A former Minister of Finance Shamsudeen Usman has noted that the
country has a huge infrastructural gap.
He spoke at the 2017 Annual Seminar of Kaduna Chamber of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and Agriculture [KADCCIMA],
In a paper, “Promoting Public Private Partnership As a Panacea for
Accelerated Growth and Development” Mr Usman said the country needs
foreign capital and expertise to supplement the resources that the
country can afford to generate.
He described the Public/Private Partnership (PPP) as a crucial tool in
addressing the infrastructural gap in the country, adding however,
that its potential has not been fully tapped.
He gave example of countries like India, Malaysia and South Africa
among other countries that successfully deployed PPP to achieve
accelerated socio-economic growth and development.
He identified the problems of politics, absence of strong legal
framework, inconsistency in policy implementation, lack of clear goals
and coordination as hindrances to Nigeria’s ability to tap the
benefits of PPP.
According to him, the country’s legal framework and budgetary approval
processes must be reviewed for PPP to work efficiently in the country.
“Similarly, there is the need for high political support, post
transaction monitoring and evaluation, alternative dispute resolution
mechanism to ensure smooth operation of the PPP strategy, ” he added.
Earlier, the President of the KADCCIMA, Muheeba Dankaka, explained
that the theme was chosen to highlight the need for collaboration
between the public and private sector to enhance the business
environment through massive infrastructure development.
“The PPP, if well tapped, could maintain and sustain the productive
and manufacturing sectors, which would in turn ensure equitable
distribution of wealth.
“To achieve this, government and the private sector must work together”.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his own contribution attributed
the slow rate of infrastructure development in Nigeria to lack of
synergy between public and the private sector.
The former leader also blamed poor leadership for Nigeria’s economic
and infrastructural situation.
Mr. Obasanjo, who was the Chairman of the 2017 Annual Seminar of
Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture
[KADCCIMA], said the Nigerian government had over the years paid very
little attention to the private sector.
According to him, it is important to develop deep synergy between the
two in order to tackle the wide infrastructure deficit in the country
and accelerate national development.
