PARTNERING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Working with youths and focusing on national reorientation and development, I feel a sense of obligation to help them understand how society works. In Nigeria, a lot of citizens do not understand a great percentage of the goings on in government which means a majority of them work on assumptions. If we can get the youths to understand things like Private Public Partnerships, it could help to prepare them for future leadership positions and what they would need to do to get things working better. This could also help them to communicate more purposefully when they want to express their concerns to those in authority.

Yet to be completed BRT project in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria

Abandoned projects have become a recurrent decimal in the Nigerian environment, some are revisited and completed at some point while others are left to litter the landscape. This is a very sad situation to which successive governments have failed to find a lasting solutions. These constraints have led to a huge infrastructural deficit in every sector of society especially noticeable in the areas of basic needs. One of the very prominent area of abandonment is road construction.

Roads are left uncompleted and they practically become death traps as incoming administrations would rather start other road projects in area of their political interests. Contracts are constantly reviewed due to ever rising inflation and inability of government at times to meet compensation demands.

Public procurement is allegedly fraught with corruption by political actors, poor planning and bureaucratic bottle necks. Proper implementation of Private Public Partnership can act as a bridge to this infrastructural deficit. This a partnership where the private sector collaborates with the public sector to achieve a common objective. They come together to join forces; financial, technical, operational/management etc and also share the risks in order to carry out infrastructural development.

Good governance can provide a conducive atmosphere for this partnership which would result in efficient management of resources and remove undue burdens from future generations. Proper accountability by political actors aided by clarity, openness in decision making and a strong policy framework are foundations for the success of the PPP.

With the required structures in place, this is a partnership that could help government overcome inadequate infrastructure that constrains economic growth. The private sector brings in different skills and credibility that will encourage financial investors to bring in funds to help government overcome poor funding problems, weak analysis and challenges of infrastructural maintenance and durability.