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How Nigerians can get more out of PPPs
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Nigeria got independent from Britain in 1960. The clamor for secession from the apron strings of Britain came as the patriarchs envisioned one Nigeria with the political and economic will to lead Africa. Regional governments were adopted, engendering healthy competition and unprecedented infrastructural developments across the country. Every region literally fell on itself to bring their people to the Promised Land.
The momentum of development was sustained until the Military intervention that blurred whatever we knew as a people to be right and wrong. Corruption that came with authoritarianism bled the public trust, transferring wealth from many to the few. This took its toll on public infrastructure.
With the return to civil rule in 1999 after over 30 years of administrative fleece, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo took the path of revamping the economy. With the level of decay on ground, not a few people conceded that the task of revamping the economy was a long and arduous one.
Chief Obasanjo strode the globe in search of investors. The call for corporate bodies and individuals to believe in the Nigerian project revealed the desperation with which the sleepy giant had to wake up from Military induced slumber.
The country was in quandary. Too much needs competing for meager resources. Government was left to broker an arrangement where infrastructure could be revamped without negative consequences for the actual business of governance. The PPP was the way to go. But Nigeria had never experimented with what had become the norm globally.
Public-private partnerships are a contractual arrangement whereby the resources, risks and rewards of both the public agency and private company are combined to provide greater efficiency, better access to capital, and improved compliance with a range of government regulations regarding the environment and workplace. The public’s interests are fully assured through provisions in the contracts that provide for on-going monitoring and oversight of the operation of a service or development of a facility. In this way, everyone wins — the government entity, the private company and the general public.
Even in the best of times, governments at all levels are challenged to keep pace with the demands of their constituencies. During periods of slow growth, government revenues are frequently not sufficient to meet spending demands, necessitating painful spending cuts or tax increases. Partnerships can provide a continued or improved level of service, at the best value for money. And equally important, partnerships can also provide the capital needed for construction of major facilities. By developing partnerships with private-sector entities, governments can maintain quality services despite budget limitations.
The government had signaled from the beginning its drive for investment in Nigeria. So quite rationally, the test of the workability of the PPP was the burnt down and abandoned local terminal in Lagos. But the risky nature of Nigeria’s business terrain and political instability made it strewn in a lot of uncertainty. Whoever puts money into this arrangement had to have faith in a system that had a penchant for not working. So the abandoning of the project by the first contractors was understandable.
But Bi-Courtney came to the scene. Abandoning the over-bearing ‘Nigerian-factor’, the company pumped in enormous resources in uncharted waters, resulting in the most modern airport terminal in the sub region. As a result of the success of this initiative, Nigerians can look forward to government putting its money in the actual business of governance leaving the provision and management of infrastructure to effective private sector partners.
The effectiveness of PPP was proved by Bi-Courtney long before investing in Airport infrastructure was attractive. The PPP is the future for revamping Nigeria’s comatose social infrastructure. If the first Group championing it is frustrated out by unscrupulous individuals, we can as well forget the clarion call for national rebirth.
The momentum of development was sustained until the Military intervention that blurred whatever we knew as a people to be right and wrong. Corruption that came with authoritarianism bled the public trust, transferring wealth from many to the few. This took its toll on public infrastructure.
With the return to civil rule in 1999 after over 30 years of administrative fleece, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo took the path of revamping the economy. With the level of decay on ground, not a few people conceded that the task of revamping the economy was a long and arduous one.
Chief Obasanjo strode the globe in search of investors. The call for corporate bodies and individuals to believe in the Nigerian project revealed the desperation with which the sleepy giant had to wake up from Military induced slumber.
The country was in quandary. Too much needs competing for meager resources. Government was left to broker an arrangement where infrastructure could be revamped without negative consequences for the actual business of governance. The PPP was the way to go. But Nigeria had never experimented with what had become the norm globally.
Public-private partnerships are a contractual arrangement whereby the resources, risks and rewards of both the public agency and private company are combined to provide greater efficiency, better access to capital, and improved compliance with a range of government regulations regarding the environment and workplace. The public’s interests are fully assured through provisions in the contracts that provide for on-going monitoring and oversight of the operation of a service or development of a facility. In this way, everyone wins — the government entity, the private company and the general public.
Even in the best of times, governments at all levels are challenged to keep pace with the demands of their constituencies. During periods of slow growth, government revenues are frequently not sufficient to meet spending demands, necessitating painful spending cuts or tax increases. Partnerships can provide a continued or improved level of service, at the best value for money. And equally important, partnerships can also provide the capital needed for construction of major facilities. By developing partnerships with private-sector entities, governments can maintain quality services despite budget limitations.
The government had signaled from the beginning its drive for investment in Nigeria. So quite rationally, the test of the workability of the PPP was the burnt down and abandoned local terminal in Lagos. But the risky nature of Nigeria’s business terrain and political instability made it strewn in a lot of uncertainty. Whoever puts money into this arrangement had to have faith in a system that had a penchant for not working. So the abandoning of the project by the first contractors was understandable.
But Bi-Courtney came to the scene. Abandoning the over-bearing ‘Nigerian-factor’, the company pumped in enormous resources in uncharted waters, resulting in the most modern airport terminal in the sub region. As a result of the success of this initiative, Nigerians can look forward to government putting its money in the actual business of governance leaving the provision and management of infrastructure to effective private sector partners.
The effectiveness of PPP was proved by Bi-Courtney long before investing in Airport infrastructure was attractive. The PPP is the future for revamping Nigeria’s comatose social infrastructure. If the first Group championing it is frustrated out by unscrupulous individuals, we can as well forget the clarion call for national rebirth.
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