Abuja – The Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) says dominance of foreign experts is responsible for the low local capacity in project transaction structuring in the country.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mrs Deborah Okafor, Acting Head of Communications, in Abuja.
It said the Director General, Aminu Dikko, made the statement at first quarter 2015 meeting of the Public Private Partnership Units Consultative Forum (3PUCF).
Represented by Dr Chidi Izuwah, Director of PPP, he said that effort must be gear towards encouraging local experts.
3PUCF is a brain child of the ICRC and it provides a platform for Heads of PPP Units in Federal MDAs to share knowledge and experience.
It also ensures synergy in efforts towards institutionalising the Federal Government’s PPP Programme.
Mr. Emmanuael Akinwunmi, Principal Private Sector Specialist, African Development Nigeria Field Office, said that the idea of regional PPP hub was to stimulate more private sector led intervention in the region.
According to him, the challenge in accessing project finance in the country is usually due to shortage of integrity and ideas rather than lack of money.
He said that opportunities were available within AfDB to both public and private sector agencies in the areas of funding for project structuring, execution and capacity building.
Mr. Nurudeen Lawal, from the National Planning Commission, emphasised the importance of the roles of MDA’s in ensuring the successful implementation of the National Infrastructure master plan.
Representative of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Abubakar Yarima, identified legislation as one of the bottlenecks to Foreign Direct Investment in some sectors, particularly rail and power sector.
He called for a review of existing laws in these sectors.