President Jonathan’s Performance Evaluation Initiative.

Minister performance

The performance appraisal contract signed by ministers with President Jonathan is a welcome idea as it would propel the cabinet members to action but the president would need a huge dose of political courage to deal with the ministers in accordance with their performance, writes Vincent Obia

His vast experience and appetite for hard work once gave him a reputation as the administration’s best hope. But Professor Barth Nnaji resigned as Minister of Power last week in the wake of a performance bond President Goodluck Jonathan had signed with members of his cabinet the week before. The question agitating every mind is, was Nnaji’s resignation supposed to be part of measures put in place as supporting acts for the Performance Contracting Agreement the president signed with his cabinet members on August 22?

Although many Nigerians testify that power supply had improved under his watch, Nnaji’s tenure had been mired in controversy over reports that companies linked to him were engaged in a bid to buy over power plants slated for privatisation by his ministry. Recently, labour unions under the power ministry have also questioned his management of their pension fund.

The federal government has said Nnaji’s resignation was meant to give credibility to the privatisation process. But reports have it that it was actually the president that demanded the minister’s resignation. For a president who only recently acknowledged that he was the most criticised Nigerian leader, such demand, certainly, may not be out of place. At a time the Jonathan administration is coming under severe criticism for alleged non-performance and corruption, many think Nnaji’s exit could be one in a series of schemes laid out as supporting acts for the president’s performance evaluation agenda.

Developed by the National Planning Commission, the initiative, as a global practice adopted by several countries, including the United Kingdom, Malaysia and South Africa, is premised on the saying, “what gets measured gets done.” It is meant to gauge the performance of the ministries, departments, and agencies of government according to established Key Performance Indicators. The MDAs are required to develop detailed documents to guide implementation of the KPIs up to 2015, and on each of the KPIs there would be six monthly reports to the president and the public as well as a scorecard.

Jonathan said the initiative was to demonstrate his government’s commitment to service delivery and accountability. He assured ministers that it was not a witch hunt. According to the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamshudeen Usman, the performance system initiative is based on three basic principles: “what gets measured gets done, if you cannot measure success you cannot reward it, if you cannot measure failure you cannot correct it.” Perhaps, to demonstrate the importance the government attaches to the evaluation process that took about one and half years to develop, a whole new department has been set up for the project, with most of the personnel coming from the private sector and the development partners.

Many point with satisfaction to the potential of the initiative to aid delivery of promises to the citizenry. Some states like Anambra, Cross River, Lagos, Ekiti, Jigawa, Niger, and Rivers have already adopted similar performance measurement mechanisms or are working towards it.

Experts attribute the idea of performance evaluation in governance to former United States President Franklin Roosevelt. After his inauguration on March 4, 1933, at a time of great depression in the country, he was said to have appointed a cabinet based on merit and tasked his cabinet members with specific targets they must meet within six months or get the boot.

However, under Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances, where ministers and other cabinet members are mainly nominees of political godfathers and patrons, and where political interests more often than not overshadow merit, many doubt if the performance evaluation system can be effectively practised to bridge the appalling achievement gap in most state institutions. If, for instance, a minister or cabinet member scores below average and the public call for the sack of such officer, would the president have the courage to heed the citizen’s voice?

Jonathan would have to demonstrate that the new evaluation scheme can eliminate the unfortunate situation where ministers and other government officials simply become demigods upon their nomination and approval by the Senate, without minding the deliverables they were appointed to make available to the people.

The country’s public institutions have been hampered by a terrible performance deficit. Many believe the evaluation system, if properly implemented, would help get Nigeria out of this situation. Besides, the new system of tracking achievement goes beyond budget performance, which has in recent time been a source of conflict between the presidency and the National Assembly. Whereas budget performance tends to focus on deployment of budgeted funds, without necessarily tracking achieved outcomes, the latter is the core of the new performance initiative. Many, thus, hope the scheme would not just be a modest response to the budget performance questions raised by the National Assembly – though budget performance remains a critical aspect of achievement tracking.

The new evaluation system also serves other purposes. Public institutions and governments in the country have been inundated with haphazard measurement systems often introduced by organisations and individuals. The evaluations are often based on arbitrary and, sometimes, abusive criteria. But this time, the KPIs would provide clear and objective criteria to measure performance by governments and agencies. Civil society organisations can pick the KPIs and try to match claimed governmental achievements against the established principles. The performance evaluation initiative provides citizens a window to come up with parallel reports that can be used to test claims by governments and public institutions. To facilitate this, however, the government has to make the KPIs available to the public.

Ultimately, what the Nigerian situation at the moment requires is change that would provide the right policies and create the right environment in which governance could become a net producer of resources and happiness for the great majority, instead of its present state of being just a net consumer of resources.

This Day.

Economic Saboteurs in Our Midst.

Behind the Figures by Ijeoma Nwogwugwu

Nigeria is a bundle of contradictions. For years we’ve lost sleep over the amount of money wasted on private electricity generation, how the lack of regular power supply has shut down businesses, led to job losses, and turned thousands of artisans into commercial motorcyclists that constitute a menace on our roads. For years we have pressurised the government to clean up the fuel subsidy scheme, clampdown on the cabal that has been feeding fat off the regime, and prosecute the fraudsters who have taken advantage of a policy meant to subsidise our consumption of petroleum products and keep the refineries from functioning.

And yet, just when the government seems to be getting round to reforming the electricity sector and is half-heartedly prosecuting a couple of oil marketers, the labour unions rise up in arms against the government, threatening to shut the economy and foster hardship on the same masses that they claim to protect.

Starting from the power sector, it is apparent that the junior workers are being led by the nose by Joe Ajaero, the general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees to scuttle the reform and privatisation programme for self-serving reasons.  Ajaero, as this column has pointed out in the past, has grandiose dreams of some day emerging president of the Nigeria Labour Congress. He is also currently one of three deputy presidents of the NLC.

But his ambition is under threat, as the transfer of electricity assets to private sector operators, will whittle down his stranglehold over junior electricity workers, one of the biggest affiliates of the NLC. So, for selfish reasons, Ajaero has been running amok in the electricity sector, threatening to shut down the power grid and costing the economy several billions of naira.

His latest grouse with the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji stems from a disagreement over the severance benefits to be paid to electricity workers, post-privatisation. Despite the mismanagement and decimation of the in-house Defined Pension Scheme, which NEPA (the predecessor of PHCN) operated before the commencement of the Pension Contributory Scheme in 2004, the government has accepted to plug the gap by committing to set aside N85 billion as severance pay to PHCN workers.

In addition, the government has committed to paying the backlog of contributions of 7.5 per cent apiece by the employer and employees as provided under the Pension Reform Act, which, again, PHCN failed to comply with. In total, severance benefits to be paid PHCN workers, who have been largely incompetent and contributed very little to the economic development of the country in almost two decades, will cost tax payers some N140 billion, much of which will come out from the privatisation proceeds.

Still, Ajaero would have none of it, insisting that the severance package be left at 25 per cent from the day the in-house pension scheme was set up to date, unmindful of the fact that the in-house scheme, which was barely funded by PHCN workers in the first instance and was mismanaged by its trustees, ceased to be operational on the day the Pension Reform Bill was signed into law. Should the government succumb to such a spurious demand, it will increase its liability to PHCN workers to N433 billion.

As if Ajaero’s demands are not unreasonable enough, he has also threatened to shut down the power facilities on the grounds that military personnel have been deployed to safeguard them from terrorist strikes and misguided PHCN workers who might want to vandalise electricity installations. But what does he care about the implications of shutting down the grid for a few days? What does he care that Nigerians for the last few weeks, even if it is short-lived, have enjoyed some measure of stable electricity supply? Insofar as Ajaero gets his way, and attains his inordinate ambition to someday lead the NLC, he will do whatever it takes, including committing a crime against the state.

It is not just Ajaero that has been leading the workers under the union he leads astray. Another union, in the very vital oil and gas sector – the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers – has been equally irresponsible. Its president, Igwe Achese without any consideration for the hardship he would cause Abuja residents, stopped fuel supply to the federal capital for over a week and threatened to extend the strike to the rest of the country if the federal government failed to pay all outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketing companies and importers.

Although the nationwide strike was averted in the nick of time and fuel supply to Abuja has been restored, it took this newspaper and some other concerned voices to point out that Achese was not fighting for the workers in the downstream oil and gas sector but for indicted oil marketers wanting to escape prosecution for defrauding the fuel subsidy scheme.

For the record, Achese caught this column’s attention over a year ago when NUPENG threatened to go on strike over some oil marketing companies whose bad loans had been called in by the banks. At the time, he offered himself as a willing tool for bad debtors who were trying to fight the system. The goal of the marketers was to force the government or Central Bank of Nigeria to grant them some form of forbearance on depositors’ funds that they had borrowed and obviously frittered away on private jets, expensive mansions and other luxury items. Fortunately, his attempt to call a strike was stymied by CBN, which made it clear that the bad debtors must repay their loans or lose their businesses.

As if that did not serve as lesson, Achese, again, offered himself to the same set of marketers led by the so-called Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners Association and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association – both unions, mind you, boast some of the biggest fraudsters of the subsidy scheme. The bigger irony is that NUPENG is supposed to represent the interest of junior workers in the industry. But somehow, Achese always seems to serve the interest of the ownership or employers in the sector, not the other way round.

What is worse is that in the midst of these mindless threats to sabotage the economy and open attempts to commit crimes against the Nigerian state by the leadership of its affiliates, the NLC never deemed it necessary to call them to order. Owing to the check off dues they all contribute to sustaining the umbrella body, the NLC foolishly backed their misdeeds with myopic zeal.

But if the leadership of the NLC, NUEE and NUPENG must know, they derive their support base from two major sources – the workers and the streets (the masses). So as they continue to disenfranchise and erode their support base for selfish and personal gains, they should be mindful of the fact that Nigerians are wisening up to their antics.

Besides, the reform in the electricity sector that Ajaero so desperately wants to stall cannot be stopped, even by a speeding train. Nigerians are desperate for improved electricity supply, so if the likes of Ajaero are incapable of staying on the bandwagon, he should be pushed off. He needs to kiss his ambition to lead NLC goodbye and thank his stars that he was even given the chance to lead a union in a sector in which he’s never worked for one day in his entire life.

Just the same, what is expected of NUPENG and NLC is to push for improved management of the fuel subsidy scheme and the prosecution of fraudulent oil marketers and their accomplices in the public sector that the government continues to shield. When they threaten to stop fuel supply and hold the government and nation to ransom, what they don’t realise is that they become allies of the fraudsters in the system and will be painted with the same brush. That the unsustainable fuel subsidy regime has been sustained and abused for so long is as a result of NLC’s insistence that it is the only benefit enjoyed by the masses. That being the case, when any of its affiliates sides with the fat cats that have taken advantage of the system, the NLC should see through the scam, and with all sincerity, act in the interest of the Nigerian people.

Finally, some serious thought ought to be given by the National Assembly to passing some form of legislation to protect critical infrastructure in the country. The law should include penalties, ranging from harsh penalties to long prison terms for individuals and the unions who form the habit of vandalising and sabotaging government and private sector infrastructure set up for the benefit of the people. Since electricity workers have shunned the Industrial Court where employer-employee disputes can be settled and have continued to disobey a Supreme Court judgement, which, owing to the essential service that they render, bars them from strike actions, perhaps a law will serve as a deterrent against their penchant for flippant strikes and threats of vandalisation.

Rescuing the North.

ENGAGEMENTS By Chidi Amuta.

The critical national security challenge of the moment coincides with an incremental meltdown of the geographic North of the country.  As we speak, nearly the entire region has been seized by a new normal: suicide bombings, assassinations, routine acts of arson, carnage and the elevation of violence into the dominant language of social interaction. Tragedy no longer makes news. More debilitating is the gradual de-coupling of half of the nation from the national economy through a psychological hindrance of the free movement of persons and economic factors.

For now, something rough and frightening is restlessly haunting the North and we should all be concerned.  Any crisis that affects one section of the country makes us all incomplete whether we live in Badagry or Birnin Kebbi.

While we are at it, an untidy sectarian wall is gradually being erected among Nigerians. From being simply citizens of one country, Nigerians are being forced to see themselves as either Christian or Muslim.  Meanwhile, the politics of insensitivity to the plight of the masses persists just as Northern political leaders jostle for vantage positions in relation to 2015.

Federal response has followed familiar roads: troops deployment, expressions of intention to dialogue with a faceless adversary etc. Even more tragic, repeated meetings of Northern governors and political leaders have turned out clueless on how to stem the violence and re-integrate the region into the nation. Instead, the loudest noises from the region have been about sharing of oil money, derivation quotas and loud opposition to proposed constitutional changes that should make Nigeria work better.

One or two members of the so-called Northern elite have gone as far as alleging that Boko Haram is the result of a lopsided revenue and derivation formula. Implication? Throw more billions of naira into the gaping pockets of the same opportunistic and unimaginative people who vicariously created Boko Haram in the first place. A handful of more enterprising ‘Northerners’ have set up shop as negotiators or mediators between government and the violent jihadists. I see a business plan, not a patriotic interest in national security in this whole enterprise of dialoguing with Boko Haram.

Only last week, however, an impressive array of mostly Northern notables was convoked for the purpose of finding solutions to the unrelenting violence. These efforts are impressive displays of concern. But among this gamut of views and propositions, there is nothing on the table that suggests that we are prepared to admit the origins of the crisis or intelligently engage on permanent solutions.

While we grope for solutions, to my mind, the region faces three distinct possibilities:  First, increased federal security effort could produce a temporary restoration of the pre-existing order of inequality secured by force.  Second, the regime of insecurity could become institutionalised to the extent of the region becoming more like Somalia and thus become effectively de-coupled from the rest of the federation. The latter would be characterised by periodic fire fights between armed factions and the rise of warlords. With the characterisation of elements of Boko Haram as part of an international terrorist organisation by the US, we may soon play host to drone attacks on suspected terrorists targets in Nigerian territory.  The third more positive possibility is an internal political revolution in which a new leadership emerges to seriously address the challenges of development and modernisation of the region, literally continuing from where the late Sar’dauna of Sokoto left off in 1966.

Most interpretations of the turn of events in the North are mostly as foolish as the blind quest for solutions in wrong directions. The anomy in the region is not exclusively a failure of security. The North is as insecure as the rest of Nigeria and people are not strapping explosive belts around their waists in other parts of the country. It is also not necessarily a political pressure to get a Northern president in 2015. How come Boko Haram has targeted key Northern leaders including, most recently, some traditional rulers and key politicians? It is true Al Queda and other fundamentalist anarchists seek fertile ground in places where poverty and desperation drive people of friendly faith to buy into their theology of mindless bestiality. But the Nigerian show of repeated violence is not strictly theirs; our strategic position vis-a-vis Western interests is mostly marginal but our weak security infrastructure makes this place attractive to casual anarchists, be they Boko Haram, kidnappers or glorified  oil thieves erroneously dubbed Niger Delta militants.

To my mind, Boko Haram is a direct repercussion of years of misguided policy, irresponsible politics and atrocious governance by both the federal authorities and the various governments of Northern states. All our efforts in the search for solutions to this tragedy must therefore be anchored on how to redress the repercussions of bad leadership first by the Northern elite and vicariously the federals.

There is a historical puzzle about the turn of events in Nigeria’s Northern half.  The two factors that have contributed to prosperity, modernisation and progress in other parts of the world have been abundantly present in the North of Nigeria, namely, Islam and military rule. For over four decades, Nigeria was under military rule and 95 per cent of the leaders were Northern officers. Roughly 50 per cent of Nigeria is unarguably Islamic.  In Asia and parts of Latin America, military rule modernised economies and provoked modernism and democratic reform. In Malaysia, Indonesia and the Gulf states of the Middle East, Islam and oil wealth have fuelled modernisation and major economic development. How come that in Nigeria, these factors have ended up breeding swarms of destitute and jobless youths driven to the limits of desperation mostly in the Northern half of our country?

Let us reduce the argument to the real world. Let us take an inventory of technicians, tractor operators, plumbers, mechanics, tailors, bricklayers, IT operators, serious traders from the North. In short, let someone carry out an audit of the percentage of the national stock of skilled manpower that is from the North. It is not enough for some Northern governors to insist that they have been budgeting for education and infrastructure over the years just like their Southern counterparts.

What type of education have they been providing? What accounts for the low level of entrepreneurial education in the region? How come the region remains unattractive to foreign investors even from point of view of available indigenous manpower? The Nigerian Diaspora is burgeoning. Let us find out what percentage of that potent force is from the 19 Northern states.

The inconvenient truth is that the North is not quite like the South in many senses. The cultural and religious divide of the country between the two dominant faiths of the world poses a different set of development challenges for the two halves of the country.  Incidentally, it was only in the First Republic under the late Sar’dauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello (Allah bless his heritage!), that this realisation was brought to bear on the philosophy of governance and development strategy in the old Northern Nigeria. That is why the glorious era that we keep referring to – the age of the groundnut pyramids, the cotton piles, the super competent public servants and the openness and tolerance of the people to all faiths coincides with this era.

With military invasion of governance and regimental political unitarism, the recognition of the peculiarity of the region was smashed. In its place was introduced an array of faulty assumptions: equality of states, even development, unmediated western education, oil as king, the politics of laziness and constitutional entitlement to oil money and a very unscientific affirmative action. These are the sins that we are now paying for.

The imperative of the moment is to take a look at the development strategies that have been adopted over the years in the North and see the extent to which we have adapted this to the cultural needs of the region. We are not the only country in the world with a huge Muslim population. Why are the others making progress and we are making orphans and widows? Why are the Gulf states taking giant leaps in development to the acclaim of the rest of the world? Why is Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country with a secular constitution, now one of the world’s favourite destinations for investment and a source of expertise? Why have Malaysia and Indonesia made the giant economic leaps we know in spite of their impossible geographical constraints?

The classic irony of the plight of the North is that a region that has produced ‘the richest man in Africa’- Alhaji Aliko Dangote - also boosts of the smallest concentration of entrepreneurs per square kilometre than the rest of the country! How come?

Even Saudi Arabia that hosts Islam’s holiest sites is embracing modernity while we remain cocooned in ancient customs and hold our people down with oppressive theologies? Put simply, why has the Northern political elite found it impossible to come up with development strategies that are based on the cultural identity of the region? All meetings of the so-called Northern governors over the years have never been development oriented. And yet, it is to the prosperous cities of the Gulf states (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Mecca and Medina) and Europe that these same leaders escape either on lavish vacations or to invest whatever wealth they accumulate in public office.

The solution to the crisis of violence and insecurity in the North may not be as farfetched as the authorities are making it appear. The prerequisite is the humility, on the part of the Northern political elite, to admit past missteps and the intellectual curiosity to ask the correct questions from the right quarters.

Terrorism, Society and the Rest of Us.

 Victor Ndoma-Egba

As a politician and a three-term member of the National Assembly, I cannot but be disturbed by the floundering state of security in Nigeria in recent times. I know a lot of our compatriots also feel the same angst, consternation and ‘confoundment’. It is indeed disheartening that innocent Nigerians are being murdered in a manner that is too serial and sectarian for comfort. It is even more discomfiting that a large number of those killed in many of these attacks are youths. Youths are the real resource of a nation.  By these killings, we are squandering not only our wealth but our future.

Up till now, no one is yet to fathom the goals being pursued by these attackers. What is known is that the attackers have been meticulous in their strategy by choosing to hide under the cover of our diversity to cast their terror thus creating a hiatus in our national unity.

So, to the extent that each time these terrorists attack, we are quick to stand apart on the threshold of Christian-Muslim or Southern-Northern divide, we continue to lose the war against terrorism in our country. I doubt if this country had ever been as divided as it is today. Yet, ironically, this is the time we need to stand together as a people - more than ever before - to fight the boggy of insecurity plaguing our land. Then we can fully address the poverty and inequities in our polity; issues that know neither tribe nor religion. I believe that a more pragmatic approach to solving the menace of terrorism in our country is to reinvent those social and communal values that bound us in the past.

As far as history can guide my thoughts, most of the communities where we have problems of terrorism today have had centuries old history of social and communal relationships and co-existence. The Berom have for centuries accommodated and lived with the Fulani in Plateau State, the Hausa in Kano State have over the years, accommodated and lived peacefully with the Igbo, the Kataf in Kaduna State and the Kanuri in Maiduguri have also had age-long histories of accommodating non-natives in their communities. These were communities that thrived on the strength of association, friendships, and interdependence. Jos once used to be the hub of hospitality in the whole of West Africa. Kano became a great city of commerce because of its association and friendship with people from other places. Kaduna was once a flourishing city known for its intellectual enterprise. All these are no more, and that begs the question: where and when did we get it wrong? Where did we miss the turn?

I recall with nostalgia my days as a member of the 1978-1979 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) set. I served in the old Bauchi State, which is now Bauchi and Gombe States. At the same time, my elder brother, Rowland now Professor of Surgery, was serving in Song in the old Gongola State now Adamawa and Taraba States and his fiancée (now his wife of several years) was also serving in Numan now in Taraba State. 

I also had friends in Bauchi, Gombe, Kano and of course Jos. That meant I was perpetually on the move between these cities. The hospitality I experienced was unparalleled. The elder brother of Yayale Ahmed, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Head of Service (HOS), Alhaji Yelwaji Azare of blessed memory, adopted me as his son; and I was treated as such. A political icon from Cross River State, late Chief I.I Murphy, gave me a note to his political associate, Alhaji Ibrahim Dimis, then a serving senator who also threw his home open to me. I could go there anytime. Not to talk of the person I served directly under in the Nigerian Police, Senator Nuhu Aliyu, who was then an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

  He retired as Deputy Inspector-General of Police and I had the good fortune of becoming his colleague in the 5th and 6th Senates. He made me a member of his household.
I lived in a flat on Yakubu Wanka Street, Bauchi with Justice Shehinde Kumuyi, current Chief Judge of Ondo State; Oyewale Akinrinade, who was Majority Leader in the Oyo State House of Assembly during the aborted Fourth Republic and a senior lawyer based in Ibadan and Ibrahim Muktari, the current Secretary to the State Government in Katsina State.  Life-long friendships were struck. Our flat had no locks. We travelled everywhere and when we come back everything would be intact. These same Almajiris, who today are being linked to the security problems in the country, were the ones protecting the flat. They ate your cooked food when you travelled but touched no other thing. In fact, they would be the ones to report themselves to you, good naturedly, that they ate the food because it was getting bad. So where did things go wrong?

I do not want to imagine that for whatsoever reasons that Nigeria cannot stand as a country. If we look at it critically, almost every other country in the world is plural just like us. Apart from perhaps the Koreas I know no other country that is completely homogeneous. It is commendable that the Federal Government has taken some measures - most of which military - to arrest the menace of terrorism in the country, but I believe that social therapy will also go a long way in combating the cancer of terrorism which has eaten so deep into our social fabric. For one thing, the situation that we have on our hands now did not come about because of a general collapse of law and order, thus necessitating just the deployment of military strategies to restore normalcy.

The situation came about due to a collapse of communal values - those values of friendship, inter-personal trust, sanctity of human life and accommodation - that once made us a people. This was the same position held by the late Senator Gyang Dantong who was consumed by the crises in his senatorial district in Plateau State. Senator Dantong was a fine gentleman, and a pillar in the National Assembly. I remember he often harangued about the declaration of states of emergency in some parts of Plateau State, insisting rather that the situation required more of a social solution than military intervention.

A social solution to the problem of terrorism in Nigeria will mean that the younger generation especially unlearns certain negative perceptions and prejudices against others and relearn values that unite us. Since we know that a lot of these criminal acts of terrorism are actually being committed by the youths, substantial efforts should be made to re-engineer their mindset to rekindle to those values that enabled communities thrive on plurality. Our diversity can be, and indeed should, be our strength if the political class is creative and honest about the good of all and not just power for the sake of it. What is the benefit of power if it does not create a secure and equitable society where all can equally and fairly compete for resources and opportunities?

Of course, bad governance and corruption are catalytic to the problem. To this end, it is important to stress the point that only a government that is respected by the people and seen to be transparent, can take up this task of social healing. Concomitant to this is addressing the issues of poverty and injustice in the midst of plenty.  We must make our enormous human and natural endowments work for our people and give them a sense of ownership of government.  Until government touches the most vulnerable amongst us, security will remain the challenge of our time.

Megawatts of Controversy.

The Verdict according to Olusegun Adeniyi.

“I understand that Prof. Barth Nnaji is going to man the power sector. He is a man for whom I have tremendous respect (and he comes with impeccable credentials for the job). But he is also an operator in the sector which immediately raises a serious issue of conflict of interests…”

When I wrote the foregoing upon resuming this page after my return to the country in June last year, at a time names of ministerial nominees had just been sent to the Senate for confirmation, there were some angry reactions from supporters and friends of Prof Barth Nnaji. Yet it was obvious from the outset that his appointment as Minister of Power was fraught with risks. In terms of pedigree, he is one of the few round pegs in round holes in the Federal Executive Council. And he did the correct thing by resigning from Geometric Power and putting his interest in a blind trust, which is perfectly legal and transparent. The challenge, however, remained that in a society with a thriving rumour industry, Nnaji had unwittingly provided a weapon of blackmail for his enemies, especially in a high-stake sector like power where there are too many powerful interests to contend with.

Even when his efforts led to significant improvement in the power sector, and he was making the right calls, I have always believed that at some point Nnaji’s appointment would unravel. What I did not envisage is that it would unravel in such a dramatic fashion. By his own account, Nnaji was confronted on Tuesday afternoon by President Goodluck Jonathan with the allegation that he was using his company as a proxy to buy shares in one of the companies being privatized under his watch. Given my little experience in the corridor of power in Nigeria, when things get to that point for a minister, you either jump or be pushed. Nnaji, at least going by Aso Rock statement, was clever enough to opt for the former.

What happened, however, came as no surprise. Prior to Tuesday’s resignation, there had been reports that participation by two companies in which Nnaji has considerable interest had compelled the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to cancel the technical bid evaluation process conducted for Afam power plant and Enugu Disco. To be fair to him, it was Nnaji who actually brought it to the attention of the council (of which he was a member) that O & M Solutions of Pakistan, one of the consortia bidding for Afam, had worked as a contractor for Geometric Power.

But aside the Afam Power station issue, Geometric Power equally has minority stake in Eastern Electric Nigeria Limited, which submitted technical and financial bids for Enugu Distribution Company Limited. So, effectively, Nnaji had interest, albeit indirectly, in two transactions in a sector which he superintended. There was no way that was not going to be a problem for the government.

What I find difficult to understand, however, is how Nnaji could imagine that all the intricacies surrounding these transactions would not have been exploited by government’s opponents (and his) if any of the companies to which he was associated had won the bid. When asked if Geometric Power would withdraw from the consortium bidding for Enugu Disco, Nnaji said: “As far as I am concerned, the bid is still alive. I know that they set up a new committee to re-evaluate the bids, but I don’t know if the process will still be fair after what has happened.”

What nobody should, however, take from Nnaji is his commitment to power sector reforms in Nigeria. It was this that, in the first place, led to his investment in Geometric. He was a hands-on Minister of Power who did the best he possibly could under a very hostile operating environment. Now that he has resigned, there is need for the president to move quickly to appoint a substantive, not acting, successor. Efforts should be made to get someone who not only understands the sector but who also has the capacity to drive the on-going reform in such a manner that will ensure transparency and quick consummation of the privatization exercise.

Whoever emerges as successor to Nnaji, there are still issues to contend with. The first one has to do with the ineffective coordination between stakeholders in the power and gas sectors, leading to delays in the implementation of the Independent Power Projects (IPP). The fact that the Minister of Power has no control over gas which is under the purview of the Minister of Petroleum has been a contending issue and the government must find a way to resolve that lacuna. To put it mildly, both Nnaji and Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke had been working at cross-purposes in a sector as critical as power supply.

When THISDAY Editorial Board recently had an interview session with Nnaji, he alluded to this while speaking about his frustration concerning gas availability for which he has no control yet the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was quick to respond by disputing his claims. This lack of synergy between the two ministries would have to be addressed for the power reform exercise to work. If the government is serious, we may need to bundle electricity and gas administration as it is done in some other countries. For instance, the United Kingdom bundled the Office of Gas regulator and office of the electricity regulator in 2001 into OFGEN when it realized the inefficiency and lack of coordination of keeping the two intersecting points separate. This is more imperative in Nigeria given that most of the power projects depend almost entirely on gas for electricity. There is also need for the ministry to synergize better with the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

What is perhaps the most serious issue and will require tact from whoever replaces Nnaji is that of labour. Union leaders in the sector, apparently with the support of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers, are currently at loggerheads with the government and had fought Nnaji to a standstill. The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had claimed that government had been deducting 25 percent of the workers’ salaries as pension over the years. They are therefore demanding the payment of an outstanding N443 billion which the Ministry of Power strongly disputes. Clearly,the issues go beyond pension, as there are interests within the union working against the privatization exercise but it is also clear that there is a breach in the implementation of the National Pensions Act by the Ministry of Power on the entitlement due the workers. All these are urgent issues which make the appointment of a Minister for Power very compelling.

As we move on to privatized electricity market, it is also important that whoever succeeds Nnaji should focus on rural electrification and renewable sources of energy as well as other major policy issues about energy efficiency and security. Aside the issue of privatization, the current reform in the sector, especially by the NERC, is based on cross subsidies. This means that the industry maintains a discriminatory tariff structure for different categories of stakeholders. The essence is to redistribute income, create access for the poor and fix market imperfections.

Unfortunately, the timing of Nnaji’s resignation is most inauspicious as it may not give confidence to investors in what is clearly a very capital intensive sector. So whichever way we look at it, Nnaji’s exit and the other issues around the sector may yet be one of the most debilitating controversies faced by this government; except the president acts very quickly to appoint a worthy successor to the former minister.

Who Shall We Believe?

There is this joke that Nigerian security operatives can make a person to admit to a crime he/she did not commit and we have seen evidence to that over the years. But the current situation where two different groups would “confess” to killing one man on the same date, at the same time but for different reasons is a new feat. Last week, the State Security Service (SSS) paraded for the second time a group of six men who have allegedly confessed to killing Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the Principal Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole in an armed robbery operation gone awry. And on the same day, as a sign of petty rivalry, the Police also reiterated its claim that the men in its custody indeed “confessed” to killing the same man in an assassination operation sponsored by Rev David Ugolor.

For me, there can be no greater evidence of the state of our national insecurity today than this shameful situation. What is so galling is that the two agencies are playing this sordid game in the public, disgracing themselves and our country with nobody calling the institutions to order. Even if one refuses to join issues with the security agencies over this bungled homicide investigation, what is very clear to sane people is that in this matter, both the SSS and the Police cannot be right. Yet both can even be wrong.

I sincerely believe that President Goodluck Jonathan should wade in by calling both the DG of SSS and the Inspector General of Police for a meeting over this matter. That should help in determining who is lying and Nigerians should enjoy the benefit of being told the truth. If the two agencies cannot collaborate on a murder investigation, how do we then expect them to work together on bigger issues like terrorism?

Congrats General Dambazau

Lt General Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (trd), the immediate past Chief of Army Staff and a doctorate degree holder in Criminology, has joined the Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affairs on a one-year Fellows Programme. As one of the 20 distinguished personalities drawn from 15 countries, and the only African, Dambazau becomes the 7th Nigerian (and the second retired military officer after the late Joe Garba) to be selected for the programme this reporter attended in the 2010/2011 academic session. Aside other activities, he will be conducting his research on “Current conflicts over land in Nigeria and the impact on ethno-religious crisis”.

While I look forward to joining Dambazau and his new colleagues next April when Harvard will hold the first reunion of former Fellows of the 54-year old centre (“to audit classes, hear from accomplished Ph.D. candidates about their thesis research, attend a dinner and participate in a conference entitled Searching for Balance in an Unstable World”), I wish the General and his family a most rewarding experience in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Newswatch Tug of War.

Jimoh Ibrahim.

The dispute over the suspension of Newswatch magazine involving its new chairman/majority shareholder, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, and the magazine’s minority shareholders - Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade – took a turn for the worse on August 21 when Ibrahim “removed” the four men from the board of Newswatch. But the directors say the billionaire businessman’s action is an “illegality and a unilateral one” because there was no board approval for it. For Ekpu, Agbese, Mohammed and Akinrinade, all they are asking from Ibrahim is for the magazine to be published “week after week, just as we did for over 27 years.” But Ibrahim says Newswatch will remain rested for now, in order to “conclude the final stage of its turnaround and ultimate surgery and will soon return bigger and better.” He also said the aggrieved directors remain “sacked,” an action Ekpu says is a huge joke. Yemi Adebowale reports

Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, the new chairman/majority shareholder of Newswatch Communications Limited, publishers of Newswatch magazine and the firm’s minority shareholders - Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Mohammed and Soji Akinrinade – are still at daggers drawn. This is because Newswatch magazine is still not on newsstands as demanded by the aggrieved directors. The businessman has also announced the “removal” of the four aggrieved shareholders from the board. Ibrahim, in a statement, explained that the removal of the directors was in conformity with the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) signed by them, which requires them to have a certain percentage of shares in the company to be on the board. The total percentage of shares being held by them, according to Ibrahim, is 6.1% of the total shares of the company. Ibrahim said this “has not met the requirement of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and that of the SPA, for holding a seat on the board.”

According to the businessman, an aspiring director of the company is required to have a minimum of 10% shares in the company. Ibrahim said the men by the signed SPA knew what was required of them. But the aggrieved directors say Ibrahim lacked the power to remove them and that they would not allow him to continue to “breach the terms of the SPA.” Ekpu in an interview with THISDAY last week Tuesday said their “removal” from the Newswatch board “is a misinterpretation of the power of the majority in a board. The lawyers will tell you that the strength of the majority shareholder lies in the voting at board meetings. It does not lie in one man sitting in his office or in his house and saying that he has the power to sack board members. He does not. You can cross check from lawyers.

“So, he (Ibrahim) owns what in the company? Let me tell you how the whole thing was arranged when we got into this relationship with him. He said four of us should sit on the board representing the 49% shareholders and he will bring six people. But we said we would rather have five people, because we would like our immediate-past chairman, Alex Akinyele, on the board. He agreed and said he would bring seven people. So, it was a 12-man board. So, all these issue of what he now has is news to us, because since then, nothing has been done about the shares structure since May 5, 2011.”

Earlier last week, the business mogul spoke to THISDAY on some of the issues raised by the aggrieved shareholders in an earlier interview. The aggrieved directors also replied to all the latest issues raised by the Newswatch chairman.

On the issue of his ownership of 89% of Newswatch, Ibrahim said: “I think the major problem is that they (the aggrieved directors) are not educated in business matters and this is very embarrassing. Okay, let’s take it that I have 51 per cent of the shares; that is a majority. Either here or at the Supreme Court or anywhere in the world, 51 is higher than 49. The four of them, what they have combined is 6.1 per cent. The next question you will then ask is: who is the owner of the unsubscribed shares? When you have unsubscribed shares, who is the owner? The company. Then who is the owner of the company? I am the one.”

But Agbese disagrees. He told THISDAY: “At what point did he (Ibrahim) find this out? At what point did he find out that we have unsubscribed shares? Has a decision been taken to sell the unsubscribed shares? Has he bought them? For him to own the unsubscribed shares, then the shares must be offered and the shares must be bought. Did he tell you that the shares have been offered to him and that he has bought them? We are not aware that there are unsubscribed shares of the company. Newswatch Communications Limited has no unsubscribed shares.”
On the alleged failure of Ibrahim to inject fresh N500 funds into Newswatch, three months after its take-over, the new chairman said: “The N500 million fresh fund they are talking about is for injection over the next two years; to commence 30 days after the sales. And there is a clause in the SPA that says that this is voluntary. This has nothing to do with the 51 per cent already purchased. And if I capitalise the extra funds I have put into the company, what happens to the other shareholders? What will be their shares? Zero. So, they will eventually have no shares in the company.

“I am supposed to inject the N500 million for things like equipment and machinery. It is not yet two years that we took over the company and we have started putting in the fresh funds. May be you needed to understand that we bought new computers and we have changed the office. We have paid huge outstanding salaries and debts. We paid creditors like Academy Press. We are about to pay outstanding salaries of about N30 million to the staff.

This is not Newswatch’s money but part of the N500 million fresh funds. Almost N300 million fresh money has been spent. All of this money will now be calculated at the end of two years and capitalised. They (Ray and the others) will have no shares again after this.” Ibrahim added that the next board meeting of Newswatch would hold at Igbotako, Ondo State and that the issue of capitalising the fresh funds will be discussed there.

But Mohammed disagrees: “How much have we spent in the last 27 years to run the company, for him to now say that he has spent about N300 million as running cost in the last 15 months? He can tell this kind of stories to people who don’t know how companies are run. We know that our salaries were about N4 million monthly. Our printing cost plus salaries were not more than N6 million monthly. We were owing Academy Press only about N8 million when we left. We don’t know how he spent this huge amount he has been talking about. The truth is that he has not finished paying for his 51% shares.”

On the new account opened for Newswatch at Mainstreet Bank, Ibrahim said: “They (aggrieved directors) are shedding crocodile tears. Where did the money paid to them come from? It came from that account. The old accounts were in red when we took over. If we pay the N510 million straight to the old accounts, the banks will take a huge chunk to cover their loans. We opened a new account in the name of the company; not in the name of Jimoh Ibrahim. Thereafter, the money was injected into that account. And then, they were paid from that account. They ate from the proceeds of that account. And they have left, so they cannot be there again.”

But Mohammed disagrees. He said the process of opening a new account for the company was not transparent and that it had no board approval. “Ibrahim and one of his staff at Global Fleet were the only signatories to the account.”

On the N150 million allegedly diverted from the account, Ibrahim said companies in the group move money around to help each other and “that was what happened.” He said “some other divisions of the group were also putting money into Newswatch for its running cost and that the other members of the group will still be doing this while the reorganisation continues. This case of N150 million, he said, was actually a refund to NICON investment for money spent on behalf of Newswatch before the release of N510million.

But Mohammed countered this, saying, “That is not how a limited liability company is run. Newswatch is not a subsidiary of any of his companies. It is not a member of Global Fleet Group. Money cannot move fromNewswatch to any of his companies. Newswatch has its headquarters on No. 3 Billings Way. He invested in that company. It does not make Newswatch a subsidiary of his company.

It will also be fraudulent to take money from one limited liability company to another limited liability company, more so, when the two are owned by different shareholders. We don’t have shares in Air Nigeria or NICON. So, why should he take money from Newswatch to any of his companies, without the board’s approval? I think it is fraudulent to take money from Newswatch’s account without the board’s approval. He is supposed to pay for his investment in Newswatch with the money. By taken it away, it means he has not finished paying for his shares in Newswatch. So, he has not finished paying for his 51% shares, to qualify for the position of core investor or majority shareholder. To have his eyes on the said unsubscribed shares does not even arise.”

Ibrahim also disputed reports that he promised to make Ekpu, Agbese, Mohammed and Akinrinade executive directors. He said according to the SPA, making them executive directors was at his discretion. Ibrahim said what he wanted to make them was “special assistants” to himself. He also disputed claims that he promised to provide offices for the four directors at group’s headquarters in Lagos. He said: “When did I take them round to show them offices?

How can that be their office? On gratuity for the former chairman, Chief Akinyele, Ibrahim said he never at anytime told them that he would pay the former minister any gratuity. Besides, he said such was not contained in the SPA. On the tax deducted from the gratuity to the four directors, Ibrahim said it was for the Lagos Inland Revenue Service. He added that “the records are there for them to verify.”

But Akinrinade countered Ibrahim’s argument: “He (Ibrahim) was the one who brought up the issue of Alex Akinyele. He said he needed to do something for him. He said there were two options. That he would either give him a jeep or N10 million. He said we should ask the chief the one he preferred and the chief said, ‘I have plenty of cars, give me the money.’ Nobody prompted him. He has been consistently bending the truth. He was also the one that brought up the issue of making us executive directors.”

Ekpu cut in at this point, saying: “In his own wisdom, Ibrahim decided that he would make each of us a group executive director of a much larger Newswatch family of companies. We were expected to assume our role on August 1, 2011 at the end of our three-month retirement leave.” He said Ibrahim’s statement to this effect was published in Newswatch and National Mirror of May 12, 2011 and May 6, 2011 respectively.

On the fate of Newswatch, Ibrahim said the magazine would soon return after the “surgery bigger and better.” He said it was simply rested for the second stage of the turnaround and restructuring and that the magazine will return as a world class publication. Ibrahim said a lot of money had gone down the drain at Newswatch magazine and that he could no longer allow that to continue. Already, he said plans were on to buy a press of over $1 million for the magazine. “Already, the staff members have moved into their new office at Energy House with world class facilities compared to where they are coming from where they can’t even pay for their basic amenities. Here, they are enjoying the best of facilities and are very happy. Outstanding salaries have been paid and we are repositioning the magazine.” The businessman said as a turnaround expert with a track record, Newswatch would return with a big surprise. He said he had never and would never be intimated by the challenges at Newswatch magazine. He said his aim was to sustain the dreams of late Dele Giwa, the founding editor-in- chief of the magazine.

But Ekpu insists Ibrahim should immediately resume the publication of the magazine. He said: “We are waiting for him (Ibrahim) to re-open the magazine and fulfill the terms of the agreement. We did not sell it to him, to shut it. We did not sell it to him to buy and bury or destroy it. We never buried it in 27 years. All these things he has been talking about – shares, money and the rest of the – are irrelevant. We are talking about legacy. In this company, somebody’s blood had been spilled. In this company, people have been dragged to jail several times. In this company, personal accounts have been frozen by various governments in the past. If you are coming from such position, you must be passionate about the magazine and the company. So, he has 100% shares, let him run the company. We are not interfering in the running of the company. We want the magazine to come out week after week, the way we did it in the last 27 years. If you buy a company, you add value to the company. Newswatch is not like government companies they buy and do whatever they like with them. Forget about the issue of percentage of ownership; did he buy it to kill it?

“He (Ibrahim) is talking about not making money. He has to invest money to make money. If he puts a printing press there; he would make money not only from printing Newswatch, but from printing for others. Under 15 months, he was crying that he was not making money. If he is not investing, how would he make money? Did he empower the company to make money? Did he employ the right kind of staff? He brought in people without media knowledge.”

Agbese added: “He (Ibrahim) bought Newswatch with his eyes open. He ought to know what he was going in for. He ought to know whether he can make immediate money as he is making in petrol stations or Air Nigeria. We showed him everything about the company before he bought into it. He has not settled one item of the debt that we gave to him in 2011. He is the publisher of National Mirror. He knows about what happens in this industry. He has been telling people that he bought into it because of the ideals of Dele Giwa, May his soul rest in peace. If he did so because of Dele Giwa, will Dele Giwa be happy to see the magazine destroyed and buried? You can see the contradictions. If he is passionate about Dele, then, he should pump in money and make it successful. When we brought him in, we wanted this magazine to survive.”

The Tragedy of Abandoned Projects ?

Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.

Eleven thousand, eight hundred and eighty-six (11,886) abandoned projects that will cost an estimated N7.78 trillion to complete! These alarming figures are from the report of the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee (PPAC) set up in March 2011, by President Goodluck Jonathan to look into cases of abandoned Federal Government projects.

If the government does not start any new projects, it will take more than five years budgeting about N1.5 trillion annually to complete them all - and that is assuming no cost-over runs or delays!
Ordinarily, these figures should compel the government to accelerate the completion of all ongoing projects, or at least focus on high priority ones.

Unfortunately, this has not been the case: Government would rather continue the weekly charade of awarding new contracts or re-awarding old ones at higher prices during its weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings. 
As trillions of naira are being wasted in the name of public projects, it is important to understand issues like how projects are initiated, bid for, negotiated and awarded and why they get abandoned.

Who and what are really responsible for abandoned projects? Are poor planning, haphazard procurement, and incompetent project management the key causes or is it financial mismanagement? In spite of mobilisation fees already paid, why is nobody held accountable when projects are not completed? How far can the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE) or other agencies with requisite mandate go to address the root causes of abandoned projects? 
There is a need to briefly examine how projects are initiated and contracts awarded.

The first step ought to be conception of projects that fit within a scheme of national vision, strategy and development programmes. As we have stated in this column, a 27-page "transformation agenda" tucked away in the website of National Planning Commission (NPS) falls short of this. This "agenda" is largely inconsistent with the Federal Ministry of Finance medium term sector strategies and budgeting priorities for 2011 and 2012. Most projects are therefore conceived out of nowhere and lacking in internal coherence and consistency with other programmes.


Next is to plan and design the project in detail. Assume a road is to be constructed between two locations, the rights-of-way must be surveyed, levels taken, alignment finalised, road designed, and detailed drawings, bills of quantities and other bidding documents prepared prior to inviting pre-qualified engineering contractors to submit competitive tenders. The design development process can take anything between some months to more than a year, while it takes a minimum of five months from advertising invitations for bids to presentation to the FEC or other approving authority.

This suggests that design and procurement processes for any project ought to start at least a year or two before being budgeted for. This only happens in a few foresighted agencies (MDAs).
Typically, nothing happens until the budget is passed and cash backed, then the implementing MDA begins the fire brigade work of compressing this timeline into a few weeks! Most MDAs wait until projects are included in budget or the budget passed before they start project surveys or design or the procurement process.

When an MDA spends at least five months on procurement, how much time does the contractor have to execute the project and draw down the funds before the financial year runs out?  This becomes a big issue as MDAs are required by law to return all unspent funds to the treasury by the year end. 
To understand why projects get abandoned, we must also understand the pervasive lack of continuation in policies as occupiers of political offices change. Whether it is long-term development plans or contracts for critical infrastructure, the repeated practice in Nigeria is that once new people are in office, policies or programmes of the previous administration are abandoned.

This unwillingness to ensure policy continuity is the root cause of nepotism, corruption and impunity, as officials often re-award such contracts to cronies and generous campaign donors at inflated prices.
In this regard, the "democracies" have not fared better than the military in policy consistency. From Obasanjo’s NEEDS, to Yar'Adua's Seven-Point agenda, and now, Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda – there has been continuity of policy inconsistency within the same ruling party – and turning projects that would have ordinarily benefited the populace into drain pipes.

Critical examples are the N52m Zobe dam in Katsina, commissioned in 1983 by the Shagari regime; not only has several times the original amount been spent on the project, it has not pumped up a single litre of water. And the Ajaokuta Steel Complex which has gulped about N675bn, but still not produced much steel. 
When projects are abandoned, the usual reason given is lack of funds, though often it is the pre-contract mishaps already alluded to, and project management deficits that are the fundamental causes.

How can funding constraints be blamed for project failures? Should one not wonder why a project is approved in the absence of adequate funds? In fact, section 4 (2) (b) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 states plainly that all procurement shall be ‘based only on procurement plans supported by prior budgetary appropriations; and no procurement proceedings shall be formalised until the procuring entity has ensured that funds are available to meet the obligations and has obtained a “Certificate of ‘No Objection’ to Contract Award” from the Bureau’. Simply put, the law requires that no contract should be awarded if funds are not available for it from the onset!
It is intuitive that abandoned projects fuel corruption and reduce public confidence in governance.

The excuse of inadequate or delayed funding may sometimes be contrived.  Such an inference could be drawn as abandoned projects are more often than not re-awarded at unjustifiably over-bloated sums. The increased costs are subsequently justified by blaming inflation, exchange rates, labour and materials cost increases amongst others.
If we intend to check the abnormality of abandoned projects, the relevant laws have to be strictly adhered to. 

Section 63 (1) of the Public Procurement Act which states thus: ‘In addition to any other regulations as may be prescribed by the Bureau, a mobilisation fee of no more than 15% for local suppliers and contractors and 10% for foreign suppliers and contractors may be paid to a supplier or contractor …’ must be firmly applied. 

According to the PPAC, it is not uncommon for contractors to be paid mobilisation fees in excess of 50% of the contract sum, often in apparent violation of the law.
While the Executive arm of government is largely to be blamed for abandoned projects, it is not alone. The National Assembly is liable as well by unlawfully and unconstitutionally inserting new, unplanned projects into appropriation bills expecting them to be implemented.

The National Assembly has joined the executive branch in ignoring the funding needs of existing projects to completion and commissioning. Take the Zobe dam mentioned; does the representative of that constituency not have the responsibility to pursue and ensure the strict completion of projects in his constituency?  If the focus of the government is on development and service to the people, why should officials seek approval for new projects when unfinished ones do not enjoy adequate funding and sound project management?


The Public Procurement Act 2007 established the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) with the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) as the regulatory authorities saddled with the oversight functions of monitoring procurement and implementation of federal projects across the country. 

These statutory functions have been hampered by lots of challenges, including the late passage of the annual appropriation acts by National Assembly and abandonment of the procurement processes by the relevant MDAs if favoured bidders turn out to be unsuccessful. 
If properly sustained, the Due Process and Certification Mechanism started by the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit under Oby Ezekwesili, would have been one of the many benefits of the legislation.

This has however not been the case because of policy discontinuities and the cravings of politicians to have unfettered discretion in awarding contracts.
The Federal Government needs to, as a matter of urgency, comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act. The government must curb the temptations or pressures to embark on new projects when so many remain uncompleted or abandoned. Desirable projects must be continued irrespective of whichever administration initiated them.

The NCPP, which is yet to be constituted, should be urgently inaugurated to superintend the activities of the BPP, as opposed to the current scenario where the FEC usurps the Council's statutory functions.
As you read this, the Federal Ministry of Finance recently announced the release of N300 billion for capital projects for the third quarter of 2012, bringing the total release for capital projects so far this year to N704 billion out of nearly N1.5 trillion for the year.

Most citizens will not feel the impact of this amount because the planning, procurement and project management processes are still fraught with nepotism, corruption and impunity that many projects may end up on the abandoned projects list - after billions have been paid as fungible mobilisation advances. Our nation must do better. We must demand that our leaders do better!