The Center for Ethics and Sustainable Development, Lagos, Nigeria (CESD) and the Center for Public Policy Alternatives, Lagos, Nigeria (CPPA) both think-tanks that focus on policy research and the promotion of evidence-based policy making process in Nigeria, organized a Stakeholders’ roundtable to evaluate the policy environment, processes and frameworks around public private partnerships (PPP) in Lagos State, especially as it relates to the provision of public infrastructure. The panel focused more on the proposed Lagos State PPP signal project- the 4th Mainland Bridge- to review PPP in the state. It also attempted to score the Lagos state government’s PPP Practice.
The event was held on Wednesday, 29th June, 2016 at the conference hall of CPPA, City Hall and had twenty-five representative experts drawn from all the stakeholder groups in PPP process in Lagos State- Lagos State, viz: Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, LAMATA, financial sectors representatives, investors, academics, environmentalists, Sustainability experts, the media, legal practitioners and CSO groups. The synopsis of the deliberations and views expressed at the roundtable can be condensed into five subheads namely:
- NECESSITY OF PPP IN INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY
Experts unanimously agreed that there is an acute shortage of public infrastructure in Lagos State and that considering the current national economic crisis, the increasing demands of unwieldy population growth, the megacity status and regional hub aspirations of the state, a partnership between the private and public sectors in the provision and maintenance of public infrastructure is very critical to achieving appreciable improvement in public infrastructural goal. Furthermore, it was agreed that the PPP offers one of the best means of providing sustainable service delivery in a polity blighted by economic recession, lack of maintenance culture, opacity and bureaucratic bottleneck.
Experts further highlighted the integration of the concept of PPP into public service delivery frameworks across a wide spectrum of services in many countries and the complexities involved in the process even in the best of system was noted. They also advocated for the adoption of a contextualized global best practice of PPP in Lagos state and in Nigeria, where stakeholder engagement, social license, effective communication, Gender equality and Social inclusion (GESI) are incorporated into the PPP conceptual framework.
- LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The essence of PPP is risk sharing between government, investors and the public and thus the quality of the contractual and regulatory environment is essential in engendering best practice in PPP practice in Lagos State. Experts stressed policy inconsistency, ineffective legal redress, PPP projects’ process opacity and dynamically complex political terrain in Lagos and in Nigeria as some of the basic challenges that PPP processes face in the state.
Legal experts highlighted the relative sufficiency of the PPP legal regime in the state as provided in the Lagos State PPP Law. The Law outlines the structure and processes of all PPP engagements in the state.
Some sections of the law (especially Section 17) were however, noted by experts as undermining investor confidence in the PPP practice in the state. There is therefore a need for a review of the PPP Law in Lagos State to countenance our local realities by providing greater protection for investors in PPP projects.
Experts criticized the relocation of and subsuming of the Lagos PPP office, which is a creation of the law to the newly created Lagos Global Office, without a review of the enabling law to reflect this new change. This arbitrariness raises questions on institutional respect rule of law in the state.
- PEOPLE AND PUBLIC PERCEPTION
There was emphasis on the People as the major stakeholder in any PPP project, hence the suggestion that it should be a 4P (Public-Private-People Partnership) as against the 3P (Public-Private Partnership). That infrastructure delivery irrespective of its procurement model must be People-focused. It must adequately capture project impact and benefit to the people. Government and its Private Partners must make sustainable, empathic provision for the unfavourable impact of PPP projects on the people and the environment.
Across the world, the PPP projects are often subjects of intense public scrutiny because of the widely held assumption that PPP privatizes public services and that is why public awareness and participation are an indispensable part of the process. This led to the demand for the domestication of the FOI Act in Lagos state as this will aid public awareness of governments’ short and long term infrastructure development plans. Participants also raised questions on the input of the public through their representative components and individually on the framing of PPP agreements in Lagos state, considering the fact that democratic governance is primarily about the right to be involved in governance choices and processes.
Experts called for a deliberately designed focused information intervention programs (strategic communication) to introduce the concept and practices of PPP to all stakeholders in the Lagos state as well as engage effectively with all communities on the benefits of the PPP. Furthermore, experts suggest that a people-centered and people-involved PPP project has a high tendency of avoiding conflicts, controversy and litigation, such as dogged the Lekki-Epe PPP project. Until there is effective communication, real stakeholder engagement before the conception of PPP projects and during implementation, for government to obtain social license, the legitimacy and sanctity of PPP contracts will be subject to vagaries of politics.
- FOURTH MAINLAND BRIDGE
Experts highlighted the fact that the 4th Mainland Bridge is need-driven, essential project for accentuating socio-economic development along the Ajah-Ikorodu axis and investment to strategically prepare for the fall out of industrial activities from the Lekki Free Trade Zone. It was also agreed that considering the magnitude of the financial demands of the 4th Mainland Bridge and other equally competing state projects, it is impracticable for the state so solely fund the bridge, hence the indispensability of PPP in providing the bridge.
However, experts raised questions on the conformity of the 4th Mainland Bridge PPP process with international best practices in PPP arrangements especially in the areas of: the underlying assumptions on which project outlay is based; the openness and fairness of the project’s bidding processes; competence and capacity of consultants and critical stakeholders involved in the project; the project outlay; environmental and socio-economic impact, affected community engagement, strategic communication and government’s financial contribution.
- LAGOS STATE GOVERNMENT’S PPP PRACTICE SCORE CARD
BENCHMARK AGAINST IDEAL/ GLOBAL BEST PRACTICE
| RATINGS FOR PPP IN LAGOS STATE | ||||
| PPP PROCESS | Good (5) | Not
Good Enough (2) |
Non- Existent
(0) |
|
| Pre-project process | ||||
| Community consultation | 2 | |||
| In-depth Feasibility studies | 2 | |||
| Comprehensive & realistic risk capture/ risk register | 2 | |||
| Transparent bidding/
tender process |
0 | |||
| Project team alignment | 2 | |||
| Stakeholders’ Matrix | 2 | |||
| Stakeholders’ consultation | 2 | |||
| Social licence | 0 | |||
| Score
Total score obtainable = 40 |
Total =
12 |
|||
Compiled by the Center for Ethics and Sustainable Development