Public Private Partnerships, PPP, are said to be important tool for developing infrastructure and therefore fostering economic development. In Nigeria, stakeholders have canvassed for the model to speed up infrastructure developmentsuch as roads, ports, power and waste management. The Eti-osa-lekki-epe Expressway managed by the Lekki Concession Company is an example of how public-private partnerships, including concessions, are the easiest ways of meeting the country’s infrastructure needs. This report looks at the concession and advocates for more PPPS.
Infrastructure gulps money. Roads, bridges, housing and water, among others, require substantial investments that governments sometimes cannot afford. A case in point is the United States of America. President Joe Biden recently unveiled a $2 trillion plan to rebuild infrastructure and reshape the country’s economy.
The plan would see 20,000 miles of rebuilt roads, repairs to the 10 most economically essential bridges in the country, the elimination of lead pipes from the nation’s water supplies and other projects to create millions of jobs in the short run and strengthen American competitiveness in the long run.
There’s, however, a catch. The costs would be offset by increased corporate tax revenues raised over 15 years, mainly from multinationals that earn and book profits overseas. Expectedly, Corporate America is not very happy as they will bear the burden but this is for overall country’s development.
In Nigeria, which is not as economically buoyant as the US and other Western and Asian countries, where the government does not have the enormous resources required for infrastructure, resorting to Public-private Partnerships (PPP) has always been the option to fund infrastructure. Indeed, the Federal Ministry of Works is currently seeking to concession 12 highways across the six geopolitical zones through the novel Highway Management and Development Initiative (HMDI).
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The HDMI seeks to leverage private sector investment to improve facilities and operations on 12 highways. It wants to maximise the routes’ revenue-generating potential and ensure international best practices in developing and managing the nation’s highways. The 12 highways include the Benin-asaba, Abuja-lokoja, Kano-katsina, Onitsha-owerri, Shagamu Benin, Abuja-keffi-akwanga and Kano-maiduguri Expressways.
With the HDMI is still in the works, an extant and thriving private sector investment in road infrastructure is the EtiOsa-lekki-epe Expressway in Lagos State. The world-class road infrastructure managed by the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) is the perfect example of what the government can achieve for the people by working with the organised private sector.
Before the Expressway was built, the road was very narrow and choking, with road users wasting precious hours in traffic and who can forget the daily “go-slow” robbery. But its construction in 2008 and subsequent maintenance by the LCC has since helped in reducing travel time and insecurity on the axis while opening the area up for other economic development.
Apart from being a worldclass road, the LCC also provides free 24/7 towing services, accident and breakdown recovery, emergency services and 24-hr security patrol along the highway. It is also solely responsible for all ancillary services’ workforce and operational cost at no cost to road users.
A fortnight ago, the LCC’S Patrol Team, in conjunction with the Police and Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), rescued the victim of a hit and run accident and also paid his hospital bill.
In another strategic alliance with a government agency sister organisation, the LCC and Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) have just concluded a clean-up exercise of the Eti-osa Lekki-epe Expressway to give road users a pleasant driving experience devoid of filth.
The cleaning exercise, which held from May 1 to 5, 2021 saw officials of both agencies removing garbage and sand from the entire stretch of the road. If you are a regular road user on that axis, you would have noticed the excess sand on the road, taking up one lane and even two in some sections, owing solely to the activities of the dredgers and tipper drivers.
But apart from general cleaning and maintenance of infrastructure along the axis, the LCC also makes it a point of duty to routinely ensure commuters’ safety and security along the Eti-osa Lekki-epe Expressway Way.
Popular compere, Mojibade Sosanya, popularly known as ‘The Lady MC’, is a beneficiary of the LCC’S top-notch security on the axis. According to an April 25 post she made on Instagram, LCC’S security officials were her knights in shining armour in a moment of distress.
Her account reads: “At about 7 pm on Friday, my car stopped abruptly (no warning) in the middle of Lekki Epe Expressway. Trust these boys in the hood to start hovering around; hence I was susceptible to robbery. Also, seeing that I was on the free side of the express, the risk of a high speeding vehicle running into me was high. After over one hour of being stuck and waiting for the mechanics to come, I saw two LCC guys in their luminous vests walking towards me. Long story short: they were KIND! SELFLESS! and AWESOME. Not coincidentally, one of them knew a lot about cars and diagnosed the challenge even before the Mechs came.
“If I had ever doubted doing this project, this incidence confirmed it. The two LCC guys were Angels sent from above. So, PLEASE join me to encourage and show love to these men and women who work hard and tirelessly (morning and night, under the sun and in the rain) to protect us.
“On a lighter note, after I had been praying that night “, God, please send me help” I was hoping help was gonna come in the form of a tall, handsome man with a broad chest and a baritone voice, after seeing this damsel in distress . So when the LCC guys came, I was still silently praying “God send me help”, not knowing that Angels were standing by me.”
Compared to other roads in the state and across the country, the Eti-osa LekkiEpe Expressway is refreshingly unique. It’s the only one where essential services, including free 24/7 emergency assistance, vehicle breakdown and recovery services and security patrol, come with the package. What’s more, it is also gainfully employing youth of the area into various parts of its operations.
Given the government’s -both federal and state- precarious financial situation, there’s no doubt that PPPS, including concessions, are the easiest ways of meeting the country’s infrastructure needs. And taking the EtiOsa Lekki-epe Expressway managed by the LCC as an example, it is an option worth exploring further.
