ICRC wants its 2005 Act amended

Aminu Diko, the Director-General, Infrastructure Regulatory Concession Commission, has called for an amendment of the commission’s 2005 Act to ensure effective regulation of Public Private Partnership projects in the country.
Diko made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.
He said: “We noticed that the law is not too strong.
“When we started operations, the first board looked at it and thought it needed to be amended to make it more robust.
“The board set up a committee and gave it the mandate to review the law and it has done that.
“It has been sent to the Presidency for approval before it will be sent to the National Assembly.
“What we are trying to do is to amend some of the provisions that would help us to operate in compliance with the law.”
Diko said that the law requires competitive bidding for any projects, but did not say what should be done to violators.
He noted that those were the areas in the Act that require amendment, adding that doing so would empower the commission to sanctions persons who tried to corrupt the system.
He said it was unfortunate that most ministries, departments and agencies were not interested in the PPP project, adding that it was a challenge facing the commission.
He said that there was the need to educate the public on the importance of PPP in the country.
“That is why every MDA that we go to now, the supervising minister will gather the top officials for us to teach them about the complexes, importance and intricacies of PPP,” he said.
Diko said that the three major functions of the commission was to promote the use of PPP in delivering infrastructure services, assist MDAs in structuring their transactions and ensure that both parties comply with the terms of agreement.
He said that ICRC in collaboration with the Federal Capital Territory had effectively monitored the Katampe District project under PPP, which had been concluded.
Diko said that the commission was also monitoring the compliance processes on some legacy concessions executed before the establishment of the commission.
He said: “We have itemised the issues, planned how to follow up.
“And we are doing them, essentially in the ports, the Lagos International Trade Fair, the Tafawa Balewa Square, and the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
“If the law does not give you the power to sanction anybody for not supplying information or making any data available to you, it may reduce the efficiency in your function.”