Uche Usim, Abuja
Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwah, on Thursday revealed that the Federal Government has approved and executed Public-Private Partnership projects worth about $8 billion
between 2010 and 2018.
Speaking at the joint PPP network meeting, which was created as a mutual vehicle to provide a strong platform for federal PPP units, Izuwah pointed out that the success of the PPP was buoyed by the regulatory guidance of the ICRC.
According to him, the idea of the joint forum of strategic enablers within the PPP ecosystem was to strengthen synergy among key policy drivers across the PPP environment in Nigeria.
He said: “This is expected to help address the common challenges as well as serve as a catalyst for growth in the use of PPP as a preferred procurement option across the states of the federation.
“As at June 25 this year, there were 69 post-contract PPP projects under implementation at the ICRC projects disclosure portal.
“The portal is the first disclosure portal in the world, established by the ICRC in collaboration with the World Bank.
” As at 31st October, 2019, there are 139 pre-contract projects at Development and Procurement phases at the ICRC website.
He said as at the end of October, the Commission has granted nine Outline Business Case and nine Full Business Case Compliance Certificates for 2019.
This, he stated brings the total compliance certificates granted since inception to 76 OBCs and 31 FBCs certificates.
“The latest of these certificates, according to him is the OBC Compliance Certificate for the 22 Teaching Hospitals upgrade and the FBC Compliance Certificate for the Automated Ticketing System for the Nigerian Railway Commission.
On the objectives of the conference, he said it seeks to identify as well as improve the bankability of selected PPP projects in Nigeria with a view to accessing project funding from African Export Import Bank.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works Mr Adamu Alero, said the Senate would amend the. ICRC Act to attract private sectors investment.
He said the senate would come up with a robust legislation around the ICRC act to ensure it meet the requirement of a dynamic environment like Nigeria.
He said, “At the senate we believe that PPP is the only way to fast track infrastructural development in Nigeria.
“We are committed to this and we are ready to amend the act of the ICRC, we will come up with laws that will attract the private sectors investment, laws that will promote security across the country so that we can attract both the local and private investors.
“The 2020 budget has over 500 road projects to a tune of about N4trn to be funded by the Federal Government, of which the fund available is not more that N147bn.
“In this situation we have no option other than the PPP arrangements. Unfortunately many policy makers still think that the government can and should fund all project, and this is unacceptable.
“We at the senate will come up with a robust legislature around the ICRC acty to ensure it meet the requirement.
“The National Assembly will continue to partner with all agencies to ensure that PPP suceed in Nigeria.”
The Director, Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Isah Halidu, in his contribution, said amount needed to address the infrastructure deficit in the country cannot be provided by the government alone.
He said, “The amount we allocated to these projects in the budget are often nothing compared to what we really need, hence there is an urgent need for us to promote PPP projects across the country.
“We often say that funds are flying around the world, and if we must attract these funds we must have the right environment.
“The government will stand with the national assembly to make sure that PPP succeeds in Nigeria.
The Executive Director, Strategy and Research, Nigeria Governors Forum, Dr Lateef Shittu who also spoke at the event described PPP as a veritable platform for addressing the huge infrastructure development deficit in the country.
He said that 20 states have passed the Public Private Partnership law and set up offices, adding that the NGF is encouraging the other 16 states to also pass the PPP law.
He said the NGF understood the importance of PPP to infrastructure development, adding that this was why states are being encouraged to put in place measures to encourage PPP projects
He added that the governors’ forum would continue to drive the campaign until all the states of the federation identity with the PPP initiative as a solution for infrastructure development.
He said in an era whereby states can barely meet their financial obligations amidst dwindling revenues, they needed to be creative through the utilisation of PPPs model for build, operate and transfer mechanism.

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