http://www.rowland-adewumi.com ..Sharing my thoughts, perspective, commentary... Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:00:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/transportation-the-road-to-nowhere/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/transportation-the-road-to-nowhere/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:00:56 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=478 Macroeconomic indices have shown that for many growing economies, the value added by transport to the economy accounts for 3 to 8 percent of GDP while employment in transport sector ranges between 2.5 and 11.5 percent of total paid employment. For a struggling economy like Nigeria, intensified investment in transport will not only create millions of jobs, but also stimulate critical sectors of the economy, facilitate the safe and efficient movement of people and goods, promote economic development, competitiveness and even strengthen security – on which the federal government alone plans to spend, and waste about 3 billion naira every day, including weekends in 2012. Reflecting on the histories of successful nations, economic growth, prosperity and opportunity for everyone have followed investments in transport infrastructure. Investing in the sector is the basic foundation for governance and economic growth. A key example is the US where between 1980 and 1991, almost one-fifth of the increase in productivity in their economy was attributable to investment in roads - interstate highways and municipal link roads. Efficient highways, rail systems, airlines, airports, harbors, and waterways will not only provide the backbone to grow our economy by moving people and goods around seamlessly, cheaply and safely, it can also employ millions of workers to generate substantial share of economic output the country. If well exploited, transportation can actually contribute in excess of 10 per cent of our total domestic product annually compared to the current levels of informality and low contribution. In addition, an effective transportation system can have direct and significant effect on the daily lives of our people. Properly targeted and managed investments in transport facilities will mean effective travel that could save time, fuel and reduce pollution; lives will be saved and fewer delays and less hassle for the average Nigerian. Over the years, as Nigeria’s population grew, demand for freight and passenger transport, particularly by road and air have also grown to about 2 times faster than the GDP while the transport infrastructure and system remain the same, or actually declined. Hence, logistic costs for our goods and services are now typically more than 20 percent of sales from the global average of 2 percent, of which in Nigeria, transport costs alone can be as much as 15 percent. It is imperative that Nigeria starts the process to opening up more of its roads (by making them usable), railways, and air and sea ports so we can mitigate the recurrent transportation crises that the country faces as well as ways of eliminating the present stagnation in economic activities to create opportunities for a true market driven economic growth by reduced cost of transportation and high quality services across the country. As the data below indicates, Nigeria’s transport densities and effective network access levels are much lower than that of comparable developing countries, this is unacceptable, implying an urgent need for large transport infrastructure investments. On roads, we need to increase our road network length and also invest on road widening schemes to increase capacity through increased total lane length. Compared to the Republic of South Africa which has a population density of about 40 persons per sq km, with a total road network of about 754,000 kilometers that are well maintained, Nigeria with a population density of about 150 per sq km has only 108,000 kilometers of poorly maintained surfaced roads of which less than 20 percent are paved, which has been the cause of the high rate of traffic fatalities that we are now known for. Infrastructure aside, passenger transport is equally important for our economy. For rapid economic growth, government must focus some of its investments on providing connectivity at the land-sea-air interface to eliminate barriers that the historical lack of intermodal transportation system thinking has created. Most importantly, focus should be on providing access for rural areas and small towns by any of the most convenient transportation means such as bus, train, boat or plane. Government policies must aim to provide a functional and efficient transport system for our population and provide them affordable access. Like China, Thailand and India, government should come up with a program for the transport system that will bring more than 90 per cent of our villages within 2 kilometers of an all-weather road. India has implemented a rural road program in the past few years that connected half of all its villages and towns to all-weather roads, up from 39 per cent in 1995. India now has almost half as many kilometers of roads as the United States. Perhaps, we should emulate this program with the coordination of federal, state and local governments envisaged in the National Transportation Master plan approved by the Obasanjo administration. There must also be in place the appropriate policies that will ensure personal mobility can be properly managed. Investment in roads must keep up with the country’s rapid pace of motorization, which could lead to extremely high vehicle densities (vehicles per kilometer of road). Higher personal mobility levels would increase national competitiveness and economic efficiency. Equally important will be improved urban mass-transit schemes. Our seaports and airport infrastructure are not growing. Port container traffic hasn’t grown as it should due to bottlenecks at our seaports. Nigeria was the 9th most populous country in the world and last year, it accounted for about 15 per cent of the GDP of Africa but negligible percent of the world container throughput. Our seaports have fallen behind international standards in terms of the quality of facilities and operations. Combined, our ports in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar can only manage just about 8 million tons of cargo each year. We have nearly 8,600km of waterways – along the Niger River and its tributaries; along the Benue River, Niger Delta and along the coast from Lagos Lagoon to sea border with Cameroun, but these potentials are hardly put to meaningful uses. An efficient Inland Waterways Transportation System can be developed to serve as a cost-effective and energy efficient means for transporting not only persons but commercial goods, especially bulk commodities like grain, coal, and petroleum products across the country. These activities can be integrated into state and local economies and job creation efforts. The benefits of inland waterways transportation system are numerous. Barges moving on waterways are safer, more fuel efficient, and less polluting than other means of transportation. One 15-barge tow on a river can carry as much cargo as 216 rail cars or 1,050 large trucks. More than twenty states can be directly served by the Inland Waterways Transportation System, and this can result in hundreds of millions of tons of cargo of trillions of naira annually. Facilities in our ports are old, and delays (nearly a month to clear a container against 30 minutes in Singapore) and congestion increase transportation costs. Effective inland water transportation will make commerce more competitive and our economy more vibrant. Well structured, the aviation sector can be a key growth engine for our economy. An efficient and modernized aviation sector, with regulations and incentives for the private sector can make air travel an essential form of transportation, create economic growth and jobs. For example, in the USA aviation generates $1.2 trillion in annual economic activity and support over 11 million jobs and moves almost 800 million passengers annually. In Nigeria, aircraft departures still remain low and have on a per capita basis, even reduced compared to the 1970s. In Indonesia and South Africa departures have grown faster than Nigeria, albeit from a low base (like Nigeria), by about 12-times. South Africa, with a population of less than 50 million has sixty-two airlines, making 274,000 aircraft landings and carrying 16.5-million passengers (counting departures only), 10 standard airports and a national carrier - South African Airways (SAA), that is by far the largest air carrier in Africa, with connections to more than 20 cities across the continent and 18,100 flights daily. By contrast, Nigeria with a population 162 million has less than 10 airlines, less than 10 million air passengers annually, less than truly 10 functional airports. There are hardly any intercity railway services in Nigeria. The Abuja Metro contract signed in 2007 would have been completed in 2010 and given Nigeria its first intra-city light rail system was canceled by my successors at the FCT. The $43 billion ten year national program to build a multi-phase, brand new, twin-track standard gauge railway that was conceived and began in 2005 with the Lagos-Kano line was suspended by the Yar'Adua-Jonathan administration, and is now largely in the mortuary. Our nearly 3,550 kilometer of narrow-gauge rail system is almost obsolete and unutilized at a time when South Africa can pride itself of having an extensive (narrow-gauge) rail network of about 21,000 kilometers – the 14th longest in the world – connecting with national networks in its sub-region. Our railway networks were engineered by the British to serve their economic interests and are difficult to adapt to our present rail transportation needs. Nigeria needs to leverage on transport infrastructure development urgently to eliminate the avoidable logistic costs that are, at least, 50 percent higher than what is normal for operations in all spheres of our economy. Such a program would create millions of jobs and open up the entire country to rapid economic and social development. But what do we have? An administration that has spent our entire national savings and revenues on itself, plans to spend nearly a billion naira to feed the president in 2012, while borrowing an average of 100 billion every month since December 2009 when President Jonathan effectively took over. In the 2012 budget, it earmarked only 6 percent of the entire budget for the works, transport and aviation ministries , while the each of the Police and Defence ministries have bigger budgets than the three transportation ministries combined. So we are not investing enough in our transportation infrastructure. No wonder, all our roads lead to nowhere. Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/transportation-the-road-to-nowhere/feed/ 0 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/road-world-ranking-nigeria-191-out-of-192/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/road-world-ranking-nigeria-191-out-of-192/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:21:56 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=474 Like everything else in our national underdevelopment, our roads have been rated among the most deplorable in the world. According to Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Osita Chidoka, at the 2011 Nigerian Institute of Safety Professionals’ Conference in Warri, “Nigeria is currently 191st out of 192 countries [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/road-world-ranking-nigeria-191-out-of-192/feed/ 1 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/indirect-419commercialisation-of-job-applications/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/indirect-419commercialisation-of-job-applications/#comments Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:36:04 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=324 As many Nigerians watch with consternation the growing level of unemployment in a country endowed with numerous natural resources, many have failed to spot the new dimension being introduced into the unemployment market. Quite a number of government ministries, parastatals, and agencies have recently designed and started testing a daring formula to extract money from [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/indirect-419commercialisation-of-job-applications/feed/ 1 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/corruption-in-nigeria%e2%80%99s-public-procurement-%e2%80%98chop-i-chop%e2%80%99/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/corruption-in-nigeria%e2%80%99s-public-procurement-%e2%80%98chop-i-chop%e2%80%99/#comments Sat, 21 May 2011 20:44:16 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=468 Corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement cut across every states of the federation, and has enormous negative consequences on the delivery of services that are supposed to be beneficial to the populace. Corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement is a grand scale jamboree that involves politicians, government officials and the private sector, conspiring to siphon money off the government budgets. It is also the indirect misuse of power by top level officials. The leakage of public funds caused by corruption affects the government's ability to provide basic services to its citizens. It also increases the burden on taxpayers, and reduces the quality of work done for projects. The summary of corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement is that it takes two to tango! ‘Where there is a willing taker, there is equally an ever willing giver’. While the recent Public Procurement Act is willing, the residual effect is increasing costs of production and ultimately reducing competitiveness. In the short and long term, it will distress our economy and aggravates the quality of life of the people if corresponding and adequate reforms are not initiated. In the few years of the Act, it can be concluded that the procurement system is already out-dated. The Act is uncoordinated to meet our needs and peculiarity, the rules and regulations as currently been implemented, is vulnerable to corruption, the intended aim. Corruptions in procurement practices in Nigeria occur in various demeanours. First, there are multiple and tailored specifications by government officials to favour particular persons who in turn facilitate kickback. Secondly, there are enormous information restrictions about contracting opportunities, subsequently done in an obscure approach that no one sees or understand the procedure, pre and post implementation. Thirdly, contracts are award to contractor who are directly or indirectly linked to an influential political figure who influence the selection and appointment of the government official in charge or the intended contractors. Fourthly, there are usual claim of ‘urgency needs’ as a ground to award the contract to a single contractor, avoiding due process and tender process. In addition, the trick of disqualifying certain contractor by deliberate dis-qualification, and colluding with contractor to fraudulently increase prices or the collusion with contractor in order to fix bidding prices, and subsequently ensure that only certain bidders secure the contract. Furthermore, there is wide and wild acceptance of gifts: this takes various forms and ranges from lunches, dinners, donation of personal house in villages of politicians and government officials, air tickets for exotic holidays. In addition, an area of crucial concern is the practice of corporations offering post-official employment to public servants with whom they had official dealings prior to the officials’ retirement, and lastly, the use of proxies or nominee companies of the government official or politicians to bid and secure contracts is a common phenomenon. Frome the foregoing, it can be established that though, prior to the passage of Public Procurement Act in 2003, Nigeria was losing billions of Naira annually to corruption in the government procurement system; however, the present system is worse than the previous system in place. The so call ‘Act’ is only succeeding in diverting public funds into unnecessary, unsuitable, uneconomic projects. First, the present geometric expenditure involved in public procurement in Nigeria, the high degree of discretion afforded to public officials in executing procurement, and the involvement of many private sector entities in the process all contribute to the indirect growth of corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement. Secondly, the Act’s mechanisms and frameworks would remain ‘cupboard’ documents unless concrete actions are taken to implement its provisions and to enforce (create) other relevant laws. It has been established that the adverse effects of corruption in public procurement is of international concerns, almost all countries face legal and practical challenges in overcoming corruption in public procurement, however, Nigeria’s case, as usual is worse off. When the United Nations Convention against Corruption was adopted in 2003, the UN Secretary- General stated that corruption: "… is found in all countries - big and small, rich and poor - but it is in the developing world that its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately - by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government's ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, and discouraging foreign investment and aid. Corruption is a key element in economic underperformance, and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development." Investigative organizations that should seek co-operation with other relevant administrative organizations and professionals to share and utilize their respective information and expertise to minimise Corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement are inadvertently schemed out. The publication of procurement opportunities been practise in the country increases participation and consequently reduces the risk of collusion or failure of tendering. All agencies are expected to advertise their procurements; however, it is a rare occurrence to see publications of the name of the winning bidder announced afterwards. The reasons for the decision are sometimes unavailable upon request. I recently received a complaint from a colleague that have three qualified company, and have steadily express interest in almost contract advertisement for the past one year, but have never for once be informed of the post contract award. Out of ninety-two (92) expression interest his company submitted, only one agency has the courtesy to reply! Therefore, given the long duration of procurement procedures, and the difficulties involved in detecting the ‘smart’ manoeuvre of Nigeria’s public officer regarding fraud and corruption; it is time that all contract documents be retained long enough. Particularly, keeping a register of all bids and a record of the decisions for at least ten years, and that interested individual has access to the documents to allow a review of the procurement system. The way forward is that we swiftly adopt a code of conduct for procurement personnel, as well to set up a review mechanism for procurement decisions. It is also important that the government, if serious about corruption in the country, should create a central, non-fragmented authority responsible for ensuring that anti-corruption policies are working in the procurement sector. The excellent ‘copy-and-paste’ Procurement Act is not the final answer to procurement corruption; effective enforcement is equally important and such enforcement requires an independent and dynamic investigating Anti-Corruption Agency, and the support and help of the free media and an informed civil society in the country. Enough is enough, and it is time we ban the unnecessarily import of the templates of other countries, rather, my opinion is that we have our own legislation sufficient for fighting corruption. The prevention of corruption is more effective than detection; therefore, there is need for a 'rule-based approach', which should be as clearly detailed and matching Nigeria’s peculiar situation. This is particularly important considering the fact each time an election takes place; new politicians take power in Nigeria, the high-ranking members of government boards, and bodies change, including those responsible for public procurement. The serious issue of characteristics of corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement system is the involvement of the executive. There is a difference between corruption perpetrated by lower-ranking officials for survival and corruption perpetrated by the wealthy and powerful individuals. The real problem is bribery of officials by companies, and it can be concluded that the executive corruption in public procurement have greater detrimental effects than other forms of corruption perpetuated by the lower government official. The solution is that such bodies, like the EFCC, and other criminal investigators in the country should therefore enhance their contact and co-ordination with the private sector. In addition, this piece will not be complete without a word on the selection system for posts of responsibility on government boards, this must be improved to ensure that there is less political influence on who is selected. In addition, there is need for a multi-disciplinary practice whereby prosecutors cooperate with tax authorities and land registry authorities, in ascertaining the wealth and assets of public officials, especially those involve in public procurement. Although, public procurement involves specific technical issues pertaining to construction, engineering, and technology. Therefore, law enforcement agencies cannot easily identify fraud or corruption in such matters, and must rely on technical experts for evaluations and analysis. Therefore, to address this shortcoming, an ad hoc team of various professionals (legal, scientific, engineering, accounting, etc.) can be established for all procurements to investigate potential corruption cases. It is also important that the independence and impartiality of such experts must be assured. One way to ensure impartiality is to select a standby pool of qualified people in advance of any investigation, post procurement procedures. To effectively combat corruption in public procurement, the role of the mass media and civil society's participation should also be enhanced. In particular, whistle-blower legislation and a witness protection programme should be adopted to detect corruption in public procurement; and lastly, appropriate measures to facilitate the voluntary disclosure by anyone concerned of information relevant to corruption in public procurement should be considered. Although no public procurement system will likely ever be fully free of all corruption, a system that promotes transparency, efficiency, economy, fairness, and accountability will be a system where corrupt activities will be more difficult to conceal and will be easier to punish administratively and criminally. Adequate training of procurement officers, the establishment of multidisciplinary and multiparty evaluation committees, rotation principles for procurement officials and the establishment of accountability and report procedures, are keys in fighting corruption. The development of codes of conduct for staff is also extremely important. These are but a few ideas as to how to address and control corruption in the context of public procurement. In addition, in so doing, the public sector shall likely acquire high quality goods and services at a cost or price deemed to be fair and reasonable.


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/corruption-in-nigeria%e2%80%99s-public-procurement-%e2%80%98chop-i-chop%e2%80%99/feed/ 4 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-draughtsman%e2%80%99s-contract-sometimes-ugly/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-draughtsman%e2%80%99s-contract-sometimes-ugly/#comments Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:42:41 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=465 No, this is not a Film Review! It is though, a comment upon the manner in which “Drawings” are produced. Historically a Draughtsman was capable of taking an Architect’s Sketch, and completing a complete suite of Working Drawings, completely unaided. In short he prepared the necessary information to translate the design into reality. In this [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-draughtsman%e2%80%99s-contract-sometimes-ugly/feed/ 0 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/civil-engineers-produce-better-erections/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/civil-engineers-produce-better-erections/#comments Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:32:34 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=462 Whether produced by computer or traditional methods, the drawings of any civil engineer, or an Architect, are “His Ambassadors.” The drawings have to ensure successfull fabrication and erection of any structural structures. They have to stand, erect, or fall upon their merits. Very often this relies upon the fact that the originator will not even present [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/civil-engineers-produce-better-erections/feed/ 0 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-making-of-buaharibakare-presidency/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-making-of-buaharibakare-presidency/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:05:04 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=455 It is worthy of note that the opposition parties to the PDP are contesting to oust an entrenched incumbent political party armed with a lot of party machinery and political capital as well as unlimited source of funding and advantageous public media access. Undoubtedly, this is a tall order. In spite of the fact that [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-making-of-buaharibakare-presidency/feed/ 5 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/due-process-office-of-nepotism/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/due-process-office-of-nepotism/#comments Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:22:31 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=446 One of the major challenges that has faced the Nigerian nation over the years is the issue of corruption and its debilitating ancillaries – bribery, graft, fraud and nepotism. Corruption has become so deep-seated in the country that it had stunted growth in all sectors and has been the primary reason behind the country’s difficulties [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/due-process-office-of-nepotism/feed/ 0 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-man-who-loved-nigeria/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-man-who-loved-nigeria/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:00:28 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=442 “My idea of heaven would be Awo and Tony giving me their ideas and advice .These are world class statesmen and the Brits jailed them! This is the kind of behaviour which makes me ashamed of the British.’’ With these words, Harold Smith a Briton and former colonial administrator in pre-independence Nigeria not only described [...]


]]> http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/the-man-who-loved-nigeria/feed/ 1 http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/state-of-emergency/ http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/state-of-emergency/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:26:51 +0000 Rowland Adewumi http://www.rowland-adewumi.com/?p=437 Fellow citizens, the insecurity level has deteriorated beyond the critical level. Desperate times require desperate measures. Therefore, this is the time for citizens to declare a state of emergency on both leaders and the country. The reasons are thus: Warri Bomb Blast(s): In March 2010, there was a bomb blast in the city of Warri, [...]


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