Institutional Framework for Managing Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development in Anambra State, South East Nigeria

This study evaluates the institutional framework governing public-private partnerships in infrastructure development in Anambra State, South East Nigeria. Anambra State has experimented with public-private partnership arrangements in road construction, market development, and education, but unresolved questions about legal frameworks, risk allocation, and contract management persist. Drawing on institutional economics and public-private partnership management theory, and current literature from 2019 to 2024, the study employs a practitioner research design. Data are gathered from Anambra State Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Authority officials, private partner representatives, Ministry of Finance budget officers, and legal framework analysts through interviews and contract document reviews. Qualitative content analysis and framework benchmarking against national Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission standards are applied. The study expects to find that Anambra's public-private partnership institutional framework suffers from inadequate legal certainty, weak independent transaction advisory capacity, poor post-financial-close project monitoring, and limited transparency in concession award processes. These findings are contextualised within the state's broader governance reform agenda. Recommendations address enacting a state public-private partnership law, professionalising the project development cycle through independent financial advisors, establishing a public-private partnership unit with adequate technical staffing, and implementing standardised concession monitoring dashboards. Keywords: public-private partnerships, infrastructure development, institutional framework, Anambra State, concession management