ASSESSMENT OF FINANCING OPTIONS FOR PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURAL PROJECTS IN ONDO STATE,NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed the various public project financing options for public infrastructural projects in Ondo state. Besides the budgetary appropriation financing option, this study assessed other financing options such as debt-financing, Public- Private Partnership and pension fund. The four infrastructure financing options were assessed based on five parameters of availability, accessibility, effectiveness, suitability and viability. This assessment is to enable the study to recommend to the state the financing option or combination of options that will help to combat the challenges of inadequate infrastructure in Ondo State. Data were gathered using both primary and secondary method. Sixty questionnaires were administered and fifty four were returned and subsequently processed. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Demographic characteristics of respondents were presented in tables, frequencies and percentages while objectives and hypotheses were analysed using Relative Importance Index (RII) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) respectively. On the result of the effectiveness of the options, PPP, Debt financing, Pension Fund and Budgetary appropriation has RII of 0.69, 0.65, 0.63 and 0.57 respectively. The findings show that Debt financing, PPP and pension fund are effective, suitable and viable financing options for public projects financing in Ondo State. The study recommends that budgetary appropriations option is available and accessible for project financing but it has a very low level of effectiveness, suitability and viability. Therefore, government should explore the available opportunities in the suitability, effectiveness and viability in other project financing options such as debt financing, PPP and pension fund to finance public infrastructure in the state.