Critical Failure Drivers for Public Private Partnership in Transport Infrastructure: a Nigerian Perspective.

Abstract

Nigerian government adopted PPP as a tool to provide range of benefits, including the provision of scarce infrastructure finance, reduce the burden on fiscal budget, accelerate provision of public assets, deliver efficient project operation and enhance project maintenance. But, its application in the Lekki-Epe motorway and Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 showed continuous struggle and failure over the years. As Nigerian government continues to adopt PPP in the development of her transport infrastructures, it became imperative to investigate the failures in order to offer effective delivery recommendations for both government and prospective investors in PPP schemes. Using a desk-based research design, the paper examines the reasons for these failures and how this contributes to international understanding of PPP. The article shows that unfavourable enabling environment, government corruption, weak tendering, risks misallocation, unclear objectives, contingent liability and ineffective performance measurement have been the main causes of failure in the Nigerian context.