Review PPP laws, experts tell FG

By Princewill Ekwujuru

THE Federal Government has been advised to review and redefine the laws guiding Public Private Partnership, PPP, operations throughout the country to achieve sustainable development. The recommendation was made by panelists at the PPP Review Forum organised by the Centre for Ethics and Sustainable Development (CESD), an international non-governmental organization, NGO, in Lagos.

In their assessment of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) set up by the federal government under the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission Act of 2005, the panelists which included principal state counsel, Lagos State Ministry of Justice and assistant to Lagos State attorney general on civil litigation, Mr. Olamide Ibrahim, managing partner, Bona Fidei Law Firm, Mr Tony Kpokpo, executive director, Centre for Ethics and Sustainable Development, Dr. Olajumoke Akiode and principal counsel Babatunde Ogala & Co, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, agreed that the legal framework of this Commission needs to be reviewed because its duties are not clearly defined especially in relation to PPP projects.

They decried the vagueness of ICRC’s definition of what PPP is and what it should entail. They also identified duplications of some laws in various infrastructure delivery acts of the States and called for urgent reviews with the aim of producing a single document which would address everything relating to infrastructural development in the country, enact laws which would remove areas of overlap.

The panelists addressed the need for manpower development for both the policy makers and the implementers of the PPP, to increase the needed understanding of the complex and technical nature of PPPs in order to efficiently maximize the model for sustainable human development. The importance of citizens’ participation, stakeholder management and gender and social inclusion as essential to the sustainable delivery of infrastructure was also emphasized.

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