Public-Private Partnerships in West Africa: A Policy Comparison of Nigeria and Ghana

In this paper we revisit the public-private partnership (P3) policies and implementation strategies of Nigeria and Ghana. We found that both countries were motivated by the shortage of public infrastructure and lack of financial resources prior to launching the P3 program about 20 years ago. However, while their P3 policies are similar, the implementation approach and achievements of the program varies significantly in both countries. While Ghana opted for mainly green-field P3 projects, Nigeria preferred a substantially brown-field approach, leading to differences in outcomes. Furthermore, divergent political, social, and economic forces may account for the nature and extent of embeddedness of the P3 policy and project outcomes in both countries. In our view, the findings of this study suggest that policy entrepreneurs (policy makers and adopters) must consider the often neglected but invisible impacts of the institutional environment as a powerful structural guide for policy success.