Dele Sobowale on Business

“History does not repeat itself; man does”. Barbara Tuchmann.

Nigerian leaders in government, military or civilian, simply never seem to learn some lessons permanently. They make the same mistakes over and over again – leaving observers wondering if there is not some truth to the assertion that black people are mentally inferior. After all, some of those we elected, or were imposed, as governors are among the “brightest and best” we have ever produced.

Yet, each change of baton from one Head of State, or one governor to another inevitably results in several abandoned projects. By definition, these are projects started by a previous administration, which was unable to complete it before departing, and which its successors then leave unfinished.

For frequent travelers through Okene from Lagos, Oyo and Ondo states, the classic example of an abandoned project stares them in the face as they turn from the road leading from Ibilo to enter Okene. There stands a project which was started during the Second Republic, 1979-1983, by the NPN Governor of then Kwara State (Kogi did not exist at the time).

Whatever purpose it was supposed to serve is now shrouded in mystery. The former governor served only one term and was replaced by a UPN Governor in 1983 – whose tenure lasted only three months. That change of governors brought to an end a project on which mobilization fees had been paid and on which close to 70% of the contract sum had been collected. It remains today a monument to our collective irresponsibility.

Oyo State provides another example. Governor Alao Akala started a dualised road which would link the end of the Lagos-Ibadan Express Road with the Ibadan-Abeokuta Road at Apata and reduce the hold-up around Challenge. It was uncompleted when it was hastily commissioned by President Jonathan; and remains uncompleted till today. It may never be completed.

The really inexplicable and potentially abandoned project is situated in Akwa Ibom State – right in Uyo; that is the state capital. It is remarkable that all those not too familiar with developments in the state and who only visited AKS once or twice have failed to notice the imposing structure along Ikot Ekpene Road. It is supposed to be world class Specialist Hospital.

Unless rescued by Governor Akpabio’s successor, it might turn out to be a world class abandoned project. Started very early in 2007, the people were promised it would be completed before the end of the governor’s first term. That first tern ended almost four years ago. Meanwhile, several white elephant projects – Ibom Cinema, Stadium, Banquet Hall – had been completed and they now stand empty. There are several reasons why the Specialist Hospital might go the way of the Okene and Ibadan structures.

First, successors don’t want to pay for a contract when the benefits have long been collected by someone else. Second, they instinctively know that the contracts have most probably been inflated and they don’t want to pay the balance of the contract out of the funds entrusted to them.

More to the point, what makes the failure to complete the Uyo Specialist Hospital, in eight years, is the fact that Akwa Ibom State government became the first state to collect over N1 trillion from the Federation Account in four years in the history of Nigeria and it is on course to repeat the same feat from 2011 to 2015. So, why has a very critical service to the people of the state been neglected while billions were thrown into a cesspool called Tropicana Hotel? Lack of funds can certainly not be the excuse.

Meanwhile, the Federal government of Nigeria seems poised to add its own to the list of thousands of abandoned projects. The Lagos-Ibadan Express Road, which was belatedly started two years ago, might again be abandoned by contractors – if the Federal government fails to pay any time soon. The road had suffered many reversals in the past and the problems might not be over yet.

The alarm about abandoned projects is timely because apart from the change of governments, which will soon occur nationwide, the revenue base is certain to shrink with the price of crude oil going down every day and an economic recession looming. Most out-going governors, if not all, will leave unfinished projects all over their states. Even if the party in power, at the moment retains the seat, it is not certain that the successors will continue with the projects inherited.

If a new political party takes over, it is certain that the projects will be abandoned. Contractors owed by state governments and who have not been paid by May 2015, will find it almost impossible to collect their debts.

That was the experience in 1983, when the military replaced civilians; it was again the experience in 1994 when Abacha sacked the governors after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections. History is about to repeat itself because Nigerians never learn from the lessons of history. The problem with an abandoned project is easily explained by referring to building half a bridge.

It is not good for crossing and it ties down capital. Yet, this is what our leaders do all the time. For someone who has been an observer of the national economy since Gowon’s Udoji awards in the 1970s, the frustrating thing is that the same things are done by us, over and over, with terrible predictability and consequences. Invariably, “For every folly of their [leaders] the [Nigerian people] feel the lash”, Horace, 65-8BC, slightly amended.