CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1   BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a sustained and long-term partnering relationship between the public and private sectors to provide services and goods. Through PPP, the public sector seeks to bring together the resources of the public sector and the technical expertise of the private sectors to provide services and goods to the public at the best value for money (Ministry of Finance, Singapore, 2009).
Traditionally, the public sector has tended to engage the private sector merely to construct facilities or supply equipment. The public agencies will then own and operate the facilities or equipment or engage separate maintenance and operations companies to operate the facilities and equipment to deliver the services to the public (Oyedele, 2012). PPP is born based on the fact that government provision of goods and services should not only lay emphasis on finance but on the quality of goods and services. “Managerially, modernization emphasizes a shift from a focus on inputs to a concern with outcomes – providing services is no longer a sufficient justification for state intervention, it must create added public value (Oyedele, 2012).
There is a more open-minded approach to service procurement, and no presumption that in-house provision is always the best option (Hood and McGarvey, 2002)
Public Private Partnership is a contractual arrangement which is formed between public and private sector partners which involve the private sector in the development, financing, ownership, and or operation of a public facility or service. In such a partnership, public and private resources are pooled and responsibilities divided so that the partners’ efforts are complementary.  Public-Private partnerships relate to perceptions and practices affecting public private sector relationships in ensuring global health, development and well-being of the society, and the conceptual aspects of such relationships, including the role of the key players in collaborating to make these partnerships successful or otherwise (Aribigbola, 2008).
The acceptance of public private partnerships should be based on mutual benefits and not intended to benefit the investors at the expense of the local citizens. This explains why countries like Hong Kong are very skeptical on PPP. Although most forms of PPP involve a contractual relationship between the public and private parties, the long-term nature of these contracts creates a strong long-term mutuality of interest (Kee and Forrer, 2012). PPPs are not just a step in the procurement process; given their long-term nature, they differ from traditional procurement contracts, which often are associated with a short-term “claims culture.” Early evidence of operational contracts in more mature PPP programs shows that in many cases the parties can recognize this mutuality of interest without adversely affecting the mechanisms in the formal contract that determine performance (Cheung, and Chan, 2011).
The main purpose of PPP in infrastructure provision is that financial, technical and management risks should be allocated to the party that is best placed to manage it at the least cost, acceptable quality and reasonable time. In United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America and India, PPP has been successfully used in the provision of infrastructures. Nigeria infrastructure gap is very wide because of the irresponsibility of past and present leaders in the provision of infrastructures (Oyeweso, 2011 and Oyedele 2012). Hence this research will investigate the Effects of Public Private Partnership in Service Delivery with a special reference to the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA).