Blueprints for infrastructure and service delivery in sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this investigation is to design a blueprint or framework for infrastructure and service delivery in sub-Saharan Africa. This involves a critical analysis of the interface between infrastructure services on the one hand and economic growth and development on the other, a critical identification and evaluation of the causes and effects of infrastructure deterioration, and a critical examination of the current framework for infrastructure and service procurement in sub-Saharan Africa. The country chosen to provide a case study was Nigeria. This was because its population makes up almost a quarter of that of sub-Saharan Africa, with about 504 ethnic nationalities comprising 774 local government areas and over 6,932 local communities. Nigeria also has one of the largest energy reserves in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite these advantages, Nigeria is also seen as suffering from one of the worst cases of dearth of infrastructure of any country in the region. The interface between infrastructure, economic growth and development is not only theoretically evaluated but also empirically substantiated. It was found that there is a very strong correlation between private and public investment in infrastructure and gross domestic product on proxy for economic growth and development in sub-Saharan Africa. A survey was then conducted to identify the perceived causes and effects of infrastructure failures in Nigeria. During the empirical analysis of this survey, a new generic model was generated called "Severity Index in Matrix Order" (SIMO) that helps to identify core variable factors in similar investigations of this magnitude. By using SIMO, the major perceived causes of infrastructure and service delivery failures in Nigeria were identified and then ranked in order to severity. It revealed that there was correlation between infrastructure service stability on the one hand and infrastructure maintenance, supply, quality, monthly bills and even the staffing of local infrastructure service providers on the other. Their various relationships were also assessed in order to assist the forecasting process in Nigeria. Subsequent empirical models were developed and validated based on these results. The various effects of infrastructure service failures in Nigeria were also theoretically evaluated. Also examined was the current framework for infrastructure procurement in Nigeria, The World Bank, The African Development Bank and the United Nations Commission for International Trade and Law (UNCITRAL) international best practice for procurement. These various methods were found to be difficult to adapt in view of distinctive local factors such as culture, beliefs and even value systems. The lower recognition accorded to users of infrastructure right from its conceptualisation to its actual delivery was found to be a major procurement failure. This thesis then presents a polycentric cultural model or framework for infrastructure and service delivery in Nigeria. It is believed that this model could also be applied to other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.