Lack Of Transparency In Public Procurement Albatross To Infrastructure Devt In Nigeria-Stakeholders

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Mohammed Shosanya

Stakeholders in the infrastructure ecosystem have identified lack of transparency in the public procurement process as one of the major bottlenecks hampering private sector investment into infrastructure development.

They spoke om Tuesday at the sideline event on Infrastructure Acceleration at the on-going 30th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja,

They alled on government at all levels to open their processes and maintain transparency and derisk the system to attract private sector funding to build the desired infrastructure development.

An Executive Director at the African Development Bank (AfDB), Oyebode Oyetunde, said one of the key things that is needed is to connect the ecosystem, noting that collaboration between the private and public sectors is required to achieve greater results in execution of any meaningful infrastructure project.

Oyetunde said good governance and transparency in all government processes is inevitable for the private sector to trust the system and invest their money into infrastructure development.

“I think for me one of the key things to do to accelerate infrastructure development is, that we need to have an ecosystem.We have systems in different places, but when you connect them you create an ecosystem.

“And if you connect them enough, then you can see real transformation. But if you don’t have sufficient connections and the parts of the systems are not strong enough, you won’t see transformation, even though you have almost everything.”,he added.

He said for Nigeria, the solutions are not simple because the problems are complex. “We need to bring in good governance, good frameworks, as well as discipline,” he said.

“Again, when you collaborate development partners like us, African Development Bank, they can catalyse funding to fill in that space between private sector finance, which is equity and very high expensive, and government finance, which is simply inadequate.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, Dele Sotumbo, said for Nigeria to solve her infrastructure problems, government at all levels must ensure there is transparency in all their transactions.

He argued that lack of transparency has over the years scared investors away and insisted that until government muster the will to build trust and transparent process, the private sector funding will not be unleashed for infrastructure development.

He said: “It’s clear that for us to solve the infrastructural problem or challenges that we have in Nigeria, the Federal or States, and of course, Local Government Areas, lack the financial muscle to push this through.

“Hence, we have been asking the government over the years to show that the processes are transparent and they can attract the private sector funding into infrastructure development in Nigeria.”

He said whatever happens, government remains the major driver. Creating an enabling environment is very key to solving these problems.

“But when it comes to implementing those plans that we put together, then we begin to cut corners.”

Speaking, the Director General of Infrastructure Concessions Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Jobson Ewalefor, said for Nigeria to accelerate infrastructure development, private sector funding is needed to help government achieve its set objectives.

Accordingto him, “We do know that private sector funding will assist the government in unlocking the infrastructure gap that we have in Nigeria.

He added:”Maintenance is key, y”es, if you don’t build the roads, you cannot maintain the roads. So can we do it as government? Well, in some areas yes, in some areas no. Can the private sector play a role? Yes, they can.”

He said the ICRC has modalities and structures that will fill options of public, private partnerships (PPP) where both the government and the private sector can work together not only to build, but alao to sustain, “they are there to maintain, they are there to improve the infrastructure and also optimise it for public and service delivery.”