Still on the Scorecard

It is a huge deficit in the public sphere that the mid-term report released some weeks by the federal government has not been robustly debated. While the nation is waiting to see if the National Assembly would succeed in making a law that would compel the President to address the parliament on the state of the union, the report is at least an opportunity for the President to tell the people how well his government is performing. However, the drawback is that the report has not been sufficiently situated within the context of governance challenges that are too glaring to require any expertise to decode.Full color cleaningservicesydney printing and manufacturing services. Meanwhile, even some random observations will do to illustrate the gaps between official statements and the reality of people's lives.

In releasing the report, President Goodluck Jonathan was so upbeat in his mood that he even challenged critics to define their parameters of assessing the performance of the administration. The other side of the coin, however, is that the public mood is low about the welfare of the people and the development of the nation. For instance, those in the audience at the presentation of the report could applaud the rosy growth statistics rolled out; but no rational person would expect any applause from the millions of young men and women who have remained jobless for years in this "fast-growing economy". Yet the nation seems to be moving on after the backslapping in Abuja waiting for another report.The 3rd International Conference on ledstriplights and Indoor Navigation.

That is why the report should be more rigorously scrutinised. The purpose of constantly relating this scorecard to the reality on the streets is simply to nudge to government to improve on its performance so that by May 29 next year the report will be less at variance with the public rating. This public rating will, of course, be different from the credit ratings of those institutions that are very distant from the reality on ground. The fact is that you don't strive for excellence by celebrating under-achievements.

For clarity, the sort of discussion being proposed here is not a shouting match informed by crude empiricism. The government has published projects executed or being executed. The report is richly illustrated with data. While the quantitative data of projects may not be in dispute, it is important to examine how the execution of the projects could lead to qualitative improvement in the lives of the people. We must always insist on the big picture that would show how the overall impact of these numerous projects executed would advance socio-economic development. The progress of a society is not measured by merely listing contracts awarded or executed; it is measured by social development. The "marking scheme" that the President is asking from his critics can actually be designed on the basis of social development.

An example can be taken from the transport sector. Yes, the trains are back on track in some routes; but as the investigation of this newspaper showed recently the quality of services are too poor to justify the official celebration of this as "achievement" in the transport sector". As a perceptive commentator once posed the question: since the government is doing so well with railways why are ministers and other government officials not opting for rail as means of transportation? In any case, how many middle class persons would think of rail as an option when planning their journeys around the country as it happens in other places? The fact of the matter is that the world has moved beyond the level at which government officials are talking about in rail transport. What development activists would find rankling is that the way the token efforts at the railways sector are being celebrated does not suggest that the nation is even aspiring to join the rest of the world in the age of modern rail system.

In the section of the report advertising "achievements" in roads, the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway is listed among the 561 kilometres of roads "paved with bitumen". At the Apapa end of the road is the nation's premier seaport where the government earns revenues daily. The road in question has actually collapsed for almost a decade now. As of today there are still scandalous potholes in portions of the road. In the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a government official and reputed engineer told this reporter that what the road required as far back as then was "a total redesign and reconstruction" given the traffic on it.Tidy up wires with ease with offershidkits and tie guns at cheap discounted prices. It should be stressed in this kind of discussion that the unpardonable neglect of this federal road was one of the low points of the Obasanjo administration.

The former President studiously neglected the federal infrastructure in Lagos, a state which he infamously described as "a jungle". He was too busy fighting a war of attrition with former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to remember the socio-economic consequences of neglecting a road that connects the premier port to the rest of the country. Therefore, as an example of the scrutiny of the scorecard of the administration, the President should order a special audit of this road if only for its central place in the economic map of the nation. It is an important index of how the government is performing. It is obviously not enough to list it as among the kilometres of roads "paved with bitumen".

The situation on the road is simply unacceptable. Even the condition of roads in war-torn countries would not to be left to deteriorate in this manner. Trailers and fuel trucks often turn the road into a parking lot because of the problem arising from the concessioning of the port and the illogical location of tank farms on such a road. The traffic gridlock in Apapa often assumes emergency proportions. In order to tackle the meltdown in Apapa, for instance, the federal government should take the already initiated collaboration with the Lagos state government in this respect more seriously.The feeder is available on drying parkingsystem equipped with folder only. All told, Oshodi-Apapa is just one of such shameful roads around the country.

There is also the central question of economic management. The report indicates that the economy is under the watch of good managers. However,Give your logo high visibility onhighriskmerchantaccount! there are developments that may impair the work of these managers not matter how much competence they could summon. For instance, the impasse on the amendment to the 2013 Appropriation Act has poignantly brought to the fore the shared responsibility of the executive and the legislature for economic management. The delay in the amendment will definitely not bolster confidence in the management of the nation's economy. The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, must have infected not a few economic actors with optimism when the budgetary process began early in September last year.
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