The issue of privatising and deregulation of public enterprises has been in the front burner for decades now. I remember the IBB days when we had the TCPC (Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation). Over time we have changed names, changed responsibilities, and now the organisation we know to be saddled with the responsibility of privatisation is the BPE (Bureau for Public Enterprises).
Privatisation cum deregulation has however been a very bumpy road. The moment deregulation policies are made; the polity seems to heat up. Unions begin to shout and threaten strike and all manner of things. Politicians, economists begin to say this and that, either for or against (usually against) and in most cases, the Government, not having enough will and probably never clear enough about the direction it wanted to go in the first place, backs down and things go on as usual. But to whose benefit?
Government has not been able to run any enterprise successfully over the last 20/30 odd years. The list of failed government enterprises is amazingly long. PHCN, Nitel, Nigeria Airways, Nigeria Railways, DFRRI, Ajaokuta steel complex, Nigerian National Shipping Line, Alscon (before it was privatised), NAFCON, National Theatre, Refineries, Eleme Petrochemical (before privatisation), Hotels, Banks, Newspapers and many more I can’t even remember! What makes us think they can do any better anytime soon? The longer these enterprises fail, especially the ones with no substitutes, the more the costs to the Nigerian economy and by extension, its people.
Yet, the many unions who go on strike to prevent the privatisation of all these enterprises don’t seem to think so. Usually they claim that once funding is in place, they can run the organisations, but I far as I am concerned that is a farce!! The unions of PHCN, Nitel etc, do not want these organisations privatised in order to hold on to their jobs (which they barely do) at the expense of the country. They know all too well that they cannot work in a privately owned company. They have spent too long working in a civil service way. The perfect comparison is Nitel vs the GSM companies. The GSM companies have brought in billions of dollars in investment, paid billions of Naira in taxes, created thousands of direct jobs and tens of thousand of indirect ones (from hawkers of recharge cards, distributors of recharge cards, builders of masts, steel fabricators, IT consultants, advertising agencies etc). On the other hand, how many times has Nitel advertised for staff in recent memory? Or when did it last contribute to Government income? The same questions can be asked of our refineries? Who has ever heard of any of our refineries putting out adverts for employment? Yet these are the places where our Petroleum Engineers, Mechanical Engineers and the like should be dreaming of working.
There is no doubt that many of the staff at these companies may loose their jobs if privatised. But the truth of the matter is that many of them are only currently employed due to the inefficiencies of the system. What 5 staff in the current PHCN do, 1 person in a privatised PHCN could probably do with a laptop- more efficiently for that matter!! The sooner the old, ancient and incompetent staffs of these companies give way to young, vibrant and competent people, the better for the Nigerian economy. It is also true that in the short term, the prices of the goods and services provided by these failed government enterprises may increase if privatised, as investments are made to bring existing facilities up to scratch, but I put forward that in the long term the prices will come down. After all we started GSM at N50 per minute in 2001, but now, depending on the service you are running, you may be charged as low as N16 per minute and that does not take depreciation of the Naira and inflation into consideration. In real terms it is even cheaper. What is the point of paying N6/Kwh of electricity that will never come and spend thousands of Naira running generators? Wouldn’t it be better to pay N11/kwh for stable electricity from a private company and have peace of mind to stock your freezer and conduct your business?
The truth is that the private sector will always be better at capital formation and allocation. The sooner we get the government to stop attempting to run businesses, and to convert Nigeria Ltd to Nigeria Plc, the better!!
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Thursday, 23 April 2009
SERVICE QUALITY
In most cases, service quality is a tool in the hands of businesses worldwide to gain an upper hand or a competitive advantage over other players in the same industry. However, as is so often the case, what works well everywhere else doesn’t quite seem to hold much water in Nigeria.
In both our private and public institutions, service quality is generally poor. No!! This is an understatement!! In the private sector, it is generally poor, but in the public sector it is horrific! I don’t need to think too hard to come up with dozens of examples of where service is so poor in the public sector. Some are PHCN, the Police, the Customs service, the civil service and so on and so forth.
I once called the number given on my power utility bill to complain that I had not had power, more often referred to as “light”, for 3 weeks. Rather than take down my details and dispatch someone to ascertain what the problem was, the phcn customer services manager simply said “…eh, eh. You will have to come o, so that we can discuss…” I was taken aback! I retorted, “…I’m sorry. I am calling from my office and I am busy and can’t make time out to come physically. I thought that was why a complaint number was put on the bill, besides what do I need to come to your office for?”. The lady at the other end simply said “…until you come now. After all you are not the only one living in that area without light. Someone else should come!” At this point, I decided there was nothing to gain in continuing the discussion. I excused myself and got of the phone!!
No doubt, this is reflective of the Nigerian society. No one wants to do his job anymore except some gratification is paid, a favour done etc. For how long will we continue like this? For how long will we continue to kill this country? Funny enough, we are all quick to point a finger and complain when others are doing the wrong thing or when we don’t get appropriate service elsewhere, but we usually do the same things and deny others the same service quality we expect for ourselves when the tables are turned. We complain about corruption in this country, but we are quick to offer a policeman N100 rather than regularise out vehicle particulars. We are quick to bribe customs officials to approve fake documents to underpay duties, rather than declare the right value and pay the proper amount. Remember, when you point one finger, four others are pointing right back at you!
In both our private and public institutions, service quality is generally poor. No!! This is an understatement!! In the private sector, it is generally poor, but in the public sector it is horrific! I don’t need to think too hard to come up with dozens of examples of where service is so poor in the public sector. Some are PHCN, the Police, the Customs service, the civil service and so on and so forth.
I once called the number given on my power utility bill to complain that I had not had power, more often referred to as “light”, for 3 weeks. Rather than take down my details and dispatch someone to ascertain what the problem was, the phcn customer services manager simply said “…eh, eh. You will have to come o, so that we can discuss…” I was taken aback! I retorted, “…I’m sorry. I am calling from my office and I am busy and can’t make time out to come physically. I thought that was why a complaint number was put on the bill, besides what do I need to come to your office for?”. The lady at the other end simply said “…until you come now. After all you are not the only one living in that area without light. Someone else should come!” At this point, I decided there was nothing to gain in continuing the discussion. I excused myself and got of the phone!!
No doubt, this is reflective of the Nigerian society. No one wants to do his job anymore except some gratification is paid, a favour done etc. For how long will we continue like this? For how long will we continue to kill this country? Funny enough, we are all quick to point a finger and complain when others are doing the wrong thing or when we don’t get appropriate service elsewhere, but we usually do the same things and deny others the same service quality we expect for ourselves when the tables are turned. We complain about corruption in this country, but we are quick to offer a policeman N100 rather than regularise out vehicle particulars. We are quick to bribe customs officials to approve fake documents to underpay duties, rather than declare the right value and pay the proper amount. Remember, when you point one finger, four others are pointing right back at you!
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
LASG vs Tanker Drivers
I am almost certain that all Nigerians are now aware that there is a fuel crisis going on in the country. While for many years, especially for those in the north and east, fuel queues have always sprung up here and there, lasting for a few days, but never really getting out of hand, the current one, by all indications, is looking like it might end up as a mega crisis.
But how have we got ourselves here? The story in the media is that the cause of the current crisis is firstly as a result of importers and the NNPC to import fuel, due to a lack of clarity on the deregulation policy, and secondly due to the protracted issue between the Lagos State Government and tanker drivers over parking on the highways and the like.
I would like to focus on the second reason. The standoff between LASG and tanker drivers dates back many years. We have all been witnesses to the menace the tankers cause on our roads. Regular motorists on Lagos -Ibadan expressway will know what i'm talking about, as well as those who frequent the Apapa area. Even in Ibadan, at Ojo area, many a motorist has met his untimely death by crashing into one tanker or the other. But are the drivers at fault? My answer to this is yes and no. I say yes because every learned Nigeria should know that the highways are not parking areas and were never designed to be. Unfortunately, I doubt the average tanker driver is very learned!! And no, because the governments irresponsibility and incompetence (both state and federal) have led to this in the first place. First of all if our refineries were working, and we had built more by now, we probably wouldn't need as many tanker drivers and their hold on the product supply would be much less. Secondly, if we had a working pipeline system, we would need much fewer tankers and the distribution system would be more efficient. Thirdly, if the government had nipped this millitancy in the bud early enough, we would not have any issues with our pipeline network.
Unfortunate as it may be, we have handed power to the tanker drivers who now cannot be controlled, cannot be spoken to and to whom traffic laws no longer seem to apply, even it it causes misery for other road users.
If we had been brave enough to deregulate the downstream sector years ago, I doubt we would be in this mess today. By now there would have been more modern discharge facilities in other ports, thereby ensuring that not all produce comes in through Lagos. Also, if it were found to be cheaper, the railways may have become a more preferred mode of transport to the hinterland as opposed to the current system of trucking (how much fuel can one truck carry for goodness sake?) and perhaps that would have provided some impetus for the mordernisation or complete privatisation of the railway by now.
The current crisis is already among us, but what we must do is to ensure that it doesn't happen again. The solutions are available, but only to the creative, learned and proactive. Do we have such in government? Hopefully!!
But how have we got ourselves here? The story in the media is that the cause of the current crisis is firstly as a result of importers and the NNPC to import fuel, due to a lack of clarity on the deregulation policy, and secondly due to the protracted issue between the Lagos State Government and tanker drivers over parking on the highways and the like.
I would like to focus on the second reason. The standoff between LASG and tanker drivers dates back many years. We have all been witnesses to the menace the tankers cause on our roads. Regular motorists on Lagos -Ibadan expressway will know what i'm talking about, as well as those who frequent the Apapa area. Even in Ibadan, at Ojo area, many a motorist has met his untimely death by crashing into one tanker or the other. But are the drivers at fault? My answer to this is yes and no. I say yes because every learned Nigeria should know that the highways are not parking areas and were never designed to be. Unfortunately, I doubt the average tanker driver is very learned!! And no, because the governments irresponsibility and incompetence (both state and federal) have led to this in the first place. First of all if our refineries were working, and we had built more by now, we probably wouldn't need as many tanker drivers and their hold on the product supply would be much less. Secondly, if we had a working pipeline system, we would need much fewer tankers and the distribution system would be more efficient. Thirdly, if the government had nipped this millitancy in the bud early enough, we would not have any issues with our pipeline network.
Unfortunate as it may be, we have handed power to the tanker drivers who now cannot be controlled, cannot be spoken to and to whom traffic laws no longer seem to apply, even it it causes misery for other road users.
If we had been brave enough to deregulate the downstream sector years ago, I doubt we would be in this mess today. By now there would have been more modern discharge facilities in other ports, thereby ensuring that not all produce comes in through Lagos. Also, if it were found to be cheaper, the railways may have become a more preferred mode of transport to the hinterland as opposed to the current system of trucking (how much fuel can one truck carry for goodness sake?) and perhaps that would have provided some impetus for the mordernisation or complete privatisation of the railway by now.
The current crisis is already among us, but what we must do is to ensure that it doesn't happen again. The solutions are available, but only to the creative, learned and proactive. Do we have such in government? Hopefully!!
Sunday, 19 April 2009
CORRUPTION IN THE HALLWAYS OF JUSTICE
The government structure of Nigeria, like most other democracies, is made up of the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. In recent times, while the Executive and Legislature have been enmeshed in one controversy or another, usually bordering on corruption, policy inconsistency et al, the Judiciary has been hailed! Especially in the light of their recent judgements, as relates to the 2007 election. So much so, that the Judiciary is being hailed as the “…last resort of the common man”.
While it is generally correct that the Judiciary has done rather well, a closer look will indicate that even within the hallways of the Justice, corruption can be just as rampant as what obtains within the outer perimeters of the larger society.
I draw my thinking and conclusions from an incident that occurred to my friend. My friend recently won a case against the Ministry of Transport in Port Harcourt for having his car impounded and being fined N50,000 without any legal backing or conviction of the court, as the law states. The real story is that even after the judgement, the court bailiff refused to serve the judgement on the respondents except my friend paid N5,000. What is more shocking is that the court and the Ministry of Transport are very close to one another, right there in the secretariat area of Port Harcourt.
Isn’t it amazing that the same court that exercises judgement in your favour against an injustice meted out to you, will turn around and exact a bribe before the same judgement is served on the defendants? Isn’t that another injustice? So perhaps maybe it is safe to say that our Judiciary simply replaces one injustice with another!!
While it is generally correct that the Judiciary has done rather well, a closer look will indicate that even within the hallways of the Justice, corruption can be just as rampant as what obtains within the outer perimeters of the larger society.
I draw my thinking and conclusions from an incident that occurred to my friend. My friend recently won a case against the Ministry of Transport in Port Harcourt for having his car impounded and being fined N50,000 without any legal backing or conviction of the court, as the law states. The real story is that even after the judgement, the court bailiff refused to serve the judgement on the respondents except my friend paid N5,000. What is more shocking is that the court and the Ministry of Transport are very close to one another, right there in the secretariat area of Port Harcourt.
Isn’t it amazing that the same court that exercises judgement in your favour against an injustice meted out to you, will turn around and exact a bribe before the same judgement is served on the defendants? Isn’t that another injustice? So perhaps maybe it is safe to say that our Judiciary simply replaces one injustice with another!!
Friday, 17 April 2009
Myth or Reality?
Nigeria is rich, there fore we should be enjoying! Nigeria has oil, so petrol must be cheap! Nigeria has money, so education should be free!!
Are these statements really true!? Or are they myths? Does Nigeria realy have all that much money and are we really all that rich?
A recent headline comes to mind. I was reading the news on yahoo, I think, and there was a report that University tuiton fees in the UK (for british citizens) were being proposed to rise from about £3,500 to about £5,000 and I wondered....."I thought education in the UK was free"!? After all that is what we tend to hear, as an reason for why it should be free here in Nigeria. I don't know what you think, but £3,500 doesn't sound free to me!!
The per capita GDP of the UK is about $40,000, while that of Nigeria, if the official figures are anything to go by, is just about $2,300. Wait a minute, is that right!? How can a country that earns so much be charging tuition fees of £3,500, while a country that earns so little (despite having oil), be charging £100 (GBP equivalent of about N25,000- private universities charge about 15 to 20 times that)? You would have thought the richer country should be able to afford to make its education free!!
But if these are the facts, can we expect a £500 education to equate to a £3,500 one? Is it possible!? Do I hear you say "......but Nigeria has oil"? True as this may be, lets compare our per capita GDP with a few other oil producing nations. Nigeria-$2,300; Qatar-$103,000; Kuwait-$57,400; Norway-$55,200; UAE-$40,000; Saudi Arabia-$20,700; Libya- $14,400 and Angola-$8,800.
So is Nigeria really rich after all!?
A good question to ask would be..."are countries rich because their citizens are well educated, or their citizens are well educated because their countries are rich..?"
The thinking that Nigeria is a rich country is a major problem we seem to have. The years of plenty have blinded us the the fact that all said and done, Nigeria is not really that rich, and that the country cannot really afford to give all its citizens as much free this and free that as we might like. Corruption is a factor. If corruption could be brought down to western levels, no doubt we would all have significantly better standards of living, but like I said before, all said and done, Nigeria isn't really that rich!!
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html
Are these statements really true!? Or are they myths? Does Nigeria realy have all that much money and are we really all that rich?
A recent headline comes to mind. I was reading the news on yahoo, I think, and there was a report that University tuiton fees in the UK (for british citizens) were being proposed to rise from about £3,500 to about £5,000 and I wondered....."I thought education in the UK was free"!? After all that is what we tend to hear, as an reason for why it should be free here in Nigeria. I don't know what you think, but £3,500 doesn't sound free to me!!
The per capita GDP of the UK is about $40,000, while that of Nigeria, if the official figures are anything to go by, is just about $2,300. Wait a minute, is that right!? How can a country that earns so much be charging tuition fees of £3,500, while a country that earns so little (despite having oil), be charging £100 (GBP equivalent of about N25,000- private universities charge about 15 to 20 times that)? You would have thought the richer country should be able to afford to make its education free!!
But if these are the facts, can we expect a £500 education to equate to a £3,500 one? Is it possible!? Do I hear you say "......but Nigeria has oil"? True as this may be, lets compare our per capita GDP with a few other oil producing nations. Nigeria-$2,300; Qatar-$103,000; Kuwait-$57,400; Norway-$55,200; UAE-$40,000; Saudi Arabia-$20,700; Libya- $14,400 and Angola-$8,800.
So is Nigeria really rich after all!?
A good question to ask would be..."are countries rich because their citizens are well educated, or their citizens are well educated because their countries are rich..?"
The thinking that Nigeria is a rich country is a major problem we seem to have. The years of plenty have blinded us the the fact that all said and done, Nigeria is not really that rich, and that the country cannot really afford to give all its citizens as much free this and free that as we might like. Corruption is a factor. If corruption could be brought down to western levels, no doubt we would all have significantly better standards of living, but like I said before, all said and done, Nigeria isn't really that rich!!
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Competence vs Incompetence
A friend once told me that after reviewing Nigeria's issues and problems, he had come to the conclusion that the problem with Nigeria is not so much of corruption as it is incompetence. While that may be a hard sell to the generality, after listening to his arguements I certainly do agree that he has a strong point.
But what is incompetence? A look at MS word for synonyms gives "ineffectiveness", "ineptitude", "stupidity" and "uselessness" as synonyms. What strong words!! Yet, a look around the public sphere in Nigeria shows that our nation reeks of incompetence!!
All around the world, the smartest most intelligent people are voted into public office. The American Senate is filled with Harvard, Oxford and Princeton style lawyers, successfull business men and generally men of real timber and calibre. But what do we have in Nigeria? The exact opposite. Those who fill our NASS, civil service, Police, PHCN etc seem to be the dullest and most unintelligble, unimaginative people possible. In America, the Army,Navy and Police compete with some of the best companies in the country to recruit the best brains for its services. The best engineers, IT specialists, Operations researchers etc can be found in these forces, but our own Army, Police, Navy etc are filled largely by non graduates. What do you expect from a police force that has primary 6 education as a minimum requirement!?
If these scenarios are representative of the entirety of our public institutions (which they are), then can we actually hope for any improvement in the way this country is administered? The sooner we exit from the throes of the incompetent the better.
And why should we? A cursory look at a scenario dominated by "competent" people will suffice. Take a look at the government of Lagos State. I look at that administration and I see competent people. The results are visible to all!!
My worst personal experiences in the county have come from the Police and PHCN. Imagine a PHCN staff cutting my power supply when I had paid to the same office a week prior. And his only explanation was that I should have pasted my bill on my gate. What incompetence!!! In a full week, a local PHCN office (Rumuokwrushi, PH to be exact) cannot reconcile its records to identify who has paid and who has not!!? That is really astonishing!! Even common MS excel can provide a means of keeping tabs of who has paid and who hasn't.
I'm not exactly clear on how this country can get out of the grip of the incompetent, but what is clear is that it must!!!
But what is incompetence? A look at MS word for synonyms gives "ineffectiveness", "ineptitude", "stupidity" and "uselessness" as synonyms. What strong words!! Yet, a look around the public sphere in Nigeria shows that our nation reeks of incompetence!!
All around the world, the smartest most intelligent people are voted into public office. The American Senate is filled with Harvard, Oxford and Princeton style lawyers, successfull business men and generally men of real timber and calibre. But what do we have in Nigeria? The exact opposite. Those who fill our NASS, civil service, Police, PHCN etc seem to be the dullest and most unintelligble, unimaginative people possible. In America, the Army,Navy and Police compete with some of the best companies in the country to recruit the best brains for its services. The best engineers, IT specialists, Operations researchers etc can be found in these forces, but our own Army, Police, Navy etc are filled largely by non graduates. What do you expect from a police force that has primary 6 education as a minimum requirement!?
If these scenarios are representative of the entirety of our public institutions (which they are), then can we actually hope for any improvement in the way this country is administered? The sooner we exit from the throes of the incompetent the better.
And why should we? A cursory look at a scenario dominated by "competent" people will suffice. Take a look at the government of Lagos State. I look at that administration and I see competent people. The results are visible to all!!
My worst personal experiences in the county have come from the Police and PHCN. Imagine a PHCN staff cutting my power supply when I had paid to the same office a week prior. And his only explanation was that I should have pasted my bill on my gate. What incompetence!!! In a full week, a local PHCN office (Rumuokwrushi, PH to be exact) cannot reconcile its records to identify who has paid and who has not!!? That is really astonishing!! Even common MS excel can provide a means of keeping tabs of who has paid and who hasn't.
I'm not exactly clear on how this country can get out of the grip of the incompetent, but what is clear is that it must!!!
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Haliburton Scandal
My people, isn't it odd that the Nigerian Government is moving at a snails pace over the Nigerian angle in this Haliburton scandal!? For a govenment that claims to be fighting corruption on all fronts and in all its ramifications, it seemed not to even know such a scandal existed. Not till the NASS screamed blue murder over this did we begin to see some reports in the newspapers attributing this and that to the Attorney General of the federation, the EFCC chairman and so on.
As far as I'm concerned, this Haliburton issue presented a rather quick and easy way for the government to drive home its message on zero tolerance for corruption, since the case had already been tried in the US. There would therefore no doubt be a large cache of evidence to draw from, if only the Nigerian authorities were so willing...!!
Hopefully, the last has not been heard on this issue.
As far as I'm concerned, this Haliburton issue presented a rather quick and easy way for the government to drive home its message on zero tolerance for corruption, since the case had already been tried in the US. There would therefore no doubt be a large cache of evidence to draw from, if only the Nigerian authorities were so willing...!!
Hopefully, the last has not been heard on this issue.
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