Economic recession: DFID, group seek public, private collab

In view of present economic recession in the country, the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID) and the African Health Empowerment and Advancement Foundation (AHEAF) have advised that collaboration between the public and private sectors system should be adopted as a way out to overcome and come out stronger as a great nation.
Speaking on Monday in Ado Ekiti during the two-day Second Regional Conference on “The Role of Private Sector in Building Social and Economic Resilience in South West” organised by DFID in partnership with AHEAF, the Executive Director, Mrs. Sholape Iyoho, recommended that public-private partnership (PPP), especially at a time the government is dealing with challenges of fiscal space to execute various development projects could “provide additional/alternative funding sources to address this gap”.
She said: “Government partnering with the private sector can enable continued or improved quality of service(s) with little or no cost to the government thereby creating fiscal space for financing other spending priorities”.
The AHEAF boss said the workshop was targeted at building and developing clear and precise collaboration framework to address both social development contributions and intervention support during emergencies along the line of the foundation’s vision to see Africa develop to its full potential.
Declaring open the event, Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Economic Planning, Pastor Olusesan Alabi, charged the public sector to contribute its quota to the development of the Nation and state.
DFID Regional Programme Officer, Margaret Fagboyo, said the role of private sector was beyond Corporate Social Responsibility, describing the private sector as “partner to government and civil societies in National and State development.
Fagboyo, who said inclusive governance is inconclusive without the private sector, said “government cannot provide everything and indeed there is a lot of input in terms of development finance, development policy, infrastructure development and human development that the private sector can contribute to”.
Participants at the conference facilitated by Bunmi Oyeleye of Penyl Consult Limited, charted ways the private sector could collaborate with the public sector in the various sectors of the economy to bring about accelerated development.
Resource person at the event, Dr Adesina Fagbenro-Byron, a consultant and Corporate Responsibilty Officer of Mothergold, who pointed out that the private sector have traditionally partnered with government to promote development, added that the role of the private sector “is pivotal and fundamental in achieving success of the developmental aspirations of any society,” not solely centred on financing and investment.
Fagbenro-Byron, who presented a paper entitled “The Private Sector as the Third Leg in the Development Tripod,” charged governments to create the right enabling environments for economic growth and opportunity.
While pointing out that government has a responsibility of creating the enably environment to facilitate the desired goal, he advised governments to also “create the right collaborative frameworks for business, government and civil society to work productively together to meet social needs when governments cannot meet them by themselves”.