At NES32, ICRC DG Ewalefoh Backs Effective Implementation of PPP Laws Over Review, Says ‘No Law Can Fix a Person’s Character’

The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, has cautioned against calls for a review of Nigeria’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) laws, arguing that effective implementation, rather than rewriting existing legislation, is what the country needs. Ewalefoh made the remarks at the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit (NES32), where discussions on Nigeria’s PPP framework shifted to the need to review the existing laws. Responding to the debate, the ICRC chief challenged those advocating a rewrite to first examine how much of the existing legislation had been utilised. “It is within the existing law that, under the direction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we have issued 13 guidelines in two years, developed a model concession agreement with the Federal Ministry of Justice, and secured presidential approval for project thresholds. And there is still much more the law allows us to do,” he said. He maintained that the effectiveness of any legislation depended largely on the commitment and integrity of those responsible for implementing it. According to him, deficiencies in the implementation of existing laws should not automatically be blamed on the legislation or used as justification for introducing new ones. “A law is only as good as the people who carry it out. Where they fall short, the fault lies not in the law, and no rewrite will fix it,” Ewalefoh said. Emphasising the limitations of legislation in addressing issues of personal conduct and institutional responsibility, the ICRC director-general declared: “No law can fix a person’s character.” He argued that Nigeria could achieve more by fully deploying the provisions of its existing PPP framework rather than focusing on rewriting the laws.