THE MAINTENANCE CULTURE IN NIGERIA: A threat to her prosperity

Introduction:

Over the years, Nigeria has had a number of laudable projects that made one proud of being a citizen of the most popular black country in the world. These projects range from the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan (now called the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium) to the National Stadium Lagos, hospitals, schools and the refineries which got oil displacing agriculture as the mainstay of the economy to mention a few.

But having been built and made to serve their immediate purposes - as these were largely capital projects on various sporting and infrastructural facility needs at the time - they ended up in most cases forgotten, abandoned and at its best given very little attention, leading to its poor maintenance and management. The million dollar question to draw from the aforesaid is if these projects were actually made available in the short term or long term. It is expected that the latter would be the answer. Nevertheless over the years, most laudable projects in Nigeria fault this notion.

I never imagined writing on the decadences of the Nigerian maintenance culture with regards to the public sector but reading the Punch Newspaper of 25 November 2011 that focused on the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, which is now an eyesore got me baffled, thus reaching out for my writing materials. 

Nigeria is not meant to be where she currently is for she is a blessed nation, one that is palpably so richly endowed with the best of resources; “human and material” to spur her towards having the best facilities when she deems it necessary and most appropriate. Nigeria as against the so called world economies, developed nations, world powers or whatever phrase used to describe the most powerful States of the world is immensely blessed with natural resources as earlier mentioned, that only if Nigeria was properly managed by the best hands in leadership, she would have easily stimulated herself towards being not just a real giant of Africa (as against what I perceive to be the current self acclaimed status) but among the world powers in all ramifications most importantly, socioeconomically.

Interestingly, the anticipated achievement of vision 20 2020, if painstakingly implemented when it was first initiated during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria ought to have achieved the status of being among the top 20 economies in the world by 2020 much earlier than the anticipated year of 2020 due to how richly endowed she is by the grace of God. As against the current look of things in which Nigeria is struggling to meet the feat, if appropriately enacted with visionary leadership, Vision 20 2020 ought not to be a thing to strive for nor contend with because she ought to be in that circle of nations with so much ease like the air one breathes. 

“THE MAINTENANCE CULTURE IN NIGERIA: A threat to her prosperity” will focus on a handful of maintenance headaches Nigeria has had over the years on its once upon a time very laudable projects that are right now in the most deplorable state ever imagined which are definitely threats to the social economic and infrastructural advancement of Nigeria.

This is with respect to the issue of maintenance of public facilities and capital projects that are worthy of proudly making one a Nigerian, though for a short while, no thanks to the “extinction” of the beauty that once upon a time greeted such projects.

The Maintenance Culture by the Nigeria Public Sector at a glance: 

The maintenance culture of capital projects by the Nigerian government at all tiers over the years have been nothing but a disgrace to the nation as a whole due the level of resources “both human and capital” inputted and doled out respectively towards making such projects a reality. Due to this, it is noteworthy to point out that the reason for the poor maintenance culture by the government of Nigeria results from the IBNV “ILL BEHAVIOURAL NIGERIAN VIRUS”. 

The Ill Behavioral Nigerian Virus (IBNV) is a term I coined in June which entails all forms of shameful attitudes exhibited by a handful of Nigerians which results from the corruption of the lot of its leaders over the years. These attitudes range from the unlawful killing by the police of innocent citizens resulting from their (citizens) refusal to pay N20 bribe; to those who believe in the saying “I must eat from the National cake” thereby getting corrupt in any way as deemed necessary; to the Nigerian who does everything beyond his smartness to outsmart anyone irrespective of nationality or position in authority. This all boils down from one thing, anger. Nigerians are angry and feel cheated, thus leading to a situation that generally makes the led to feel that the leaders have a disregard to their plight.

Thus, the IBNV originates from the Nigerian leadership over the years which have been characteristically singled out for having the same features; CORRUPTION. Corruption; a term I dub the economic terrorist is one thing that eats up into other attitudes and approaches to leadership in Nigeria with the maintenance culture not being left out.

Practical examples to mention a few include the stadia in all nook and cranny of the nation to the roads, the hospitals, school and other infrastructural facilities.

Nevertheless a handful of these projects will be briefly discussed as follows:

The National Stadium, Lagos: 

This is among the many notable government projects that have somewhat seemed to be forgotten. The stadium which was built in 1972 to serve as the main stadium for the 1973 All-Africa Games is today, a shadow of its original self. This has overtime been as a result of the stadium not serving the primary purpose it was made to serve and due to the high level of nonchalant attitude exhibited by its management team towards maintaining the look of the stadium to the low level of usage of the stadium to serve its primary purpose (sports). Instead, the stadium have over the years paid host to various religious activities and of recent, a written test centre into the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) which took place between November 10-14 2010 in which all applicants were made to have their written test in the main bowl of the stadium, an incident I guess brought about the feel that it was the Super Eagles they “the applicants” were in the stadium to watch.

As a result of this one wonders;

• What happened to the classrooms in the public schools?
• Why should the stadium of all places be used as an exam centre?

The current state of the stadium is one that is not worthy of serving the purpose it was made to serve.

Not surprisingly, prior to the 2009 Under 17 FIFA World Cup, the National Stadium, Lagos and all other stadia were renovated. This as usual sealed the notion that the Nigerian government approach to maintenance is a fire-brigade approach, not doing first thing first and the right thing at the right time which would have been advantageous to the government expenditure due to her “the government” spending much less if she routinely and regularly ensures that all facilities are well maintained and put in the right shape.

The current state of the stadium only shows how forgotten the stadium has been since the 2009 under 17 FIFA World Cup. The turf getting to its worst state, and the seats at the spectators stand not being left out, thus getting surrounded by grass and weed which I only hope doesn’t make the National Stadium get renamed National Forest. The external facilities like the lawn tennis court and swimming pool are also earnestly pleading for its maintenance.

Obafemi Awolowo Stadium:

This is another stadium that has fallen victim to the poor maintenance actions by the government. Like it was pointed out earlier, the story on this stadium by the Punch Newspaper is the drive behind this write up. 

Realizing that the Obafemi Awolowo stadium “formerly liberty stadium” is the first stadium to be built in Africa was astonishing but its current state rubbishes this astonishment that once proudly took control of my heart, added to the joy of being a proud Nigerian with this respect.

According to the Punch Newspaper of Saturday, November 25, 2011, it was reported that an official of the National Sports Commission, during the course of an interview he had with the Punch said that after assuming office in the South West Zone, thereby taking charge of the stadium, he made it a priority to see that the stadium is renovated to its best possible state. He further went on by saying that when they were working on the swimming pool, 10 buckets of frogs were pulled out from the swimming pool; this is no exaggeration from me but his words which is nothing but highly pathetic. That same visit by the Punch Newspaper only shows that the stadium is left to almost naught. I personally observed the greenness of the swimming pool through the picture taken on the Punch Newspaper of the aforesaid date. One only imagines the look of the pool if one is physically there. Sadly in the long run, this attitude has nothing but all adverse effects on the economy due to the low patronage of such facilities which leads to an unfavourable multiplier effect on the National Income of Nigeria. 

On the flip, one notable benefit of these stadia, if properly managed is its immense contribution to the GDP of Nigeria which entails it serving as among the sources of government revenue due to the fact that Nigerians are sports loving people, thus regularly patronizing the stadia across the federation. 

However against these practical examples cited and so many others too numerous to mention with respect to the stadia across the federation is the National Stadium, Abuja, a world class edifice that is being maintained at the best level. I implore the management, maintenance committee and all those individuals directly or indirectly responsible for its maintenance to keep up the good work because indeed its contribution to the economy cannot go unnoticed. 

The exotic edifice that defines the Abuja National Stadium is one that caught the eyes of the Arsenal’s Marketing director; Angus Kinnear who expressed great satisfaction with the stadium during the tour of the stadium by an Arsenal delegation to Nigeria on Monday, 11 December, 2011 in preparation for Arsenal’s visit to Nigeria next summer.

With the current state of other stadia, kiddingly one wonders what Angus Kinnear would have said if he had visited National Stadium, Lagos or other stadia which are in a state that makes one short of words and unable to mull over the right adjective to get them described.  

The lesson from the state of the National Stadium Abuja is that the same approach to the management of it should be given to other stadia across the federation.

The Nigerian Airways: 

Also, another notable sector to point out is the aviation sector, no thanks to the “extinction” of the proudly Nigerian National carrier; the Nigerian Airways. The Nigerian Airways which commenced operations on October 1, 1958 after the dissolution of the West African Airways Corporation (WAAC) got liquidated by the Obasanjo administration in May 2003.

Obviously, the primary reason for its dissolution originated from poor management and maintenance by its past administrators which overtime led to lapses with respect to its survival. 

Having liquidated the National Career, in the space of 5years (between 2004 and 2010) it has had a change of name 3 times, thus from Virgin Nigerian Airways in September 2004 to Nigerian Eagle Airlines in September 2009 and of recent, Air Nigeria by its new management, Air Nigeria Development Limited in 2010.

However, of recent, precisely on page 19 of the Punch Newspaper of Wednesday, 07 December, it was reported that the Aviation Minister said that Nigeria is working towards a new National Carrier which expectedly now entails that this will be the fourth change of name.  According to the Punch Newspaper of the aforesaid date, the words of the Minister of Aviation; Mrs. Stella Oduah are as thus “We’re working on a National Carrier that will be publicly owned with limited financial contribution by the government. Government will act as a regulator and provide an enabling environment for this objective to be achieved”. 

From the above quote, with respect to the National Carrier management, what is different from what happened in the days of Virgin Nigeria to the unborn National Carrier? 

She went further “We recently reviewed the models of national carriers in other countries and we are working on the best solution for Nigeria. We are working to deliver the national carrier by next year”. 

Now it seems like the Aviation Ministry has finally woken up but it is best one should not expect much but get ones fingers crossed and watch as events unfold because this may as usual be another episode of failed promises and ineffectiveness. 

Sequel to this new national carrier, what happens to Air Nigeria and why all these inconsistencies and lack of continuity? Nigeria needs to have a review of its attitude to government policies, most especially with respect to the continuity of policies and projects by preceding government. 

I strongly believe that a new government or leadership does not necessarily mean new ideas and projects at the expense of already effected laudable projects and ideas. Continuity if properly structured is the easiest way at thriving towards achieving effective leadership. 

On the flip side, inconsistency or lack of continuity only depicts three things, lack of ambition, vision and no purpose or ineffectiveness.  

With regards to the name change on the National Career, I strongly believe that this will not augur well for the Nation Carrier because the easiest way for any business venture to have and maintain a good customer base, having built a lot of confidence in its esteemed customers is CONSISTENCY in the quality of services rendered. The frequent name change does more harm to the existence of a National Carrier than good because its once upon a time esteemed customers will rather patronize other players in the industry that have overtime exercised consistency, rendering world class services to the fullest. 

Roads across the Federation:

The state of the Nigerian roads is one that has led to the loss of so many lives, brains, highly productive Nigerians who were at their peak in terms of their contributory level to the economy, not forgetting those whom had so much to contribute that were indeed yet to have an impact on the nation. On the generality, virtually everywhere one goes to one sees a bad portion of the road at some point. The high rate of accidents, leading to loss of lives and most times near death situations is one that I feel so ashamed to make mention of the figures.

In spite of this, the ineffectiveness of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) and the road maintenance agency in the states of the federation is one that needs to be checked due to the adverse effect these roads have on the nation among which is a bitter discouragement to foreign investors, especially those foreign investors that would want to major in the rural areas due to it being the base for the available raw materials that abound in Nigeria. But the roads in the rural areas serve as a deterrent to attracting these foreign investors.

The negligence and improper attention given to the roads is one that in its way discourages foreign investment. The reasons for this are as follows;

i.  It adds to unnecessary overhead cost of the interested foreign investor with respect to the wastages spent on the cost of motor vehicle maintenance which due to the nature of the Nigeria roads, is underwent much more than usual.

ii. It could slow down the pace of production by the firm. This is as a result of the delay caused by the transportation of  raw material or certain resource from one place to another due to the traffic most times caused by the bad roads, courtesy the pot holes etc that tend to make such movements carried out at snail speed. 

iii. The “death trap” nature of a handful of the roads in Nigeria

In as much as the consumers are readily available, the level of effectiveness of the transportation system, added to how timely these firms will be able to meet their target customers or consumers of their products are two pivotal factors that are meant to be taken into cognizance. Thus in Nigeria, the consumers are readily available to attract foreign investors into the country but the anomaly to this is the lackadaisical approach by the government with respect to its desire at wooing its anticipated foreign investors. 

The high spate in which already present multinational companies leave Nigeria is greatly limiting the tremendous effects foreign investment would have rained on Nigeria if she (Nigeria) had had the necessary positive approach in the direction of encouraging more foreign investors to the country. Among the multinational companies that have left Nigeria are two giant tyre manufacturers; Dunlop and Michelin, not forgetting Paterson Zochonis (PZ) and Unilever that have most of their operations and production activities undergone out of Nigeria.

For the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to be effective, it has to make itself available to the public through a well structured customer care or public relations department. In achieving this, toll free lines should be made available and opened to the public for members of the public to call whenever there are cases of pot holes “death traps” or any other slight damage to the roads. Without this openness to the public, Nigeria will keep having issues with its roads and other facilities because realistically FERMA cannot be everywhere and cannot timely and regularly know the state of all roads within its jurisdiction either at the Federal, not forgetting the road maintenance agencies at other tiers of government. 

Thus, providing a means of network between the everyday road user at every nook and cranny in the nation to Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) will be the only way the underwhelming state of the Nigerian roads in all nooks and cranny of the nations can be overturned. 

In addition, the quality of work done should be of high standard and not the slapdash that FERMA and other road maintenance agencies at the three tiers of government are known for in which having worked on such roads, these roads are worse within the shortest period of time. The high standard maintained on the roads with respect to its maintenance “not the regular patches that tend to somewhat make the roads disfigured and rough”, will go a long way in making citizen proudly keep up with the payment of toll charges.

Good roads aid the growth and development of a nation, thus serving as a means of attraction to foreign investors. The present day Nigeria is not meant to have an issue with its roads due to its resource endowment in bitumen and other resources used in road construction, worse still with the government seeming to struggle towards generating revenue for financing road maintenance.

However, the destruction of tollgates across the federation in 2004 by the Obasanjo regime was indeed the wrong step it took due to the fact that it (toll gates collection) is in itself the easiest means the government would have employed towards the generation of revenue for road financing. 

Tollgate collection is one thing that dates back to history, the era of the Greek Mythology and is still ongoing in the advanced countries of the world. The excuse the government of Obasanjo gave for the tollgate cancellation were the activities of the men of the underworld which entails insecurity on the high ways and corruption by the tollgate collectors who themselves remit a little amount of their collection for the day, thereby having the remaining to themselves.

In contrast, sequel to the removal of the tollgates along the highways, the rate of armed robbery is still on a surge.

In curbing the aforementioned excuses that were the reason for its removal, the following should be undergone:

*On non remittance of the total collection by the tollgate collectors;

With regards to the corruption freely exhibited by the toll gate collectors, this really is no excuse because there is always a way out which are as follows;
     a. The persecution of individuals whom are found wanting with respect to pocketing tax payers               money.

b. If some individuals are above the law and cannot be persecuted which is always the case in Nigeria, then the government must provide an alternative to its mode of collection and payment. In my opinion, an alternative to humans will surely be the best option to utilize.

I bet one is wondering where I am driving at; MACHINES, thus the employment of a technological approach to the collection of money at the tollgates. This approach will be carried out through an electronic tollgate payment system by the use of a tollgate payment card.

Owing to the illiteracy level in Nigeria, the Nigerian Government should ensure that the electronic toll gate payment card should be user friendly irrespective of the literacy level and very accessible to everyone.

With respect to the former, the way out is to make the card in such a way that one doesn’t need to follow instructions nor make selections nor be a literate before one is able to use it but rather one would have to stop at the tollgate collection machine, scratch or rub the card over or against the machine without necessarily getting down from ones car, thus while one is on ones wheels. Having scratched the card against the machine, it automatically deducts the units or amount to be charged and thereafter, there will be a thoroughfare, thus the road being accessible to the user.

As expected not all sizes of vehicles will pay the same amount at the tollgate, in consequence every size of vehicle will be put into consideration through the provision of different tollgate collection or payment points which will charge different rates with regards to different vehicle sizes.

Having introduced this means of collecting revenue at the tollgates from road users, the following are the advantages to be derived;

i.   It will serve as a means of getting corruption curbed at the tollgates

ii.  It will assist in curbing traffic issues at the tollgate. An example will be with respect to the primitive way of tollgate collection in which an individual pays with cash in a high denomination that requires lots of change in which the tollgate collector really has none. In this case, the time it will take the tollgate collector to go around asking his or her colleagues for change will lead to somewhat of a gridlock on the road. But with the employment of a technological approach, there will be very little or no traffic at the tollgate compared to the aforesaid example.

iii.  It has a capital intensive nature of production which in itself limits the amount of individuals employed to partake in the tollgate collection because rather than have so many staff collecting money at the tollgates “who would not remit all monies collected for the day”, very few staff would be at all tollgates from time to time in order to have routine checkups on the tollgate machines thereby ensuring that they are working to full capacity.

*On insecurity on the highway:

Due to the nature of tollgates to be installed, it is pertinent that adequate security is provided so as to avoid hitches to its collection. In doing this, the government should endeavour to make provisions for the presence of a team of police personnel. This will be executed in the following ways;

      a.  At every tollgate collection point, a team of policemen would be made available to ensure that             the machine are not tampared with by destructive Nigerians

b.  Asides, the presence of the police being there to scare off any individual that may want to tamper with the machines, the police would also be there to most importantly; protect lives of individuals, thus thriving towards making armed robbery on the highway a thing of the past. This is very important because the presence of the police alone would scare of armed robbers and other criminals with ulterior motive on the high way.

c.   In working towards the latter of the aforesaid, there should be a very effective communication system among all police personnel across all the tollgates of the federation not forgetting the communication linkage between the police and the public.

d.  Motivation: This is a very important factor at ensuring that the police at the tollgates and thus highways don’t compromise standards of duty. The government has to ensure that these police personnel are fully motivated both extrinsically and intrinsically because it will go a long way in bringing out the best in them. The effect of both motivational approaches on the police cannot go unnoticed because its current laxity is a great reason for the unprofessionalism and nonchalant approach to duty by a host of the current day police personnel across the federation. 

Having pointed these, the recent decision by the Goodluck Jonathan regime to reintroduce the tollgate is a right move as it will be advantageous to the government in many folds but the level of it being advantageous will be utterly dependent on the approach to its collection and how effective the approach to its collection will be. 

Also, the level of affordability of the tollgate should be highly considered. The government should take a cue from the exorbitant charges by the Lekki Concession Company at the Lekki – Epe Expressway which in itself is making the users of the road angry, thus biting really hard on them. This entails that having gotten the tollgates back on the highways, the government should not follow suit by doing likewise.

As against this, the toll gate charge is one that should be easy to be paid by all. Charges between the rate of N 10 and N 50 will be very reasonably affordable. This charge like earlier mentioned will be solely dependent on the vehicle size and purpose.

The toll gate indeed serves as a direct tax to its users which I think is really necessary since its primary purpose is to serve as an added means of generating revenue for the maintenance of roads, thereby easing government’s expenditure on road maintenance and the government having somewhat of an added or extra expenditure to spend on other pressing needs and projects.

 Nigerian Telecommunications Limited:

Prior to the advent of the current perfect market nature of the mobile telecommunications industry in Nigeria in 2001, NITEL over the years was the sole player in the mobile telecommunications industry due to the imperfect competitive market nature of the industry that they (NITEL) indeed enjoyed. This got them in control of the Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications Industry though with a very meager subscriber base of about 450,000 telephone users compared to the millions that comprise the Nigerian population. But no doubt, prior to 2001 were the good days of NITEL due to the large amount of money the very few who could afford its services had to pay compared to the present day level of affordability of the mobile telecommunications services which is also advantageous to the telecoms providers except NITEL due to the tens of millions of subscribers they have to themselves.

But sequel to the imperfect nature of the mobile telecommunication market, the decentralization of the industry has brought about a situation in which the maintenance hiccups by the government on NITEL over the years has made NITEL to be at the brink of extinction due to the fact that it is at the verge of liquidation but if lucky, acquisition.

The Refineries:

Last among all the major projects to be highlighted are the Nigerian refineries. This is because of the fact that oil is the backbone of the Nigerian economy and it will however be very disrespectful to her not to make mention of it because indeed, she is pleading for a change due to the fact that the crude oil is not fully refined in Nigeria. The refining capability of all four refineries in Nigeria is put at 40% which is far short of the total amount of the refined petroleum produce needed for her local consumption, not forgetting the exportation advantage Nigeria ought to have had for finished oil produce if her refineries were working to full capability. This has indeed led to the government running at somewhat of a loss and a dent to the budget of the country, partly being responsible for her deficit even though ironically it is the major source of foreign exchange and export of her. 

This notably, is due to the importation of refined oil back into the country having firstly exported the oil in its crude state.

The maintenance shortcoming of the government on the refineries is one reason why the issue of the subsidy brouhaha from the public to the government due to the government’s removal of subsidy on petroleum products will linger on with no limit.

The way out towards putting an end to this is providing new refineries with modern technology that will meet the local and export demands of Nigeria, a recommendation that keeps making the headlines but being on the deaf ears of the government.

Hopefully, the refined oil importation will be a thing of the past when the pact between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd which intends to build three more refineries materializes, thus easing up the pressure on the existing ailing refineries.

However, only time will tell how upbeat the government will be towards making refined oil importation a thing of the past.  

Government Hospitals:

The existing nature of most of the government owned hospitals most especially at the federal and state levels is primarily the reason for the high rate of Nigerians travelling abroad for medical treatment. Also the unforeseen occurrence of strikes by the medical and non medical staff of these hospitals which does stall the recuperation of patients in them is another reason for such patronage of foreign medical services.

All these would have been averted only if the government had a very proactive approach to its hospitals and providing the best conditions of service to its medical staff and ensuring that these hospitals are in its best state.

Education:

As the saying goes; the youths are the leaders of tomorrow but with the current deteriorating standard of the educational system of Nigeria, the aforesaid saying seems to best be rephrased to the question; “are the youths the leaders of tomorrow?

This is because of the dwindling performance by Nigerian Secondary Students, most especially in public school in their external exams, precisely West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). There are many factors attributing to this but for the purpose of this write up, I will streamline my highlight to the state and nature of the classrooms which are not conducive for learning.

This is characterized by the devastating state of the unfriendly nature of the classrooms of the foundational level of education (Elementary Schools) which is one to worry about. More so, the secondary and tertiary levels are also guilty of having such lapses in which a number of structures in schools are so dilapidated and in a state I wonder how these kids and students find school interesting. But sadly, the poverty level in Nigeria is one that leaves one with no choice than to persevere because as Nigerians generally believe, things will get better but the truthful question is; are things really getting better or better put; does things seem to get better?

I bet most Nigerians can’t wait for when the answer to the above will be a confidently big YES.

Starting a capital project of any sort is not a short term action but long term that involves a serious level of planning and projection which is not limited to the period of its erection but most importantly how it is to remain comfortably erected in the best shape afterwards. This is attributed to the fact that a long term approach to such projects determines the longevity of such projects. 

BRINGING TO PAST, THE MAINTENANCE HICCUPS IN THE NIGERIAN PUBLIC SECTOR

Before going into approaches to be employed by the government towards ensuring that the maintenance headaches becomes a thing of the past, it is utilitarian to establish a linkage between the monies spent by government on its capital project and thus show its end result. The continuum will also establish a way out, thus the effects if positively undertaken.

Model 1: THE CURRENT CLINE OF GOVERNMENT MAINTENANCE ATTITUDE “Emphasizing its weakness to the economy”

*NB: E = Government Expenditure

The above is a 1-way and straight cycle model which establishes the current trend and effects of the deficiencies in government maintenance attitude to its capital project. This cycle is one that repeats itself overly with no advantage to the government. Money spent by government on capital projects end up going down the drain due to the improper approach and somewhat poor planning approach by the government at knowing that such capital projects irrespective of what it is; road, stadia/recreational facilities etc have its own economic importance and viability to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria.

As indicated in the continuum, the attitude of the government over the years to its funds on capital project has led to economic sap, thus an attitude that is gradually destroying and limiting the economic viability and expectation of Nigeria.

However, it is important that this drawback before Nigeria that has over the years served as a threat to her prosperity must be dealt with before it is too late because in not time, it will be a King Kong to the government but in this context, unable to be killed.

The current trend of government misappropriation is a one way trend that in itself is disadvantageous to the Nation rather being a plus.

*On the flip side, below is a model showing the advantageous effect a positive maintenance attitude on capital projects will have on the nation.

                          

Model 2: A 2 WAY CLINE EFFECTED BY A POSITIVE MAINTENANCE GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE “Emphasizing its strength to the economy”

 *NB:            R = Revenue and E = Government expenditure.

The above is a 2-way 3 cycle model illustrating the positive impact a rightly engineered approach of government funds to capital projects will have on the economy.

Unlike Model 1 which is a one way flow with no returns to the government, Model 2 is a two way flow. This is as a result of the benefits enjoyed from having an awesome maintenance attitude to capital projects embarked on. This primarily entails a return of investment to the government from its capital project either directly or indirectly.

If the government has a positive approach to all its capital projects, these projects will have an overwhelming effect on the GDP of the nation due to the fact that the government will generate revenues “directly and indirectly” from these projects through the inflow of cash from these projects. Thus from model 2, it is noted that the emergence of an economic sap which is prevalent in Model 1 will be inhibited at the highest level.

In combating the maintenance headaches that have been a strong contender “Corruption being the other” for a major cause of the slow pace of growth and development of Nigeria, there are numerous approaches to be employed by the government but however, I do wholeheartedly recommend the following stringent approaches;

The establishment of a new Ministry dubbed “THE MAINTENANCE MINISTRY” or if not possible, a government maintenance agency with this responsibility. But if one says, there is or are at all tiers of government level, then;

1. What is the name of the existing parastatal? 

2. the nonchalant maintenance attitude has proved that this agency, if it exists is nothing but a shadow in its self and should be overhauled in whichever way deemed expedient to ensure its utter effectiveness.

The recommendation of the aforementioned is because of the need for there to be an individual, body or agency to be held responsible for the downturn in the beauty that once characterized such project of great brilliance. Over the years, there really has been nobody to hold responsible for such ills which are largely the reason why all mishaps with respect to the maintenance of capital projects have been pointed to the government.

Somebody has to take responsibility for such ills, and should be rightly prosecuted, thus facing the full wrath of the law.

While pondering on the appropriate actions to be undertaken by the government towards having a turnaround around in its approach to maintenance, I initially felt the need for all Ministries involved in capital projects like Road, Sports, Aviation, etc to have a department responsible for the maintenance of such projects inherent in the ministries. This I believe exits. The question to ask in this respect is if such exist, then why are these capital projects worse off and in such terrible state? I will reiterate; someone needs to take responsibility for such, the reason why the aforementioned Ministry or Agency with respect to Capital Project Maintenance is deemed most appropriate.

In retrospect, the best example to defend the reason why maintenance departments “if they exist” in the Ministry of Sports, Aviation etc are not effective is the case of “a son having a dad that is notably known to be corrupt, a man whom spent so much of these state funds on his son in bringing him up, sending him to the best of schools abroad etc then the son later turning his back to say to his dad; dad you are stealing state funds etc. Nah, this cannot happen but rather the lad will encourage his dad to keep up the “good” work for it is their time to eat from the National cake. This is why I believe such maintenance departments “son” in whichever Ministry will never check the Ministry “dad” as a whole or the top officials responsible for diverting such funds to private purse.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of this ministry, having effected its creation, the following are hereby recommended to ensure that the Ministry does its duties in the best possible way;

               a.   Primarily ensuring that all capital projects are at its best state; “as new as ever”

   b.  The maintenance ministry should ensure that the stadia across the federation and all publicly owned recreation facilities are regularly patronized and used because the easiest way of maintaining an equipment, electrical, sporting facilities etc is to use it regularly.

  c. Ensuring that such funds designated for such maintenance activity are not misdirected nor misappropriated but stringently used for the primary purpose it was initially meant to serve.

All the aforementioned are expedient and most importantly every other useful recommendation to be added to the aforesaid is expedient because Nigeria needs everyone involved, it begins with everyone irrespective of age, tribe, culture, experience etc.

In addition, it is noteworthy to point out that due to the sensitive nature of this Ministry it is expedient for this Ministry if created to comprise individuals with very good pedigree who are known to be disciplined and prudent towards funds with no stain “corruption” to their name at any point in time. 

The Ministry of Maintenance is one I deem to be akin to the EFCC. Just like the EFCC was established to curb corruption, the Maintenance Ministry will be established to put a stall to the maintenance deficiency by the government, thus working hard towards making Nigeria to be termed among the most efficiently maintenance inclined country in the world.

With regards to the stadia and other recreational facilities, the Ministry will ensure that these facilities are used on a regular basis and opened to the general public. This way the public will play an active role in its maintenance. 

This primarily has to do with the efficient use of the monies paid by the public every time these government facilities are used. The efficient use of the money collected from patronage by the public entails that these monies are used to manage and maintain the facilities in the best possible way.

However prior to when such facilities are used “with respect to the stadium and other recreational facilities etc”, the following approaches should be employed;

1. A thorough inspection should be carried out on the facility by the intending user(s) and a team of staff members from the Ministry of Maintenance.

2. After such inspection is carried out and all parties are deemed satisfied that the facility is in a very good shape, a written agreement or document between the Maintenance Ministry and interested user of the facility should be signed upon stating the following;

      a.  The facility has been certified to be in its best state prior to usage

b.  The facility is temporarily handed over to the individuals making use of it

c.  The facility after usage must be returned back to its initial state “state it was at the point of inspection”

d.  If any damage or destruction arise, the individuals whom patronized such facility will be solely responsible for ensuring that the it is reverted to the good shape and state it was as at the time of its inspection 

e.  Also, after the usage of such facility, the individual(s) using it must be solely responsible for the cleaning of such facility. Failure to comply will entail the imposition of stiff sanctions. Sequel to the facility concerned being cleaned up a team of inspectors from the Maintenance Ministry will, having inspected and deemed the facility well used by the patronizer present a report to the top echelon affirming that the facility was used efficiently. The purpose of this report is to hold accountable the team of inspectors for any misinformation provided with respect to the report presented on the state of the facility after its use.

If this can be vigorously undertaken, thereby being strictly adhered to, every subsequent user of such facility will be driven to patronize the facility overly and ensure that the facility is left in the best possible state for the nest individual to use it.

These aforementioned approaches I believe will be the right step in the best direction towards Nigeria having a new leaf, attitude and approach in its maintenance culture, thus driving the maintenance culture headaches on the road to being past tense. 

In addition, as one knows, one of the reasons why Nigeria over the years has had a very discouraging level of continuity in government policies is down to its maintenance culture. This is because it is expedient to note that there is a direct relationship between the maintenance culture and continuity in government policies, thus the maintenance culture is dependent on the continuity of government policies with new government continuing the policies of previous government rather than start all over again from the scratch, thus slowing down the pace of growth and development.

Having pondered the last paragraph, I came up with the graphical illustration below to elucidate the direct relationship between the maintenance culture of government and its continuity.

From the above, the direct relationship between the maintenance culture of government and the continuity of government policies could be in two folds; i.e. either positively affecting the nation or vice versa.

*The positive effects of the direct relationship include the following;

• Economic growth and development will be attained.
• There will be a better allegiance to the nation by Nigerians due to the government being termed as “WORKING”
• Efficient use of resources “human and material” will be optimally maximized.

*On the flip side, against the positivity as earlier mentioned, the following are what happens;

• Economic downturn with no growth attained but if lucky, a creeping and snail like growth
• Inefficient resource allocation
• Wasteful government spending
• Very little or no allegiance to the nation due to the fact that the citizens will term the government as “NOT WORKING”, thus losing confidence in subsequent promises by the government.

From the aforementioned, conclusively it is expedient to note that the growth of a nation is obviously not dependent on the volume of laudable projects available nor level of resource endowment but solely how well these projects are well managed and efficiently used to generate more wealth and in addition, how efficient these natural resources are distributed to meet the needs of everyone in the country.

All along, I had always thought that the greatest singular headache to the positive advancement of Nigeria in all folds was corruption but writing this opened my mind up to realize that corruption has a younger brother; the desertion of public projects most times resulting from lack of continuity. 

Having said these, it is expedient to note that the newly constituted Ministry of Maintenance or whatever statutory agency the government may deem necessary to come up with for as long as it is one to bring to an end, the Maintenance hiccups in the public sector if properly outlined the government will have an added strength to its viability and as I earlier pointed out, it will hinder the misappropriation of funds since it will be an independent agency.

The importance of this newly constituted agency or ministry on maintenance cannot be overlooked and is utterly necessary due to the current high level of disregard for national projects. It will indeed be a reason for a turnaround in the manner in which such projects were disregarded.

Apart from the great managerial and maintenance dexterity that the newly formed ministry will bring upon the government, its economic impact is one that will make the nation smile to the bank because the government will have more funds to use for other projects due to the less money doled out on these projects, courtesy the revenue gotten from the high patronage received from it.

It is a known fact that Nigeria is blessed in all ramifications from its people to natural resource. A government having a positive approach to governing in all folds has the singular effect of making the people having the highest sense of belonging to their country and the best brains not having any reason to leave the shores of his or her country to seek greener pastures being made to ensure that they make a mark in their home country. The level in which Nigerians strive towards leaving the shores of Nigeria is one that I term to be at a geometric pace which if care is not taken will adversely hit the country in due course.

The Maintenance Ministry should solely be involved in capital projects and should be well structured in a way so as to ensure its independence and freewill directed at its efficiency.

From the foregoing, the following are the adverse effect on the current state of the Maintenance hiccups prevalent in Nigeria on her:
      1.  It breeds corruption

2.  It serves as the “strength” to the downtrend of the Nigerian public sector

3.  It leads to brain drain

4.  It leads to a loss in value

5.  It leads to wastages

6.  It is a dent to economic viability 

1. It breeds corruption: The maintenance weakness of the Nigerian public sector has a great impact on corruption due to the high degree of mismanagement on the part of the public sector, no thanks to the high spate in which public funds are used for private purposes.

2. It serves as the “strength” to the downtrend of the Nigerian public sector: This is due to its long run adverse effects on business activities or performance which decreases, thus becoming worse over a period of time.

3. It leads to brain drain: This arises due to the loss in confidence the citizens have towards the government which generally have the effect of a high level of emigration to other countries where their contributory effect will be better appreciated and taken into cognizance. The reason for the high level of emigration and most time naturalization of Nigerians to other countries is attributed to the inadequate and fast deteriorating facilities in Nigeria that are rife to hinder their dreams from coming alive.

4. It leads to a loss in value: Due to the maintenance problems encountered, the once upon a time available projects that were the reasons for Nigerians being proud of the nation are reasons why they are disgruntled with its leaders and above all, the nation.

5. It leads to wastages: The negligence of these projects by the government in the long run leads to wastages in public funds. This is due to the fact that if these projects were regularly maintained, the amount of funds used on such projects would have been greatly reduced. A good example to this is the earlier approach to the National Stadium, Lagos prequel to the FIFA football tourney in 2009.

6. It is a dent to economic viability: Due to the wastages and misappropriation of government funds, the strength of the nation economically will be attenuated in no time.

It is so pathetic to observe that Nigeria struggles with its capital project, a circumstance that has been in vogue over the years. No doubt, Nigeria needs a change, a change in the attitude of the bad eggs in government because without this change coming forth, Nigeria will not get better but much worse off in the years to come as the ill attitude of these bad eggs will only impede the chances of Nigeria towards being one of the global economies in the world to be reckoned with, “Vision 20 2020”, a feat that as far as I am concerned is not something to contend with because she is meant to be there a very long time ago. 

Nigeria, take a cue from China and Brazil, then you will know why I keep hitting on this ambition “Vision 20 2020”.   

No doubt Nigeria has got lots of prospects with respect to its economic growth which is convincing enough to woo any foreign investor into the country but that in itself is a slapdash due to the fact that these firms, having gotten started with their business get chased away by the harsh investment environment that is ubiquitous in Nigeria. 

Rather than continue with its investment in Nigeria, these firms rather invest in countries with the best of friendly and cost effective investment environment. Among the noteworthy countries is Ghana, a country that is more economically encouraging to foreign investors with respect to its maintenance prowess, available infrastructural facilities, security and very fast fulfilling pace at getting things right with respect to providing good leadership to its citizens. 

With all due respect to Nigeria, it is expedient to note that Ghana is fast becoming a true giant of Africa due to how fast she is catching up with Nigeria in terms of economic viability. The giant of Africa is not measured by population but most importantly, economic viability which is primarily attributed to effective leadership. Ghana is one country that is more likely to meet the Vision 20 2020 anticipation of Nigeria.

Most important to any investor is the market availability of its target market; consumers. This puts Nigeria ahead in Africa due to her large population, which transcends to being an added advantage towards Nigeria being one of the most sought after countries in the world for foreign investment. 

To corroborate the aforesaid is a publication of the words by the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Christine Lagarde made available to the Punch Newspaper of Tuesday, 20 December, 2011 prior to her first official visit to Africa as the IMF head. Some of these words of hers are as thus “Africa’s natural resource wealth is attracting rising foreign investment to help develop and extract those resources. Domestic and foreign investment are increasingly addressing the large infrastructure gaps that many countries face”

No doubt, Nigeria is not left out with respect to these words as above but in as much as both forms of investment are addressing infrastructural gaps in Nigeria, it is at a creeping pace, a pace much slower than it ought to be, thus not defining the true capabilities of Nigeria. This issue with respect to this write up is also attributed to the Maintenance deficiencies of Nigeria.

Furthermore, on the countries she planned visiting, here are her words; “I will visit three countries that display both Africa’s considerable achievements and its unfinished business”. These countries in the order of visit are; Nigeria, Niger and South Africa.

With respect to the latter words, she got that right. Nigeria has got lots of unfinished business that needs to be addressed immediately with the best of attention thereby turning her considerable achievements to a level that will not just be considerable, thus having somewhat of a pass mark but utterly significant thereby being the strength to Nigeria being promoted from its membership of the league of growing or underdeveloped or developing nation to a league that has one name and not three like the former. This new league to befit Nigeria is the “the league of developed nations”.

Having said all these, it is pertinent for the Nigerian leadership most especially at the Executive and legislative arm of government in all tiers of government to work towards it pro-activity rather than pay lip service at the expense of the future of Nigeria. 

In my last words; “leadership is all about leaving a legacy for others to build on and excel from but not a stain for others to fret over and suffer from.

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!