FG to audit all projects, enforce statutory insurance of PPP assets

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The Federal Government has said that it would conduct an audit of all public-private partnership (PPP) projects to ascertain their performance as well as ensure that all the projects are insured as statutorily stipulated in the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Establishment Act, 2005.

Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, on Tuesday.

During the visit, the DG ICRC honoured the Minister with the PPP Icon Award.

In response to the Minister’s remark, the DG assured the Minister that the Commission was already working on evaluating the performance of all PPP projects as well as enforcing the insurance policy for all the assets of the government under PPPs.

Dr Ewalefoh further assured the Minister that the Commission would take up his charge to train PPP desk officers in MDAs, which it was already doing through its institute.

He also urged the ministry not to relent in adopting PPP projects or seek clarifications where necessary.

“Talking about the audit, we are already putting in place mechanisms to start auditing the performance of PPP agreements that were signed in the past. This is not aimed at condemning or terminating them but to optimise them in the interest of the nation.

“When it comes to the issue of insurance, of course, it is a matter of law for all national assets, both hard and soft infrastructure, that are concessioned through PPP to be insured.

“That is one area we are looking into and would very soon issue a directive that all assets under PPP must, in compliance with the law, be insured,” he said.

The DG, who thanked the Minister for being at the forefront of utilising public-private partnerships (PPPs) in delivering key infrastructure needs, pointed out that his choice of the Ministry for his first official visit was in view of his performance and his adoption of PPP as a vehicle for realising his mandate.

The ICRC DG said that in the past year of the current administration, the Minister has presented the greatest number of PPP projects to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval, while commending him for not moving to cancel any ongoing PPP in his ministry but rather find a way of optimising those that were stalling for better performance and increase revenue generation.

“From the record of the Commission, the total amount of investment that has come into this ministry in your time as Minister in the last year is over $500,000,000 (five hundred million dollars).

“So, we cannot thank you enough as a champion of PPP. Therefore, we felt it was in our interest to come and say thank you for being our PPP Ambassador and a PPP Champion, and we are using this opportunity to tell the world that the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not cancelled any signed PPP contract under the custody of the ICRC, showing respect for the sanctity of contracts and to tell investors that their investment is safe,” he said.

On her part, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, congratulated the DG on his appointment and commended the Minister for what he had been doing.

“He is a sticker for making things happen positively for Nigeria, making sure that the appropriation is not stressed but rather looking at the best avenues to have PPP arrangements for most of our activities. I thank you, sir, for the great leadership,” she said.

In his remark, the Minister commended the appointment of Dr. Ewalefoh as the DG of the ICRC, describing it as a clear demonstration of the intention of the government to diversify the economy and allow the private sector to play its role, adding that his qualification and experience were unquestionable.

The Minister disclosed plans to efficiently leverage PPPs to make key agencies in the Ministry self-reliant and exit them from the government’s budget line.

“We believe that a lot of our agencies should be off-budget, and we are working towards that because the resources to the government are not even there. This is a country of 230 million people with an increasing population; therefore, we have to be innovative in terms of financing.

“We know that the resources of government are limited, but the private sector has a lot more resources. All we need is to create the environment and give them the confidence to invest, and Nigeria will be a better place for us,” he said.

He said that the ministry had leveraged the huge resources of the private sector, adding that “everything we have done in NIS today is majorly PPPs; we can’t ask the government for millions of dollars; see the data centre; we have the e-gate; as we speak, we have the Advanced Passenger Information System; the Gap Management System is almost completed; a lot of other PPPs are in the pipeline.”.

He stressed that PPPs were not only about leveraging funds but also leveraging expertise for enhanced productivity and enhanced efficiency.

He assured the DG that the ministry would continue to collaborate with the ICRC, adding that the Commission had always made key technical inputs to the Ministry’s projects and fine-tuned them for better operability.

He charged the Commission to remain steadfast in its role in pushing Nigeria to take its rightful place.

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