The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FERMA

  • Lagos Assembly raises the alarm over FERMA taskforce

    Lagos Assembly raises the alarm over FERMA taskforce

    THE Lagos State House of Assembly has expressed concern over the presence and activities of some black uniformed individuals at the Lagos-Ibadan toll gate who identify themselves as Federal Task force under the Federal Road Management Agency (FERMA).

    The issue was raised at plenary under matter of urgent public importance by the Deputy Whip, Hon. Rotimi Abiru, who alleged that the operatives go to garages extorting money from motorists and also mounting roadblocks.

    Abiru said the intention of these men is suspicious more especially when both the Minister of Works and the Managing Director of FERMA have publicly disowned them.

    The lawmaker maintained that the activity of the group is a threat to law and order in the state as their activities pose a serious challenge to security.

    He therefore urged his colleagues to call on the state commissioner of Police to investigate the group.

    It would be recalled that the issue of this group and its training came up when the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, was invited to the House recently over security issues in the state.

    Although the Commissioner promised to investigate the matter and report back to the House, he has not done so until the latest development.

    In his contribution, the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Lola Akande said the activities of the group must be checked quickly to avoid the emergence of another Boko Haram because according to her, the activities of the Islamist fundamentalist sect started in a similar fashion.

     

  • APC alerts Lagosians on training of hoodlums

    APC alerts Lagosians on training of hoodlums

    •FERMA denies new trainee scheme

    Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned that any attempt to compromise the security of life and property enjoyed by Lagosians would be resisted by the government and residents.

    The party gave the warning in view of the reported alleged training of some people by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) under the guise of policing federal roads in Lagos.

    In a statement in Lagos by the Lagos State Interim Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, the party said neither the party nor Lagosians were fooled by the antics of those behind the training of youths in Lagos on the purported excuse of protecting the dilapidated federal roads.

    It said government and Lagosians were ready to deal with the instigated mischief behind the training and would mobilise residents to resist any effort to compromise the peace and security by desperate politicians.

    FERMA has described the ‘new FERMA trainees’ as a fraudulent scheme to deceive the public.

    It said it has its operational offices in all states, but has no scheme going by that name.

    The agency’s position was made in a statement by its management, which noted that the agency was forced to react, following the concerns raised by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola in an interview.

    The governor raised concerns over the group, which he said he brought to the attention of the Minister of Works, who also said the ministry had nothing to do with the group.

  • FERMA rewards 17 staff

    FERMA rewards 17 staff

    The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has celebrated 17 of its staff members for distinguishing themselves in service.

    The assessment for the awards was made between 2011 and 2013; it cut cutting across all cadres.

    At the ceremony held in Ladi Kwali Hall, Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers, were Chairman Senate Committee on Works, Senator Ayogu Eze, who chaired the occasion; Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji; Director-General Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Emeka Eze, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Dr Abubakar Koro Muhammad, who represented Minister of Works, Alhaji Kassim Ibrahim Bataiya; and President, National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and member, FERMA Governing Board.

    Also present were representatives of major contractors, and other dignitaries.

    Senator Eze said the reward for work is more work, advising those who were honoured to show more commitment while those yet to be recognised not lose hope.

    He said the impact of FERMA was being felt and applauded by the public.

    Aji, the immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works, said he was happy to be associated with FERMA and the sector.

    Noting FERMA’s achievements, he said the notion that civil servants don’t contribute much to economic growth had been proved wrong.

    Also, Chairman, FERMA Governing Board, Ezekiel Adeniji, said his board was lucky to have a competent and committed management team, a conducive policy environment and good will from the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    FERMA Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Gabriel Amuchi, thanked the awardees and other staff for their contributions to the agency.

    The agency, he said, had reduced the stock of poor and bad roads from eight per cent in 2003, when FERMA commenced operations, to about 26 per cent last year.

    He said FERMA is better positioned and resolved in its commitment to improving federal roads, adding that it had acquired some machinery, employed and trained more staff.

    He also said staff welfare was being improved by the management.

     

  • Towards safe, motorable roads

    Towards safe, motorable roads

    ANY Nigerians dread travelling by road and the cause of their anxiety is not far-fetched. The roads are bad. Despite the billions of naira spent to put them in good condition in the past 14 years, they remain deplorable and a death trap.

    The roads are said to have gulped about N1.414trillion since 1999. Between 2011 and last year, the Jonathan administration spent N700 billion to repair critical roads nationwide.

    There are other notable interventions in road infrastructure by different regimes. For instance, between 1996 and 1998, the Federal Government, through the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) spent billions on building and rehabilitating roads.

    In 2000, the then Federal Ministry of Works, in another intervention tagged “Operation 500 Roads,” attempted to upgrade 500 ‘critical’ roads across the country. In 2003, there was another intervention, which culminated in the establishment of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

    The frequency of these interventions has generated concern about the effectiveness of the initiative, which has left the roads in deplorable conditions, with a small percentage adjudged to be in good condition.

    These, many Nigerians believe, are caused by inconsistencies in government policies, flawed procurement practices, and corruption.

    Take the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Worried that the conventional tolling plan on the road constructed in 1974 has failed, the government concessioned the road to Bi-Courtney Road Services Ltd., on Design, Build Operate and Transfer (DBOT) terms. The 25-year-tenured concession sealed in 2009 was valued at N89.53 billion.

    But in November 2012, the concession plan for the 120-kilometre road was terminated. At the re-launch of the reconstruction in July, last year, President Goodluck Jonathan gave a completion period of 48 months for its rehabilitation. It remains to be seen how Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, and Reynolds Construction Company Plc, will meet the deadline when the counterpart fund of N50 billion which is 30 per cent of the total sum of the project, put at N167 billion has yet to be released. Last week, the Federal Government said it could only provide N25 billion this year, while the balance would be paid in 2015. The remaining 70 per cent, which comes to about N117 billion, will be shopped for by the two contractors.

    The Ministry of Works added that a 25-kilometre alternative road would be constructed by the Federal Government this month.

    Godwin Eke, a Deputy Director in the ministry, who is also the officer in charge of section One re-construction, noted that this is to provide relief to motorists while work continues on the road’s main carriageway.

    But similar interventions are also desired on the Benin-Ore Road.

    A regular traveller to the Southeast through Benin-Ore-Sagamu Road would attest to the fact that the journey is anything but smooth. In fact, many recounted how they spent several hours, sometimes spilling over the next day on the road. A journey, which ordinarily shouldn’t take more than four hours, could at times take a whole day.

    Many had felt that though it is a federal road, the states through which the road runs, particularly Ondo and Edo states, should feel concerned about the agony of users of that very important road. Undoubtedly, the Lagos-Sagamu-Ore-Benin road has become a metaphor for failings in government.

    Then Minister for Works Housing and Urban Development Dr. Hassan Lawal had awarded a N12.2 billion contract for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of two sections of the road to Messrs Reynolds Construction Company Limited (RCC), handling the Salami-Ajebandele-Ore-Benin Road Section One (Ajebandele-Ofosu road in Ondo State) and Messrs Borini Prono and Company Nigeria Limited for the repair of Sagamu-Ajebandele-Ore-Benin Road Section II in Ogun State, with a completion period of 30 and 18 months in that order.

    The Reynolds contract was worth N9.89 billion while the Borini Prono and Company Nigeria Limited job was put at a cost of N2.50 billion.

    The deplorable Abuja-Lokoja-Okene Road is one that continues to claim lives as the government dailies and continues to shift delivery timeline on the project.

    Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman (Kogi Central Senatorial District), calling for the road’s completion said: “It is unimaginable the kind of pains the good people of Nigeria are subjected to on this road at every festive period, because of traffic congestion. This is why I think the Federal Government must ensure that this road is completed in due course. It will equally go a long way in reducing the rate of accidents because of its deplorable condition.”

    But the new Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, blamed inadequate funding as the main reason for the delays on the rehabilitation of the roads across the country. The minister, an architect, reiterated the need for appropriate funding as the panacea for good road network across the country.

    “This road took off in 2006/2007. In 2008, there was no budgetary allocation for it. That was where the problem started. Beyond that, in 2009 and 2010, there was meagre budgetary allocation to the road. That made it impossible for the kind of progress that was envisaged at the commencement of the project,” he revealed.

    But can the same be said of the Okigwe-Umuahia road? It was learnt that the main contractor CCC, which was to rehabilitate the road from the Enugu end, has abandoned the project, with no sign of the company in the area, though it is working very slowly in Enugu from Onitsha end.

    The Kaduna-Abuja highway that links most states in the north boasts of over 400 pot holes. The state of the road leaves much to be desired as a link to the Federal Capital Territory.

    Going to Enugu through Onitsha, an average traveller would tell you is another hell on earth.

    The Enugu and Onitsha axis was the economic stronghold of the old Eastern Region. The road is now a shadow of its old self -no thanks to the deplorable state of the highway linking Enugu, Awka and Onitsha.

    Travelling on the road Enugu-Onitsha Expressway built in the 70s by the Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo has become a nightmare, with motorists often abandoning the highway to reroute their trips through the old  road from Udi to Awka.

    The contractors hired to fix the road abandoned it.

    They have since withdrawn their equipment and barricaded some sections of the road.

    Nobody can say the content of the memorandum of the contract.

    The contractors – Messrs CCC Construction Company – ascribed its non-performance to the non-release of funds by the government. They said the project was abandoned out of frustration. The road is not, indeed, a glory to the Land of the Rising Sun.

    Another road for which there continued to be calls by motorists for rehabilitation by FERMA, is the rehabilitation the Kaduna-Kano road to alleviate their pains.

    A regular traveller to Oturkpo or Makurdi, the Benue State capital en-route Otukpo, the ancestral home of Idoma kingdom, spends close to four hours on a journey which ought not to exceed two hours. The neglected road has remained a perpetual nightmare to travelers as potholes have taken over the road.

    A document titled: “Federal Government’s proposed expenditure on road rehabilitation, upgrade and expansion between 2011 and 2013,” released by the National Planning Commission in Abuja, stated that the Federal Government proposed to spend N461.8billion on the rehabilitation and expansion of Trunk ‘A’ roads across the country.

    Specifically, it said N5.5billion would be spent on the dualisation of the Onitsha-Owerri road and the Onitsha-Eastern Bypass; N2.6billion on the dualisation of the Section One of the Ibadan-Ilorin road; N6.97billion on the construction of the Kano Western Bypass and N565.3billion on routine maintenance and strengthening of road failures.

    According to the document: “The total capital outlay for the massive rehabilitation and expansion of all Trunk ‘A’ roads and the ongoing road construction is N461.8billion.

    To increase the percentage of roads in good condition from 20 per cent to 70 per cent within the plan period, the Federal Government will embark on the rehabilitation, upgrade and modernisation of 7,000km Federal Trunk ‘A’ roads.

    “The network will be kept in a useable condition through the activities of FERMA across the various locations in the country, which will result in the maintenance of about 19,868km of the existing road network by 2013. The total capital outlay estimated for the completion of the projects is N700billion.”

    Nigeria has a total road network of 193,200km, comprising 34,123km federal roads, 30,500km state roads and 129,577km local government roads.

    Ironically, despite these budgetary allocations for road construction and rehabilitation by the government, more than 70 per cent of the 34,123km federal roads across the country are in deplorable conditions.

    Between 2009 and 2010, about 61 projects valued at N214billion were awarded under the zonal intervention programme of the Ministry of Works. But most of the projects are still ongoing.

    With the failure of the conventional tolling and the realities that of dwindling funding for the regular maintenance of the roads, the Minister of State for Works, Mr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, made known that the Federal Government is considering concessioning the construction, rehabilitation and /or maintenance of federal roads, including the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway, to the private sector under a Public-Private Partnership scheme.

    The contract for the reconstruction of the Abuja-Lokoja road, along with the Port Harcourt-Eket and Kano-Maiduguri roads, into dual-carriage highways, was awarded in July 2006, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, for N419billion.

    The rehabilitation of the 186-km Abuja-Lokoja road, estimated to cost about N40billion, is part of the Abuja-Abaji-Benin highway linking the FCT with Kogi State as well as some major cities in the Southwest, Southeast and Southsouth.

    The contract for the rehabilitation of the road was divided into four and awarded to different construction firms.

    However, Ogiemwonyi said the Federal Government had already issued a notice of termination of contract to Bulletin Nigeria Limited, the contractor handling the rehabilitation of a portion of the road for alleged poor performance.

    He also said the Ministry of Works would partner the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to select a reputable private firm to which it would farm out the project.

    “One road that is of strategic importance to this country today is the Abuja-Lokoja road. We have since realised that the road, which was awarded two years ago to four different contractors, is ongoing. However, in order to fast-track the construction of that road, we need extra funding, which will come from our partners.

    “We believe that the Lokoja-Abuja road is good for Public-Private Partnership arrangement. That is one of the major roads we are thinking of. Once we are through with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, we should be able to advertise it,” Ogiemwonyi said.

    He added: “Already, we have done the design of the road. This is one of the roads where so many lives have been lost. So, the Lokoja-Abuja road is one of the roads we are going to concession.”

    Asked when the process would be completed, Ogiemwonyi said: “You know that the government is a continuum. Our duty is to ensure that the right things are done. We will be glad if the road will be ready for Mr. President to inaugurate as part of his campaign. The road is vital.”

    The Managing Director, FERMA, Mr. Kabiru Abdullahi, said the agency spent about N26.5billion on maintenance in the last two years.

    He said the agency repaired about 4,500 kilometres of roads and constructed drainages covering about 1,168 kilometres.

    He stressed that FERMA needed about N120billion yearly for road maintenance across the country, lamenting that inadequate funding had severely hampered its capacity to carry out its statutory mandate.

    The lack of maintenance of roads has become a public issue as it typifies the failure of leadership. Good roads are a basic component of good governance. Nigerians are wantonly exposed to risk daily as a result of the failure of the state to provide adequate amenities for its citizens.

    With the dry season fast receding, it is doubtful if much could be done this year again. Yet, the rate of carnage on the roads shows that something urgent ought to be done to remove this blot on Nigeria’s image before the nation is stepped into another season of politicking.

     

     

  • Arochukwu death trap

    Arochukwu death trap

    The road to Arochukwu does great injustice to the larger-than-life image of this historic town in Abia State.

    The town is known for many things. One cannot say it is the most important community in the state. But it is indisputably the most important as far as tourism is concerned, and not only in Abia State but the entire Igbo land.

    This is because of the role the town played during and after the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The Aro, then, were the sole organisers of the trade in Southeast of Nigeria which then stretched from Idoma land down to the Niger Delta.

    Their influence was felt all over these areas as they were the major suppliers of the “product”. They were in constant contact with the Potokiri (Portuguese) who were the real slave dealers.

    But the people and the town were subjugated by the British after a large-scale war that was fought throughout Igbo land and beyond between 1902 and 1904. It was tagged The Aro Expedition of 1902. The influence of the Aro throughout Igbo land and beyond; which spanned over 500 years, came to abrupt end after that subjugation.

    The Aro had to turn to other means of livelihood. They embraced Christianity and western education. And they have excelled in all aspects of life. The first Igbo graduate, the late Dr. Alvan Ikoku hailed from Arochukwu.

    Ikoku was also the first President of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT). The first Igbo Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Nwakanma Okoro hailed from Arochukwu. Okoro was also the first man east of the Niger to lead the Nigerian Bar Association and the first Nigerian to have a PhD in Law. There was Christian Nwafor, the first architect east of the Niger. These are just the first known at the time of writing this report.

    Arochukwu has notable Nigerians present and past who have contributed in all aspects of national life–politics, government, business, medicine, journalism and sports, among others.

    The roll-call include Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, Mazi Ukpabi Ukpabi, Mazi Alex Oti, MD Diamond Bank, Prof. Mark Chijioke founder of Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, Kanu Nwankwo the football prodigy and Chidi Imoh the 100 metres champion.

    It produced the likes of late Mazi Sam Ikoku, the late Sir Alex Onyeador who is the first Nigerian to be a manager with Shell, the late John Onyeador who was the first captain of the national football team after independence.

    Arochukwu is the ancestral home of the crusader of boycott all the boycottables, the late Mazi Mbonu Ojike, the timber and caliber politician, the late Dr. K. O. Mbadiwe, the palm produce merchant, the late Chief L. N. Obioha, the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, the renowned author and human rights activist, Dr. Arthur Nwankwo, Prof. Anezi Okoro and Prof. Pita Nwanna, among others.

    But today, as important as the town Arochukwu is to Igbo land and Nigeria in terms of tourism, there is no passable road to it. The road that leads to the town from the Abia State capital, Umuahia, ended at Ohafia.

    Described as the worst road in Africa by road users, the Ohafia-Arochukwu Federal Road cannot be less described. The road has suffered neglect since the end of the Nigerian civil war 44 years ago. The road, stretching about 40 kilometres covers five communities of Arochukwu, the historical town hosting many tourists centres; Ututu, Ihechiowa, Isu and Abam, all of which are agrarian communities in Abia State.

    In normal circumstances, the journey from Ohafia to Arochukwu will not be more than 30 minutes. But, with the present deplorable condition of the road, there is no way a vehicle can make it in less than two hours.

    The plight of the communities was almost under check before the advent of Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 1999. Before then, the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) had awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the road from Umuahia to cover the stretch to Arochukwu and Ikot-Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State.

    Work started in earnest and progressed from Umuahia to Ohafia, a stretch of about 70 kilometres when Obasanjo assumed office. Obasanjo scrapped the PTF and all its responsibilities transferred to the Federal Ministry of Works.

    That singular action brought an end to the construction of that road up till this day. And 12 years after, the remaining section of the road from Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Army Barracks, Ohafia to Arochukwu and Ikot-Ekpene has remained untouched. The road caves in to the crushing weight of floodgates of every rainy season.

    To be fair to Obasanjo’s administration, the rehabilitation of the remaining portion of the road was re-awarded to Julius Berger Construction Company. At a time, the company started moving in their equipment to the area. There were jubilations by members of the communities. These equipment remained there unused for years. And after sometime, the company retrieved their equipment from the site.

    What went wrong remains a matter of speculation. The road was consistently included in the budgets of 2002 to 2007. It was learnt from a reliable source that mobilisation fee of N1.4 billion was released for commencement of work.

    The total cost of work on the road was put at N4.8 billion. But that money never got to the construction company. The company tried as much to get the money but all to no avail. Hence, it pulled out of the site.

    Nobody could give hint of what happened to the mobilisation fee up till this day. The representatives of the area at the National Assembly at the time were Comrade Uche Chukwumerije of Abia North Senatorial zone and Mazi M. A. O. Ohuabunwa who represented Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency.

    While Ohuabunwa is no longer there, Chukwumerije is still at the Senate. It is on record that Ohuabunwa tried as much to see that the road was fixed, but his lone efforts could not yield any result.

    The current representative of the area in the Federal House of Representatives, Prince Arua Arunsi, our correspondent learnt, is on the neck of the contractors. He had expressed displeasure over the “virtually abandoned work on the road.”

    The Abia State government had wanted to fix the road, but was prevented by the Federal Ministry of Works. The government had, indeed, mounted its sign post and started work but were “driven” away by the Federal Ministry of Works.

    Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji once told this reporter that “I cannot imagine why a town as important as Arochukwu will not have a road to access it. This is disturbing. I have begged the Federal Ministry of Works to allow us enter the road, they refused. I don’t know why. They say they have awarded it to a company but there is no progress at all.”

    Actually, the contract for the rehabilitation of the road has been re-awarded to a construction company. But the snag there is the capability of the company to handle the road reconstruction effectively.

    For the past two years the company started work on the road, it has not done up to three kilometres. It had blamed the rainy season for the slow pace of work. But since the rain subsided, the story remains the same.

    When South-East Report visited the site, no work was going on. But there were some equipment lying idle while motorists struggle to find their way through the rough road. The road is expected to be completed by June this year. Although the construction company has formally apologised to the people of Arochukwu for its lackluster approach, it promised to complete work on the road as scheduled. It is doubtful that it can fulfill their promise going by what is on ground.

    An official of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) had told this reporter that they cannot intervene on the road because it is still under “reconstruction” by the contractors of the Federal Ministry of Works.

    He said: “It is only when they complete work on it that we will take over for maintenance.” But the baffling thing is that the signpost of FERMA is mounted at various points on the road.

    A community leader of the area who wouldn’t want his name in print said: “Our representatives in the National Assembly should explain to us what is happening to that road since 1999. They gave us hope that they would tackle the issue of the road head-on. But, up till now, nothing has been done about it.”

    As a result of the incredible condition of the road, transporters charge as much as N700 from Ohafia to Arochukwu. This would have normally cost N100. Commercial farmers in the area no longer produce enough for export to the cities as vehicles that would convey them are no longer willing to ply the road. They have now resorted to subsistence farming to sustain their families.

  • Reps laud FERMA in Northwest

    Reps laud FERMA in Northwest

    The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has expressed satisfaction with the agency’s road maintenance and intervention programmes in the Northwest geopolitical zone.

    Deputy Chairman of the Committee Hon Sani Ibrahim, who led a seven-member team on an inspection of the agency’s projects in Kaduna, Kano and Katsina, states told reporters that FERMA performed satisfactorily.

    According to him, the agency’s continuous maintenance of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano dual carriageway as well as other roads in the zone has ensured that they are in very good condition.

    While pledging the House’s support for the agency in the New Year, Ibrahim averred that the committee hopes the agency is able to replicate the same standard of maintenance and intervention on all roads in other geo-political zones.

    This, he said, would give Nigerians and the quality roads necessary for the running a vibrant economy.

    He hinted that though FERMA had provided the committee with reports of its activities, the committee would confirm the reports by inspecting projects.

    He said this is important to ensure that projects appropriated were being executed in conformity with the laid down standards.

  • Outrageous variation

    Outrageous variation

    • Abuja-Lokoja road cost review from N42bn to N116bn is an example of how contracts are abused

    WE doubt whether the government can meet up with its developmental obligations the way it is going regarding contract variations. In a scandalous revelation before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), it was discovered that the Abuja-Lokoja highway contract initially awarded for N42 billion in 2006, has been re-valued to N116 billion, which translates to an unbelievable 170 per cent increase.

    The variation, ostensibly at the instance of the parties handling the project, has justifiably incurred the wrath of the committee that has promptly directed them to appear before it. The affected companies are: Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) Nigeria Limited, Dantata and Sawoe Nigeria Limited, Bulletin Construction Company and Gitto Construction Company Nigeria Limited. According to Abdul Ningi, the committee chairman, the firms must come forward to explain the “scandalous review of the Abuja-Lokoja road contract sum with over 170 per cent from 2006 to date.’’

    Also, Mike Onolememen, Minister of Works, after three summonses, and Gabriel Amuchi, Managing Director of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), reluctantly appeared before the committee citing ‘technical deficiencies’ as responsible for the outrageous variation. We wonder what technical deficiencies could warrant such bizarre increase. The alibi that consultant’s mistake of not initially coming up with the requisite designs of the contract necessitated the variation is untenable. Why would a road contract of such magnitude not come with design? And who is that consultant? Are there sanctions for such incompetence or negligence? If yes, has that consultant been sanctioned? This kind of immoral official padding of contract costs is unacceptable.

    We acknowledge that reasonable variations in awarded contracts, especially in an unstable economy like Nigeria’s, is globally acceptable. Intervening situations such as inflationary trend, delayed payment of contract fees, high interest rates and unforeseen circumstances, among others, could compel the need for contract variation. But such variations should not be done wantonly. Such opportunity should not be deployed, as the current trend seems to suggest, to fleece the nation of its hard-earned money.

    Among several shocking revelations unearthed by the committee is that FERMA spent N1.3 billion last year alone on operational and labour cost, out of the N4 billion it got from the SURE-P for road maintenance and rehabilitation. We consider this absurd and unfortunate, especially because the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity had already engaged the same youths that FERMA said it engaged, under the same SURE-P arrangement.

    FERMA was also caught in curious duplicity web when it claimed to have procured, this year, some equipment that were already catered for in its 2012 budget. This, in our view, is criminal project recycling and unwarranted waste of scarce public funds.

    SURE-P is fast becoming a conduit pipe for defrauding the state. More worrisome is that over N178 billion of the programme’s money released between 2012 and 2013 for the construction of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road, Kano road, Maiduguri road, Enugu-Onitsha road, the Benin-Shagamu-Ore road, the Second Niger Bridge and the Oweto Bridge, linking Benue and Nasarawa states, has not yielded the desired results.

    The nation is fast becoming a territory of financial tittle-tattle. We decry the prevailing situation of indefensible contract variations and superfluous duplication of jobs by government agencies just to rip off the country. Any nation craving for infrastructural development cannot achieve that goal in the face of such scandalous project variations by seemingly uncontrollable overnment officials.

  • We deserve better governance; preventable road crashes; Professor Iyayi-RIP

    The people of Nigeria have never had the government they deserve. Try the 30 kilometre Lagos bound five lane 10,000 vehicle traffic jam this past Sunday afternoon. Try the 2000-car traffic mayhem at the MM2 Airport car park and arrivals and departure areas on Friday November 15. Too many vehicles – No governance! The successive governments of Nigeria have had such malleable people to govern, a fact the governments took advantage of to bastardise the citizens and country such that corruption rose from 10% as reported by very distinguished late Princess Tejumade Alakija, Head of Service in the Western Region to 100% and even 300%. How many ID cards would we each have if all the multibillion dollar ID card megascams had been supervised for progress and service delivery and not you-chop-I-chop-for-the-boys? The problem from the ID scams to the still-in-court N26m -N34billion pension scams to the ‘hot in jail’ Oyo State pension scam or the N250m bullet proof scam point to bad governance.

    Of course the Mobutu Economic Solution (MES) applies equally to the Nigerian corrupt political and economic life. The MES revealed that if Mobutu asked for $1m, the Finance Minister asked the Zairean CBN for $2m and the ZCBN Governor signed out $3m. The ZCBN chopped $1m and sent $2m to the Finance Minister who took $1m and sent $1m to Mobutu. The whole country has for too long been at the mercy of unaudited agencies well exemplified by NNPC, NPA, NEPA alias PHCN and FERMA exclusively controlled by little people in Abuja with minds too small to grasp the significance of their abused power and responsibility to better the lives of Nigerians. Their failure to perform nationwide against the ‘Rise of the Nigerian darkness and Pothole’ has killed and injured too many ‘Fellow Nigerians’ and made millions suffer the loss of loved ones and their earning power from too costly and sometimes deadly alternative power from poisonous gases and explosions and murderous potholes. The result is often a failure to achieve full potential by offspring. Every accident deprives someone of an education and earning potential. This is why every pothole should be a top priority of normal government and not a special reward of favour to the citizenry.  They, government men and women, claim we will have power, electric power, soon. But all Nigerians should ask why did we not have electric power when Generals Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Abdusallam and General Obasanjo had ‘General’ totalitarian and ‘General’ democratic control and were ‘in total power’? Was their failure to add a simple 500 0r 1000Mw annually to the Nigerian national grid because of their myopia, misdemeanour, incompetence, greed and corruption?  The sale of failed government agencies like PHCN is actually a failure of leadership and supervision of bad employees. Remember schools were helped to fail when we stopped listening to, or failed to fund school inspectors and they in turn always expecting gifts like goats and cash to fill their car boots in exchange for a pass mark when they visited.

    The cost of travel remains far too high in Nigeria. Every day the media is filled with stories of road attacks, mislabelled ‘accidents’. If someone crashes into you at 100+kph that is an attack by another road user, not an accident. No death is acceptable or explainable as an act of God. God may know about it and allow it but God does not create the scenario. It is the free will of sometimes drunken men at the steering wheel who speed and crash into others. So many deaths and injuries for people merely going from A to B. The Okada Epidemic claims thousands maimed and murdered. Is that an Act of God? No! We have responsibility for our actions and our lives. When the little people die, no one cares beyond a static. May you should not die with someone more ‘VIP’ than you or your death will never be remembered. You will just be ‘VIP and 23 others died yesterday’. May that not be your portion! In the sight of God ‘VIP and 26 others’ must line up in order of death time for judgement, no queue jumping, though the VIP will probably be in the first queue he did not want to jump. Who wants to rush to Heaven?

    Professor Festus Iyayi, 66, former ASUU President, Winner of the Commonwealth Prize for Literature and writer of books including Violence, The Contract, Heroes and Awaiting Court Martial was not planning on joining the queue to heaven when he headed for the ASUU meeting on Tuesday November 12, having bid farewell to grandchildren and joined in the traditional prayer for a Safe Journey and ‘Travel Mercies’. He was struck down, not by an Act of God like lightening, an earthquake, a flood, but by man in form of a reckless governor Wada’s convoy-driver who must be breathalysed and prosecuted. Some may have wondered at the need for such senior citizens to travel to solve ASUU’s protracted strike with a recalcitrant government known for reversing agreements. Note that no matter how bad tertiary education is, it would have been primary school level without ASUU’s continuous struggle and intermittent strikes. The ASUU strike has yielded death. May this and other terrible deaths yield fruit for the students and staff, now dedicated to unnecessarily late Prof Iyayi. Governor Wada had demonstrated that he is a poor supervisor of man and machine.

     

  • S-NC in 2014? Combat govt anarchy: Nigeriawhistleblowers.com; FERMA-a failure?

    Critics of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) emphasise that the federal government has misled us before. Indeed at every turn federal government, comprising small-minded petty people in uniform- military, babanriga, agbada -has serially abused its power and disenfranchised, disappointed and failed millions of Nigerians through subterfuge for sectional power and personal gain. These little people are as guilty of anarchy as gun-wielding terrorists. Once in power they mainly claim the power for themselves.

    Government anarchy is evidenced by unbridled mega-corruption and arrogance, viciousness and violence by officials. The disbandment of several agencies of state government for corruption, assault and battery is welcomed but we need prosecution of guilty officials, not discharge. Indeed their leaders should face prosecution for failing to supervise staff and unleashing staff to abuse the authority their uniforms. We need more staff for regular forensic financial and social auditing to prevent fraudulent financial and moral behaviour in government. Imagine a meeting hearing that a vehicle costs N70m, doubling the cost and taking a bank loan, unavailable to Nigerians, and paying three times the inflated cost over three years. Is that not corruption and money laundering? First Bank should face sanctions and a boycott threat from Nigerians. Investigation must dissect the minutes of aviation meetings and identify who took the crazy repayment decisions. Who were the final beneficiaries of the Aviationgate N255m? Was this just standard procedure and part of the ‘Secret Internally Generated Party Revenue Programme’- a large party cut from every contract done at state level as well- with funds to be funnelled to the party preparing for 2015 elections? We know it is the tip of the ‘Inflation of Contracts Iceberg’ by which governing parties get their money. We should have a Nigeriawhistleblowers.com website where Nigerian whistleblowers register all suspected cases for scrutiny, exposure and clearance.

    Since we have mass unemployment, why not increase staff auditing, supervising or monitoring corruption and incompetence in the public service, police, and parallel organisations like road and traffic control organisations? How many citizens have been killed by police –public encounters recently? In addition anarchical government is manifest by politically motivated demolitions of buildings, throwbacks to the civil war. Such activities are thinly disguised ‘Abuse of the Master Political Plan’.

    Is the end of any hope for good governance in sight or should we consider this sudden interest in NC by the presidency and the milito-democracy of the Senate President as an olive branch? Or is it a poisoned olive branch to affect all those who touch it or is it an olive branch coiled around a dagger to stab us with or to cut us as a two edged sword when it is withdrawn after we have grabbed it with both hands leaving us bloody and crippled yet again? Only time will reveal the true government agenda drawn up in secret by the little men hiding under the cloak of governance while millions of our children have no textbooks and potholes fill the roads.

    Whatever government’s agenda, the S-NC, a people’s forum beyond just politics, should go ahead immediately in early 2014. Already the first order of business has been suggested: Adopt and incorporate most of  past reports and summaries of political and social significance including the 118 clauses already proposed by the National Political Reform 2005 committee, the Belgore Committee and others highlighted by ex-Governor Bola Tinubu and other concerned Nigerians. Once in place that will not take a month let alone the whole of 2014.

    Who will be the delegates? The suggestion that existing LGAs should be the basis for the S-NC on the principle of one person /LGA sounds like a sound principle if you are ignorant of Nigeria’s politico-military history. These LGs are a main problem of true federalism needing solution and a deliberate mis-creation of the morally corrupt military and feudal federalism to always favour the North by giving them ‘sovereignty, senatorial and representational and therefore financial superiority’ as many revenue allocations and other fiscal advantages are based on LGAs. Such brazenly fraudulent illegalities in LGA creation were legalised in the 1999 constitution and the trademark of Nigeria’s military regimes waywardness. They remain un-reversed and irreversible even during the democracies of 1999-2013 because of the advantage in the NASS to the cheats. Which senator/representative will vote himself out of power? Suffice to say that Lagos has 20 federally recognised LGAs while Kano and Jigawa formerly one state Kano have 77 LGAs. The Census tribunal and Festus Odimegwu the executive whistleblower exposed the flaws in this corrupt distribution of LGAs. Is justice, emphasised by Professor Soyinka as the bedrock of decent society, served by cheating Lagos in 2013? It is such devious financial and political discrimination that created the animosity resulting in this festering feudal federalism in need of a S-National Conference.

    Meanwhile multibillions in salaries funding FERMA’s inactivity fail to translate into filling Nigeria’s potholes except at holidays like December or governor’s or president’s visits? So we can die January to November? Why should FERMA not be disbanded for failing Nigeria’s road challenges? Why did FERMA not predict, anticipate and avert the flood and subsequent three-hour traffic jam on Sunday afternoon at the lowest point of the bridge/road just before Otedola Estate on the Lagos Ibadan Road by maintaining functional drainage holes in the bridge walls? FERMA should defend itself against incompetence charges or is it so underfunded that it cannot fill potholes?

     

  • FERMA kicks off Southwest road scheme

    FERMA kicks off Southwest road scheme

    The Chairman, Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Mr Ezekiel Adeniji, has kicked off the agency’s South-west (II) Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) Public Works Scheme on the Third Mainland Bridge.

    At the ceremony attended by 10 of the 14-member Governing Board, Adeniji said the FERMA SURE-P Public Works scheme in the Zone actually came into effect earlier in the year, that the launch was only a formally.

    He said about 6, 700 youths have been engaged from communities to take care of federal roads and other critical road infrastructure. They will carry out such routine maintenance operations as vegetation control, de-silting of drains, patching of potholes and sundry road maintenance operations under the supervision of experienced engineers and technicians, he added.

    He noted that the number of participants would increase from the 6, 700 to 10, 000 before the end of the year. He envisaged it to reach 45, 000 participants by the end next year.

    According to Adeniji, President Goodluck Jonathan administration decided to involve communities and youths, not only to employ the teeming unemployed youths, but also as means of committing communities to participate in monitoring and maintaining national road assets in line with the President’s transformation agenda in the roads sector.

    He said the choice of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos to launch the scheme was in recognition of the vital place of the 13-kilometre facility in the socio-economic life of the nation.

    The chairman stated that necessary equipment and materials have been deployed to formations while necessary measures to safeguard participants against maintenance scene and related hazards have been put in place.