The recommendations of the experts and speakers were contained in various presentations at an interactive session between the Office of PPP (OPPP) and members of the Lagos State House of Assembly House Committee on PPP, held over the weekend in Lagos.

It was suggested that ensuring value for money expended on PPP projects was the responsibility of the OPPP, House Committee, and the private equity investors while calling on all stakeholders in a PPP arrangement to understand the requirements of PPP including project financing from the beginning to the end.

‘‘The major role of the OPPP is to provide a global view of making decisions and quantifying guarantees; ensuring value for money expended on projects is the major responsibility of the OPPP, House Committee, and the private partner. The public sector should avoid over-influencing projects (subsidizing) and focus more on the value that the project will offer. Quantifying the cost of a PPP project cannot be easily estimated from inception; hence it is important for all stakeholders to be fully informed of the demands and dynamics of the project before delving into PPP,’’ they stated.

They also noted that dealing with macroeconomic issues will create a long-term effect on PPP projects, and recommended that risks registered on projects should be strictly considered including the advance determination of which party can best influence or take liability for the consequences of unforeseen risks. ‘‘Once the risks have been identified, there has to be risks mapping; hence risk identification, allocation, and mitigation become necessary,’’ they said.

The stakeholders advocated amendment of the Lagos State Public Private Partnerships Law, 2011, citing certain gaps in the legislation.

‘‘The PPP law should be amended to expand the circumstances where a project may be excluded from the OCB requirement and provide for the ability of private participants to submit unsolicited proposals. The PPP law should clearly define what PPP is, clearly the scope of its law, and provide an exhaustive list of permitted and prohibited sectors where PPP is applicable to give clarity to investors.’’

‘‘It is recommended the law is amended to provide for the nature of support that may be provided by procuring entities and to remove the restriction on the ability to provide guarantees for PPP projects. It is recommended that the law be amended such that the PPP Office may have oversight functions in respect of the implementation of PPP projects within the state,’’ they restated.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on PPP, Mr. Ope George, while welcoming participants said the interactive session was organized to enable the PPP Office and the House Committee on PPP to discuss the mandate of the OPPP with a view to deepening synergy and promoting the cordial relationship.

He added that the session provided an avenue to solicit the continued support of the legislature in the fulfillment of the OPPP’s statutory responsibilities of improving infrastructural development in the state.

Three presentations were facilitated by experts who assessed relevant areas that affect the operation of the OPPP and proffered cutting-edge recommendations that could promote sustainable service delivery.

A Partner at Vista Advisory Services, Mr. Sunloye Adekanye, in his presentation on ‘Financing PPP projects and the role of the state’ said PPP projects were assets built for the government for the use of the citizenry, hence in financing PPP projects, understanding the role of quantifiable guarantees and inherent risk factors was imperative to the sustainability of PPPs.

He emphasized the need to consider important factors such as the value and affordability of projects to the users; how strategic the project is; whether can or should the project be delivered through PPP or traditional procurement; whether should the project be handed over to the government or managed by private operators if it will be cost-effective; as well as the guarantees tied to the risk.

‘‘Therefore, the government must make good decisions when choosing to stand as a guarantor for any PPP project,’’ Adekanye stated.

A Partner in the legal firm of Olaniwun Ayayi LLP, Mrs. Ibi Ogunbiyi, spoke on ‘Salient points in the PPP legal framework in comparison to global best practices, highlighting the differences in the current PPP frameworks in comparison with global best practices.

While acknowledging the efforts made by the Lagos State government to align with global standards, she suggested, however, amendments to the Lagos State PPP Law, 2011 to improve service delivery.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi noted that since the government’s role was both statutory and contractual, it should not be surprising that the state treasury cannot fund infrastructure effectively and efficiently without affecting its administrative functions, thus stating that there was a need to harness the PPP approach.

Another speaker and a Partner in the law firm of Olajide Oyewole LLP, Ms. Solape Peters, in her presentation, ‘A synopsis of the PPP law, the challenges, and recommendations for reform’, reiterated that financial guarantee has remained a problem over the years with PPP projects in Lagos State resulting in the death of many proposals.

She identified some challenges with the PPP law, stating that the existing law set a blanket on financial guarantees which many times limits the applicants while urging the state government to be fair in its dealings with private partners.

Ms. Peters added that the long waiting time to get the state House of Assembly’s ratification on the concessions agreement before implementation should be improved, even as she called for the review of the provision of the law that gave the power to vary or adjust service charges, user fees, and tolls among others.

The Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and former Dean, Faculty of Technology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, made the remarks during a Keynote presentation at the Maiden Convocation Lecture of The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic Saki, Oyo State.

He however, wondered why the FG is claiming that it lacks the resources to meet all of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) requests, the same government ironically keeps approving and establishing new public universities.

FG vs ASUU

The Former President, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) in his presentation titled, ‘Utilizing Public-Private Partnership for Sustainable Development in Nigeria’, bemoaned what he called ‘harrowing national challenges’, the most worrisome to being the unduly prolonged industrial strike that has emasculated the public university system for the past seven (7) months.

“Since February 14, 2022, the nation’s public universities have been under lock and key because of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Strike. The seemingly interminable strikes are already causing serious damage to Nigeria’s tertiary education system. And if a nation’s tertiary education structure collapses, the damaging impact on national development is inevitable in terms of manpower shortfall for the economy and degradation of research output of ideas and solutions for solving societal problems. The degeneration of education can also presuppose the descent of society to a state of subversive underdevelopment, social disintegration and moral atrophy”.

He recalled that in the last 13 years, ASUU has gone on strike nine times, keeping students out of school for various periods of time ranging from one week (2016 warning strike) to nine months in 2020, and now over 7 months in 2022. 

“Of course, it is not the fault of ASUU that the current strike has festered for so long. It is the non-implementation of long-standing agreements between the Federal Government and ASUU, especially the 2009 Agreement, bordering on critical issues such as funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, poor funding of State Universities, among others. So far, the ASUU strike continues as the Federal Government claims inability to meet all of ASUU demands due to limited resources”.

He said described the situation as ‘lamentable ugly mess’, which has caused untold agony to students, parents, lecturers and other concerned stakeholders, because the situation highlights the compelling imperative of utilising Public-Private Partnerships for sustainable development in every sector of the national life, education inclusive.

“If the FG is claiming that it lacks the resources to meet all of ASUU requests, though the same government ironically keeps approving and establishing new public universities, why not engage Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model to fund the educational sector the way it has been doing in other sectors such as railways, roads and power?”, he questioned.   

The concept of Public-Private Partnerships in Education

Professor Aderounmu who is the Centre Leader, World Bank Sponsored Africa Centre of Excellence in Software Engineering at OAU, said the PPP concept is not new but has increasingly become a global trend for fostering sustainable development in many countries, both in the developed and developing economies.

“In plain language, there can be no meaningful development in any society or community without cooperation, partnership, collaboration, teamwork, alliance or whatever we call it.

“As the Yoruba would say, ‘Ajeji owo kan ko gberu dori’. That is, one hand alone cannot lift a load up to the head. Just for the principle of clarity, we can define Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) as a partnership between the public sector and the private sector for the purpose of delivering a developmental project or service traditionally provided by the public sector. The public sector, of course, refers to the Government and its various Ministries, Departments and Agencies”.

“Meanwhile, according to a Brundtland Commission 1987 report titled ‘Our Common Future’, the idea of sustainable development requires meeting the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of future generations to fulfill their own needs and destiny. With these definitions of terms, the challenge then follows that achieving sustainable development in a modern nation demands the collaboration and alignment of forces and resources which the government alone cannot provide due to the growing complexity of societal development amidst competing demands”.  

He argued that in the quest to develop a society or country, there must be due investment in identified areas of need for infrastructure, as basic infrastructures are needed to facilitate socio-economic activities that will stimulate development.

“However, according to development experts, the gap between the infrastructure investment need and the actual investment is substantial and keeps growing wider. So, in order to help bridge the investment gap as the government falls short of its responsibilities, a Public-Private Partnerships panacea becomes absolutely imperative. In other words, PPPs provide a channel of procuring needed additional capital investment for public infrastructure as well as facilitating a strategy for improving infrastructure planning, implementation, operation and maintenance.

“Also, PPPs enable off-balance sheet borrowing, amplify innovation and help transfer risks. All this implies that when PPPs are well designed and implemented in a balanced regulatory environment, they can bring greater impetus to development that is sustainable.

“The foregoing exposition naturally brings us to the point of emphasizing the continued need for utilising PPPs for sustainable development in Nigeria, Oyo State and The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki”.

He cited the ICT-Driven OAU Knowledge Park as a successful demonstration of PPP; yielding a growing number of spinoff enterprises as well as local design and production of commercial products such as drones, fingerprint scanners and nose masks, among others.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, has disclosed that the approval to develop the Badagry Seaport has been obtained by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osibajo, and the ministers under the administration held their monthly FEC meeting on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, to discuss projects relating to the country’s development.

After the meeting, Sambo stated that the Federal Executive Council approved $2.59 billion for the development of the Badagry Seaport, which will compete against that of Cotonou, Benin Republic, upon completion.

He said “I’m pleased to announce to you and the general public that I presented a memo today at council concerning the development of the Badagry Deep Seaport under the public-private partnership arrangement.

“Where the private sector will inject money for the development of the port and at the end of the concessionary period, the port reverts to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

“The project cost as contained and approved in council based on the final business case approved by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in line with extant laws stood at $2.59 billion.

“It has to be developed in four phases with milestones and the concessional period of 45 years. Reversion is, like I said, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“This is to further the government’s goal of making Nigeria the maritime hub of the West and Central Africa sub-region. This project may interest you to know that it will also generate total revenue of over $53.6 billion over the concession period.

“It will create about one quarter million jobs and also attract foreign direct investments to the country and help in improving Nigeria’s economy in general and the wellbeing of Nigerians.

Mr. Ope George, Special Adviser to the Governor on PPP, who disclosed this in a statement, said through the PPP model, there were several completed, ongoing and proposed mass housing projects in different parts of the state.

He said public-private partnership arrangements have enabled the state government to deliver affordable quality housing units to hundreds of residents of the state in line with the state government’s unwavering commitment to bridge the gap in the housing sector.

According to the statement issued by the Office of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Mr. George revealed that one of the projects was the Housing Estate Development at Igbogbo, Ikorodu. This is an estate which will be built on 8.8 hectares of land by the Lagos State Government and Messrs. M-Bridge Limited.

Another significant project is the 20 units luxury residential apartment to be built in partnership with Messrs. Westerfield Expert Construction Limited and the Lagos State Government.

This will be located in Abuja on the parcel of land owned by Lagos State Liaison Office In Abuja.

Mr. George added that the Lagos State Government was also partnering with Messrs. Brooke Assets and Resources Limited to develop 20 hectares of land into a mini city of 3,546 units of one-bed and two- bed apartments in Imota, Ikorodu.

The Special Adviser noted that similar multiple apartments were currently being built by the Lagos State Government at Ilubirin, Abraham Adesanya, Ajah as well as GRA, Ikeja. The GRA, Ikeja project has been approved for the erection of over 80 apartment units on  6,2894 Sqm located within the Lagos State old secretariat building, Ikeja.

Other affordable apartments have been erected and delivered at Bayview Estate in Ikate Elegushi; Lateef Jakande Housing Estate, Igando; Badagry Housing Estate; Prince Abiodun Ogunleye Housing Estate, Igbogbo; and Babatunde Olushola Benson Housing Estate, Ibeshe.

The other housing projects are Phoenix Apartments, Ilupeju; Lagos HOMS, Magodo and Omole; Lagos HOMS Lekki Phase 1; Babatunde Raji Fashola HOMS, Iponri Estate;  Sunnyville Apartments, Ogba; and Courtland Villas, Igbokushu, Ikate Elegushi.  

Also, the Lagos State Government recently commissioned the Greater Lagos LBIC Apartments, which is a product of joint venture between Lagos Building Investment PLC(LBIC) and RPDC.

“In all, the Lagos State Government has commissioned no fewer than 15 housing projects since the inception of the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and has delivered 3,526 housing units across the state,” George said.

While soliciting more support for the state government from the residents, he restated the government’s commitment to continuously provide infrastructure, particularly affordable and reasonably priced houses to the good people of Lagos State, using the PPP model.