Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), has called for the promotion of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to boost infrastructure development in the country.
The Executive Secretary, Emmanuel Jime, made the call yesterday during the Third Quarter 2022 PPP Consultative Forum, which was held in Abuja.
He said since its introduction, the Forum has contributed immensely towards capacity building, knowledge sharing and networking among members.
“It is important that PPP should be increasingly seen as a development tool not just as a procurement option. This means that by its very nature it should be able to exponentially increase the infrastructure stock, which is a measure enabler for economic growth and development.
“Environmental, social and governance need to be given attention and this has been a very fundamental concept in PPP implementation globally.
“PPP as an evolving alternate funding will require periodic updates in terms of regulatory framework, governance, capacity building in both public and private sector and must be promoted if this endeavour is to be sustained.
“So, ICRC and the Head of Service should be at the forefront of this important innovation,” Jime said.
The NSC boss informed that the Council had recently delivered two important projects – the Kaduna and Kano Inland Dry Port (IDP) through this means.
He said: “The Kano IDP was declared as a port of origin and destination on August 5, signalling the commencement of operations of the project.
“Also, the NSC in conjunction with other stakeholders has been able to develop vehicle transit areas, policy framework and implementation guidelines.
“This was submitted to the National Council on Transportation in September 2021, and was approved, so the Ministry of Transportation will work on it before submissions to the FEC.”
PPP as an evolving alternate funding will require periodic updates in terms of regulatory framework, governance, capacity building in both public and private sector and must be promoted if this endeavour is to be sustained.
PPP potential
Representing the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Assistant Director, PPP, in the Ministry, Mrs Abidemi Emmanuel, said Nigeria was yet to unlock PPP potential despite all the successes we had recorded.
She noted that all PPP infrastructure projects, irrespective of how they are procured, managed or financed generate some forms of liability in future.
She said: “This is even more so in a PPP arrangement, a number of these liabilities are subject to a high degree of uncertainty regarding when they will occur and that is why we call them contingencies, in the first instance.
“So they are considered to be contingent liabilities and we need to prepare for them, because they have the potential to undermine our national macro policies and cause significant economic harm if we don’t deliberately prepare for the contingencies.
“This is the reason, we, as government, in the Ministry of Finance, are offering some form of arrangement to tackle contingencies in PPP.”
Earlier, the Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Michael Ohiani, while welcoming participants at the forum, said a lot had been achieved by the country in the PPP space.
The Forum, which is held quarterly by the ICRC, was attended by heads and representatives of PPP of various ministries, departments and agencies MDAs. (NAN)
