IF GOVERNMENTS are defined by the roles they prioritize for themselves, Nigerian governments have reduced themselves to a berserk contractocracy, valuing contract awards more than the sanctity of human lives. Year in, year out, state and federal executive councils award billions and trillions worth of contracts weekly.
Section 148(2) of the 1999 Constitution provides for Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings to deliberate on the general direction of domestic and foreign policies, coordinate government activities, and advise the president on matters not covered by constitutionally mandated advisors.
Why renovate and fence schools, hospitals, and courts without hiring teachers, doctors, or judges? Why construct airports merely to satisfy the egos of a privileged few? Why build substandard public housing with roofs that blow off before commissioning? Why construct roads that wash away after two or three rainy seasons? Why establish state universities staffed by inexperienced civil servants with higher degrees and overworked visiting lecturers?
Similarly, Section 193(2) provides for State Executive Council (SEC) meetings to discuss the same issues, excluding foreign policy at the state level.
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However, after FEC or SEC meetings, the nation is usually briefed on their outcomes, with no indication that the direction of domestic or foreign policies was ever discussed. If such discussions did occur, critical issues were likely glossed over or swept under the carpet, as their implications might have been unpalatable to the government. Had they been properly addressed, many contracts would not have been awarded, and the funds could have been redirected toward human development rather than infrastructure.
While a modern economy depends on energy, power, road networks, airports, seaports, and high-tech services, one cannot fault transparent contract awards for vital infrastructure. Unfortunately, even critical economic contracts are tainted by self-interest.
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Massive contract awards serve two purposes: First, they create a deceptive impression that these contractocratic regimes are people-centred, committed to delivering democratic dividends. Second, they serve as a means to divert public funds for private gain.
Nigeria’s Mambilla Hydro Power Project began in 1972, yet 53 years later, it has contributed nothing to the national grid. Instead, it has become a burden, culminating in a $2.3 billion arbitration between Sunpower and the Nigerian government at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris over breached contract terms.
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If the military regime that initiated the project was a self-interested dictatorship incapable of completing it, why couldn’t the supposedly pro-people democratic leaders finish it in a quarter-century (1999–2025)?
The irony is that while billions and trillions are spent on contracts, human decay pervades the nation. Students, teachers, the unemployed, orphans, widows, divorced women, small-scale traders, artisans, pensioners, civil servants, and the general poor — across both North and South — are suffering under rising petroleum prices, transportation costs, electricity tariffs, school fees, and hospital bills.
In contrast, Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa’s largest hydropower project — equivalent to Nigeria’s Mambilla — began in 2011. Twelve years later, it was 94% complete, poised to double Ethiopia’s power generation and transform it into a regional energy exporter.
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Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Mambilla project remains perpetually unfinished, a cash cow for generations of powerful elites.
Other examples of self-serving contracts include: The multi-trillion-naira Calabar-Lagos Coastal Highway; periodic Turn-Around-Maintenance (TAM) contracts for near-defunct refineries denominated in dollars; and Halliburton’s Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) $6 billion LNG Bonny contracts.
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Why renovate and fence schools, hospitals, and courts without hiring teachers, doctors, or judges? Why construct airports merely to satisfy the egos of a privileged few? Why build substandard public housing with roofs that blow off before commissioning? Why construct roads that wash away after two or three rainy seasons? Why establish state universities staffed by inexperienced civil servants with higher degrees and overworked visiting lecturers?
The Abacha-era approach — where subsidy removal proceeds were allocated to specific projects through public agencies — was more beneficial than the Tinubu administration’s method of disbursing funds to various government tiers to finance endless, often unnecessary, and self-serving contracts.
With governments flush from subsidy removals and endless borrowing, the contract jamboree shows no sign of ending — so long as it serves narrow personal interests.
The irony is that while billions and trillions are spent on contracts, human decay pervades the nation. Students, teachers, the unemployed, orphans, widows, divorced women, small-scale traders, artisans, pensioners, civil servants, and the general poor — across both North and South — are suffering under rising petroleum prices, transportation costs, electricity tariffs, school fees, and hospital bills.
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Had contracts awarded since 1999 been executed according to international best practices, Nigeria’s infrastructural deficits would have been resolved in the past 26 years — especially since contract-awarding meetings rarely skipped a month.
The Abacha-era approach — where subsidy removal proceeds were allocated to specific projects through public agencies — was more beneficial than the Tinubu administration’s method of disbursing funds to various government tiers to finance endless, often unnecessary, and self-serving contracts.
Nigerians do not need mere consulting clinics, teacherless schools, substandard housing, or vanity airports. They demand better lives and improved UNDP Human Development Indices.
Jahun, a public affairs commentator, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State capital. He can be reached at 07039038088.
