ICRC to audit PPP projects, enforce insurance compliance

The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) says it is planning an audit of all public-private partnership (PPP) projects to enforce insurance and ensure compliance with statutory requirements.

According to a statement on Wednesday, Jobson Ewalefoh, director-general of the ICRC, spoke about the commission’s plans when he visited Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of interior.

The senate had confirmed Ewalefoh as the new director-general of the ICRC in July, following his appointment by President Bola Tinubu on July 13.

Ewalefoh said the federal government would ensure that all the projects are insured, as required by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Establishment Act, 2005.

He said the commission is already working on evaluating the performance of all PPP projects, noting that the commission will train PPP desk officers in ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) as the initiative has begun.

“We are already putting in place a mechanism to start auditing the performance of PPP agreements that we have signed in the past. We do not want to condemn or terminate them, but we want to optimise them,” the ICRC boss said.

“When it comes to the issue of insurance, of course, it is a matter of law for all national assets, both hard and soft infrastructure, that are concessioned through PPP to be insured. That is one area we are going to look into very soon.

“We are going to issue a policy that all assets under PPP must, in compliance with the law, be insured.”

Ewalefoh thanked Tunji-Ojo for leading efforts to use PPP in addressing key infrastructure needs and explained that his visit was due to the minister’s performance.

He said in the past year, Tunji-Ojo had taken the highest number of PPP projects to the federal executive council (FEC) for approval.

“My people just did a sum of the total amount of investment that has come into this ministry in your time as minister in the last one year, and it is over five hundred million dollars.

“We cannot thank you enough as a champion of PPP.

“We are using this opportunity to tell the world that the government of President Bola Tinubu respects the sanctity of contracts and to assure investors that their investment is safe.”

‘WE’RE LEVERAGING PRIVATE SECTOR RESOURCES FOR PROJECTS’

On his part, Tunji-Ojo commended the appointment of Ewalefoh as the director-general of ICRC.

He described it as a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to diversifying the economy and empowering the private sector.

Tunji-Ojo said the ministry plans to use PPPs to make key agencies self-reliant and reduce their reliance on government funding.

“We believe a lot of our agencies should be off budget, and we are working towards that because government resources are limited. Nigeria’s population is growing, and we have to be innovative in terms of financing,” he said.

Tunji-Ojo said the ministry is leveraging private sector resources for several projects, including the data centre, e-gate, and the advanced passenger information system.

“Everything we have done in the ministry today is mainly through PPPs,” the minister said.

He said the importance of PPPs in improving efficiency and productivity is not just about accessing funds, but also about leveraging expertise.

Tunji-Ojo said the ministry would continue to work closely with the ICRC as the commission contributes “key technical inputs” to its projects.