The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, has stressed the need to place citizens’ welfare at the centre of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, saying the success of infrastructure agreements should be measured by their impact on people’s lives.
Ewalefoh said this in a post on his X handle, where he shared lessons from monitoring more than 100 concession agreements and over two decades of involvement in the PPP sector.
He said the true measure of a PPP was not the strength of the agreement reached during negotiations but the quality of life it created for the people it was designed to serve.
“After more than two decades in the Public-Private Partnership space and being involved in over 100 concession agreements, one lesson has become increasingly clear to me: The true measure of a PPP is not the strength of the agreement on the negotiation table. It is the quality of life it creates for the people it was designed to serve,” he said.
The ICRC boss maintained that the interests of citizens must remain central to the planning and implementation of sustainable infrastructure projects, noting that governments and investors might change over time, but the people who depend on the infrastructure would remain.
“I truly believe that having a heart for the people must be at the centre of every sustainable PPP. In every PPP, policies are developed by administrations, governments eventually change, investors gain their profits and move on, officials who sat across do not always remain, but the PEOPLE for whom the infrastructure is built for remain!” he stated.
He identified passengers using airports, families relying on improved healthcare, businesses transporting goods through better transport infrastructure and communities accessing electricity, water, jobs and economic opportunities as the people whose needs should guide PPP projects.
According to him, a project could be financially viable and still fail the public if it failed to deliver meaningful value.
“A project can be financially viable and still fail the public if it does not create meaningful value. Equally, a well-structured PPP becomes truly sustainable when commercial interests, government objectives and the needs of citizens are brought into alignment,” he said.
Reflecting on his two years as ICRC Director-General, Ewalefoh said Nigeria’s PPP framework was evolving through improved project preparation, stronger institutional capacity and increased confidence for private investment.
“This has shaped my thinking throughout my career and, particularly, my work as DG over the past two years.
“Nigeria’s PPP journey is evolving. We are building stronger frameworks, improving project preparation, strengthening institutional capacity and creating greater confidence for private investment,” he said.
He, however, cautioned against losing sight of the fundamental purpose of infrastructure development, which he said was to improve the lives of citizens.
“But beyond all of these, we must never lose sight of the reason infrastructure exists in the first place: PEOPLE!” he added.
The ICRC director-general further said the lasting assessment of infrastructure projects would depend on whether they delivered the benefits promised to the public, rather than the agreements signed or the officials who negotiated them.
“Years from now, when the agreements have become archived documents and the names of those who negotiated them are no longer remembered, the people will remember whether the infrastructure worked, whether it improved their lives and whether it delivered the value promised to them,” he said.
He said that sustainable PPP arrangements must balance investment interests with long-term benefits to citizens.
“This is ultimately the real test of a PPP. We must build for investment, structure for sustainability, but always deliver for the people,” Ewalefoh said.