By Tonnie Iredia

At the 2010 Annual Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM)  no less an expert than Sam Ohuabunwa in a lecture titled “Governance, Economic Planning and Development in Nigeria: The way forward” underscored the generally agreed viewpoint of Nigerians that their nation has for long underperformed in virtually every facet of national development.

What underlines this poor performance according to Ohuabunwa “is largely poor governance exhibited by the three elements of, poor national planning, poor implementation and poor utilization of resources (human, financial and material)”.  The second speaker at the occasion was this writer who opined that we seem to be the best nation in the world in drawing up development plans and at the same time the best in failing to implement the plans.

Two years ahead, the way forward is still not quite visible-policy inconsistency, polarization and vacillation in our political will appear to be the leading factors in the bane of our development. A good example is our talk shops on the construction of the second Niger Bridge in Onitsha- a project that has supposedly being in the front burner of the nation’s development priorities.

In 1992, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) at the instance of the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida organized a design for the bridge. Since then, the project has remained a dream.  About 15 years later, the construction of the bridge was awarded to a company known as GITTO Nigeria Ltd under the government’s Public Private Partnership Policy. The contract valued at N58.6B was flagged off by former President Obasanjo in 2007.

The Company reportedly undertook to make 60% contribution for the construction of the bridge while the Federal Government would contribute 20%. Delta and Anambra State Governments were expected to contribute 10% each. Along the line, some South-East legislators in the National Assembly alleged that GITTO Nig. Ltd never mobilized to site let alone to make any contribution for the project. They therefore called for a cancellation of the project which was done. In April 2010, Senator Sanusi Daggash as Minister of Works told the nation that the pre-contract award for the job was about to commence.

The next time anything was heard about the proposed bridge was November 2011, when Senator Ayogu Eze told the media that because the vision of the Senate coincided with that of the ministry of works on the project, he was in a position to deny insinuations that the ministry had abandoned the project.

He explained that the final arrangement for the commencement of a new design for the bridge had been concluded. The current Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, who has now put a more authoritative voice to the issue, says the Bridge was being delayed by the procurement process deployed to ensure that a good job was done.

The Minister, who was speaking during a courtesy visit on him by Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, explained that the execution of the project was being delayed because of the special procurement being followed.  The Minister then assured the Governor “that within the next two to three weeks, the transaction adviser for that particular project will be announced” to kick start the final stage of the procurement process.

Unlike the common man, Governor Obi is properly schooled in the vagaries of government language so he easily understood the Minister’s speech. But the fact that the Governor’s response was still a plea for the federal government to speed up its works in the South-East spoke volumes. Does the Governor suspect that some people are deliberately slowing down the execution of the projects?

If other Ministers cannot answer the question point blank in the affirmative, they need to seek the guidance of their education colleague, Professor Ruqqayatu Rufa’i who testified at the 21st Nigeria Pilot Newspapers Leadership Forum in Abuja, the other day that the civil service is actually a clog in the wheel of the reform agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

She explained that the several problems confronting the education sector are compounded by the bureaucracy of civil servants who refuse to let in some fresh air of change as well as the retrogressive attitude of some of them who are just out to frustrate the growth and progress of the nation for personal benefits. In the words of the Minister, “I can tell you straight away that we are committed to the reform of the education sector, but the irony is that the civil service frustrates the efforts.

The system is a problem for the growth of the education system and the nation, and there is a great need for the reform of the civil service in order to reverse certain obstacles”. Everyone knows that this diagnosis is correct and that we are hardly ever able to implement clearly defined public policy goals. We also know that those in leadership positions hardly hold their subordinates accountable for their actions.

Many of them behave like Oga Joshua-our head of department in our days in service who could never query three of our colleagues that always came late to work. What he always did was to send a general circular to all staff including those who never came late that “late coming would no longer be tolerated”.  If our government is also that hapless, then it is wise to commend our Education Minister today for holding the Bull by the Horn. Others in her position would rather treat such offending civil servants like the Ghosts of Bureaucracy.

Let us for instance take a look at the handling of the current erratic power supply in the country which has made a caring Federal Government to express regrets and to appeal to Nigerians to be patient. Many parts of the country are currently locked in darkness for most hours of the day thereby forcing many people to resort to the use of alternative power supply. Some of the factors responsible for the problem must certainly include the traditional inadequate gas supply and seasonal hydro-water shortages. We may not hear much about the human capacity dimension because that is not an area to be explored.

In any case, the Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji has given us the assurance that the stage is now set for positive change in the power sector. Why is he so confident? We hear he has just discovered that like ghosts, PHCN workers have translated into “miracle workers”.

The Minister having found that the workers can “squeeze water from stone in view of the peculiar and difficult circumstances in which they operate” went on to call them the most hardworking and dedicated staff members in Nigeria.

Painfully, the statistics upon which the Minister based his conclusion were not immediately disclosed. It is public knowledge however that independent power producers like Shell and Agip with less than 1,000 staff achieve the same quantum of production as PHCN with over 50,000 staff.  Well, bureaucracy since the days of its proponent-Max Weber- has always been a slow coach; now, it appears to also function in Nigeria as a Ghost!