By Sunda Onyemaechi Eze
All over the world, government is a continuum. Ideally, once the baton of
leadership of a nation is handed over to a new government, the onus lie on the
regime to embrace the projects, policies and programmes of the previous
administration without recourse to any personal, party or primordial interests.
However, one major identifiable draw-back to social, economic and
infrastructural development in Nigeria is lack of continuity of policies and
programmes of government at the federal, state and local levels. State
resources are poorly managed, majorly siphoned or frittered as political leaders
often embark on white elephant projects that cannot endure the test of time at
the twilight of their tenures.
This unfortunate tradition has badly characterised governance and induced
corruption since 1999. As at June, 2011, the Presidential Projects Assessment
Committee led by Architect Ibrahim Bunu, a former Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory had reported that there are 11,886 abandoned federal and
state government projects dotting the nooks and crannies of Nigeria which will
require N7.78 trillion to complete. The committee revealed that political and
personal considerations outweighed national interest in the award of contracts.
Majority of the contracts the committee said were procurement-driven rather
than development driven. With this ugly political trend and ridiculous disposition
of politicians, the nation is utterly consigned to retrogression if not urgently
checked.
Vision 20:2020 initiated by late General Sani Abacha said to be one of the best
of Nigeria’s developmental plans had already identified interruption of
development plans, programmes and projects as part of the bane of effective
budgeting and development in Nigeria. The Vision considering the number of
abandoned projects within the three tiers of government, proposed a legal
framework that will guarantee continuity of projects even if there is a change in
government. The proposed Development Planning and Project Continuity Bill,
2011 sent to the 7th Senate which stands to permanently remedy this man-
made problematic situation is an off-shoot of Vision 20:2020. With this act of
the parliament, the culture of initiating new or duplicating projects, programmes
and policies by every government while those embarked upon by previous
administrations are pending is permanently laid to rest. This bill provides sure
remedy to the overt lack of seamless developmental plan for the nation. It rises
above primordial sentiments and stands to quarantine any regional neglect or
political vendetta. The proposed bill professes enduring legacies and showcases
excellent promises to Nigerians.
First, section four of it states that it shall be unlawful for a government of the
Federation to have an abandoned project in any part of Nigeria. Second, it calls
for the establishment of a registry of projects for all ongoing and completed
projects detailing the location, cost and purpose of each project and means of
identification, the project commencement date and the agreed or projected date
of completion. Third, the register should also include information on budgetary
and funding sources of the project; the contractor in-charge of the project;
amounts, disbursed and expended on the project; the estimated amount required
for completion; and any other information or details pertaining to the
implementation of the project. Section three makes formulation of development
plan compulsory for all the three tiers of government in Nigeria.
Why have we habituated too long on this mount? According to Eze Onyekpere,
Lead Director Centre for Social Justice, “the major underlying reason is that
power has been entrusted to elected and appointed officials and career civil
servants without a commensurate duty to be accountable to citizens. The
thinking, sadly, is that the credit and the glory will go to the previous
administration if the new one continues with the projects they initiated.
But governance is a continuous exercise and two administrations are bound to take
credit for initiating, continuing and completing large-scale projects. In the
process of initiating new projects, too many activities are inserted in the budget
year after year with very little resources to implement them. There are perverse
incentives for public officials to abandon projects started by their predecessors.
In essence, public officials deem and know that the kickbacks and bribes in old
and ongoing projects have already been collected by the preceding public
officials and as such, there is not much to personally gain in continued
implementation of old projects. The alternative is to upwardly review the cost of
an ongoing contract for the new men to get “a piece of the action”. But this
may raise suspicion from the discerning public. Therefore, their best option is to
design a new project (notwithstanding that it has no bearing on the welfare of
citizens or growth of the economy) and get kickbacks from the exercise.”
The apparent lack of political ideology and patriotism driving parties and
individuals is one low democratic spot in Nigeria. Politics is played with
manifest bitterness. It is a do or die affair! Most Nigerian leaders are egoistic
and power drunk. They take little or no advice from anyone. Parties and
politicians alike see governance as an elitist question, a national cake to be
shared among friends and relations devoid of service to humanity. Continuity in
government induces seamless and even societal development. Developmental
strides or legacies of government should not be seen as a personal achievement
of individuals at the helm of state affairs. Rather as services occasioned and
provided by virtue of the positions occupied by those who initiated them for the
benefit of the nation and not one meant for accolades or a pat on their backs
for a job well done. Government should take advantage of the excellent promises
this bill offers and join hands with other well-meaning Nigerians to begin a
robust engagement with the National Assembly to ensure that it is revisited and
passed before the end of this administration. Therefore, we must all rise to
bring to the consciousness of National Assembly the import of that bill and the
disservice they are doing to the nation for not passing it. A bill of immense
societal benefit like this one should not be allowed to die a natural death. This
is a clarion call to the 8th Senate to revisit that proposed bill and give it the
accelerated hearing and passage it deserves for the good of our nation-Nigeria.
Sunday Onyemaechi Eze, a Media and Communications Specialist wrote via
sunnyeze02@yahoo.com and can be reached on 08060901201
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