We all deserve quality service delivery by Onumonu Nonye
Most times as a nation we ignorantly take certain decisions that might be detrimental to our progress in future, especially in the utilization of public funds.
Over a year ago, in February 2017 to be precise, i carried out a monitoring exercise in Community High School Nanka located in a small town just north of Orumba LGA in Anambra State for a 2015 Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) intervention project contracted to Jessean Global Concept Ltd for the sum of ₦20,040,900.00. The idea behind this monitoring exercise was to ensure that citizens are beneficiaries of excellent service delivery from the government which is one of the primary responsibilities of government as noted in chapter 2 section 14,(2b) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria ;
“the security and welfare of the people is the primary purpose of Government”
According to records received from UBEC, the project was aimed at renovating and rehabilitating the school, however upon visiting, i found out the contractor was contracted to build a fence and a security gate. The project information was gotten from UBEC in response to a freedom of information request sent by Public and Private Development Center (PPDC) to the Commission. The information provided was fed into our open contracting platform called Budeshi (meaning “open it” in Hausa language of Nigeria). The Budeshi platform is a tech tool built on the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) Schema that links budget data to contracting data in a way that improves public service delivery.
Though this project seemed to be unfinished at the time of the visit (only the frontal part of the fence with a security gate was completed while the back of the school remained unfenced), the same project is noted as completed and concluded based on project information made available to me by the UBEC. According to the response from UBEC, the contractor was meant to erect a portion of a 400m perimeter wall with gates and a security house as against the total school area of 19,000sqm.
The English Oxford Living Dictionary describes a fence as “a barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to prevent or control access or escape”. A fence as a structure of a wall put around a house is expected to keep the environment from intrusion, theft et al. When the purpose for a project implementation is defeated,of what benefit is the project? An awarded fence should secure lives and properties of its beneficiaries in the host communities.
As shared by one of the students in our project verification documentary “Budeshi Waka”, there were lots of infiltrators/intruders endangering the lives of all in the learning environment which contributed to low concentration in classrooms and high level of fear among the students.
This and many more are some of the general observations discovered while carrying out project monitoring exercises. Most Government projects are abandoned while some even when claimed were completed are not usually completed in a way that is beneficial to the people. This is why PPDC has launched a toll free line 0800BUDESHI (08002833744) to let us know if there are public projects in your area that require the government’s attention.
Nigeria will go a long way in development if our public contracts are implemented while engaging the citizens in an open and transparent manner that gives value for money and improved welfare for the common man on the street.
There is an urgent need for a well articulated and comprehensive delivery of public projects to the recipient communities. Each contract should be tailored to meet the specific needs of each school. Government institutions should put into consideration all round completion of projects to avoid wastage of our God given limited resources.
I rest my case!!!!!!!
