Can we hold our leaders to account? The Lagos example (2)

Those who have followed this column will observe I have been quite critical of the Nigerian middle class. Being a member of this class myself, this may be a sort of self-criticism. But the criticism is for good reasons. The middle class is particularly positioned to ensure and enforce government accountability. The lower class are largely uneducated, have little or no access to correct and critical information and are usually incapable of understanding complex issues of governance – budget, income and expenditure. But not so the middle class: they understand all these and form the core of professionals that help governments in the task of governance and management of the economy.

But in Nigeria, rather than use their knowledge and information to force government to be accountable to the people, they use their privileged positions to negotiate good deals for themselves, their families and friends and have thus become the medium through which Nigeria’s politics of plunder, neopatrimonialism and prebandalism is sustained and deepened.

Last week I argued that there is a correlation between payment of tax and government accountability. That is the general observable trend. But it doesn’t seem to apply to Nigeria. Take the example of Lagos, where the government has ramped up tax collection such that internally generated revenue now accounts for about 70 percent of the state revenue. Ordinarily, one should see a more active and demanding citizenry and a more accountable government in Lagos state. But no; that is not happening. The middle class that should lead the process of demanding more accountability is so greedy and hungry, seeking rather to be incorporated into the ruling elite to benefit from the bonanza in Lagos rather than be seen antagonising the state government.

Enough of theories and conjectures! Let me give a concrete example. Sometime in 2008, after extensive consultations with all stakeholders, the use of world-class forecasting models and thorough analysis of policies and alternatives, the Lagos state government came up with a transportation master plan to, at once, end the notorious Lagos traffic and revolutionalises transportation in the Lagos metropolise to bring it to the status of a mega city. Part of the master plan was the Integrated Rail Transport System, which was designed to link the major population and activity centres in Lagos state. The seven lines include: Red line from Agbado to Marina (31 kilometres long), Red Line extension (6 kilometres) to local and international wings of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Blue Line on Badagry Expressway from Okokomaiko to Marina via Iddo (27 kilometres), Green Line from Marina to the proposed Lekki Airport (26 kilometres), Yello Line from Otta (Ogun state)/MM Airport to Iddo (34 kilometres),  Purple Line – from Redemption Camp (in Ogun state) to Lagos State University, Ojo (60 kilometres, Orange Line – from Redemption Camp to Marina (42 kilometres), and the Brown Line – from Mile 12 to Marina (20 kilometres).

However, the huge financial outlay forced the Lagos state government to prioritise the project and begin with the 27-kilometre Badagry line running from Okokomaiko to Marina via Iddo. The contract was awarded to the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) in 2008 at the cost of $1.2 billion and was to be due in 2011. Due to the bankability of the project, the state government, according to the former governor, was able to secure external loans to execute the project. However, in 2011, very little was accomplished. The completion date was moved to 2013. During one of his visits to the project site, particularly on January 8, 2013, Mr Fashola, while solemnly promising to complete the rail project by December of that year, gushed about the ability of the state government to access external loans to build infrastructure. Hear him: “This is what we do with the loan collected by the government. We don’t use our loan to pay salaries and other recurrent expenditure, what we do with our loan is to provide capital projects that would serve the residents.” Sadly, his promise came to naught and the deadline was again missed. Another deadline for its completion was fixed for 2014, but that was also missed. As at the time Mr Fashola left office, only 16 kilometres of the 27 kilometres project had been completed.

Governor Ambode came and also promised to complete the project by December 2016 and also failed. Now the completion date has been shifted to 2018. Curiously, the state government is now citing financial challenges as one of the reasons for the delay in completing the project.

One only needs juxtapose the Lagos light rail project with that of Addis Ababa to show the level of corruption and or incompetence we are dealing with in Nigeria. Addis made history by becoming the first sub-Saharan African country to have a light rail system, when, on September 26, 2015, it unveiled the 34 kilometre and 39 station Addis Ababa electrified light railway network. Unlike Lagos, Ethiopia began its own construction in 2012, four years after Lagos and at the cost of $475 million but completed it on record time. However, Lagos is still battling with its $1.2 billion 27 kilometre rail system nine years now with no completion date in sight. Sadly, the $1.2 billion loan secured to execute the elephant project has disappeared and the Lagos state government is now seeking for investors to partner it to complete the project. In 2015, it invited the mayor of the city of London and various investors from the UK to inspect and possibly buy into the project, but no investment in the project has been forthcoming.

The fraud that is the Lagos Light Rail project in many ways reflects the way governance and public projects are undertaken in Nigeria. Contracts are usually over-inflated, awarded to party or client members as rewards for loyalty and are poorly, if at all, executed. It also demonstrates the bankrupt nature of our political elite who do not even show enlightened self-interest. If Addis-Ababa, with a population of just 5 million could be so pro-active to provide the inhabitants of the city with a fast, efficient, and modern transportation system to move approximately 600,000 people daily and decongest the roads, how much more urgent can the Lagos light rail system be, in a city with a population of over 20 million and which is synonymous with killing traffic jams and hold-ups that sometimes lasts 12 hours at a stretch?

Worse, despite all these information being available to the middle class, no journalist, professional, expert, or civil society has been bold enough to point out this fraud, disparity and obvious attempt at falsehood and cover-up.

Most annoyingly, the Lagos state government has now changed tact. It has abandoned the light rail project and is now trumpeting the nonsensical idea of flooding the city with buses as its solution to transportation and traffic gridlock in the state. At forums and events where the governor unfolds this plan, I watch with pity and indignation how the middle class – senior journalists and other professionals especially – suck up to the governor, singing his praises as the best thing to have happened to the state while neglecting to ask him what had become of the Lagos light rail. At one of such forum, I managed to ask governor Ambode that question and he deliberately ignored me. His loud silence spoke volumes! But for how long will the middle class continue to sell the poor and also itself into slavery due to greed? Is it any wonder that we continue to live in Hobbes state of nature where life is nasty, brutish and short?

Christopher Akor