Dr. Emmanuel Ovuede is a public affairs commentator. In this interview with BENJAMIN UMUTEME, he says governments at all levels are not sincere about infrastructure development. According to him, it is the reason capital projects, especially roads, take longer to be completed. Ovuede also said the on-going reforms by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration will ultimately yield the desired results.
When we look at Nigeria, travelling by road has become very stressful due to bad roads. I used to ply the Abuja-Benin road for five to siix hours, but now, you spend almost the whole day. How can the government bring back that culture of infrastructure development that was there in the first republic?
This one is good; I’m really expecting this because the government is not constructing roads. The government wants to construct roads and the road is supposed to be N150 million, and because they can’t release N150 million, they release N60 million to the contractor. The contractor will do the job according to the money he is paid, because if they want to make profit, they have to pay workers. Each of the states needs to have good roads; they should negotiate for roads that will expire in 20-25 years.
Every governor that comes keeps doing one road. One will leave another one comes, the same road. But if one can be specific and say, for this period, I am going to construct roads across the state. These roads we want to construct will last for 25 years, and they enter into an agreement with the contractor to pay 60 or 70 per cent and after the job is completed 30% is withheld. If there is an agreement, the contractors would do their best so that the road can last for 25 years, and they don’t have to return to do maintenance.
And as you know, it will mean the amount they will be paid has reduced significantly if they are called back to site. So, they would prefer to do a very good job and after 25 years, you give them their balance. You will see that if such wisdom is applied, the next administration that comes will focus on something else and not roads.
Let me just chip this in, imagine that a contract is awarded for the construction of six blocks of classrooms, two years later, the roof has collapsed, the ceiling has fallen, and there are cracks all over the walls. What do you expect when they use one bag to make 60 blocks? You don’t expect that foundation to be solid? Even the Bible said that if the foundation is bad, what can the righteous do? So, when you lay the wrong foundation, the house will surely collapse. And when you don’t use good material for the roof or ceiling, any strong wind will destroy them.
Unfortunately, after three years, they will put it in the budget again. What is supposed to last for over 30 years lasts for only three years. This is what is consuming the states’ resources. They are not doing a good job because they want to make more money from it. So, I think if they want to do construction, there should be a strong agreement with the contractors. They know what to do and they are not doing it because they want to get a lot of gain from it.
And again, one of the challenges we are facing in the country is that you bring a contractor to work for you. You know the contractor is supposed to take N180 million, you want to get N100 million, and you tell the contractor to go and use N80 million for the job. And the contractor will want to get N30 million. So, what would the contractor do, put N50 million there.
There are several roads I have seen in Delta state that after three weeks of construction, you start noticing potholes. The contractors did shoddy jobs. I can specifically point to three roads done by DESOPADEC in Delta state. I can point to roads done by NDDC in Delta state, after three weeks you see contours, you see potholes all over the place.
Sometimes, they just put red sand on the place, and get the place messed up. Where the people were managing, they can’t manage it again. And they will leave it for years. It is not as if they don’t know the right thing to do? They should go and do the right thing. Call your contractors, let them know what you want, let them know what your people want. By the time we start implementing this kind of wisdom, you will see that in the next 20 to 30 years, we won’t be talking of roads in the states; we will concentrate on other things. That is what will move the state forward.
Is policy consistency not part of why you see so many projects take a long time to be completed?
Actually, it’s not. Because if I award a road, what I expect each of the states or ministries to do is this, they should create a different account for the contract. For example, I’m awarding a 10-kilometre road for N200 million. The N200 million should be put in that account in the contractor’s name. And they pay N120 million first and the balance is N80 million. Now, when he finishes his job, we have an agreement on the expiry date for the project. So, when the 20 years expire and the road is still solid, the money is already in the account.
So, the next government will send a monitoring team to monitor the projects, and after monitoring it, and they see the road is still solid, they will take the balance of N80 million and give it to him (contractor), I think there won’t be any issues there. And if the money has been paid completely into that account and the next government comes and they don’t want to pay, the contractor has the right to sue the government to court.
And the previous government will come and testify and say the money is there, I left the money there. For example, we awarded a road for N4 billion, and I paid N3 billion. The balance of N1 billion is left in the contractor’s account. And each of the contractors that meet up with their demand, with their agreement, should be paid. And I think everybody is going to learn from this. The ministries are going to learn from it.
So, there is nothing like I gave you a contract and the next government comes and is not going to pay. They know what they are doing. They know what they are buying. Most times we think the past and the present governments are not in agreement; it’s not true, they know what they are doing. I don’t think there is any reason for you to have a problem with your predecessor, someone that gave you power. You don’t need to have a problem with such a person. As far as the person handed the baton of leadership to you, you should be able to honour the person.
Now to the on-going reforms by President Tinubu; what do you make of it? Do you see light at the end of the tunnel?
I have not seen anything bad in the policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since he assumed office on May 29, 2023. Many people are crying wolf today, but they do not know what the immediate past president left behind. Sometimes, I may take over from you and I would want to cover your secrets. It means by covering you, I take most of the blame. Therefore, I will have to come out with some policies that will correct the things that have gone bad in the system-not instantly, but gradually. Many people know where the country is today, not where it was. If something went wrong and you want to repair it, it’s not a day’s job. You have to take your time to change many things that were impediments to growth.
In the process of doing these, you don’t expect people to clap for you. They will even say you are doing nothing, you are just wasting time. They will even say you should be building skyscrapers across the country, but they don’t know what you are passing through. You may have good intentions, and because things are messed up and things need to change, you just have to give yourself to changing what needs to be changed. It takes time to get this done.
Many won’t see what you are doing until you are through with it. When the light begins to shine, praises start to come. I can only urge Nigerians to be praying for him for more wisdom and knowledge to lead the country. What it takes to condemn one another is what it takes to lift one another. He is number one in Nigeria and the burden of providing quality leadership for Nigerians rests on his shoulders.
Like I said before, he can’t do everything, he can’t visit all the states, and he can’t visit all the local government councils. That is why there are governors; that is why they get FAAC allocation every month. If the states don’t do well, the president gets the blame, while the governor lavishes their money. If the National Assembly doesn’t do well, the president takes the blame. Even when it is obvious that the President is not actually the cause of what is going on.
As the president continues with the reforms, the prices of goods and services will come down gradually. You can’t expect prices to fall down at once. The President is not a magician. If you look at the FAAC allocation, you will see that it has increased significantly. The states are getting five times what they used to get. The governors should use the money that comes to them judiciously and not keep it in their rooms. It is time Nigerians begin to blame the governors, they should ask the governors what they have been doing with the allocation they’ve been receiving.
The people should be bold to call out their representatives. We keep on saying the President, the President, but it is not actually the fault of the president. Nigeria has all it takes to be a prosperous nation and I pray that God grants the president the wisdom to lead us to the Promised Land.