By A Correspondent
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has unveiled his administration’s signature Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concession agreement between Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) and Advent Integrated Services Limited for the construction of a 4,000-bed student housing project.
Governor Sule unveiled this landmark public-private agreement during the signing of memorandum of understanding between NSUK and Advent Integrated Services Limited at a ceremony which held at the Governor’s Lodge in Abuja on Wednesday.
Valued at over N11bn, the project is divided into phases with the first phase pegged at N3.6bn meant to deliver 1500 bed spaces hostel accommodation for students at the state-owned university, with 24 months as expected date of completion.
In his address during the event, the Governor said through deliberate policy thrusts, Nasarawa State is presently witnessing tremendous transformation as can be seen in the execution of the PPP with support and collaboration from UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and United Kingdom – Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF).
A visibly excited Governor Sule appreciated the commendations from both FCDO and UKNIAF, with Sally Woolhouse, Head of Economic Development at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office describing the signing of the PPP in 18 months as flagship in the country.
“I am happy with the statements from FCDO and UKNIAF that this is the shortest PPP arrangement that has happened. Most of our people in the state think that things take long to mature. People are not familiar with such processes. They think the Governor dragged people to the UKNIAF office since 2023, and nothing has happened.
“Those are the kinds of statements you would receive. People don’t know that it is a process. It has to go through the support of the FCDO, support of UKNIAF, you have to even look for who is going to do this and for him to agree he is going to do that, and to find the funding. 18 months is not a big deal,” he stated.
While underscoring his administration’s commitment to leveraging PPPs as a catalyst for development, he recalled past successes, such as the Abuja-Lafia highway project, a PPP model with the Federal Government.
“This project, like the Abuja-Lafia Road, demonstrates how collaboration between government and the private sector can drive progress,” he stated.
As he has always done, he gave President Bola Ahmed Tinubu the credit for the construcion of the Abuja-Lafia dual carriageway, stressing that his administration only intervened towards ensuring that progress on the project was not impeded as a result of challenges with communities regarding payment of compensation.
According to him, delivering hostel accommodation at NSUK would mitigate the challenges of security on campus.
He called for concerted efforts by parties involved in the agreement towards making sure the project is completed on time.
The Governor used the opportunity to highlight the inroads recorded by his administration, as well as the opportunities available to investors coming into the state.
He emphasized that it not by accident that investors are trooping into Nasarawa State by drives.
“It means so much to me when you said these young people driving this process, Ibrahim and Muyiwa, the knowledge they have acquired, with this negotiation that they have done, a lot of states may be saying, who did this for Nasarawa State? Can you come and do it for us? If you have the knowledge and everything.
“You made me proud because that was the dream. The dream was to bring up young people. Advent, in the past, they won’t be thinking of going outside Lagos. For him to accept this partnership, instead of going to UniLag, University of Ibadan, or University of Ilorin, he is now looking at Nasarawa as the attraction,” he said.
He attributed the influx of investors to Nasarawa State to the new emerging status of the state in relation to Abuja, the Federal Capital, similar to what Ogun State is to Lagos, or Maryland to Washington DC.
“We have peaceful coexistence in Nasarawa State. We thank God. The credit does not come to me but to God Almighty and to our people for agreeing to live in peace with one another. We are having so many agricultural activities because of the peace,” he said.
In her remarks, Sally Woolhouse, Head of Economic Development (FCDO), said the signing of the agreement for 4000 bed space students accommodation project is an excellent demonstration of how to deliver on multiple development goals once, breaking new grounds to finance infrastructure.
Woolhouse described the event as groundbreaking for Nasarawa State and Nigeria at large.
“We are committed to supporting this country to develop a higher growth, more inclusive and more sustainable economy. Through our UKNIAF programme, the UK supports efforts to develop and attract investment in infrastructure projects which meets both Nigeria’s development aspirations and climate goals,” she said.
On his part, Frank Edozie, Team Lead, UKNIAF, said the NASIDA-NSUK project is probably the flagship delivery of the PPP approach to infrastructure development, which takes into cognizance challenges of climate.
“We are today talking about 4, 000 bed spaces. There is perhaps 800, 000 when you count all the institutions. Look at the scale of what can be done and ultimately what must be done for us to where we should be,” he said.
For Goke Dokun, Managing Director, Advent Integrated Services Limited, one of the country’s leading companies in students hostel development, said his firm is focused on bridging the infrastructure gap in social sectors of education, healthcare, sports and retail development.
“Thank you for embracing modern technology in delivering this process. One of the biggest challenges that students face today is housing. When you have a place to sleep and there is water, there is power and you can shower whenever you want. You can wake up and go to a reading room without having to go out of the building, you have eliminated a lot of risks, to life, risk that could create chaos. This project is delivering such opportunities to students and the university,” he added.
Professor Sa’adatu Hassan Liman, Vice Chancellor of the Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) described the event as a happy moment for her institution.
“We are very grateful for this achievement. At the university, we have initiated such PPP arrangement but for the first time, we have never been as successful as this. I know that this is because of the efforts and ways that our amiable Governor has put into this arrangement,” she said.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, Ibrahim Abdullahi, MD/CEO of NASIDA, while describing the event as special in the life of Governor Sule’s administration, appreciated his principal for embarking on reforms to improve the business environment, including having one of the most robust PPP framework in the country.