Business
ICRC Wants PPP Officers Cadre In MDAs
The acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwah wants the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to establish a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Officers Cadre in Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Izuwah said this on Monday in Abuja at the Certified PPP Professional Training for PPP officers in MDAs, being organised by the World Bank.
He said that the Bank was spending a lot of money to boost the capacity of civil servants on the complexities of PPP arrangements and that it would not be fair if the officers did not stay long in service, to apply the knowledge.
“If you look at procurement, the creation of a Procurement Officers Cadre has professionalised procurement and allowed the country to have officers who are well trained and skilled.
“PPPs are very complex, technical and financial arrangement. It is very difficult, because you are looking at procurement over the long time. You are looking at 30-50 years contract in some situations.
“So you need people who are very well schooled, technically qualified to be able to do it.
“We don’t have a cadre, what is happening now is that people in administrative cadre are assigned to do PPP officers jobs and after some time, they get posted to somewhere else.
“After this training now, the staff attending this programme may be posted somewhere else. So Nigeria may not reap the full benefit of the training they have received,” he said.
Reacting, the Head of the Civil Service, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, urged the ICRC to make its case before the National Council on Establishments.
“It’s not something that can easily be introduced into the service. The National Council on Establishment (NCE) looks into areas of service structure establishment, schemes of service, cadre and so on.
“So if the ICRC wants the PPP Officer Cadre set up, it is necessary for them to present their case to the Council and it will be debated on.
“The NCE is made up of the 36 Heads of Service, and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is the chairman,” she said.
In the Meantime, Oyo-Ita promised to ensure that civil servants assigned the role of PPP officers in respective MDAs maintained the role for a longer period.