Reps to probe successive administrations over PPP agreements

By Christiana Ekpa

House of Representatives, on Wednesday, revealed plans to investigate various Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programmes and Concession Agreement(s) approved by successive administrations.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Saidu Abdullahi, who expressed concern over the dwindling economic fortune of the country, despite huge investments made into the concessioned public assets.
In his lead debate, Hon. Abdullahi said: the persistent dwindling revenues accruing to the Federation Account and the enormous deficit in infrastructural development with attendant consequences on budget implementation and the economy due to the nation’s dependence.
“The House also notes the participation of the private sector in the infrastructural development and management of infrastructure around the globe, ranging from roads, railways, airports, housing, power generation, distribution, and marketing, and its enormous contributions to economic development, growth, and prosperity.
“The House further notes the establishment of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), charged with the responsibility of formulating policies, discussions, agreements, and supervision of all Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and concession programs, a one-stop shop for concession projects.
“The House is aware that the agency, in collaboration with government departments, has initiated several PPPs and concession programs, some of which are still in process, while others have not yielded positive results on crude oil.
“The House is also aware that many investors participated in or indicated interest in most of the programs, while some secured provisional findings but cannot commence due to insufficient coordination between agencies and ICRC management in actualising, concluding, and executing agreements,” he noted.
The House resolved to set up an Ad-hoc committee to investigate and assess the performance of public-private partnership programs and concession agreements, recommend ways to improve the nation’s infrastructural development, and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.