The Ministry of Budget and National Planning has built the capacity of 50 officials from 14 Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on packaging Public/Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the country.

A top official in the Ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that the beneficiaries were trained at a workshop recently organised on ‘PPP Management in the Public Sector.’

He said the beneficiaries were from heavy infrastructure MDAs such as Ministries of Power, Works and Housing, Agriculture, Water Resources, Transport, and Mines and Steel Development, among others.

He said that the training was organised by the Ministry in collaboration with the Institute for Public Private Partnership (IP3) in the United States of America.

He explained: “The Ministry engaged the services of IP3 to train them rather than sending the officials abroad.

“They were introduced to fundamentals of PPP projects. They were taught ways of negotiating the various sources of financing them and different types of model to achieve that.

“The officials are supposed to go back and put the knowledge they have learnt into practice to manage PPP projects.

“They are expected to drive government PPP investment strides to successfully manage PPP projects in the country.”

Meanwhile, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, at the workshop said PPP arrangement was a reliable option for bridging infrastructure deficit in Nigeria.

Ahmed said that the workshop was organised to enhance Nigeria’s national PPP management capability in line with the priority of the present administration.

The Minister said it was organised toward building a competitive economy by improving the business environment for increased private sector investments in infrastructure development.

“The gaps in PPP management capabilities in Federal MDAs have been identified as major constraints to optimising PPP investments,” she said.

According to her, Nigeria’s Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) set out to raise the country’s stock from the present 20 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 to at least 70 per cent by 2043.

“It also estimates a huge funding requirement of more than US$166 billion during the period 2014-2018,” Hajia Ahmed said

The Minister further said that the current economic realities had seriously constrained the government to increase investment in infrastructure development.

Hajia Ahmed said the development had further made the Ministry to make a case for exploring alternative financing options, including PPP models.

“The NIIMP envisages increased participation of private sector through different PPP arrangements.

“The government is expected to leverage on up to US$25 billion through infrastructure in the first five years of NIIMP.

“This will require properly designed and managed PPP processes in order to reap the full benefits of PPP financing and to mitigate negative unintended consequences,” she explained.

In addition, Hajia Ahmed noted the inadequate institutional capacity in the MDAs, adding that the development had been affecting the government to increase investments in competitive global infrastructure. (NAN)

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