Shettima reiterates Tinubu’s commitment to close infrastructural deficit through PPP
By Matthew Atungwu
Vice President Kashim Shettima has reaffirmed the government of President Bola Tinubu’s pledge to use public-private partnerships (PPPs) to close the infrastructural deficit in the nation.
Shettima said this on Thursday in Abuja during the public launch of two books written by Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN), the pro-chancellor and chairman of the council at Osun State University.
The two volumes are titled Public Private Partnership: An Essential Guide for Stakeholders and Supreme Court and Jurisprudence of the Right to a Fair Hearing in Nigeria.
Shettima promised that Tinubu would reinterpret the definition and idea of leadership in the nation, citing the worrying gap in infrastructure.
The vice president went on to say that the nation will not hesitate to make the required choices in order to entice the private sector to participate in that area.
He said that the African Development Bank estimated that by 2025, Africa as a continent would require at least $170 billion yearly to upgrade its infrastructure.
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He explained “With two-thirds of that being needed for the entirely new infrastructure and the remaining one-third for maintenance, how much do we generate in a year?
“The highest we have ever generated was 35 billion dollars from oil proceed in 2011. So, we need Public public-private partnership to deliver infrastructure to Nigeria.
“This challenge is a massive opportunity for investment in making funding mechanisms such as private-public partnerships and these are handy with the establishment of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
“It is an agency charged with the responsibility of superintending and regulating PPP endeavors at the federal level. Many states have passed laws to regulate PPPs and established similar agencies for that purpose.”