The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PPP

  • Experts identify funding as prerequisite for PPP

    unding has been identified as one of the critical success factors for the efficient delivery of public private partnership (PPP) in Nigeria.

    This was the submission of stakeholders who spoke at a two-day colloquium organised by the Centre for Ethics and Sustainable Development (CESD), held at the University of Lagos.

    Tagged: ‘Reshaping the Infrastructure Delivery Landscape for Sustainable Development in Nigeria’, the forum was sponsored by some local and international bodies including: Australia Awards Africa, Access Bank Plc, Globacom Nigeria Limited and Keystone Bank Plc.

    A PPP expert and Professor at the University of Queensland Business School, Brisbane, Australia, Neil Paulsen, said communication among all parties must be effectively carried out in order to foster easier and faster infrastructure delivery.

    “One of the key success points of ensuring effective communication is Consensus-building and Stakeholder Engagement. Again, in all PPP initiatives, there must be clear and visible benefits for all stakeholders. That is why effective communication must be a two-way street in which the stakeholders must be kept abreast of information. Above all, infrastructure projects must make good sense to stakeholders,” Prof. Paulsen said.

    Earlier, the convener of the initiative, Dr. Olajumoke Akiode, who spoke on Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) in Infrastructure Delivery, emphasised that gender and social inclusion was a collaborative and inclusive means of infrastructure delivery that caters to the concerns and needs of all stakeholders- men, women, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups. A 360 degree way of thinking that leads to better practice and outcomes should foster inclusion and empowerment of women and other vulnerable groups.

    A  Lagos based legal practitioner, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, urged the government to review laws relating to infrastructural development in the country, arguing that most of the existing laws are outdated.

    Ogala said legislative decisions that prevent development and implementations should be amended in order to achieve sustainable is legal framework for infrastructure delivery in Nigeria.

    On his part, Mr. Vince Onyejeli, Associate Director, KPMG Nigeria & West Africa, who spoke on “Traditional and PPIP Procurement Models: Adaptive and Social Challenges,” stated that PPP encompasses the participation and collaboration of all key players in the society.

    Speaking on capital projects financing alternatives and risk management, Mr. Biodun Otunola, CEO/MD Planet Projects Ltd, said it is essential to look inward and develop a PPP model that can be workable for the Nigerian economy.

    Mr. Anayo Nwosu, AGM Corporate Banking, Keystone Bank emphasised the necessity of feasibility studies in determining bankable PPP projects. He identified the steps involved as follows-project overview, economic feasibility, political and total viability.

  • How to make PPP work, by experts

    For Public Private Partnership (PPP) to work for infrastructure delivery, there is need for stakeholders to prioritise the review of existing legal framework, address adaptive and social challenges, experts have said.

    The experts who spoke at a two-day colloquium organised by the Centre for Ethics and Sustainable Development (CESD) at the University of Lagos, stressed the need for effective communication and stakeholder management, as well as gender and social inclusion.

    The theme of the forum was: ‘Reshaping the Infrastructure Delivery Landscape for Sustainable Development in Nigeria.

    Some local and international bodies, include Australia Awards Africa, Access Bank Plc, Globacom  and Keystone BankPlc, supported the forum.

    A PPP expert and Professor at the University of Queensland Business School, Brisbane, Australia, Neil Paulsen, said communication among all parties must be effectively carried out in order to foster easier and faster infrastructure delivery. He also emphasised the need to identify potential stakeholders and involve developmental institutions to facilitate proper delivery.

    “One of the key success points of ensuring effective communication is consensus-building and stakeholder engagement. Again, in all PPP initiatives, there must be clear and visible benefits for all stakeholders. That is why effective communication must be a two-way street in which the stakeholders must be kept abreast of information. Above all, infrastructure projects must make good sense to stakeholders,” Prof. Paulsen said.

    While emphasising the importance of feedback mechanisms, the university don identified tools which provide effective communication to include information, consultation involvement, collaboration and empowerment. He added that communication for diverse audiences must be taken into account.

    Earlier, the convener of the initiative, Dr.Olajumoke Akiode, who spoke on Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) in Infrastructure Delivery, said gender and social inclusion was a collaborative and inclusive means of infrastructure delivery that caters to the concerns and needs of all stakeholders- men, women, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups. A 360 degree way of thinking that leads to better practice and outcomes should foster inclusion and empowerment of women and other vulnerable groups.

    “Infrastructure delivery is essentially about the people, their concerns, issues and needs should be incorporated into the project design. It is essential  that  policy makers, financiers and  project  designers  become GESI aware,” Akiode said.

    She added that GESI mainstreaming begins with the government and its inclusion in infrastructure delivery would ensure that policy makers, project designers and other stakeholders wear the “others” shoes.

    A Lagos based legal practitioner, Mr.Babatunde Ogala, urged the government to review laws relating to infrastructural development in the country, arguing that most of the existing laws are outdated.

    He said legislative decisions that prevent development and implementations should be amended in order to achieve sustainable legal framework for infrastructure delivery.

    Ogala said security, law and order are key items which ensure good delivery of infrastructural projects and a holistic approach to reshaping infrastructure delivery is essential.

  • Experts blame weak legislation for PPP failure

    Experts blame weak legislation for PPP failure

    Experts at the just-concluded African Engineering Conference, organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have blamed the failure of public-private partnership on weak laws.

    It also featured the society’s Annual General Meeting and the UNESCO African Engineering Week.

    The events were held at the Tropicana Conference Centre with the Federation of African Engineering Organisation (FAEO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisations (UNESCO).

    Over 600 delegates from across the world attended.

    Its theme was “Adequate, reliable and sustainable energy in Africa.”

    Many papers were presented

    In his presentation entitled: “Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit:  Beyond the limitation of finance in public-private partnership and project procurement options,” Senator Iyiola Omisore said the global perspective of PPP is that it remains the best approach to infrastructural growth.

    He noted that although the PPP model had been deployed to execute a few public projects, its value has been mostly felt in Lagos State, where the authorities have partnered the private sector on design, finance and management of public utilities.

    Outside the state, he said, infrastructure procurement by states is still tied to the old model of contract awards to private firms to execute a project designed and financed by the government. For this reason, the country has fared poorly.

    “The critical point to be made here is that, though there seems to be shortage of investable funds in the international market, but Nigeria’s crisis seems compounded by the integrity profile of our legal framework for an ideal PPP model,” he said.

    Omisore said without going into the details of the shortfalls in the legal framework, “suffice to say, however,  that  the  Infrastructure Concession Regulatory  Commission    (ICRC) Act  of  2005, the Public Procurement Act 2007 regulations issued by ICRC governing  the  PPP process and  various state laws as described in each state’s PPP policies,  fall  short  of necessary regulatory framework for proper implementation of  PPP projects, most  importantly  with respect  to  dispute resolution during the tenor of the contract and drew attention to the absence of political will to see through the policies of previous administration.

    He said because   concessionaires  are  aware  of  a  negative   tendency  by  a new  administration not  to honour to  the letter, the tenets of an arrangement  by a departed  administration,    they  are often inclined to speed up the inauguration of projects, irrespective of its stage of completion, before the expiration of tenure of the awarding  administration.  And except there  is a  determination  that a PPP succeed,  there are vested  interests   in  a  country to  ensure  that  the  governments initiative  to  promote PPP  as  a  policy  fail.

    “PPP projects often  encounter  serious  resistance  from  labour unions,  civil  service  employees and  sundry   socio-economic  interest groups,” Omisore said, adding that the  general  public sometimes misunderstand  PPP out of ignorance and  on the strategic  importance of PPP in a  nation’s socio-economic development.

    He said PPP are  meant to  be  contractual arrangements   between  the public  and  private sectors of  the economy, in which  responsibilities, risks and  obligations are  to  be  shared  by  both  sides   in  order  to  guarantee  the  greatest benefits to the public.

    He regreted that in Nigeria, a segment of  the  public  service  operators tend  to see the private  sector concessionaires  as the  enemies that  would deprive them  of  their  jobs, therefore,  to  be overcome at  all cost. This, he said, is  often  achieved  when  some rules in the civil service are exhumed to advise  the government on why all of a PPP undertaking, or some aspects of  PPP  project  agreement  should  not  be honoured, thereby leading to the government unilaterally rebidding on contracts voluntarily entered.

    “Moreso, with a weak legal  framework, under which concessionaires cannot be protected, the tendency is for the  private  sector operators, both from within and from outside of the country, to be wary  of doing business with government. Thus, timely procurement of public utilities suffers and the socio-economic development and the country is the worst for it,” he regretted.

    The outgoing President, Otis Anyaeji FNSE, thanked Omisore for touching on a crucial aspect affecting the industry by harping on the opportunities that PPP model brings.

    Anyaeji called on engineers to see beyond the threshold of career limitations and be creative in their service.

    Another speaker, Director of Operations of General Electric, Mr. Uzo Ezimora, one of the operators of the Nigerian Railway project under the PPP model, emphasised that no government anywhere in the world can fund infrastructural development.

    Corroborating Omisore, he beckoned on engineering firms to form formidable partnerships or mergers to pull resources to meet the requisite qualifications for government’s advertised jobs on engineering and  projects.

  • ‘PPP key to technology transfer’

    The Federal Government has been advised  to encourage greater Public–Private Partnership (PPP) so as to further boost the growth of technology skills transfer in the country.

    The Chief Operating Officer (COO), ISON Technologies, Rahul Srivasatav, who gave the advise yesterday Lagos, said if technology skills transfer is encouraged, it will lead to jobs created and the country will be better for it.

    He said: “What could expand skill base in the country is more public-private partnership (PPP) in  order to build and transfer specific skills.

    “At iSON Technologies, we are passionate about deploying tech services to our customers. Over the years, we have become the ‘go-to’ technology provider for different verticals spanning banking, government, healthcare, travel and hospitality.

    “It helps that we have a strong delivery center and ready access to unique technological skills, but also our constant search for improved service practices that can be utilised to better reach throughout our expanding customer base, is also a unique strength.

    Srivasatav said the firm is  excited about the future of technology, especially in a country like Nigeria, where technology inclusion is quite promising.

  • Fed Govt opts for PPP to expand IT infrastructure

    The Federal Government has said it is opting for public private partnership (PPP) to bridge the huge information technology (IT) infrastructure gap needed by young techpreneurs to leapfrog the country.

    Communications Technology Minister Adebayo Shittu, who spoke at the weekend in Lagos,  at a youth empowerment-centric forum tagged Entrepreneurship Leverage (E-Leverage), said technology, particularly ICT, is the critical driver of the knowledge-based economy of post-modern world. He said emphasis and global relevance in today’s 21st Century world has shifted from nations with huge natural resources to nations with developed human resources that can technologically explore, exploit and manage natural  resources for the benefit of mankind.

    Represented by an official of the Ministry, Ms Ibiye Member, he said the government was working towards developing PPPs to expand ICT infrastructure, needed by young IT entrepreneurs to ride on.

    Shittu said the forum would bridge the gap between technology and business, create a platform to inspire, mentor, build leadership skills and develop a sense of collaboration as winning strategies among stakeholders in the technology world.

    The forum, organised by Simeon’s Pivot Resources, was attended by stakeholders across public and private sector  including software developers, technology consultants, hardware engineers, tech business analysts, enterprise architect and young IT entrepreneurs.

    With “Leverage Solutions for Information Technology Sector”, as its theme, speakers at the forum held at the Afe Babalola Auditorium, University of Lagos, explored what they considered ‘winning’ strategies for growing young IT businesses into becoming major players that will further contribute to the growth of the ICT industry.

    Managing Director, Precise Financial System, Mr. Yele Okeremi, who used his company as an anchor point to educate young entrepreneurs on how to grow their businesses, emphasised the importance of ‘leverage’ and ‘perception’  and collaborations as ways to accelerating business goals and dreams.

    He said: “The equation for success does not lie in hard work; it lies in leverage. The word ‘leverage’ has become very important to business. So, the solution for greatness in business will not come by following conventional methods, which give conventional results; but from new innovative thinking.”

    He urged young entrepreneurs to develop clarity of thoughts, passion and resilience in their business dream, stressing that the business owners must see positive perception towards their business as winning formula in business than their intelligence and technical skills.

    “So, businesses today need to act locally and think globally in the context of today’s rapidly changing technological advancement,” he said, noting however, that most rich individuals in Nigeria have not come to terms  with investing in information technology.

    Managing Director of Simeon’s Pivot Resources Mr. Enahoro Okhae said as the clarion call for entrepreneurship continues to spread and the opportunities in IT becomes more obvious, young Nigerians would continue to grow in creativity regarding Information Technology by coming up with different innovative products.

    “Unfortunately, there is more to running an IT business than coming up with an innovative IT products/services,” he said, stressing that “success apparatus needed by success-bound IT entrepreneurs should resolve around incorporation of mentoring, collaboration and succession plans and financial empowerment into the efforts being made by young entrepreneurs today.”

  • UCH CMD seeks support for PPP

    University College Hospital (UCH), Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof Temitope Alonge has urged operators in the health sector to support the government by keying into its public-private partnership (PPP) programme.

    He said no country has sustained its economy by doing it alone.

    At the unveiling in Lagos of the PPP arrangement by a group of Nigerians in Japan under the auspices of the NIJP Integrated Allied Limited, Alonge said the supply of equipment in hospitals and medical centres by the firm on loan was a deal too irresistible to be ignored.

    Citing the United States, he said the health sector relies on wet leasing, adding that if the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was well run in Nigeria, it would have survived under wet leasing.  Noting that there was no need for a hospital to buy equipment, he said as professionals, their job was to provide services.

    He praised the PPP, saying that it was the best thing to have happened to UCH, as it once, on loan, through the assistance of a bank, acquired a diagnostic machine, which it paid back in five years and now making profit from it.

    ‘’My job is provide service. NIJP provides the equipment and I pay. What NIJP is bringing on board is fantastic,’’ he said. He promised to assist the firm to succeed.

    The firm’s General Manager Ochade Osekwe, an engineer, explained that under the deal, the company would make available to any willing hospital or individual, any of its products without charging for shipping, installation or maintenance.

    However, its partners would be expected to pay back by instalments of about six years. After which, they would acquire the machines.

    Osekwe, a former chairman, Nigeria-Japan Chamber of Commerce, said medicare was too important to be left in the hands of the government, urging Nigerians to avail themselves of the opportunity being provided by his organisation and that they have nothing to lose but many things to gain from the deal.

    He listed some of the machines as GE’sVoluson 730 Echo, GE’s logiq 400 Echo, digital X-ray and mammography system and video endoscopy system and hemodialysis.

  • Court asks INEC to restore deregistered parties

    A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday, asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to restore three political parties that were deregistered in 2012.

    The parties are – the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) and the Better Nigeria Progressive Party (BNPP).

    The presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in his ruling said the parties were deregistered without getting fair hearing from INEC.

    He also declared as unconstitutional, invalid, null and void, the provisions of section 78(7) (ii) of the Electoral Act 2010 which the commission relied on to deregister the parties.

     

  • ‘PPP, panacea to unemployment’

    The three tiers of government have been urged to tackle unemployment through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

    The Managing Director of MeritChoice Limited, Mr. Gbeminiyi Oluwabusola, gave the advice at an empowerment summit in Lagos, held at the weekend. He lamented the poor state of infrastructure and the absence of incentives to boost entrepreneurship.

    Specifically, the MeritChoice boss lamented the poor power supply and state of the roads and land acquisition challenges, stressing that these deserved urgent attention.

    According to Oluwabusola, whose company is into Internet services, agriculture, cooperative association and import/export businesses, “Even for us that are empowering people to become entrepreneurs, business is scary. You need to know what it costs to run an Internet radio where a lot of money is spent on fuel because there is no regular electricity supply.”

    He said apart from power, which is key, the roads are so bad even in the cities, not to talk of the remote areas. “Presently, we are buying hectares of lands in millions for plantations of various crops under our agriculture project, but it is hard to get technical or even financial support from government. Though, government claims that there are loans for young entrepreneurs, but it is not readily available. It is not easy for people to access the loans,” he lamented.

    Oluwabusola added that there is no adequate education or awareness about what government is doing to encourage entrepreneurship, except for little laudable support from organisations such as the World Bank sponsored FADAMA project, which assists farmers to commence some level of rice production and its value chain.

    “Certainly, if we are able to enjoy required support from the government, that would enable us to empower more people and take many more people out of poverty and unemployment,” he said.

  • ‘How infrastructure concessions are killed’

    ‘How infrastructure concessions are killed’

    The renewed drive by the government and private sector in bolstering Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the delivery of infrastructure is gaining prominence.

    But, sustaining the process has given rise to partnerships many of which have run into trouble.

    To overcome the problem, the Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Mead Facilities & Management Services Limited, (AM Facilities), Femi Akintunde, is urging government and private sector operators to close ranks.

    Akintunde, who spoke at the fourth edition of the Infrastructure Asset Summit Africa in Lagos, said for any infrastructure project to be sustained, it must be viable, acceptable and environmentally responsible to the stakeholders.

    According to him, most concessioned infrastructure projects in the country are witnessing setbacks and losing their essence because there is no consideration for sustainability factors, such as, stakeholders’engagement, facilities management and asset maintenance were relegated to the background from inception.

    Speaking on Achieving sustainability in the development and management of public infrastructure through PPP concessioning arrangement: Case study of Lekki Toll Road, Akintunde submitted that the Lekki-Epe master plan is on course, but the sustainability of the project may be at risk.

    “As with most other PPP projects in Nigeria, there are some challenges with the Lekki-Epe Express project which is threatening the sustainability of the master plan. For example, there is only one road access to that axis; how would people be evacuated in cases of emergencies? For an area projected to accommodate a resident population of about four million, the road is not economically sustainable because it is prone to quicker wear and tear due to the heavy traffic it carries.”

    He regretted that people were resisting the tolling even when travel time on the road had reduced because the government and the private sector were yet to show the people the economics of the project.

    He argued that while the government had bought the project off the private company, it is important to consider the situation from the point of view of future investors in PPP projects because no private investor would want to put his money in ventures that the people might resist.

    He lamented that other infrastructure projects such as the airports that were also concessioned are becoming unsustainable because the maintenance of such projects were taken for granted.

    “My fear is that if this poor maintenance culture of our public infrastructure continues unabated, what we will be getting back at the end of the concessioning period will be a mere carcass that might be worse than what was concessioned,’’ Akintunde warned.

    He, however, advised that for stakeholders to benefit from the immense gains of PPP, each of them must be willing to play roles.

    Rather than getting entangled with maintenance and operations, the government should focus on its key role, which is regulatory.

    Besides, he said to get value on the country’s public infrastructure, the government must request that private sector operators to include facilities management and maintenance components in their concessioning deals. Then they must ensure strict adherence and enforcement of procedure for maintenance of the infrastructure.

    Akintunde said the people must be ready to own the infrastructure that the government and private sector have provided for them. Citing Festac Town, Lagos where infrastructure is in a sorry state because the residents relied on the government, he averred that people must also be socially responsible to their government and instil good maintenance culture in the younger generation.

  • LCCI canvasses PPP collaboration with govt

    LCCI canvasses PPP collaboration with govt

    • Chamber decries double taxation

    President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Alhaji ‘Remi Bello, has canvassed the need for collaboration between the private sector and government. He stressed that public-private dialogue is critical to the progress of the state, the welfare of the citizens and the prosperity of businesses.

    He spoke at a meeting held in Lagos last week, between LCCI and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola. He noted that the chamber and the state government have the collective duty to continue to promote and strengthen Lagos as the commercial nerve centre of the country and indeed, the West African Sub region and as a model megacity on the African continent.

    Bello acknowledged the impact made by the governor in areas such as security of lives, environmental improvement and beautification, and huge investment in drainage improvement. Others are infrastructural development, massive railway project on the Lagos Mile-2 corridor, traffic management, industrial parks and enterprise zones.

    He further praised Fashola on investments in the power sector, urban renewal projects and intervention in the traffic gridlock created by the heavy duty trucks and tankers along the Mile 2-Apapa axis.

    He said: “It is widely acknowledged that private sector productivity is a function of the quality of the investment climate. The Lagos State government is working in tandem with this realisation. We however, will like to draw attention to some issues of concern to the business community in the state such as multiplicity and arbitrariness of levies by local government councils

    Bello further said: “We have issues with the manner in which the local government councils manage this aspect of their functions. There are concerns about the method, the process and level of transparency. There are several instances of arbitrariness in the imposition of levies. Most often, these are at variance with approved rates.”

    The LCCI president said many organisations have suffered embarrassment following demand by local council officials for radio and television permit, for instance, which come with a lot of arbitrariness with rates ranging from  N50,000 per annum to N200,000 per annum. “Only recently, a local government council sealed up the premises of a company for failure to pay N200,000 for radio and television permit whereas the approved rate is N10,000. It took the intervention of the office of the Special Adviser on Taxation and Revenue to unseal the premises,” he said.

    He also identified parking permit where he said many organisations have been served with various charges for parking permit ranging from N100,000 per annum to  N500,000 per annum depending on the locations and number of parking lots. According to him, there are instances where both local and state officials make demands on the same companies for parking fees. “For companies in the small and medium enterprise categories, these demands could be very burdensome,” he said.

    Bello called on the governor to prevail on the officials and the agencies to moderate the fees and streamline the levies/permits. He also called for proper coordination between the state and local councils.

    While lauding the setting up of  the  Lagos State  Environmental Protection Agency  (LASEPA) and the need to protect the environment and ensure adherence to best practices in the operations of  entrepreneurs, he criticised the seeming greater emphasis on revenue drive than the core mandate of protecting the environment. The use of consultants for this purpose, he said, has further worsened the process.

    He berated the numerous charges imposed on manufacturers most of which are small businesses. A typical payment request by LASEPA, he revealed, could be as high as N500,000, which consists of the following: environmental development charge, chemical storage permit, laboratory analysis fee, submission fees for environment assessment and submission fees for environmental audit report.