By Samuel Simpa Oladele

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become one of Nigeria’s most important tools for addressing its infrastructure deficit. Roads, healthcare, ports, logistics, energy and other critical sectors require investments that government alone may struggle to finance and manage.

Yet PPPs raise a legitimate question: when private capital is introduced into the delivery of public infrastructure and essential services, how do we ensure that commercial returns do not come at the expense of ordinary Nigerians?

The answer lies in regulation, transparency, accountability and, above all, public value.

As Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, Director-General and CEO of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), explained in a recent interview, a PPP should not be judged simply by whether it attracts investors or is financially viable. It must also demonstrate value for money, transparency and public interest.

Under the leadership of Dr. Ewalefoh, the ICRC is already taking concrete steps to make public interest a defining principle of PPP regulation. This is important because the credibility of PPPs ultimately depends not only on attracting private capital, but on demonstrating that such capital is being deployed in ways that deliver measurable value to citizens.

The Commission’s approach increasingly places questions of affordability, value for money, transparency, bankability and public benefit alongside the commercial considerations that ordinarily drive private investment. In other words, the objective is not to reject commercial returns – they are necessary to make PPPs sustainable – but to ensure that profitability does not become an end in itself at the expense of the people the infrastructure is intended to serve.

This philosophy is evident in the way the Ewalefoh-led ICRC approaches projects across sectors. In healthcare, for instance, the Commission’s oversight of initiatives such as MEDIPOOL is anchored in the need to improve access and affordability, while still ensuring that projects are financially viable. In road infrastructure, the emphasis is on ensuring that tolls are matched by quality service, proper maintenance and tangible benefits to road users.

These are significant shifts in emphasis. They suggest an ICRC that is seeking to move the PPP conversation beyond the simplistic question of how much private capital can be mobilised, towards the more consequential question of what Nigerians receive in return.

That is perhaps the most important test of the Ewalefoh era – whether PPPs can become instruments through which Nigeria attracts investment while simultaneously protecting the public interest. The early direction of the Commission suggests that this is no longer merely an aspiration, but an emerging regulatory philosophy.

That distinction is critical. A successful PPP should not merely make a project bankable; it should make the project beneficial to Nigerians.

Few sectors illustrate this principle better than healthcare. Healthcare PPPs such as MEDIPOOL offer an opportunity to tackle one of Nigeria’s persistent challenges – the high cost and uneven availability of essential medicines. Bulk procurement can generate economies of scale, lower purchasing costs and improve distribution, including to communities far from major urban centres.

But cheaper procurement means little if medicines remain unaffordable to the people who need them. Affordability must therefore be built into healthcare PPPs from the outset. Commercial sustainability matters because investors and lenders need confidence that their capital can be recovered. However, financial viability cannot become an excuse for pricing essential healthcare beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians.

MEDIPOOL is particularly promising because its potential extends beyond procurement. As it matures, it could support local manufacturing of medicines Nigeria currently imports, creating jobs, strengthening domestic industrial capacity and reducing exposure to international supply disruptions.
This is precisely the kind of outcome PPPs should deliver – a commercially sustainable project that simultaneously advances national development and improves citizens’ welfare.

In healthcare, profit cannot be the final measure of success.
The debate over road tolling presents a similar challenge. Nigerians are understandably sensitive to tolls, particularly at a time when motorists already face high fuel, maintenance and transportation costs. But the more important question is whether users receive value for what they pay.

The Akwanga–Makurdi road provides an instructive example. The 227-kilometre corridor has four toll gates, meaning motorists pay at different points along the route. But the economic cost of the old road went far beyond the absence of a toll.

Travellers lost valuable hours. Vehicles suffered damage to tyres, shocks and other components. Businesses faced higher transportation costs. And, most seriously, poor road conditions exposed travellers to greater risks.

A properly structured concession changes that equation. When a road becomes safer, faster and more reliable, a toll can increasingly be viewed as payment for a service rather than simply another charge imposed on citizens.

But that acceptance depends on performance. Motorists cannot reasonably be expected to pay tolls for roads that deteriorate soon after rehabilitation. That makes contractual maintenance obligations essential. If concessionaires are required to repair defects within specified periods, while part of toll revenue is reserved for maintenance, there is a clear link between what users pay and the quality of service they receive.

The principle should be straightforward: if Nigerians pay, the infrastructure must perform.
Perhaps the most exciting opportunity is regional. Africa’s infrastructure challenges do not stop at national borders. Trade routes, ports, customs systems, highways and logistics networks are inherently regional. Nigeria should therefore be thinking beyond using PPPs to solve domestic infrastructure problems and begin positioning itself as a source of infrastructure solutions for Africa.

The reported adoption of Nigeria’s Customs Modernisation Project, popularly known as B’Odogwu, as a model for a proposed $3.1 billion, 20-year concession across AfCFTA member countries is significant. It demonstrates that Nigerian PPP experience can potentially become an exportable model.

That should encourage greater ambition. Nigeria’s ports can serve the trade interests of landlocked West African economies. Efficient customs systems can reduce delays at borders. Regional highways can connect markets and reduce the cost of moving people and goods. Projects such as the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor are especially important because they demonstrate that infrastructure can become a vehicle for regional economic integration.

For countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, efficient access to coastal ports and trade corridors is essential to economic competitiveness. Nigeria, with its large market, ports and
strategic position, is naturally placed to play a leading role.

But regional leadership will require more than rhetoric. It will require credible institutions, bankable projects and agreements that protect the interests of all participating countries.

There is, however, a danger in becoming overly enthusiastic about PPPs. A private-sector concession is not automatically a successful PPP. Nor does attracting billions of dollars in private investment necessarily mean that the public interest has been protected.

Everything depends on the structure of the deal. How are risks allocated? How are tariffs or tolls determined? What service standards must operators meet? What penalties apply when they fail? How transparent is procurement? What happens when economic conditions change?

These questions determine whether citizens ultimately benefit or pay more than they should. This is why the regulatory role of the ICRC is so important. Its assessment of project viability, value for money, procurement and public interest provides an important safeguard against pursuing PPPs simply because government does not have the immediate resources to execute projects itself.

A PPP should be chosen because it is the most effective and sustainable way to deliver a particular project – not merely because it shifts the financing burden from government. The objective should therefore not be to maximise the number of PPPs. It should be to maximise the number of successful PPPs.

Ultimately, Nigeria’s PPP programme will be judged not by the language of concession agreements or financial models, but by everyday experience. Can a patient obtain affordable medicine? Can a truck move goods across the country without losing days to poor roads? Can businesses move exports through Nigerian ports efficiently? Can motorists justify paying a toll because the road is safer, faster and properly maintained? Can private investors earn reasonable returns while citizens receive better services?

If the answer is yes, then PPPs are fulfilling their purpose. Nigeria needs private capital, innovation and expertise. But it also needs strong institutions capable of ensuring that commercial incentives remain aligned with national priorities. The choice should not be between government and business. It should be about making government and business work together for the citizen.

That is the real promise of PPPs. When properly structured and regulated, they can transform infrastructure from a recurring government burden into a platform for economic growth, industrial development, job creation and improved public services. When poorly structured, they can create expensive long-term obligations while delivering inadequate value to citizens.

Nigeria must choose the former. The ultimate measure of a PPP should therefore be neither the size of the investment nor the profitability of the concession alone. It should be the value delivered to Nigerians.

Private capital can finance and deliver the infrastructure. Strong regulation must ensure that Nigerians remain the ultimate beneficiaries. That is the path the Ewalefoh leadership of ICRC is treading.

*Oladele writes from Abuja