduce poor maintenance structure in the country,’’ he said.
The governor said that before the passage of the PPP in the state, the law had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with various investors on power infrastructure in the areas of solar and coal.
Other MOUs on PPP, he said were on mechanised charcoal factory, tomato processing plant and tourists resort, among others.
Gov. Aliu Babangida of Niger said PPP could serve as alternative way to fund the budgets in the country.
He said that banks needed to reduce the interest rate to single digit to enable investors to participate in PPP projects in the country.
He was represented by Saliu Yahaha, Deputy Chairman, Niger State Planning Commission.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, called for review of the enabling laws that established ICRC to enable it function effectively.
“There is need to look at the current law of ICRC, study it and see if there is anything to do to help it drive transparency in the system, especially in infrastructure development,’’ he said.
He said that the health sector had benefited from PPP projects, adding that some of the surgery equipment in some teaching hospitals still functioning were bought under PPP collaboration.
Also, Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said that ICRC was conceived as lifeline to meet infrastructure gap in the country.
He added that with efficiency in the operations of ICRC, infrastructure gap would close systematically.
“ICRC must put on a facilitator cap and facilitate projects for the betterment of Nigeria. They must make sure that Nigeria moved forward in the development efforts.
“PPP is critical to development in any sector be it power, road, maritime and I believe in the model,” he said. (NAN)