A lecturer friend of mine who is a head of department in a Nigerian university told me a story that broke my heart. The department which he presides over badly needed some equipment to enhance its work but, for a very long time, the funds to purchase them were not forthcoming. It was therefore something to cheer when he was informed that the government had allocated some money to the university, among others, to secure some of the needed equipment. It would not be enough, but at least it was something.

His job, as the head of department, was to identify areas of urgent need in his domain and give the school authorities a list of items that could be purchased with the amount allocated to his department. He quickly consulted with other staff members and they came up with a list. To be doubly sure how much each item would cost, they went to the market to confirm the prices. They even made some allowance for transportation and other incidental expenses. Convinced that the money allocated to the department could conveniently purchase six items, the he promptly forwarded the list to the school authorities.

He was then informed that the rule was to pass the list through the Due Process Office. Of course, he was already aware of that. It was not his business what happened in the Due Process Office as long as the required items were delivered to his department.

Sometime later, he was asked by the school authorities to reduce the number of items on the list to three since that was all the allocation to his department could buy. Curious, he made some efforts to find out if the allocation had been reduced. He was told it had not been reduced. So how come the money could not buy at least four or five of the items listed by the department? He was shown the amount approved for each item by the Due Process Office and, to his chagrin, the price had doubled.

He went to town again to double-check the price of each item but discovered nothing had changed. He consulted with his staff and they agreed he should complain to the school authorities. They even threatened not to do anything about the list until something was done to correct the anomaly they observed. As it turned out, all their protests fell on deaf ears. Those they thought should do something about it said as long as that was what was approved by the Due Process Office for each item, there was nothing they could do about it. Their threat not to have anything to do with whatever would be purchased for them in the name of due process did not yield any result.

I tried to put this in perspective. Our educational institutions, like every other institution or sector of the economy, have suffered gross infrastructural decay. Nothing seems to be working largely because the funds are hardly ever there - never mind the skyrocketing oil prices in the international market and our huge annual budgets. Then some pittance is allocated by the government to solve at least some problems. What does the institution get? Half value - no thanks to corrupt government officials who manipulate almost everything to enrich themselves.

Now, I know the major reason the Due Process Office was established was to check the over-pricing of government contracts. In the words of Mike Ikhariale, “Stripped of all jargons, the office was established with a view to making sure that government contracts and procurements are awarded at prices that have some meaningful relationship with their actual value. This is because it has become well-known that corruption in Nigeria is primarily executed through the practice of reckless over-pricing of the goods and services that governments procure and that a huge chunk of the nation’s annual budgetary allocations go into such over-priced payments or, in extreme cases, payments without rendering any service in return.”

Although much has been said and written about the gains of due process since its inception, especially with regard to government contracts, I have always known that it could be abused, like every other thing that is introduced here. The reason is not far-fetched: Before the Due Process Office was established, many contracts were awarded at twice or even thrice their real value. Of course, government officials were often fingered in such misdemeanour. In fact, many of them fed fat on the resources meant for government projects. It is therefore foolhardy to believe that these officials would simply go to sleep with the advent of due process. And who does not know that the Due Process Office is manned by people who can be subject to the whims of our environment?  In other words, they are not immune from compromise. 

That is not to say that I am not aware of some bold steps that have been taken by the Due Process Office to make the award of contracts as transparent as possible. I personally believe that advertising contracts and calling for bids in the newspapers is one way the Due Process Office has been able to realise the objective for which it was established. Through this, many contracts have actually been awarded to the best contractors at the most economic costs. And so far, I lot of money has been saved for the government, according to reports. But you will also agree that it is practically impossible, in most instances, for the public to know the details of every contract as they cannot be published in newspapers after it has been awarded. This, I think, is one area some government officials and contractors who are bent of making nonsense of every government policy or procedure are having a field day.

Although it is difficult to say what really happened with the university contract my friend complained about, I am certain that whoever inflated it would have had a rethink if he knew that an item worth N100,000 would be published in the newspapers as supplied at N200,000. Again, it would have been impossible for anyone from the Due Process Office (if they were actually involved) to raise the value of any contract if there was no connivance from somebody within the university. And I find it extremely difficult to understand why the sane human beings in that university did not team up to raise dust over a glaring case of mismanagement.  

It is a pity that while the whole world is lamenting the lack of adequate funding for our higher institutions of learning, someone out there is busy squandering (or allowing to be squandered) the little the government is giving. It is not difficult to conjecture that what happened in the department under focus was not an isolated case. It is almost certain it happened in every other department in that university. And by extension, it is possible it happens in some other universities. One cannot then but wonder how much money the government will allocate to our universities to solve all their problems, when about half of whatever is allocated is certain to end up in some private pockets.   

By the way, why has the National Assembly not done anything about the Freedom of Information Bill?               

Robot  Villager

# 1 var sbtitle7214=encodeURIComponent(See What Th...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 15.01.2008 12:38

Exxcuzme  Villager

# 2 Your story could have packed a punch if you had mentioned the University and the department your friend works for. You are wasting people's time. Be pro active, provide a link to the Due Process Department, the names of those responsible for running that side of govt.....:rolleyes: Posted by Exxcuzme| 15.01.2008 13:09

Idi-ogi  Villager

# 3 Pocket-lining syndrome is a disease whereby you find a way to enrish yourself regardless of your job title. From maygaurd to managing director, the attitude is the same. Universities in Nigeria are not different from their external environment. They used to be. But now that they have been reduced to shambles what do you expect? Due process within a university campus as described above is the same due process in Abuja and in all the State Capitals. In the past 30 years of governance, we have invented new names for old habits. What have operations and platitudes such as "Operation Feed the Nation" and the "Rule of Law" achieved? The average man is more hungry today than before we launched OFN. The rule of law is a mechanism whereby the Chief Justice becomes the Chief of Injustice. How can we expect the Due Process Office of our universities to be different when sex can secure passing grades and campus groudnut sellers report with valid letters at NYSC orientation camps? Posted by Idi-ogi| 15.01.2008 13:35

dele26  Villager

# 4 You have just wasted your time in writing this piece as what you are complaining about is normal in a country where even the best UME/JAMB candidate is not guaranteed a place in one of the Eastern government University if he can not cough out N500, 000 (£2000) Posted by dele26| 15.01.2008 15:42

Idi-ogi  Villager

# 5 Pocket-lining syndrome is a disease whereby you find a way to enrich yourself regardless of your job title. From maygaurd to managing director, the attitude is the same. Universities in Nigeria are not different from their external environment. They used to be. But now that they have been reduced to shambles what do you expect? Due process within a university campus as described above is the same due process in Abuja and in all the State Capitals. In the past 30 years of governance, we have invented new names for old habits. What have operations and platitudes such as "Operation Feed the Nation" and the "Rule of Law" achieved? The average man is more hungry today than before we launched OFN. The rule of law is a mechanism whereby the Chief Justice becomes the Chief of Injustice. How can we expect the Due Process Office of our universities to be different when sex can secure passing grades and campus groudnut sellers report with valid letters at NYSC orientation camps? Posted by Idi-ogi| 16.01.2008 15:33

Shoko Loko Bangoshe  Villager

# 6 Sylvester, Thanks for another interesting article. Can I ask - do you really think that publishing contract details in a newspaper is a deterrent? I ask, because I had once thought of the idea of publishing such information on the internet and then simply publishing advertisements in the newspaper urging the population to check online to verify that contracts are being executed for the right amount in the right manner. However, I don't know just how much this would deter contract inflation. Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe| 16.01.2008 16:22

SILOJE  Villager

# 7 =Shoko Loko Bangoshe;4294980660>Can I ask - do you really think that publishing contract details in a newspaper is a deterrent? I ask, because I had once thought of the idea of publishing such information on the internet and then simply publishing advertisements in the newspaper urging the population to check online to verify that contracts are being executed for the right amount in the right manner. However, I don't know just how much this would deter contract inflation. To a large extent, sir, I think it will serve as a deterrent because much of the shady deals in the award of contracts thrive on secrecy. But when the details are brought to the open (in newspapers and, maybe, other media) after the award of the contracts: 1) other people who bid for the same contract are likely to be able to scrutinise the details and point out where they think something is wrong. 2) some manufacturers, suppliers or providers of the product or service who are coerced into being part of the shady deals are likely to make one or two comments. 3) human rights groups and other anti-corruption groups will have something concrete to hold on to to prove their point about the inflation of the values of contracts and possibly demand for investigation in identified cases. 4) it will give concerned journalists the opportunity of doing proper investigations, using the information already provided as a base. And that is why I think the National Assembly should expedite action on the Freedom of Information bill so that much of the information that are considered classified, but which will help in getting to the root of suspected cases of corruption, can be readily available. Posted by SILOJE| 18.01.2008 06:28

SILOJE  Villager

# 8 SLB, The newsletter or house journal of the institution or organisation is another good place I think the details should be published. Posted by SILOJE| 18.01.2008 06:40