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Jan. 26 (THEWILL) — Dr. Augustine Arimoro, Lecturer in Law at Roehampton Law School, University of Roehampton, London, has explained how public-private partnerships (PPP) can be successful in Nigeria and other emerging economies to boost their economies.
dr Arimoro, a University of Jos graduate and former Law Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom (UK), spoke to journalists at Jos Plateau to launch his book, Public-Private Partnerships in Emerging Economies.
He pointed out that PPP is over-regulated in Nigeria, which is not investor-friendly, and said that it therefore has some shortcomings in sectors that determine citizens’ well-being, such as B. the provision of infrastructure services. He said the government needs to be proactive and resolute in its PPP policy.
“The book examined the legal, institutional and regulatory framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in emerging markets using the comparative legal research methodology and also examines how the model works in at least four other emerging economies, namely Brazil, India, Nigeria and South Africa”, he said.
“The focus of discussion throughout the book is the need to make emerging markets more investor-friendly in order to attract funds to PPP projects,” he noted, adding that “the book also explores the PPP model and its use as an alternative to the traditional one.” public procurement in the face of budget constraint challenges around the world.
“Brazil, India, Nigeria and South Africa all intend to use the PPP model as a means of bridging their respective infrastructure gaps, but to achieve the goal of building public infrastructure with the financial support and expertise of the private sector, governments need to do more than just creating policies. Sectors such as energy, transport, water supply and electricity are considered critical areas in emerging markets,” he posited.
He went on to say that “It needs to be clearly defined what they want to achieve with the PPP model. It is not enough to create a framework for PPP and make it state policy. There must be clarity about what the expectations are and how the set goals can be achieved with the help of the model. This is a vulnerability in most emerging and developing economies, and business as usual should not continue.”
According to the legal scholar, “countries should not simply copy templates from developed economies without checking whether such templates can work in their immediate environment. Developing countries need to learn from what their competitors are doing right, learn and try to implement that in their jurisdictions.”
He said: “Some of the challenges in PPPs in emerging markets include the problems of weak institutions, weak business environments, costs of raising funds, the scarcity of long-term domestic financing, the high risk of exchange rate risk when raising funds internationally and lack of expertise.”
He recommends that steps must be taken to engage in regular reviews of PPP laws and policies, and that emerging markets must work to overcome the slow process of law reform and ensure that the law is always in line with reality aligned with time.
