ICRC Advocates for PPP to Bridge $10 Billion Power Infrastructure Funding Deficit

Mary Nnah

The Nigerian government has unveiled plans to partner with the private sector to bridge the $10 billion funding gap needed to provide stable electricity across the country within the next five to 10 years.

A press release signed by the Acting Head, Media and Publicity, ICRC, Ifeanyi Nwoko, revealed that this development emerged during a meeting between Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), and Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, on Tuesday in Abuja in Abuja
According to Adelabu, the government cannot solely fund the required $10 billion, especially considering demands from other sectors. To address this, the government is exploring Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to co-finance and provide expertise for optimal power infrastructure performance

The duo agreed that in view of the funding and technical requirement needed to advance the power sector in Nigeria, it had become imperative to seek private sector input through Public Private Partnership (PPP)in co-financing and providing expertise that will ensure optimal performance of power infrastructure.

Speaking during the meeting, the Director General of the PPP regulatory body said that in view of the importance of power to the economic development of Nigeria, optimizing performance of existing infrastructure as well as funding new ones was imperative.
He acknowledged the challenges in the sector was hydra-headed and went beyond funding alone, adding that with such inter-agency collaboration and partnership with the private sector, the limitations can be addressed.

Reacting to a comment by the Minister, the DG said that through its regulatory processes, the ICRC can midwife private sector investment of part of the $10bn in the power sector to provide regular electricity, attract more foreign direct investment to other sectors and ultimately grow the economy.

“Revamping the power sector requires planning, it involves investments and it takes time. So, we need to collaborate to solve the issues in this sector.

“The investment required in power is very huge and government cannot fund it alone, so we have to leverage on the financing capacity of the private sector. That is why the ICRC was set up to regulate this leverage.
“The Commission is poised to regulating the processes of attracting investment to the power sector”.

He commended the Minister for his vast knowledge of the sector, pointing out that Mr. President’s choice of him was commendable.
Dr Ewalefoh said that in a bid to accelerate PPP investment as directed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Commission had issued a 6-point policy direction which has ultimately streamlined the process of PPP service delivery.

The DG stressed that whereas the processes have been streamlined to accelerate project delivery and encourage investors to adopt PPP, the Commission was not relenting or compromising on its stringent regulatory function so as to forestall contingent liabilities or unnecessary delays by companies that lack the requisite capacity.

In view of the above the ICRC’s helmsman added that the Commission was now insisting on inserting conditions precedent to all PPP agreements such that any preferred bidder that defaults will have their agreement automatically nullified by reason of their default.
In his response the minister commended the DG for the initiative to visit the ministry with the proposal of advancing investment in power sector through PPPs.

“For us to achieve 24 hours power supply across Nigeria in the next 5 to 10 years, there is a minimum funding requirement of about 10 billion dollars in the next 10 years.

The government cannot afford that, when there are other critical sectors in need of funding.
“Can government do it alone? No! which is why we have to look for or marshal private sector fund while still retaining government interest and ownership. That is where ICRC comes in.
We need to do this in collaboration with the private sector and the best way is through concession.