The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) has unveiled a Model Public‑Private Partnership (PPP) Agreement intended to attract private capital and speed up infrastructure delivery as Nigeria confronts an estimated $2.3 trillion infrastructure deficit. ICRC Director‑General Dr. Oseodion Ewalefoh told stakeholders in Abuja that closing the gap by 2043 will require roughly $100 billion a year (an amount the government cannot meet alone) so the Tinubu administration has placed PPPs at the centre of its Renewed Hope Agenda.
Ewalefoh said that for nearly two decades after the ICRC Act of 2005, PPPs were negotiated project‑by‑project, producing inconsistent risk allocation, dispute mechanisms and contract terms, which prolonged negotiations, raised transaction costs and eroded investor confidence. To address this, the Commission spent almost two years developing a Model PPP Agreement benchmarked to Nigerian law and global best practice. The document is a reference framework rather than a one‑size‑fits‑all template; each project will still need sector‑specific structuring and commercial input, but using a common baseline should shorten the time to financial close and reduce disputes from unclear risk sharing.
Version 1.0 was finalized after reviewing existing concessions and consulting legal experts, financial advisers, development partners, investors and lenders. Major features include deliberate risk allocation to the party best positioned to manage each risk, clauses on conditions precedent, insurance, force majeure and changes in law, and a balanced default and termination regime with remedies and compensation formulas designed to inspire investor confidence.
The agreement protects financiers through direct agreements that grant lenders cure and step‑in rights, and it sets a graduated dispute resolution process that starts with consultation and negotiation, moves to confidential ICRC intervention, and, if necessary, goes to arbitration under the Arbitration and Mediation Act, 2023, reducing litigation costs and speeding resolution. It also establishes contract management and performance monitoring (governance structures, KPIs, reporting obligations and periodic reviews) and embeds anti‑corruption and ethical standards to strengthen transparency and accountability.
Ewalefoh urged MDAs to engage competent legal, financial and technical advisers when adapting the template and to return adapted agreements to the ICRC for statutory review as a safeguard for the MDA, government and public. He argued that standardization will improve project bankability, lower the cost of capital and open access to alternative financing sources such as pension funds, Sukuk, green bonds and blended finance; he added that Nigeria’s removal from the FATF grey list has renewed investor interest and that a predictable PPP framework can convert that interest into long‑term commitments.
Solicitor‑General and Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy‑Agba, said the ministry helped strengthen legal aspects of the framework; particularly dispute resolution, sovereign obligations and contractual safeguards, and thus encouraged stakeholders to help refine the model. The stakeholder engagement in Abuja brought together MDAs, legal and financial experts, development partners and private investors to review and validate the framework, which the ICRC will keep under periodic review and continue to support to accelerate and improve project delivery.
