A political economist, has said that the Public Private Partnership (PPP), Professor Pat Utomi, initiative would not be effective if the government failed to address challenges in key sectors of the economy.
Utomi made the observation yesterday in Lagos at a PPP forum on “Strategy for Infrastructural Development and Modernisation in The Nigerian Maritime Sector”.
He said that the state of institutions in the health, education, maritime and other areas must be restructured to attract private investors.
According to him, the privatisation of some sectors of the economy is good, but has not achieved desired results because the policy is not well implemented.
The political economist said that change in governance could affect infrastructure and human capital and in turn the overall development.
“Private investors will find it difficult to participate in state affairs because of the fear that a change in governance can create a new policy that will be unfavourable.
“In performance, the right policy frame work is a key to achieving the goal of government. There is the need to build trust,” Utomi said.
He said that culture also played important role because if the values of people or a country were wrong, corruption would set in and the goal would not be achieved.
He said that lack of motivation and unclear national strategy could obstruct effective participation of investors in national development.
Utomi urged maritime stakeholders to look into the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) agenda to help develop the capacity of indigenous shipping companies.
He also advised that the people should key into human capital capacity building.
The political economist said that there was the need to aid the development of integrated operational capacity to enable NIMASA discharge its coastal, flag and port state responsibilities.
He said that uncertainty, institutions and transition management was the biggest threat to the PPP strategy.