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By; Jerome-Mario Utomi
Sometime in 2008, precisely on the 15 of September, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Executive Governor of Lagos state (as he then was), while commissioning the reconstructed Ajose Adeogun street in Victoria island, reportedly said; “We recognize that the engine of growth and development for any developing nation today lies in the ability to strategically cultivate and harness private as well as public sector efforts’.
Aside from Fashola’s comment, I have at different meetings and conferences listened with real curiosity to some public office holders defend the government’s insufficiency in scope to develop the nation both economically and infrastructural-wise without support from the private sector and civil society groups, with a plea on private sector players for partnership.
Despite these well-crafted calls, coupled with my being mindful of unrelenting calls by global community on nations desirous of development to openly admit, support, and adopt partnership initiatives as a ‘lingua franca’, each time such a plea is made by past administrations in the country, for practical and moral reasons, it elicits in me a jigsaw: If it has been said that the government has no business in business, what business does the private sector have helping the government to do its business of providing quality governance to the populace?
Such feelings had its root in my belief that partnership which accelerates socioeconomic development of other nations would be undermined here on our shores as a result of the nation’s poor leadership culture. This fear was further heightened by the assumption that factors which in the past impeded coordinated development and held the nation down for over five decades were still alive and active, and will definitely scuttle such partnership initiatives if introduced.
However, this long held notion recently gave way to a new awareness after witnessing the commissioning of the 25.7km Ogbia-Nembe Road in Bayelsa State, President Bola Tinubu’s administration, built by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd and its joint venture partners – Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) – in collaboration with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The single carriage road project, which began in 2013 and was designed to connect Opume, Emakalakala, Akipelai, Etiama, Ogbolomabiri, and Bassambiri to other communities in the area, has 53 culverts and seven bridges.
Essentially, one of the major issues being contested, based on observation and findings from study, is that governments at all strata can no longer single-handedly shoulder the crushing weight of infrastructural and economic development in their various domains, hence, the importance of productive collaboration and partnership.
The Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, Mr. Chiedu Ebie, made a similar remark during the commissioning ceremony when he stated that “This project underscores the importance of collaboration between government and private sector entities in achieving developmental milestones. We remain committed to bridging infrastructure gaps, ensuring sustained benefits, and spearheading further development projects in the Niger Delta region.”
To really appreciate what the NDDC Governing board and Management have done through partnership initiatives, one needs to question some of the theories associated with the traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and analyze the history of successful public-private partnerships in the world; it leaves a shocking impression about the quality of successes recorded.
In a way, the above record of success and other related concerns brought about the 2030 sustainable agenda- a United Nation initiative and successor programme to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)- with a collection of 17 global goals formulated among other aims to promote and carter for people, peace, planet, and poverty.
It preaches partnership and collaboration at its centre. This global agenda clearly specifies that the scale and ambition of this agenda calls for smart partnerships, collaborations, ecosystem thinking, co-creation and alignment of various intervention efforts by the public and private sectors and civil society.
As noted elsewhere, partnership between the government and private sector will require finding an ‘urgent need for creative and innovative thinking by all strata of the society-public and private sector and civil society-to promoting sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development, and environmental protection.’
As the Niger Delta region and the entire nation celebrate the current breakthrough by the agencies, this piece calls on other agencies and commissions to draw a lesson.
But then, analysts are of the views that institutionalizing the culture of Public Private Partnership calls for more work and more reforms as evidence abounds that years ago, some organizations in the country showed commitment to partnership, but such demonstrated efforts were suffocated by hydra-headed challenges.
Given the above demand, I need not pause to know that the referenced crisis is rooted in the transparency challenge and instability of policy made by the government- a factor that instills doubts in the minds of corporate organizations. This is crucial, and must be understood before any sustainable solution can be found.
Notably, this must be addressed as no corporate organization or civil society group feels comfortable in an environment devoid of transparency and accountability.
To, therefore, catalyze the process of building on the foundation laid by NDDC, this piece holds the opinion that the Federal Government must be ready to learn from those nations that have met with the problem we currently face, find out how they tackled it, and how successful they had been- that’s on the one part.
In addition to the above, the government must help this country to earn new respect by developing a framework that will promote transparency, and encourage more private sector players to partner with the government.
Very key, the hope of building a productive partnership in the country will continue to be in its infancy until our leaders set the structure and context furnished with conditions that will ensure investors operate both successfully and profitably.
Conversely too, corporate organizations apart from supporting the government in the race for infrastructural development must recognize that profit should not be pursued without due consideration of societal norms.
Both the government and private organizations must first recognize that any growth or development without a focus on building the capacity of the people is a mere waste of time.
The civil society groups as change-agents should develop the people’s capacity to welcome new ideas and build a hyper-modern society while as the voice of the people help identify and fill the information gap in the society.
‘As a condition for victory in battle”, the sovereign and the generals must be synchronized, the sovereign manifests the vision, while the generals appraise conditions, determining how the conditions can be carried out”. Joined together, this makes the victory’.
The same principle is required to enable us win the war against current infrastructural shortfall and socioeconomic woes in both the Niger Delta region and the nation as whole.
The government of Nigeria as the sovereign, should summon the political will, seize the initiative, develop the vision and approach corporate organizations. Then, appraising the condition and determining how to achieve the vision will be the responsibility of the corporate organizations. That for now remains the best way out.
But while we wait, this piece completely aligns with the words of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, NDDC’s Managing Director, that the multi-billion-naira road will not only enhance connectivity but also open up new opportunities for economic growth and improved quality of life for the people, as traders and business owners can now conduct their activities seamlessly, paving the way for prosperity in the region
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