ICRC Moves To Audit PPP Projects, Enforce Statutory Insurance For Assets

• Honours Interior Minister as ‘PPP icon’
• Celebrates Ministry’s $500m investment drive

BY COBHAM NSA – To ascertain and optimize the performance of all Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Nigeria’s overall interest, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is set to conduct an extensive audit on all such existing jobs nationwide.

The planned audit trail will also ensure that all the projects are insured as statutorily stipulated in the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Establishment Act, 2005.

This latest development also comes on the heels of ICRC applauding the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for the over $500,000,000 (five hundred million dollars) investment that the Ministry, under his watch has attracted within the last year.

Director General of the ICRC, Dr Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, who spoke during a courtesy visit in which the Minister was honoured with the PPP Icon award in Abuja, said the Commission is already working on evaluating the performance of all PPP projects as well as enforce the insurance policy for all the assets of the Government under PPPs.

Dr Ewalefoh said; “Talking about the audit, we are already putting in place mechanisms to start auditing the performance of PPP agreements that were signed in the past: this is not aimed at condemning or terminating them but to optimize them in the interest of the Nation.”

A statement signed by Ifeanyi Nwoko, the ICRC’s Acting Head of Media and Publicity, quoted Dr Ewalefoh as saying; “When it comes to the issue of insurance, of course, it is a matter of law for all national assets, both hard and soft infrastructure that are concessioned through PPP to be insured.

“That is one area we are looking into and would very soon issue a directive that all assets under PPP must, in compliance with the law, be insured”.

The ICRC boss said the Commission is looking at training PPP Desk Officers in Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) which it was already doing through its institute. He also urged the ministry not to relent in adopting PPP projects or seek clarifications where necessary.

Commending the Minister as an exponent of deploying PPPs to deliver key infrastructure needs, Dr Ewalefoh said picking the Interior Ministry for the official visit was based on impressive performance given that it has within one year of the current administration presented the highest number of PPP projects to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval.

In appreciating the Minister for not moving against any ongoing PPP in his Ministry, but working to optimize the stalling ones for better performance and increase revenue generation, the ICRC Director General said; “From the record of the Commission, the total amount of investment that has come into this ministry in your time as Minister in the last one year is over $500,000,000 (five hundred million dollars). So, we cannot thank you enough as a champion of PPP.”

“Therefore, we felt it was in our interest to come and say thank you for being our PPP Ambassador and a PPP Champion, and we are using this opportunity to tell the World that the Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has not cancelled any signed PPP contract under the custody of the ICRC, showing respect for the sanctity of Contracts and to tell investors that their investment is safe”.

Addressing the ICRC’s team, the Minister, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, commended Dr Ewalefoh on his appointment, describing it as a clear demonstration of the government’s intention to diversify the economy and allow the private sector to play its role,

Dr Tunji-Ojo, who acknowledged that the Director General’s qualifications and experience were unquestionable, disclosed that plans are in place to efficiently leverage PPPs to make key agencies in the Ministry self-reliant and exit them from the government’s budget line.

While charging the Commission to remain steadfast in its role of pushing Nigeria to take its rightful place in the comity of nations, he said; “We believe that a lot of our agencies should be off budget and we are working towards that because the resources to government are not even there: this is a country of 230 million people with an increasing population, therefore we have to be innovative in terms of financing.

“We know that the resources of government are limited but the private sector has a lot more resources, all we need is to create the environment and give them the confidence to invest and Nigeria will be a better place for us”.

He said the Ministry had leveraged the huge resources of the private sector, adding that; “Everything we have done in NIS today is majorly PPPs. We can’t ask the government for millions of dollars, see the data centre, we have the e-gate, as we speak, we have the Advanced Passenger Information System, the Gap Management System is almost completed. A lot of other PPPs are in the pipeline”.

Emphasising that PPPs are not only about leveraging on funds but also leveraging on expertise for enhanced productivity and enhanced efficiency, the Minister said the Ministry would continue to collaborate with the ICRC which had always made key technical inputs to its projects and fine-tuning them for better operability.

On her part, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalene Ajani, who congratulated the DG on his appointment, lauded the Minister for driving effective service delivery, saying; “He is a sticker for making things happen positively for Nigeria, making sure that the appropriation is not stressed but rather look at the best avenues to have PPP arrangements for most of our activities. I thank you Sir for the great leadership.”