OPENING ADDRESS BY HIS EXELLENCY,
CHIEF ERNEST A.O. SHONEKAN, GCFR, CBE

At the JK Gadzama & Partners Public Lecture and the ICRC Presentation of the Draft National Policy on PPP. At Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos  on Tuesday, March 10, 2009.

PROTOCOLS
Let us welcome you all and thank you for honouring our invitation to this double ticket event. When Chief J. K. Gadzama who is a member of the Board of the ICRC, invited me to chair this year’s edition of the Annual Public Lecture that his Law firm has already scheduled to hold in Lagos and on the topical subject of Infrastructure Financing, I had no hesitation in accepting. When subsequently, the Director General of the ICRC, Engineer Ahmed, sought the Board’s approval for Secretariat to organize the first of a series of Workshops to present the Draft National Policy on Public Private Partnerships in Lagos it was inevitable that the two events would coalesce.

Given the crucial role that physical infrastructure plays in economic growth and development and the prevailing crisis in the global financial market there is no gainsaying that the subject of this annual lecture is of more than academic and professional interest to the distinguished audience gathered here this morning. In the same vein, the severe deficit in virtually all infrastructure services in our country today has been a matter of the deepest concern to all of us here and indeed to every other Nigerian. When President Umaru Musa Yar’adua placed the revitalization and expansion of our critical infrastructure at the top of his government’s Seven Point Agenda, he certainly recognized the greatest impediment to the attainment of Nigeria’s economic growth potential.  The policies the government intends to adopt to actualize this critical agenda must, therefore be a matter of great interest to all Nigerians. The Inauguration of the Board of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission by the President on the 27th of November 2008 is a significant policy thrust for tackling the infrastructure challenge.

As many of you would recall the Board has already taken the first necessary step to develop a draft Policy document in line with the provisions of the ICRC Act 2005 and in the belief that a sound policy and institutional environment is a vital pre-requisite for the development of an effective PPP framework. The draft policy had earlier on been reviewed at a workshop held on 15th January 2009 during which participants representing a wide range of stakeholder groups, including officials from many states, had the opportunity to critically review the policy and make inputs. The resultant final draft document is now before the Federal Executive Council for approval.

Although the ICRC Act relates only to infrastructure projects at the Federal Levels and state governments have the right to develop their own policies and frameworks, the ICRC Board is of the view that it is in the overall interest of the Nigerian economy that a coherent policy, regulatory and institutional environment is developed across the country. This will facilitate effective, collaboration between public authorities, sharing of standards and the growth of a robust market for PPP projects in the country. The Board decided therefore, to organize three Regional workshops in Lagos, Calabar and Kano to present the draft Policy to our colleagues at the state level and indeed other stakeholders. It is our hope and expectation that this will enable us to develop a framework for the sharing of ideas and experiences and facilitate effective cooperation and collaboration between state and federal agencies in implementing future PPP projects in the best overall interest of our common economy.

This is why the ICRC Board welcomed the opportunity to share this platform of the J.K. Gadzama Annual Public Lecture to present the Draft Policy to our colleagues in Lagos and eight other nearby states invited to this workshop as well as other key stakeholders. I am aware that some of the participating states in this workshop, notably Lagos, have indeed made substantial progress in developing a PPP framework and implementing actual PPP projects and my Commission is anxious to learn from their experiences.

Without preempting the presentations that will be made this morning let me share a couple of thoughts with you on some of the key challenges that I believe we must address if we are to solve the severe infrastructure deficiencies that constrain the growth of our economy. First, I have no doubt in other transition economies with demonstrable results. But the private sector must be prepared to engage in an open and truly competitive procurement process, which delivers real value. We must also engage in an effective partnership in which risks are shared in a way that makes both commercial and economic sense and results in the best value for money outcome for all participants and for the economy. Further as I have no doubt our Guest Lecturer will elucidate. We will need to strengthen and deepen our domestic capital market especially given the prevailing global financial crisis. In this regard I wish to urge the leaders of our Banking and finance sector to strive to be more innovative and think long term in developing the capacity to promote and support investment in the infrastructure sector by providing the credit instruments that will meet the financing needs of project proponents.

On its part the public sector must put in place the institutional and regulatory environment that provides open and transparent processes and procedures and a level playing field that promotes competition and ensures that investors are able to earn returns for the risks they take. Our judicial and dispute resolution processes must inspire confidence that contractual obligations will be discharged expeditiously and fairly.

Finally we must all commit to address the challenge of corruption, which in my view, is the one critical factor that has consistently undermined our capacity to actualize our enormous potential and impeded our country’s economic progress. In this regard, I am pleased to say that the Board of the ICRC has resolved to articulate a clear code of ethics which all its commissioners and senior officials will be required to commit to in writing and be held accountable for. This will be in addition to the statutory code of conduct which all public servants are required to abide by.

This code will guide our dealings with all parties with whom we will be engaged as we strive to entrench an enduring PPP frame work that will make our PPP market globally competitive and help to build the vital infrastructure we must have if we are to attain our Vision 2020. But this will require the active cooperation of all parties. I therefore wish to call on all stakeholders to help in achieving that desired result.

Once more, I welcome you all and look forward to a very enlightening lecture and productive interaction.

Thank you and God bless.

Chief Ernest Shonekan, GCFR
(Chairman ICRC)