CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Public sector reforms in Nigeria have come of age, not so because of its transition to efficiency and effectiveness in the conduct of public business and service delivery, but primarily because of concerns the wear and tear associated with the reforms have provoked in the academic and professional discourse. Between 1960 and 2014, the emergent Nigeria’s leaders implemented different fads nay a superfluity of challenging policy initiatives for overcoming the challenges associated with public service delivery in the country, especially on the area of infrastructural provision. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is yet another such policy initiatives. PPP policy was implemented in Nigeria in 2005 to serve as a flagship for infrastructural development and provision and to ensure value for money in service delivery in the country. The rationale for PPP hinges on the fact that it provides for more efficient procurement that focuses on consumer satisfaction and life cycle maintenance, and new sources of investment in particular through a joint agreement of both parties. It has its major plank on leveraging from the technical expertise and investment potentials of the private sector and donor agencies, as well as in diminishing the entrenched government monopolies in infrastructural provision (Health and education facilities, housing, electricity, good road network, pipe borne water, railways etc) (Sotola & Ayodele, 2009).
In view of the relevance of PPP in infrastructural development and provision, the Infrastructural Concessions Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in Nigeria sets out the various frameworks for effective implementation of PPP, which include the review of the legal and regulatory framework created under the following existing legislations:
• the Privatization and Commercialization Act of 1999;
• the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007; and
• the Public Procurement Act of 2007 (Salami, 2012).
Central to PPP initiative is the identification of risk associated with each component of the project and the allocation of the risk factor to the public sector, the private sector or perhaps a sharing by both. Thus, the desire to ensure best value for money is based on allocation of risk factors to the participants who are at best able to manage those risks and thus minimize costs while improving performance (Sotola & Ayodele, 2009). Despite its many sidedness such as Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT), Build Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT), among others, ‘Concession” has been identified as the most popular in Nigeria. According to Ayodele (2012:9-10):
Concession is a collaborative arrangement between a government and private developers aimed at designing and developing facilities through combination of participants, which include the financiers and the contractors and or consultants. The developer may not necessarily be the financiers of the project.
Whatever the case, good governance and security are the driving forces of PPP. This is because no meaningful development can take place in poor governed and unsecured environment.
1.2 Statement of problems
When Abia State was carved out from Imo State on 27th August, 1991, there was a mass movement of people from Imo State to Abia State. This brought with it tremendous pressure on the existing infrastructures in the state with attendant challenges for governance and sustainable development, more so, in an environment of lean financial resources. Thus, a baseline survey by the Federal Office of Statistics in 2000 indicated a total collapse of infrastructure and social amenities (roads, health, educational institutions, water supply and other social services), environmental degradation, massive unemployment, threats to lives and property, inadequate housing provision, and thus, contributing to 52.6% poverty ratio of the population of the state. Unarguably, this situation can only be reversed if the right environment is created through a re-orientation towards entrenching good governance for improved delivery of public goods and services to the masses. In this regard, the Orji Uzor Kalu led administration adopted an integrated, multi-sectoral grassroots development approach and economic empowerment of the people represented, among others, by the Abia State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (ABSEEDS) in 2000. The overriding policy thrusts of ABSEEDS were poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth through the redefinition of the role of government, promotion of a private sector-led economy and sustenance of good governance through inclusive governance, public sector reform, transparency and accountability (ABSEEDS, 2005). Though modest efforts were made by the administration towards these directions, unfortunately, the policy thrust of ABSEED could not equate reality, and thus, creating a monumental infrastructural chasm and the need for paradigm shift in the development discourse in Abia State.
1.3 Objectives of the study
1. To know the level of Public private partnership in Abia State
2. To know the Political Approach to Public private partnership and Infrastructural Development in Abia State
3. To highlight the projects under PPP in Abia State between 2007-2014
1.4 Research Question
The following research questions will guide the study
1. What is the level of Public private partnership in Abia State?
2. Does the Political Approach to Public private partnership encourage Infrastructural Development in Abia State?
3. What are the projects achieved under PPP in Abia State between 2007-2014?
1.5 Significance of study
In a bid to bridge the infrastructural gap in the state, the civilian administration of Governor T.A. Orji keyed into the framework of the PPP in 2007 (Abia State Investment Brochure, 2014). In synergy with the World Bank, UNIDO, UNDP and other local and international partners, Common Facility Centre (CFC), Community Driven Development (CDD) initiative, among others were put in place to facilitate the provision of basic infrastructures in the state. Like its predecessor, Abia State under Governor T.A. Orji could hardly boast of, or break even, in terms of development and provision of basic infrastructures. Consequently, poor infrastructural scenario in Abia State as seen in the health system, education, road network, electric power generation and distribution, industries, among others, worsened by 30% between 2004 and 2014 (United Nations Wider Report, 2014). This precarious state of infrastructures in Abia State and its consequent toll on socio-economic activities and overall development and security of the state has indeed, raised serious concern among Abians, as well as other national and international observers. It is therefore in the light of this concern that this paper is focused on the investigation of poor governance, insecurity and public sector reforms in Nigeria, using Abia State Public-Private Partnership policy and infrastructural development as a reference point.