Prioritizing redemption

If Sure-P was aimed at improving the lot of Nigerians, my take is that it should have limited focus and areas of intervention where massive investment and attention would be made and results achieved with benchmarks over a specific period of time after which attention is shifted to other areas of critical need.If with about […]

If Sure-P was aimed at improving the lot of Nigerians, my take is that it should have limited focus and areas of intervention where massive investment and attention would be made and results achieved with benchmarks over a specific period of time after which attention is shifted to other areas of critical need.
If with about N180 billion annually, substantial achievements could be made in some areas, the lesson is that quite a lot would have been recorded if the intervention was limited to the more critical sectors of our national life. What has become the mandate of the intervention was however extensive and thus despite the huge resource deployment in some sectors, the achievements are very negligible.
In my view that is not a particularly good methodology of maximum impact, and thus defeating the objectives of the entire scheme. Sure-P, I understand, is intervening on several fronts but the immediate past administration was meddlesome in the activities of the fund, especially the works and Niger Delta ministries, where most of their projects were basically run by the intervention fund thus leaving Nigerians to wonder what happened to the regular budgetary allocations to these ministries.
The Sure-P story is not necessarily the focus of our piece for the week but merely the foundation and an introduction to what in our view should form the focus of the new administration in order to rid Nigeria of these endemic rot that have denied us a good life.
First of all, it is crucial that the three tiers of government must work towards establishing clear lines of responsibility in areas that they have joint responsibilities. Just like President Buhari said in his inauguration speech, such streamlining mustn’t be limited to only state/local government joint account but even those areas of functions where the federal share responsibilities with states. Areas like education, health, agriculture and water resources must sufficiently be comprehended so that the extent of participation by every level is clearly spelt out as a means of eliminating duplication, which has played negatively on the ability of governments to provide services to the people.
If the federal government would invest in education for instance, what level of investments and what are the areas that it could play its roles that the other levels of government could either not or concentrate on other areas so that education would be enhanced? Why would the federal ministry of water resources be building boreholes across the country while states and local governments are also into the same ventures? This is improper and responsible for the backward federal structure that Nigeria operates and makes it impossible to know clearly what extent of infrastructural development each level of government is able to achieve.
Same is the case in health, agriculture and environment amongst areas of concurrent responsibility. One major fault with our constitution is its inability to streamline functions in details between the levels of government as much as did with the organs of government. It is not enough to merely mention items without the descriptive details of these items. As long as these details are not streamlined, it will continue to be difficult to have purposeful development in areas of joint and common services.
Aside function delineation, a critical area of immediate focus is power as one major problem we face as a people. Education and health services are in deep crises. In my view, any attempt at immediate intervention must have as priority the need to deregulate power from the exclusive to concurrent responsibility list as proposed in the amendment to the constitution which former president Jonathan failed to assent to. With over $20 billion injected into the power sector over a 16-year period, the major achievement was a reduction in generation capacity from what the military handed over to civilians in 1999. States, local governments and private groups as well as individuals that can generate, distribute and market electricity must be allowed to exist under strict regulatory framework that would guarantee quality, service, and efficiency as well as protect consumers. This way, the nation would be out of the power challenge.
In my view, a clear responsibility delineation be made on extent of involvement of the centre in the management of education at operational and implementation levels. Where does the federal begin and where does it end? Yes, national policy on education for the sake of quality control and regulation is a function of the centre but to what extent can it invest and physically run schools in a vast federation like Nigeria?
I am of the opinion that, while the roles and responsibilities of the levels of government are in the process, deliberate effort must be made to expand access while working at the same time on the vexed issue of quality. The way Nigeria is today, both quantity and quality must go side by side. Government at the centre especially, must deliberately expand access in selected tertiary institutions in the country by massive investment in infrastructure and human capital over the next few years. It is possible that six universities across the country could be expanded in the next three years to triple their carrying capacities.
Equally is the case with selected polytechnics and colleges of education. This expansion should be a deliberate policy to accommodate the growing sea of illegible young people who cannot be placed due to space access and thus reducing tertiary education to only those who are connected. This is dangerous and must be addressed if the nation is to get out of the crisis it is in today.
I am of the view that if the redemption that people voted for in March and April is to be achieved, government at the centre and states must as a matter of necessity, prioritise and set clear targets and objectives to be achieved with benchmarks. Thus, Nigerians would see very clearly the efforts and the successes and challenges would equally be appreciated.
Incrementalism should form the basis of the corrections by this administration. Total packaging may not achieve results in a long space and that will be suicidal to the integrity of this government. Prioritisation is crucial and should be the way to follow.