Public–private partnership (PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. These schemes are sometimes referred to as PPP or 3Ps. Many developed nations in the world jumpstarted their economies by accelerating their infrastructure and building on it; India, China and the United States of America are among such nations. The late President J.F. Kennedy of USA once stated that, “America has good roads, not because America is rich, but America is rich because it has good roads”. The center point on this matter is that a country cannot be rich without good infrastructure. All the great civilizations attained greatness only through the entrenchment of adequate and sustainable infrastructure. The World Bank estimates that every 1% of government funds spent on infrastructure leads to an equivalent 1% increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which invariably means that there is a correlation between any meaningful inputs in infrastructure development which reflects on economic growth indices, hence the value of infrastructure cannot be underplayed.
Infrastructure development has in recent times seen to assume a central importance in Nigeria’s fight to attain social and economic stability. Infrastructure generally has to do with the fixed provision of tangible assets on which other intangibles can be built on. Not limited in scope, it revolves the provision of Housing, Power (electricity), Transport, Education, Communication, and Technology.
In the history of Nigeria, it has been a mix of daunting challenges and boundless opportunities. However, since the transition to democracy in 1999, the country has not laid a solid foundation for economic growth and development despite Nigeria’s rich human and material resource endowments that gives it the potential to become Africa’s largest economy and a major player in the global economy. Previous governments in Nigeria proposed to be among the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020, Seven points agenda, among others. That notwithstanding, our huge infrastructure deficit has greatly constrained economic growth and development, thus inhibiting our ability to improve the quality of life as envisaged in the Agenda of the Governments.
THE WAY FORWARD?
There is need for the development of an infrastructure base comparable to those of other nations in the world. These Infrastructure and related Investments are critical in achieving and sustaining a high annual growth rate necessary for Nigeria to achieve its Vision 202020.
With the current state of dilapidated infrastructure in our economy, and a view to enhancing better economic development, the public and private sectors of our economy should seize the opportunities provided by evolving global partnerships to create enduring infrastructures and development in Nigeria.
The bane of our national development has been a dearth in infrastructures. This must change and as the parties take practical steps in this regard by harnessing the PPPs strategy, while tailoring them to the needs of the different sectors of the economy, they must look critically at the legal implications of such arrangements to further mutually beneficial partnerships.
Each PPP arrangement should be designed and adapted to the specific characteristics of the asset at stake, as well as to the peculiar abilities of all partners involved in the project. In order to guarantee value for money, the relative strengths and weaknesses of each PPP scheme should be considered too.
The time to do all these is now as they say “a stitch in time saves nine.
Written by Jomo Iroha, a Public Affairs Analyst.
irohajomo@gmail.com
