WHEN President Goodluck Jonathan came on board in May, he gave the impression that his government would not tolerate inordinate award of contracts, without making sure that they are executed according to precision. Earlier, he had put together a committee to take inventory of projects for which several contracts had been awarded, with a view to ensuring that they are tidied and executed. The report of that committee turned out to be an embarrassing insight into how government works in this clime. The summary is that, a substantial number of contracts are awarded only on paper. Execution and supervision is close to zero. This is the aggregate attitude of governments over the years.Thus, citizens expressed joy that this government desires to be different. But the Wednesday meetings of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) seem to have a different modus operandi from that which citizens had been primed to expect. The meetings can be quite interesting and full of promises for the people. At the end of each meeting, ministers address the media on discussions and then reel out the list of contracts that have been awarded for that particular day.The meetings used to be a weekly affair, but government now reasoned that it would be biweekly, meaning that some money would be saved. That, however, has not reduced the number of contracts churned out by the FEC. What is most noticeable is the glee with which members of the cabinet led by the Information Minister mouth the award of contracts and the huge billions accompanying them. If all the pronouncements were to translate to prompt, precise and accurate delivery, Nigeria would have long been transformed, at least, in terms of infrastructure. And citizens would then look expectantly towards the Wednesday meetings.But those awards take frustrating length of years to get poorly executed. For instance, contracts, which previous information ministers pronounced duly awarded many years ago are still being revised and re-awarded by the present government. For instance, the East-West road has been on the table for many years. Former President Obasanjo once awarded the Second Niger Bridge at Onitsha, at a time close to election campaigns; President Jonathan has promised to again look into it. Contract for the Ota/Abeokuta Expressway, which was first signed some eight years ago is still being continuously revised. As at today, Julius Berger, a construction giant is again marking time at Ota in October 2011. There are hundreds of other contracts that are not working, and then fresh ones are being awarded.In May 2011, not less than 35 projects were announced by the FEC as having been duly awarded. These are critical road projects, aviation and power contracts that are awarded to identifiable contractors, with period of execution and costs clearly stated.Why are contracts not working and why is government's good intention not yielding desired dividend for citizens' Some would blame it on politicians, who allegedly collude with contractors to frustrate the process. Some say the problem is the bureaucracy, which plays a lot of tricks to frustrate the execution of projects. There is of course the old bureaucratic tradition, which this government is yet to overcome. In those wasteful years before reforms in fiscal responsibility and public procurement were put in place, contracts were the conduit pipes through which state resources are cleverly stolen, while projects are delayed for years.Now there are laws in place, to ensure transparency in the award of contracts and to ensure that governments are disciplined in the manner they spend public funds. There is the Budget Office, which is supposed to work with the ministries, to ensure that there is transparency and Due Process. There is the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPE), which is to evaluate contracts and apply procurement rules to stamp out wastages. The reforms were designed to bring about a regime where, contracts and monies are well supervised and government spends less on procurements.There is also the National Assembly, the body empowered by the Constitution to authenticate the budget and decide what amount would be spent on capital and recurrent. The NASS also decides what envelopes would be sufficient for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government within a particular year. The NASS also has the mandate to do an oversight on the performance of the budget, with a view to ensuring that the Appropriation law is not flouted in any form.In spite of the laws and institutions put in place to compel budgets to work, budgets do not work and contracts awarded by FEC do not get executed. At a time, ministries formed the wicked habit of returning unspent monies to government coffers at the end of the budget year, whereas, many projects are left undone. At other times, what is appropriated for the First Quarter does not get released until the Third Quarter, when the rains provide a criminal excuse for abandonment of road projects.Government has made it very clear that it does not have sufficient cash to power the budget, which is itself in deficit. Why then would government continue to announce award of new contracts when old ones are abandoned' It is a good thing when contracts are backed with cash, as that would provide immediate jobs and expand the economy, but it does not make sense for government to turn the issue of contracts into campaign gimmicks.As for the legislature, it had abandoned its oversight role for a long time. The reason for that is not difficult to locate. Members of the NASS lobby to be appointed into choice committees, where they could work hands in gloves with MDAs to undermine the integrity of the appropriation process and law. Whereas offence against the appropriation law is a gross offence for which the offender could get severely sanctioned, the legislature only laments when budgets are poorly implemented or grossly violated.For instance, the FEC recently announced a 30 billion contract for a new national identity card scheme. Some members of the National Assembly seemed taken by surprise that such huge project, which it did not debate, let alone appropriate funds for, could be awarded in such unilateral manner. The ID card project is one critical assignment that must be debated because it is central to the security challenges that the country is grappling with in the last two years.Even though a thorough process of national identification is important, the previous exercise, which is on record to be very wasteful, must first be reviewed and those found wanting transparently sanctioned before a new exercise takes off. Beside, the voter registration exercise carried out by INEC and other similar identity projects ought to be harmonized first, before huge sums are committed to a fresh one.One recurring constitutional abuse since 1999 is the deliberate breach of appropriation acts by successive governments. That takes place because the legislature is too comfortable to venture out and inspect projects. When it does, it does so in a leisurely manner that yields no concrete results. It is only the NASS that has powers to appropriate funds for projects and majority of the contracts awarded by the FEC have no location in budgets. This is one slippery corner this government must quickly overcome if it is to be taken seriously.
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