Developing Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Nigerian Railway Corporation: the governance challenge

Abstract

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are used in different countries in varying ways. While they have been used in some countries as part of the New Public Management (NPM) approach to improve public sector efficiency in building and maintaining public infrastructure, others have used PPP and other variants like Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to seek private sector finance and ease balance sheet pressure. In Nigeria, PPP has been adopted as a governance policy to solve the significant infrastructure gap occasioned by years of decline in infrastructure development. Part of this is reviving the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) which declined in capacity and operation for more than two decades. With Nigeria’s history of governance challenges, which includes mismanagement, conflict of interest and corruption, this research examines the impact of institutional context specifically governance, on the development of PPP in NRC. Whilst much emphasis has been placed on the technical and project management aspect of PPP, there is little knowledge on the institutional context of PPP, especially in Nigeria. Drawing from institutional theory and institutional logics based on Andrews’s (2013) institutional icebergs and Scott’s (2012) notion of organisational fields and institutional logics, this study explored the interplay that exists between institutional context, governance and PPP policy. Using a single case-study, data was gathered from three PPP projects in NRC through participant observation, documentary evidence and ten semi-structured expert and elite interviews. Using Barzelay et al.’s (2003) approach for ordering case studies, conducting thematic analysis and pattern inducing, findings reveal that a dominant governance challenge based on informal normative and cognitive elements identified as a logic of political power dominated the NRC PPP field. This was shaped based on the accepted norms, beliefs and practices within the institutional context. Based on this evidence, there is a limit to the use of PPP as a policy to bridge infrastructure gaps in NRC. This evidence also confirms a ‘small-hole condition’ where opportunity for change is limited due to dominance of strong logic and deeply embedded incumbents. The research concludes that a vicious cycle of policy failure exists in Nigeria due to entrenched contextual issues that negatively impact on policies like PPP. A paradox is also noted which suggests that while PPP is adopted as a policy of governance, governance is a barrier to PPP development. The study recommends that the current belief system needs to be disrupted to forge a new norm of strong leadership, political will and commitment, respect for rule of law and processes, strong institutions, policy consistency and continuity in governance, which will be the starting point for building a strong support for PPP development in NRC. This study extends knowledge by adding to the growing repertoire of research on the significant role of institutional context and governance in PPP development, especially in developing countries and specifically to the limited knowledge of PPP development in NRC.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Eunice Maytorena-Sanchez (Supervisor)