A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF PUBLIC SECTOR CORRUPTION ON THE PRIVATIZATION OF NIGERIAN ROADS

Dr. Balogun, Adekunle Daoud,*¹ Dr. Yusuff, Jelili Amuda²

¹ Department of Social Administration and Justice, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Email: balo1960@gmail.com

² Senior Lecturer Faculty of Law and International Relations, Sultan Zainal Abidin University Terengganu, Malaysia, Email: yusuffyja@unisza.edu.my/ akorede4@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Keywords: Nigerian Roads; Problems; Corruption; Privatization; Good Roads; Safety; Economic Development;

The predicament experienced by the majority of commuters as a result of the state of roads across Nigeria is of major concern that must be positively addressed by the authority before it gets out of control. The problem is not limited to a particular geopolitical region, it cuts across the nation. This paper therefore examines the causes and effects of bad roads in Nigeria and considered privatization a key option and the means for provision of good roads. Privatization provides another argument as a solution for reducing public sector corruption and a source of relief on the budget for capital projects. The proffered options are in the interest of the public regardless of the tribe, faith, sect, gender, and status. This discussion is a descriptive approach. The paper concludes by identifiying outstanding problems and offers solutions and suggestions. Publisher All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

Road construction in Nigeria is basically regarded as part of infrastructure regularly financed by every tier of the government for many years. Today, some of these roads are unsafe to the extent that a high percentage of the commuters and other road users lost their lives annually due to the poor condition of these roads. Accidents may happen when motorists unknowingly ran onto some damaged and dangerous spots on the roads.

In 2004, World Health Organisation found that 1.2 million people died as road accident victims worldwide each year and road accident injures about 4 times this number. There was no indication of improvement in the road accident as WHO (2015) global status report found that, the global road traffic death across 180 countries of the world stands at 1.25 million per year while the highest rate of road fatalities is recorded in low-income countries. Within a decade, 25% increase was identified in death increase. Therefore, there is the need to design more road accident preventive method globally.

In the case of Nigeria, public enlightening programme on proper use of road and driving behavior are always taught to the motorists and other road users but the bottom line is that the necessary road repairs were not being carried out at the right time by the concerned department of the public institutions. However, where it is done; the rehabilitation works or petty repairs are poorly implemented. In many parts of the country, travelling from one place to another is frustrating not only because of poor roads littered with potholes of more than a metre wide in diameter in some places but also because of the sharp bends where motorists could not see and determine any object approaching towards them on the other part of the single carriage roads. Some roads are undulating in shape in some hilly places along the northern parts of Nigeria as a result of the natural topographic landscape. This makes maneuvering for safety more difficult and resulted in road accidents in some cases. Therefore, some old roads need to be upgraded to dual carriageways to yield some economic advantages for human benefits as potentials for developments.

A recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on road traffic deaths in selected African countries as published by The Sun (2014, June 10) informed that Nigeria accounts for the highest fatalities with 33.7% per 100,000 population placing South Africa as the second highest with 31.9% per 100,000 population every year while the fatality figures for USA and Britain 15 and 7 per cent respectively. According to the statistics on regulatory policy of European Union of 28 member states, an issued white paper then proposed regulations against road accidents. (Eurostat (2015) found that the total number of fatalities decreased by 61% between 1990 and 2012 and 50 % decrease in fatalities between 2000 and 2010. That study implies that not only good roads reduce road traffic accidents other regulatory warnings are also of prime importance if adhered. In order to reduce road accidents, Johnston (2015) indicates that supporters of dual-carriageway road say that it will encourage investment …provide better transport links, and improve road safety. These assumptions could be rational as also it is found in some studies (Wilson, 2007; Highways Agency, 2014) expressed that dual-carriageway road improves road safety and reduces Driver stress, accidents and time expended to cover journey distance. However, some critics point to the large number of landowners, mostly farmers who will be adversely affected in losing substantial parts of farmlands to road construction even though the government is liable to offer compensation to all affected landowners. The researcher realized that there is a strong relationship between road traffic accidents and the condition of the available roads in a country. Hence, the unprecedented published report of road accidents on Nigerian roads led to the establishment of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in 1988 (Hancock et al., 2012). It purposely reduced road traffic crashes and creating a safe motoring environment in Nigeria (Ukoji, 2014).

Table 1.0: Showing Population of Main Cities and the Number of

Deaths caused by Road Accidents (June 2006-May 2014)

City Population Death Caused by Road

Accidents

Lagos 8, 029,200 1,579

Kano 3, 248,700 373

Ibadan 3, 078,400 718

Kaduna 1, 458,900 446

Port' Harcourt 1, 053,900 476

Source: Ukoji, V. N. (2014); National Population Commission, 2006;

Nigeria Watch, 2006–2014.

For instance in Table 1.0 the rate of road accidents in the cities like Lagos which was the former capital and presently regarded as the Nigeria commercial capital is very high comparing to road accidents recorded in Port Harcourt which is another city in the Niger Delta, the South-south region in Nigeria. Also in Kano, another densely populated city has high rate of road accidents as much as what is recorded in Ibadan, the largest city in Nigeria and West Africa. What is learnt in the Table 1.0, shows that road accidents are very high in the cities than in the country sides. City roads are frequently under pressure from long and heavy trucks that could damage roads as a result of urbanization and industrialization while less populated cities are not subjected to such pressure. Therefore, it shows there is the need to increase the number of roads and regular repair of the available ones while driving and behavioral regulatory measures should be incorporated in the policy plans for the safety of road users.

GOVERNMENT’S INTERVENTION ON ROAD

MAINTENANCE IN NIGERIA

The Federal Government of Nigeria showed concerns to reduce road accidents and to maintain the poor condition of roads by inaugurating on 30 November 2002 an agency named Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (Establishment, etc) Act No.7 of 2002 enacted by the National Assembly and assented to by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The Act No. 7 made FERMA the Nigeria’s first institutional mechanism for monitoring and maintaining all Federal roads in the country (FERMA Website). The agency is charged with the activities of direct labour, preventive road maintenance and surveillance programme and major road repairs.

In the Nigerian public sector, due process is in place to be followed and be implemented for awarding the public contracts in order to prevent corruption and other related unethical acts. For this purpose, Kareem et al. (2014) found that the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) now Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) was created in 2001 to implement public procurement reforms. According to Ezekwezilli (2005); Obasanjo (2003) due process is a mechanism that certifies public funding only for those projects that have passed the test of proper implementation packaging and that adhere stringently to the international competitive bid approach in the award process for beneficial impact on the nation’s economy. Therefore, road privatization should pass through the same regulatory procedure to prevent corruption that may circumvent the standard and durability of the road projects as contractors may need to make allowance for bribery in order to win contracts.

The idea of building road networks has important relations with economic improvement as roads and other means of transport that link industrial estates, seaports, airports, market zones, mining areas and agricultural projects depots or farmlands are formidable means for promoting the nation’s economy. Goods meant for import and exports including supplies for retail and wholesale mercantile would undergo undisruptive daily delivery on good road if properly functioning security system is in place. In the case of Nigeria, financing the road construction has been a major responsibility of the government in the past and it persists as it was incorporated in the capital budget of every fiscal year. Khanana (2012) reported for CNN found that in Lagos state, about 60% of the city's budget is now spent on infrastructure projects, especially roads and bridges with population of about 14 million people. Evidently, few months ago, the Federal Government releases a total amount of NGN 535.5 billion for only 5 states as reimbursement for the repair cost of federal roads in those states (The Punch, 2015, 18 September). However, as trends in economic development demand a relief on government spending, privatization scheme started in the early 80s in United Kingdom and USA while globalization concept allows business transactions across borders but Nigeria is yet to make full impact in such scheme.

The foreign experts and organizations such as MNCs have in their disposal the technical and professional expertise with required financial facility to build infrastructures such as roads, cable car, cable railway, railways, airways, inland waterways, power, telephone networks and many others under privatization scheme to facilitate cheap and fast intra and inter boundary movement of people, goods and services in any part of the world. This partnership encourages proportional reduction in the capital budget of every concern country. The project, in form of Build Operate and Transfer, (BOT) could be carried out on financial loan payable after a certain agreed period of years. Observation shows that most of Nigerian roads are in devastating condition as maintenance projects could not be financed at the appropriate time any repair work is required. Besides, the steady water erosion and water logs during the raining season do not only damage roads but also serves as hindrance against the building of roads and rehabilitation of the damaged ones at the raining season of every year.

The big picture of hindrances against a sustainable road infrastructure is the public sector corruption which grounded most of the infrastructures to be in deplorable conditions for a considerable period of time in many states in Nigeria. Although, the government commits itself to repair and construct more roads but observation shows that the efforts are undermined by corruption. According to Nigeria Company Laws and Regulations Handbook, Nigeria produces crude oil of about 2.7% of the world's supply (Saudi Arabia: 12.9%, Russia: 12.7%, USA: 8.6%. while Nigeria anticipated revenue from petroleum is about US$52.2 billion in 2012 and the GDP is equivalent to US$451billion). However, the symbols of development in Nigeria are not commensurate with the acquired wealth at national level because of corrupt activities. For instance, Ingwe et al. (2012) found that about 60% of over 20,000 projects to which funds were appropriated in the annual budget were not executed. In a study, Ingwe et al (2012: 19) affirms that “convoluted bureaucratic hurdles, under the provisions for awarding contracts under the appropriation act and corruption among public office holders” partly account for none execution of the government’s funded projects. The Federal Government Ministries and Agencies under the previous regime of PDP government voted NGN 1.4trillion (US$ 7, 033 billion) for federal roads in 16 years (The Nigerian Tribune, 2015, 14 September) but some of those roads are being reviewed for repair by the new administration of Buhari regime that just took the staff of office on 29, May 2015, about 1 year in office. So corruption is imminent in Nigerian public sector. However, as an ocean depth petroleum extracting country that earns “more than 98 % of export earnings and about 83 % of Federal Government revenue from oil in 2000” (Odulari, 2008). Such a nation is expected to regularly prepare its waterways for convenient transportation of crude oil and other products meant for export while its roadways must be viable in standards for trucks (since the train is ineffective) to convey and deliver refined fuel and natural gas to most of the gas stations operating at the hinterland to prevent fuel shortages that always disrupt economic activities in Nigeria.

Government, in the recent time has shown to be shifting policy to embark on privatization of federal roads with toll collection in transport sector to be used for road maintenance. The minister of Works, Hosing and Power was reported by the Nigerian tribune to have said that:

“Maintenance would be our watchword. We are setting up a robust maintenance regime to keep our highways in good shape. This shows that tolling is necessary to support government funding. So, it will not be too much if we ask every road user to pay a little to augment government funding for road maintenance”. “It is eminent commonsense for us to find that money. We will use technology; so if you don’t pay cash, you will pay by tokens or tickets and the money is accountable and it will go to the right place. We will manage that fund properly and we will hold those who we put there to account.”

(The Nigeria Tribune, 2006, December 24).

The statements show that the government, under the close watch of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) may be a distinctive regime that would distance itself from corrupt practices in the course of governance with a transparent public sector to run the affairs of the nation. This above assurance in the statement of the Minister may motivate the public to be getting ready to give positive support to the government’s road privatization policy. It is a direct way for an authority to become legitimate and popular among the people while people’s support will freely arouse efficiency in government activities.

PRIVATIZATION AND PUBLIC SECTOR

CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA

The needs to ensure road safety augments the government budget, and support economic growth have been the driven force for the adoption of road privatization across many developed and emerging countries. It is believed by many people that suitable and well maintained road is important to safeguard the life of the road users. Governments and numerous non-governmental organizations are continuously embarking on intense campaigns, programs and the provision of facilities that could help minimize road accidents. The number of people that are killed and injured as a result of road accidents globally is estimated at 12 million and 50 million respectively (WHO 2004).

Road privatization which is described as a partnership between the government and the private organization to solve economic problems is of public advantage. Starr (1989) describes privatization as the withdrawal of public assets, functions or the entire institutions from the state to allow private sector to take over the operation of public wealth. The idea of calling on private enterprises to play the role of the government by engaging and operating mostly in the economic activities could be as a result of incapability of government to perform effectively. The private operations could engage in the maintenance of existing roads and construction of new roads to improve road infrastructures in Nigeria. Road construction and maintenance require substantial amounts of capital which has been proven inaccessible to the authority as multiplicity of the public utilities being financed by the government such as; electricity, water, roads etc. pose significant strain on the already stretched financial resources of the government. Study shows that there were toll plazas on roads in Nigeria prior this time, “the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (E1)”, between 1974 and 1978. The highway built to the highest International Standard, was opened to traffic in August 1978 as a toll road (Bi-Courtney Group, n.d.). The Benin /Ore federal highway and many more were later built to generate fund for maintenance of the roads but corruption and lack of will on the part of the government to address the corrupt behavior in public sector remained an issue despite the active regulatory activities of the two anticorruption agencies, the ICPC and EFCC with their Acts enacted into law since year 2000 and 2004. In most of the high-profile corruption cases, no conclusions are known after investigation, arrest and prosecution. Corrupt cases are dragged for years in courts, while judgment for the conviction of most of the real culprits never held; these are serious integrity issues hunting the Nigerian judiciary. Therefore, in relation to similar views, report found that the former Nigerian President, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd.), in 2004 ordered the dismantling of toll gates across the country, citing loss of revenue to government and poor maintenance of the roads (The Vanguard, 2015, December 4).

Road privatization offers a lot of benefits not only to the government but to the road users such as motorists and cyclists. In most developing countries, the inability of the government to properly maintain the roads, particularly, those in deplorable condition, has resulted in daily loss of lives and properties.

In Nigeria, road transportation is the dominant means for people to move from place to place after the Nigerian Railway Corporation has undergone serious inefficiency. Besides, in Nigeria, there are no intra state railroads system in any state yet except, the North-South rail tracks that cut across some states. The majority of the road is old and not being maintained. This continued neglect of the road maintenance, despite their continuous usage, has resulted in much number of dangers and road accidents (Osariemen et. al., 2012; Iweze 2011).

Road accidents have become a social and economic burden to the government and the public as a result of bad roads and some other factors. The agony and pain experienced everyday by families of those who are victims of road traffic/accidents cannot be underestimated. The economic cost of road accidents based on the estimation of the World Health Organization (2004) is put at US$518 billion per year. It is indicated that the cost of road accidents is estimated at 1% of GNP in low income countries, 1.5% in middle income countries, and 2 percent in high income countries.

While road accidents are decreasing in developed countries, the fatalities due to road accidents continue to escalate in low-income and middle-income countries (Kual et al., 2005). The Global Status Report on Safety (2009) note that over 90 per cent of world fatalities on the road occur in low income and middle income countries which have 48 per cent of the world’s vehicle. Despite the presence of a small number of cars compared to the high income countries, the low and middle income countries still recorded the highest road accident fatalities whereas, it is ironical to note that these are countries reported to spend only 1% of their GDP on road accident while regions with low number of road accident spend 2% of their GDP on road accidents.

Road infrastructure also plays an important role towards economic development of any country. It is one of the infrastructures required for convenient movement of people, goods and services across places and it thus helps in attracting investors. The bad road situation in Nigeria places additional burden on the producers such as the unplanned production cost, which usually results in the loss of manpower and the high cost of goods and services (CBN 2003). The annual loss due to bad roads is estimated at NGN133.8 billion /US$900million) (Nigeria Federal Ministry of Works & Housing). This is a huge cost that is borne in one way or the other by various strata of the population.

Some of the key challenges facing the Nigerian government in terms of road infrastructure maintenance are the burden of the capital project funding as well as public sector corruption. The Sun (2015 October 31) found that over 184 federal road projects have been abandoned across the country due to lack of funding from the Federal Government and the huge debt owed contractors that are handling them. The report gathered further that the road contractors are now being owed about N1.76trn on federal road projects while another source put the figure at N600bn. The lack of proper funding is one of the results of policy inconsistency, corrupt behavior such as creating artificial delay in payments that are already approved by the authority possibly in a way to obtain interest payable on deposit in banks. However, some people perceived it as strategy to lure the beneficiary to negotiate for prompt payment by giving some bribes. In the case of Nigeria, the inadequate funding plays negligible part in the causes of the deplorable state of roads considering the widespread of corruption which might have prompted Transparency International to declared Nigeria as the most corrupt country in the world in 2000 (Lliffe, 2011). The World Bank found that roads projects are important, especially for poverty reduction but the impact of fraud, corruption, and collusion in such projects is of special significance (World Bank, 2011).

Table 2.0: A September 2014 figure of abandoned road projects in Nigeria

Zone

No. of Project

Total Length of road

Cost In Billion naira @N200 to $1

North Central 29 1, 201.81 km N294 (US$1.470)

North-East 26 1, 219.65 km N314 (US$1.570)

North-West 20 1, 040.22 km N188 (US$0.940)

South-East 45 1, 251.00 km N357 (US$1.785)

South-South 33 739.57 km N245 (US$1.225)

South-West 31 1, 072.63 km N365 (US$1.825)

Total 184 6, 524.88 km N 1, 763 (US$8.815)

Source: Modified from- The Sun, 2015 October 31

Table 2.0: shows the number of abandoned projects in various parts of the country as compiled in 2014. The South –East of Nigeria has the highest number of abandoned projects with 45 units followed by South-south region with 33 units of abandoned projects. The North-West has the least projects abandoned. Unfortunately, the regions with highest number of abandoned projects have been agitating for secession which was once attempted in 1970-74 that caused the Biafra war. The information on table 2 is another evidence for the people of the region to accuse the federal government of practicing marginalization.

For instance, it was reported that between 1999 and 2007, President Obasanjo made moves to reconstruct the Lagos-Ibadan as well as Lagos-Sagamu-Benin road 2006 at a cost of N419 billion ($2.095 Billion) via his Minister of Works but the shoddy work on the road has not been legally investigated while the amount of money involved was not accounted for till now. While most of the road contracts were to be completed within five years but soon after the project started, it was abandoned and later the roads were in various states of decay due to poor construction and maintenance jobs, heavy human and vehicular traffic, etc. Thereafter, ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan re-awarded the same project under the then Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen (The Sun, 2015 October 31). During a Presidential Media Chat, President Goodluck Jonathan was quoted to have mentioned to the media that

“The construction company handling Lagos-Ibadan road, Bi-Courtney lacks the capacity to carry out the job. The country is held to ransom. We cannot continue that way. We’ll intervene on that road.” He added: “That road has been with Bi-Courtney since we came on board in 2007 and I think we are going to take the final decision on the matter because it is like the company is not in a position to do it and I don’t think as a responsible government, we can allow Nigerians to continue to suffer.” (This day live 2012 November 25).

However, the report of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan on the investigation of Bi-Courtney Group vindicated the firm of breach of contract while part of the report mentioned that:

The report said approval for a final design was granted on May 10, 2011, two years after the concession agreement was signed. “It is evident that the scope of the work was not fully documented and outline design provided before the concession was awarded”. “Without an agreed design and scope of work based on the grantor’s performance and output standards, there cannot be an agreed fixed cost for the project”. Without a financial model setting out the expect project costs and revenue, financing cost cannot be determined. The cost of the project as included in the concession was not based on the necessary studies (e.g. Traffic forecast)….. The Nation, 2012, December 10: 2

Hence, from the above report, it is crystal clear that the government has not been sincere about the contract and other causes for disagreement between the two parties but only painted a black picture of the firm for public to identify it and its officials as unreliable organization. What can be deduced from these reports could generate a PhD academic thesis. First, what had happened to the advance payment if payment is already made to the contractor on the uncompleted contract? What responsible for works on the project to remain stagnant when the client (The Federal government) was still in control of the government? What prevented the client from prosecuting the contracting firm if the client’s right as a party to the agreement has its right being violated? A number of contracts were re-awarded by the Nigeria Federal Government and the initial expended capital not retrieved. For instance, in the past, the National Identity Card contracts which was re-awarded as a result of corruption that beclouded the projects. The Premium Times (2015 May 27) found and reported that Nigerian National Identity card is regarded as a financial black hole that consumes everything thrown at it without a trace. It was depicted like a compromised slot machine that consumes but never regurgitates. From then to date, more than NGN121 billion (US$806 Million at NGN150 to US$1) has been spent on the project, meant to authenticate the true identity of every Nigerian, with few Nigerians currently issued with the National Identity Card.

In a corrupt regime, different ways of perpetrating corruption are invented which affect public contracts and other activities. Studies have even founded that the contracting firms themselves pay bribe to win biddings of contracts. The cost of bribe may uncontrollably lead to quality reduction of all contracts involved in order for the firm to pave the way for the cost in bribery as well as maintaining profit margin. Mathias (2008) reveals that Siemens was found guilty of paying bribes worth 10 million Euros to Nigerian officials including Ministers between 2001 and 2004 and fined 201million Euros (US$248m; £122.3m) by a Munich court on October 4, 2007. The found further that the contracts for the supply of circuit breakers and other power generation accessories worth NGN128.4m (US$1.1m; £532,683) by Siemens Nigeria firm were all cancelled on Wednesday December 5, 2007 by the Nigerian government. The most destructive aspect of corruption on road contract is that, after the contracts must have been over-valued, the project may still be a sub standard stuff in quality as corrupt perpetrators in the public sector may have obtained a certain percentage of the contracts’ cost which in the first place the reason that made the firm to win the contract-bidding at the expense of other qualified contracting firms. For instance, The Construction Index Record (2012, February 24) indicates that, an officer of Kellogg, Brown and Rock (KBR) was sentenced for conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by participating in a decade-long scheme to bribe Nigerian government officials to obtain engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts. He was also sentenced for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud as part of a separate kickback scheme.

Therefore, the public perception is that any firm that does not show the willingness to pay corrupt public officials in charge of awarding contracts as well as those in charge of issuing payment for contracts may not win contracts’ bidding. Otherwise, there was no reason whatsoever compelling the contractors from committing themselves to habitual unauthorized payments. We observed possible occurrence of cabinet reshuffle, a change in the leadership as a result of death or election victory. These could also be sources of fear particularly where the election manifestoes of new leadership showed no support for continuity or completion of capital projects that were already approved or under execution. Sometimes, after the political election is won and lost, a revocation or reevaluation of contracts is imminent if there is a leadership change but all depends on the policy of the new regime as far as capital project is concerned. Some projects may be unsustainable and consequently be shortlisted for discontinuation while others that are viable may be renegotiated. Corruption in the Nigeria public sector seems to be a free crime. It may be shocking to read many report on inflated contracts and services for public needs. Therefore, such instances and many other reasons influence the practices of corruption in public contracts in which building of roads is not an exemption. In fact, these developments are some of the core reasons why people perceived that the MNCs such as high-profile contractors and industrialists used their influences in lobbying the congress for their economic interest. There seems the need for them to have strong backing whenever government’s policies are not in their favour. The fiscal imbalance prompts many countries in developed and developing world to resort to privatization of roads and other projects (Albalate et al. 2007). The lack of funds, management deficiency, and corruption in respect to the public sector management of road facilities contribute to the precarious state of Nigerian roads. This has thus taken a negative toll both socially and economically on the nation. The need for an alternative means of funding the road construction and maintenance is therefore imperative. Part of the reason involves the reported Punch investigation found that, in Africa, the cost of constructing roads in Nigeria is far higher to what is spent on similar road construction contracts in other countries on the continent. A report on road infrastructure development in Nigeria (2009-2013) found that a kilometre of paved road in Nigeria “is being constructed for an outrageous amount ranging from NGN400m (US$2.5m) to over NGN1bn.(US$6.5m)” (The Punch, 2014, December 6).

A fact finding to show the existence of corruption in the public infrastructure procurement came to light when it was found that ‘A kilometre of paved road in Limpopo province of South Africa costs NGN33m or US$194,000, while the maintenance cost stands at NGN7.6m (US$45,000) The Punch, 2014 December 6). Analytically, there is extra NGN367 if a kilometer is awarded at NGN400m or NGN967m if awarded at NGN1bn which is observed here as over invoiced cost on each kilometer for Nigerian road contracts. If the contract of one kilometer is not over paid, the balance of NGN367m could still finance extra 11 kilometre while the NGN967m balance on NGN1bn per kilometer could have financed extra 29.3kilometre of paved road. A country that embarks on corruption of such outrageous magnitude may be eluded with progress in economy and the social development of its people. The negligible number of political elite, possibly of 0.01% of the total population may continue to forcefully control the wealth of the rest 99.99% if drastic measures are not timely enforced. In a recent finding, NIDC found that Nigerians who have more than NGN500, 000 (US$2,512.82) (NGN200-$1) in their accounts are just two per cent.

Therefore privatization of the national resources is a better alternative. This would be done by withdrawing the administration of public wealth from the domain of the public institutions for the private sector to manage. It seems the most viable strategic economic policy to strongly reduce the brinkmanship of the desperate corrupt politicians and public office holders in Nigeria.

In privatization, the government is expected to put her hands off in the possession of the public assets such as corporations, enterprises and those in the form of goods and services and offer them to the private investors and organizations either partially or fully privatized depend on the reached agreement. In that situation, the government is required to provide the enabling environment for successful take off and running of the activities of the privatized resources in order for the investors of such businesses to perform effectively. The private investors are expected to harness their resources to provide adequate goods and services, making them available at affordable prices as well as taking care of social responsibilities in favour of the people in the environment and beyond. The essence of this policy is to enhance cost effectiveness and efficient service delivery. Shirley (1992) found that privatization is the transfer of ownership of assets to the private sector. Starr, (1988) distinctively posits that privatization has come primarily to mean two things: (I) any shift of activities or functions from the state to the private sector; and, more specifically, (2) any shift of the production of goods and services from public to private. In any case, the striking unavoidable words are the resources to be ‘transfer’ from the ‘public’ to the ‘private’. Once contracts are carried out with legal backing, it is binding and then takes effects. In whichever way most of the authors express privatization, those former words or their relative meaning are bound to be inclusive for clear definition.

LEGALITY OF PRIVATIZATION

Before a privatization scheme is considered, legal framework is necessary as guideline for official approval of all activities related to the concept and the parties that would champion the privatization scheme for a country and the resources to be privatized. According to the World Bank, the following is an excerpt from the listed conditions laid down as legal requirements for privatization to take place for both parties involved in order to get fear treatment i.e. the government that is willing to privatize her corporations and other resources and the foreign and local investors that are intended to participate in the offer and acceptance of the various entities to be offered for privatization. For instance, the World Bank maintained that:

1. If the enterprise is a public utility, a regulatory regime should be created by law so that the regulator can protect the public interest in output pricing and the quality of services and support future entry by competitors.

2. If foreign investors are expected to participate in the privatization program, the laws of the country should guarantee fair and equitable treatment to those investments according to generally acceptable international standards.

3. Privatization requires institutional arrangements to manage the program so as to ensure transparency and consistency in implementation.

4. Yet the conduct of privatization transactions differs from traditional bureaucratic activities, in that:

(a) The process must be as open as possible.

(b) Privatization cuts across existing areas of influence and political and bureaucratic control.

(c) The agency controlling privatization must itself operate in a professional manner, as it will be dealing with private domestic and foreign buyers and with investment banks and other professional advisers.

5. These factors suggest the need for a central unit or agency responsible for overall guidance of the privatization program. The agency should have a single mandate: to sell the assets and enterprises in accordance with the policy principles on which the program is based (World Bank Group, 2014).

If the recommended conditions are fully implemented it means the proprietor and the competing investors are to operate on a level plain ground without prejudice and that would support a transparent exercise. This activity could be no different in Nigerian privatization scheme since it was a compiled concepts proposed by experts in the World Bank for all member states among which Nigeria is a signatory to the membership since March 30, 1961 (World Bank, 2015).

In his careful assessment of the conditions of Nigerian roads, Okigbo (2010) indicated that most of the roads in Nigeria are in a precarious situation. The author found that some of the factors that contribute to bad road conditions in Nigeria are poor design and construction, poor maintenance of already built highways and use of low quality materials in construction. Other factors are poor workmanship and poor supervision of construction work and the plying of heavy trucks that were not meant for particular road. The bad condition of the roads inconvenient the road users and potentially contributes to mistakes attributed to the spate of accidents on Nigerian roads (Ohakwe et al. 2011). Many people complained that the authority has not seen anything bad in hundreds of thousands of lives lost as a result of poor condition of roads across the country while corruption had blindfolded the public servants and political officeholders. This corrupt behaviour has not allowed them to deeply perceive themselves as being responsible for the poor state of the roads and corresponding lost of innocent lives

In a related study, Nonyelum et al (2012) revealed that the major causes of bad road conditions in Nigeria is due to poor economic conditions, which make it difficult for the government to repair and construct an effective road system. Kareem et al. (2012) forecast high road accident fatalities in the future if necessary steps are not taken to improve the condition of the road system in Nigeria. The result from combined modeling of traffic population and time in the study showed that the accident fatalities may increase in the future unless roads are highly and regularly maintained and drivers are properly trained (Kareem et al., 2012).

In addition to its effect in terms of accident rate, bad road condition also takes its ugly toll on the economic condition of the country. Otegbulu (2011) indicated in a study’s survey on the opinion of the residents in Lagos State about the deplorable condition of roads, the majority of the respondents expressed their dissatisfaction on bad roads and indicated their willingness to pay for improved road infrastructures.

One main alternative policy approach employed to fund road construction in most countries is privatization. Albalate et al. (2007) conducted a detailed assessment of road privatization in Europe and came up with some findings. It was founded that road privatization has become a trend in Europe especially in Southern Europe due to financial constraints on the part of the government. It was also found that the process has been successful in enhancing their road infrastructures. The contribution of the government in terms of putting in place regulations also contributed to the success of road privatization in Europe.

Malaysia is one of the major countries that derive tremendous benefit from road privatization. Nam (2004) reviewed the case of Plus Expressway Berhad (PEB), which is a prominent private organization that partnered with the government for the maintenance and construction of roads across Malaysia. This study indicated that since its establishment in 1983, PEB has successfully handled 437 roads. In addition, the company generates employment for more than 107,000 people. This helps to reduce the poverty rate in the country. It also eases the burden on the government budget as the organization builds, operates and maintains roads while government provides enabling environment.

The privatization in Nigeria could include people oriented capital projects to boost participation of local investors in the economic and social provisions. If not for the corrupt tendencies between and amongst foreign firms and the Nigeria public servants and the politicians who although have been truly indicted in cases of corruption by colluding to champion the awarding of contracts to the foreign firms otherwise, Nigerian civil engineering experts are well trained and are capable enough to provide the standardized road and housing construction required for the public at lower cost. But it seems easier for corrupt perpetrators to collude with foreign firms that are keen to pay 5-10 per cent bribes in order to win billions of dollars worth of contracts than dealing with local firms. They seemed to have perceived that local firms may not only get into a lot of trouble before securing enough finance for the start-off of the projects but may also extremely hesitant to pay robust bribe to his own country’s public officials just to win contracts meant for his own people including himself and the entire country. For instance, a statistics table in Ugochukwu and Onyekwena (2014) found that Nigerian Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development’s awarded contracts in 2009. The study investigated and found that out of a total construction projects worth NGN 303.73 billion in 2009, contracts worth NGN 235.51 billion were awarded to foreign firms while only NGN 68.22 billion worth of contracts were shared by three Nigerian firms. The Table 1 below presents the facts and figures in that direction.

Table 3.0: Completed Projects under the Federal Ministry of Works,

Housing and Urban Development at the first quarter of 2009

Volume of each work in N billion US$1 = NGN180

Contractors Nigerian Firms Foreign Firms

A 1.26

B 44.87

C 13.78

D 47.17

E 1.87

F 5.71

G 28.67

H 2.25

I 52.19

J 43.82

K 30.24

L 39.90

Total 68.22 235.51

^{Source: Budget Office of the Federation, Federal Ministry of Finance (2009); Ugochukwu and Onyekwena, (2014).}

Take cognizance of this Table 4: above, opportunity of indigenous decree has no relevant impact in favouring the Nigerian indigenous private firms as only 28% of the contracts offered the local firms while the foreign firms had shared 72% of the contracts. All these account for the rate of joblessness for Nigerians, a situation that results to none development of local industries. Although, a number of factors may have accounted for this shortfall (the Small share of contracts by the local firms) such as low financial capability to fund the contract, inaccessibility to bank loans, the size of the firm in relation to the nature of the available projects, lack of the required sophisticated equipments for exhibiting huge construction etc. However, the inability to pay such required huge bribes charged by corrupt policymakers may have accounted for losing most of the contract biddings by the local contractors since the corrupt public officials could easily circumvent the rules by presenting few excuses against the unfavourable competitors to pave the way for the highest bidder in bribery to win bigger contracts. During Obasanjo’s civilian government (1999-207), one of his Ministers was dismissed and later charged to court for paying bribe to the Senate committee on education in order to increase the education budget in the appropriation bill. What was interesting was that the bribe was paid by a Minister, a public servant to the members of the Senate, the legislative arm of the government in Nigeria. In a Paper presentation by President Obasanjo in 2006, he mentioned it as a way of praising his regime for fighting corruption without preference. He said:

“Corruption is so rampant that when the nation's education minister, Fabian Osuji, was caught giving $400,000 to Nigerian lawmakers for favorable votes, he formally protested that such behavior was "common knowledge and practice at all levels of government." Besides, Osuji added, he had struck a good deal; the lawmakers had asked for twice as much. He was fired from the government”. (Washington Post, 2005, May 1: p A18)

Therefore, payment of bribe by the private to the public officers and vise versa should never be a strange phenomenon. Nigeria indigenous contractors could be more economically viable if offered contracts to build roads under privatization scheme as their investment will continue to stay in their country of origin and the revenue would help the nation’s economy grow for the benefit of all stakeholders. Ogbebor (2002); Oseni (2002); Akintude (2003) argued that Nigerian Indigenous contractors have not had a fair share of major construction activities in the country like their foreign counterparts whom are considered technically, managerially more superior and efficient in funds acquisition and project execution. If local contractors secure more contracts, the accrued profit unlike the foreign firms may not be repatriated for re-investment in other countries than their home country, Nigeria. The local company would rather diversify such profit into new investment that could provide some prioritized services rather than hiring such service from outside, the company would re-plough such profit to increase its revenue. This development helps economic growth and increases investment including job opportunities for different categories of workers in the country. This indirectly becomes source of tax provision for the government as well. By so doing, more roads may be built from the profits accrued and Nigeria would become self autonomous in road privatization, construction and ownership of privatized highways after the completion and expiration of the duration of the BOT formal agreement signed between the government and other stakeholders.

Corruption is the bane of our construction project procurement method. Thisday live editorial expressed its own part of contribution on series of corruption behavior in Nigeria in relation to state of infrastructure and social institutions by lamenting that:

Our rulers take us for ride by awarding road contracts and embezzling the money at the end of the day. We don’t have constant electricity—which is very critical to development anywhere in the world—because our rulers and their cronies have been cornering the huge budgets to the sector over the years… Corruption has created so many fake billionaires in Nigeria; people who do nothing other than ruin the economy and impoverish the people. Money to put public schools in order and improve the quality of instruction often ends up in private pockets, so you find civil servants, whose monthly take-home is less than NGN200, 000/ (US$1, 400), sending their children to private or foreign schools where millions of naira is paid per term.(This day live 2011 Oct. 2).

The feeling of frustration and devastation is felt in the excerpt above and the agony may escalate to force the unemployed youth take arms to challenge the authority instead of confronting the personalities that are corrupt where the legal action that could bring them to justice is already compromised.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES ON

NIGERIAN ROADS

Many roads in Nigeria are in bad condition, which places avoidable additional strain on drivers and vehicles. Commercial activities are suffering as goods and services are now in short supply leading to price increase practically in all consumer goods and services. According to the USA report on the Nigeria crime and safety report, it was found that driving is a major safety concern, particularly outside of Abuja and Lagos. The report published by OSAC (2014, July 21) stated that most roads are below U.S. standards and local motorists typically do not yield the right of way or give consideration to other vehicles and pedestrians. Therefore, reasons for safety on Nigerian roads are far beyond damaged condition of the roads but human factors also play some negative roles that are not condoned in any civilized society as much as the traffic regulations. The report alerted that despite the fact that traffic laws exist, it maintained that enforcement is virtually non-existent. The report pointed out that authorities do not require safety inspections of private or commercial vehicles, so most vehicles lack basic maintenance and safety equipment. Surprisingly, the researcher observed that officers of Federal Road Safety Corps are always on routine duty to effect traffic compliance especially on the highways throughout Nigeria but it is hard to rule out the intervention of corrupt behaviours even when officials involved physically wear his/her identity. Why this report could not be totally disregarded is that; one thing is to see the officers cautioning and sanctioning traffic rules violators purposely to let them adhere to traffic rules but another thing is to establish whether the offenders apprehended are charged to pay the real penalty set for traffic violations or to pay the token demanded as bribe to let him/her off the hook.

However, Nigeria and some other developing countries are not the only nations identified with poor or inadequate infrastructure. The world economic forum reports show that over the last few years, the infrastructure quality deteriorated in many developed countries, including the US, Germany, and France (Business Insider, 2015 October 10). The report found that Hong Kong “continues to lead in infrastructure, ahead of Singapore, while United States of America is ranked the last of the world first eleven infrastructures. Hong Kong is reported to be reflecting the outstanding quality of its facilities across all modes of transportation. Providing and securing good roads will enhance business, movement, and safety of lives and properties. Therefore, privatization of major roads across the nation is imperative.

ROAD PRIVATIZATION

Privatization is a variety of techniques and activities used to promote more involvement of the private sector in providing traditional government or public services (World Bank, 1994). According to Wohlschlegel & Dutzik (2009), road privatization involves the granting of rights to private investors to raise and collect toll revenues. It is stated that road privatization is a growing trend in the United States purposely to support budget shortfall. As indicated by the author, toll road privatization takes two forms which are leasing of existing toll roads and the construction of new roads by private entities. Construction of new roads and maintenance of existing roads is a necessity for the promotion of social welfare and economic empowerment for the public and it requires huge investment. However, the required resources for enhancing the road network are beyond the resources at the disposal of government. This has been attributed to the growing privatization of roads in many countries. The privatization of roads according to (Carnis 2001) offers a lot of benefits by minimizing problems endemic to public roads, namely, high accident rates, congestion, and pollution.

Private Public Partnership (PPP) is described as the mobilization of private sectors’ money, expertise, and capacity towards infrastructure development. PPP can take the following form such as management contract, lease contract and concession contract. The PPP approach to infrastructural development has been successful in many countries because of factors like political stability, enabling environment and expertise. There are several contractual models under PPP that are used to execute various projects. The two main models of implementing infrastructure development under PPP are Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT), and the model whereby private companies are allowed to manage and operate the transport infrastructure after the government has built the infrastructure which is otherwise called management, operation and maintenance (MOM).

One of the main models employed under Public Private Partnership in road construction is known as Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT). Here the private companies are allowed to operate the specific roads by giving them the chance to recoup their investment in addition to the profit. Upon operating for a certain period, the ownership is transferred to the public. The BOT model can be applied to finance other infrastructures such as power, water, housing and telecommunication.

In a study that explored the workability of Public – Private Partnership (PPP) in Nigeria, it was indicated that a lot of things need to be put in place for Public Private Partnership to be successfully implemented in Nigeria. One of the things mentioned by the author is the establishment of trust between the various stakeholders. As such, a sound legal framework is imperative for the implementation of PPP. Another important factor that must be addressed in order to implement PPP is the reduction of corruption. As indicated by the author, quality, time and cost which are very essential for the success of PPP could be compromised. This might therefore make PPP render sub-standard services.

The PPP projects have three constraints of quality, time and cost. In the face of corruption, any of these may be compromised. Based on the study by the United State Department of Transportation to assess the role played by the private sector in the US highway and transit infrastructure, it is indicated that PPP contributes immensely to numerous highway projects in the United State. According to the report, more than 20 highways are under various forms of PPP projects. The significant upfront values enjoyed by the public sectors contribute to the increasing recognition and preference of PPP to the traditional approach of funding and procuring highway. While there are risks that the public sector needs to be aware of in PPPs, there has not been evidence that PPPs are inherently more risky than traditional procurement approaches. The author thus highlighted the following benefits of PPP:

1- PPP reduces congestion by ensuring high quality and a well-managed highway system.

2- PPPs facilitate access to private capital in infrastructural development.

3- PPPs reduce the wasteful effects of political and special purpose spending by incorporating financial accountability for investment decisions into the transportation funding process.

4- PPP can significantly accelerate project delivery by providing upfront private capital for a project’s full cost.

Road construction and maintenance in Nigeria is mainly funded by the federal government with the whole responsibility vested on the Federal Ministry of Works while the tradition puts pressure on States’ as well as local government allocations for maintenance purposes. In order to address the challenges facing the government in road financing, the Presidential Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC) was set up in 1999 to come up with an appropriate framework (CBN 2003). The committee recommended that funding of highways should be improved by establishing a Road Fund which will derive its funds from the following sources: Highway tolls, Vehicle Taxes, Truck Weigh-Bridges, Parking Fees, and Petroleum Tax (formerly collected by the defunct PTF). This may be similar to public private partnership because the highways and the toll gates, parking slots and the truck Weigh-Bridges will be under the control of the BOT operators while the vehicle and petroleum fund taxes including legislation backing the projects and security are government responsibilities. As the government needs not to raise funds for privatized roads possibly from capital budgets, the risk of endangering public funds will not only absent in the contracts but the freedom of diversifying enough funds from the capital budget to finance other types of infrastructure that could help economic grow tremendously is imperative. Provision for other transport sectors such as, rail projects, aviation and maritime facilities could enjoy much attention of the relevant authorities. In PPP policy, according to the World Bank, government can obtain greater efficiency in the use of private contractors by introducing competition into operations with greater use of existing private contractors or by allowing public sector agencies to compete with the private sector. The study opines that contractors may achieve greater efficiency and lower costs because of competitive pressures that are unlikely to be present in a government organisation. Robinson et al.(1998) argued that competition for road works can be expected and in many countries, delivery of new construction works and periodic maintenance have traditionally been carried out by contractors.

BENEFIT OF ROAD PRIVATIZATION

Public partnership with the private organizations has the potential to benefit the various stakeholders among which are individuals, organizations and the government in many ways. Privatization has become a major component of structural reform programs globally. Apart from roads, other sectors such as water, electricity and other capital intensive related sector have been privatized in many countries and Nigeria should not be treated as isolated case. Some of the benefits that can be derived from privatization are discussed briefly.

Efficiency

The private sector is relatively strong in management and they possess the ability to recruit and compensate qualified managers and technicians. In addition, they are relatively free from political interferences, ability to provide competitive services ability to mobilize funds for investment purpose Government handling of roads in term of management have been proven inefficient in terms of management in many countries (Sheshinski & Lopes-Calva 2003). This is because state owned enterprises or projects are not subjected to market pressures experienced by the private organization which may warrant taking over in the event of poor performance.

Levinson (2013) indicated that the inability of the government of the United State of America (USA) to properly manage the road network led to the widespread acceptance of privatization. This improper management of the roads is due to factors such as direct political management which hinders the development of new revenue streams and hampers innovation. In contrast, privatization is characterized as capable, energetic, ingenious independent in providing quality services.

Economic Growth

Road privatization has the potential to contribute to economic growth in many ways. As indicated earlier, privatization helps to lighten the burden of the government based on the fact that the financial responsibilities of constructing and maintaining roads are transferred to the private sectors. Budget squeezed in privatization can easily be used to provide more benefits to the people. Additionally, once public corporations are privatized, the dirty culture of nepotism and favuortism and discrimination against job applicants and those officials due for promotion or training may be drastically reduced as private investors needs experts and would pursue managerial strategies that would promote profit.. For privatization the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) approach which would help the country to have many accessible roads and bridges are more preferable economic development.

Security

With the transfer of roads management to the concessionary company, it can help to improve security on the highways and minimize casualties on the road. For instance, in most roads managed by the concessionary company, they cover most part of the roads with CCTV. This thus helps detecting any case of breakdown, accidents, robbery, reckless-driving and other unethical behaviours such as digging the road for laying sewage or water pipes without properly covered, creating among the road users and other citizens. The Sun 2014 November 19) reports that the CEO of FERMA laments that “Most times, our people, citizens of the country, dig through the roads and don’t care to re-surface the crater they create. They vandalize bridge railings and make bonfire on the roads that actually cause problems. The improvement in monitoring could thus help improve securities on the roads. It can improve the psyche of many of the lawless motorists and eventually call them if put under surveillance while plying the privatized roads.

Discussion

The study found that the government’s culture of funding some capital projects had begun to place serious strains on budget and that has resulted into cumulative budget deficit of governance. Iweala, (2015) reiterates that Nigeria has in its budget portfolio a Fiscal Deficit of N755 billion (US$3.02billion) (or 0.79 percent of GDP) as at 2015 budget presentation. The regulatory agency on roads and other projects is required to perform effectively in supervising and monitoring the quality control of public projects prior completion stage. The step will facilitate job quality compliance and utmost standards. The government is highly indebted to contractors to the tune of NGN1.76 trillion (about US$12 billion) not only because of the projects are as many as 187 different projects but owning to corrupt tendencies such as rent-seeking emanating from stringent and cumbersome bureaucratic regulations as cases of over invoice of projects and supply services are identified. Finding shows that there are no toll collection points for road users anymore after being dismantled because of corruption. Collection of toll may play substantial part in reducing financial commitment to road construction and maintenance. If toll is being collected and transparently managed, the proceeds from it could be diverted to build new roads with toll points while old roads are upgraded to meet the modern standards.

Local authorities at all levels should cultivate the culture of patronizing the indigenous construction firms and organizations for contracts by reducing preferences for foreign firms. This initiation would benefit the country a lot in terms of increasing employment opportunities, raising capital investment for indigenous companies who would not repatriate their profit abroad but reinvest it in the country. Besides, issuing hard currency for the payment of works and services to the foreign firms would reduce pressure on the hard-earning foreign currencies to make way for strengthening the purchasing power of the local currency. Emergence and development of SMEs as a result of their participation either in taking part in the supply services to major contractors or collecting used and waste products for recycling and restructuring as useable products would create job and cheap household items for the people in and around the country. Increase in capital base would certainly increase their revenue and be able to win more contracts off-shore as their completed works in their country could be use as score cards to market them abroad. The government’s intervention is crucial for technical upgrading for measuring their standards and supporting them with financial facilities with low interest rate to allow the engineering sector grow along the international standards for quality job delivery. The anticorruption agency must be strengthened, empowered and be adequately assisted with active and considerable number of whistleblowers and undercover operatives. The judiciary should operate independently to ensure pure integrity and corruption free dispensation of justice. The government may not need to be financing road constructions any longer but rather, privatize them to prevent bureaucratic delay under the provision of awarding contracts via the appropriation act which are pretty source of rent-seeking. If the authority can sign partnership with private sector on BOT scheme while enabling environment is secured by the government then, proper function and increase of infrastructures will be guaranteed. Government may be advised to embark on diversification of budget proposed for building roads to be added to the budget of all sectors that provide sustainable means for the nation such as education, agriculture and science & technology. The cost of roads construction in Nigeria is outrageous, there is the need for special infrastructure evaluation committee to access, monitor and approve road contracts. The membership of such committee must include experts in engineering, technology, finance etc to make proper assessment of roads

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The condition of roads in Nigeria has become a nightmare to all stakeholders due to lack of maintenance and the insignificant increase in the construction of the new roads despite the increase number of vehicles and road users on daily basis. These precarious road conditions have resulted on huge loss of life with its associated effect on the economic growth of Nigeria. The traditional policy of funding road projects by the government has been proved ineffective not only in Nigeria but in various countries where such policy on road maintenance by government persists. This development has necessitated the rising adoption of privatization scheme otherwise known under the scheme of Public Private Partnership (PPP) in many countries.

Management of roads by the Nigeria’s government is marred with mismanagement, lack of innovation, funding and corruption. From this backdrop, this study suggests privatization of Nigeria roads as a viable option that could assist in saving lives, creating employment, security and stimulating economic growth. However, in ensuring efficiency and effective implementation of PPP, an adequate pre-feasibility study that will enhance hitch-free take-off of the privatization scheme on roads with a proper regulatory system to boost investors’ confidence is a necessity. These strategies would motivate the business partners to mobilize private funds for road projects. In addition, an environment that is conducive is also a necessity because the presence of effective regulatory agencies operating on the maintenance of the environment as well as provision of adequate security seemed to have contributed to successful privatization of roads in countries like Malaysia, United States of America, Singapore and many European countries. As such, the Nigerian government should lend from the experience of these countries to enhance the required facilities for successful running of Nigerian privatized roads across the country. In order to reduce pressure on the government’s fiscal budget, public institutions need to tap the financial resources and expertise of private organizations by forming partnership on road privatization and concessioning of toll plaza. These are considered viable alternatives to sustainability of durable and safe roads for public use on regular basis.

A good regulation must ensure the involvement of all stakeholders; prevent grievances of the people, transparency, accountability, fairness and efficiency (United Nation 2008). The World Bank notes that road works operated by the private would create competition to enhance value for money at the same time obtain affordable services with lower cost. Competition for road works can be expected to:

(a) Secure the best selection of contractors with regard to price and quality of works (economic effectiveness)

(b) To adapt supply to actual and varying demand for works, as contractors enter and exit the market (economic efficiency) (Robinson, 1998).

Finally, this research on privatization of Nigerian roads through private investment is highly significant to the policy makers to make them understand that private involvement could lead to increased efficiency in service delivery and profitability in businesses as traffic congestion, accidents and fear of robbery and the unnecessary driving stress would disappear. It will also broaden the share capital of the road operating companies as local investors would come on board to invest in safe and active companies while the Nigerian government too would be proud to use the infrastructure in garnering momentum to gain support of the electorates during electioneering campaign for political offices. This will boost the public interest; decrease the deficit budgeting and increase infrastructure. The External loan obtained to procure infrastructure would reduce as loan servicing takes toll on the financing of some public free-use projects like roads.

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