BPE Officially Rejects Bill To Repeal ICRC Act

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The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) fights against a bill seeking to repeal the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Act 2005 and bring about the Public Private Partnership Regulatory Commission Act 2022 before the Senate.

This was disclosed during a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Works on Thursday. The Director-General, BPE, Alex Okoh, said the bill would allegedly duplicate functions between the new proposed agency and the BPE.

He said, “There is no territory in the world where PPP is regulated by an agency as envisioned with the proposed Public-Private Partnership Regulatory Commission.

“We appeal to the Senate not to come up with legislation that will worsen inter-agency collaboration through duplication of functions.”

Meanwhile, the acting Director-General, ICRC, Michael Ohiani, said the proposed bill would address the inter-agency rivalry that exists between the ICRC and BPE as far as regulation of PPP is concerned.

He added that between 2010 and 2020, over $19bn in private public-partnership projects had been approved by the Federal Government.

Ohiani said, “We have been given certificates of compliance in respect of 142 projects and full business case certificates.

“The objective of the bill is well spelt out by putting to rest the seemingly jurisdictional conflict between the ICRC and the BPE.

“This is in consonance with the circular that was issued by the Federal Government which states that the ICRC shall act as the regulatory agency for PPP transactions, with power to inspect, supervise and monitor the projects and process to ensure compliance to relevant laws and regulations.”

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