Mr Micheal Ohiani, Acting Managing Director, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), has advocated Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for increased infrastructural development in the country.
Ohiani said this when he led members of his management team on a courtesy visit to the Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), on Friday in Abuja.
Ohiani said the aim of the visit was to market Public-Private Partnership to the organisation and to let Nigerians embrace the partnership for growth of the economy.
“We came here to market PPP and we have been able to accomplish that and to let Nigerians know that with the dwindling revenue, the alternative way to bring infrastructure to our people is through PPP.
“In respect of the oil sector, we are also doing something about that, there is the AKK pipeline that is through PPP.
“There is also another project that we are currently working with the NNPC so that there will be free flow of oil to the refineries and that will minimise transportation of crude on the road, which will prevent the damage done to our roads,” he said.
Mr Osita Okechukwu, Director-General, VON, while appreciating the commission for paying the organisation a visit, urged them to manage the country’s infrastructure for the growth and development of the country.
“Keep the good works going for the interest of our fatherland because those assets are ours and if we do not have those assets, we are going no where.
“Records have it that we have two per cent to three per cent population growth and we don’t have up to that in financial growth.
“So it is only these infrastructure and management of it the way you people are doing that will provide the platform for the future of Nigeria, in terms of the population we might have in the next few decades.
“When Mr President laid emphasis on infrastructure, a lot of people said no because they were coming from a background of sharing the money, but when he stopped that, some people misunderstood him.
“But when they get back to their villages or homes, they will see that those roads that have decayed over the years have been fixed.
“The president has paid attention to this by putting fund to developing our infrastructure on rail, roads and agriculture,” he said.