Investigating optimum conditions for public-private partnership in health, education and housing sectors in Nigeria

Abstract

Although many PPP (Public-Private Partnership) projects in the developed countries are regarded as successful and the drivers of success have become subject of extensive investigation, little is known about the relative importance of these success factors in developing countries such as Nigeria. This is particularly noteworthy given that previous studies indicated incongruence between the cross-cultural features of PPPs which suggested inapplicability of the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI) model in other countries. Therefore, it is essential that adequate attention is given to identification, understanding and management of the specific drivers at national and sectoral levels. This research investigates the optimum conditions for PPPs to thrive in various infrastructure sectors in Nigeria. The study focused on the health, education and housing sectors. Questionnaire survey was adopted to elicit information from PPPs practitioners within the Nigerian construction industry. The identified conditions, through extensive literature review, were rated on five point likert scale and the responses were analysed using Relative Importance Indices and Mean Score Values. The results revealed that acceleration of project development is the most attractive factors for adopting PPPs in health and housing sectors while that of education sector was benefit to local economic development. Prolong delays due to political debate/interest was ranked as the most negative factor for adopting PPP in education and health sectors with high risk of relying on private sector as the most negative factor for housing sector. The research concluded that a ‘one-size-fit-all’ approach is inappropriate for success of PPPs and recommends further sector specific studies that will ensure sustainable growth of PPPs in Nigeria.