Date Published: 01/28/10

Its Time For Governor Timipre Sylva To Listen! By Idumange John

There are two character  typologies of people who are in Nigerian politics today. The first is the type of people who listen to suggestions and goes ahead to implement them in so far as they are made by political loyalists. This group comprises  politicians of the Machiavellian bent who see nothing wrong in so far as the end serves their interest. The second group consists of people who listen to advise, engage in hard-headed analysis before arriving at a reasoned conclusion. The Governor of Bayelsa State Chief Timipre Sylva, subsumes under the second category, given his political experience and proximity to power brokers. However, in politics, even a ‘Socrates’ may be pushed by circumstances to preach the rational, eulogize the moral but do what is politically expedient, the consequences notwithstanding. I am deeply concerned about those who can make rational choices but are pushed by political circumstances to violate the mandate principle.

The establishment of the Due Process by the Bayelsa State Government is an indication that the Timipre Sylva administration recognizes the crucial role of information and Communication Technology (ICT) to good governance. Sadly, however, the goals of government have not been translated into pragmatic reality by the Due Process and e-Governance Bureau. The establishment of the Bureau is commendable in all its ramifications, but like other human institutions, the lofty goals that prompted the establishment of the Bureau have been trampled upon by its operators. They have inadvertently, started to attract the odium of the people against the administration.

Sometime in November, 2009, I did a 2-page epistle on why the Due Process and e-Governance Bureau should be re-organized . The letter was prompted by three reasons. Most Bayelsans complain about the sharp practices perpetrated by the Bureau. Secondly, the Bureau is headed by Von Kemedi, who though a personal friend, is too inexperienced to carry on the responsibility of price intelligence and fiscal discipline in the State. Any time I ruminate on the Due Process thing, what strikes my mind is the Rehoboam-Jeroboam imbroglio, which led to the dismemberment of the monarchy of Israel. My fear has been that a group of inexperienced, self serving people might have engaged in an edifying vocation of misleading Governor Timipre Sylva further into the cul de sac and on the long-run rendered him un-electable. The same people switch allegiance like a chameleon changes it colours, and at the slightest challenge, they jump ship. Thirdly, people do not go into government for its sake but to bequeath an enduring legacy. I sincerely want Governor Sylva to discard those unprogressive policies and make a legacy for himself like King Diete-Spiff and Late. Senator Melford Okilo. Pleasantly, Governor Sylva came from this refined enclave and he surely needs a legacy to donate to posterity, as good legacy is the hallmark of true leadership.

Government established the Due Process and e-Governance Bureau with a specific mission to work towards the Sustainable Development of Bayelsa State by ensuring procurement best practice on the part of all government departments; enabling Sustainable Development through the integration of ICT solutions state-wide; and ensuring that the State sustainable development strategy is properly and adequately deployed. The long-term goals were to improve good governance, including transparency, accountability and civil society participation in governance by the deployment of e-Governance strategies and technologies. The Due Process Unit was to eliminate all forms of fraud and corruption from the State public service through the deployment of appropriate technologies and procurement best practice and regulations, and  to improve the Bayelsa State’s economy by growing the ICT sector and above all to save resources by better procurement practices and deploying ICT to State transactions and other economic activities.

Given the enormous responsibilities entrusted in the Bureau, it is obvious that such responsibilities can better be entrusted  to highly qualified and experienced person. And such qualified people are not in acute short supply in Bayelsa State. Little wonder that the Director-General deliberately refused to be screened by the House of Assembly. But those in the Bureau especially the DG  does not parade such experience. Besides the appointments have not been ratified by the Legislature and  it is safe to say that the Bureau’s operations remain illegal at least in the eyes of the law. I know that the mandate of maintaining fiscal discipline is the soul of good governance. Any administration that ignores the three ingredients of triad of fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability will be incapable of staying the course of prosperity.

I acknowledge the achievements of the Bureau that some ‘ghost workers’ were identified through its biometric exercises. I may also want to believe that the Bureau has tackled headlong the serious financial leakages in some departments of government. I do not want to contest that the Bureau has saved the state trillions of naira but what baffles me however is that  Due Process  and E-Governance are two different things too big to be rolled into one. While the Due Process Bureau could stand alone and be handled by experienced technocrats, the E-Governance Unit as it works in other climes, is purely private-sector driven because it is business-oriented. My advise is that if Von Kemedi is too good to dispense with, I implore the Governor Timipre Sylva to make the Due Process Director General to be appointed a Special Duties Commissioner so that the Bureau will be focused on its primary mandate, not the all-knowing, amalgam approach adopted by the Bureau-where the Bureau does everything and achieve nothing. This lack of focus is the reason the Bureau could not properly coordinate the Bayelsa State Sustainable Development Strategy (BSSDSD) into an implementable form that would encourage stakeholders’ buy-in and ownership.

On the other hand, the e-Governance aspect may subsume under the Ministry of Establishment or better still under a Ministry of Science and Technology when such a Ministry is established. E-Governance is business that can generate revenues, job opportunities and increase the per capita income of the State. E-governance infrastructure can only be maintained when it is private sector driven, as government has no business been in business. The Bayelsa State Government can leverage on the E-governance infrastructure. Already, government has made plans to attract investors to the State. Thus if e-governance is properly established, it would provide a launching-pad for foreign investors in ICT and the real sectors of the economy. If there is power in Bayelsa State, investors do not need to come in with generators. What government needs to do now is to build the capacity of youths on the entrepreneurial dimension of e-governance.

Again, to attest to the inefficiency of the Due Process Bureau, as it is presently, there is hardly any Bayelsan who has not complained about the drudgery associated with the Due Process Bureau. If the Due Process Bureau was established to facilitate the process of governance, why are Bayelsans complaining about the Unit and prefer to call it Delay Process? I hold the view that the Due Process Bureau has complicated a huge range of administrative matters concerning financial transactions involving contractors and government. It is not surprising that the Bureau ranked last in the survey carried out by the Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG) sometime in December 2009. The reasons we are told are not unrelated with undue delays, the contract-mentality of the Due Process people and lack of policy focus.

Today, the only policy document  that can be credited to the Bureau is the Bayelsa State Sustainable Development Strategy (BYSSDS), which passes for a document  inundated with  vacuous inanities that cannot be implemented. Already some technocrats, including this writer have dismissed the document as a mere unedifying  literature, with little practical value. Thus apart from the biometric exercises and staff audits, the Bureau has not been able to institute processes that will evolve a strong outsourcing sector in Bayelsa State. The Bureau’s leadership seems to be bereft of ideas and cannot even deploy the ICT manpower the State has garnered through overseas training.

For example, the document borrowed a lot from the Niger Delta Master Plan - a Regional Development Plan, which has been heavily criticized because it is divorced from the socio-cultural milieu of the Region. One of the major observations is that the plan is not people-centred and therefore not implementable and sustainable. Only angels, not Bayelsans can implement the plan. Verily, the Bureau did some desk research without need assessment, consultation with the people and more importantly an implementation blueprint. The BYSSDS does not align with the above guidelines.

The Due Process and e-Governance Bureau also pledged to continually support the Bayelsa Vision of a united, secure and prosperous society by providing direction, innovations and ICT  to meet the challenges of sustainable development while ensuring procurement best practice and the proper coordination of the Bayelsa State Sustainable Development Strategy. Sadly, Bayelsa people have not seen any tangible achievements by the Bureau. The emphasis on best practice is just honorific, while the Bureau stinks with myriad cases of over-invoicing. I make bold to say that the Bureau in is one of the liabilities of the administration known for its lack of focus and purposelessness.

It is common knowledge that the Bureau’s operations are fraught with double standard, with serious conflict of interest. It’s operations are octopoidal, as it tends to combine the role of price intelligence and awarding contracts. How can contractors scrutinize their fellow contractors? Till date the so called Due Process Bureau operates on the basis of adhocracy, as it has no handbook that guides public procurement and price intelligence. The Due Process Bureau has become a Law onto itself as members are accountable to themselves.

It is obvious that the Due Process Bureau has left its back-up role in assisting the core Ministries to ensure that government transactions, especially public procurement processes are carried out with due diligence. The bureau is not focussed and the helmsmen are vulnerable to the Peter Principle. It is only predictable that down the line, the transparency initiatives of the administration would be blotted out and the Governor would be vicariously held responsible for whatever corruption that is recorded in the State.

Ideally, the Bureau should be playing complimentary role in assisting government Ministries/parastatals  to ensure government businesses are transacted with due regard to  public procurement processes and transparency. Sadly, however, it has become more powerful that any Ministry and has even defied the potency of the dishonourable Naira Goliaths in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. From all indications, the Due Process Bureau is helping to complicate policy implementation for the Chief Executive of Bayelsa State and had deviated entirely from its mandate diminish the image of government as it now serves as an avenue for fraud at the sufferance of the public good. The earlier the Bureau is reorganized the better for the image of Governor Timipre Sylva and the government. Governor Timipre Sylva should reduce his liability by restructuring the Bureau.

The Bureau seems to be in a deep slumber. The Bureau has come nowhere near the achievement of its set goals. Like any other organization, the Bureau might have its challenges, but basically it started on a false foundation in that the appointment of the Directors was not approved by the  Bayelsa State House of Assembly. The most bizarre twist is that when the House summoned the Directors to appear for screening, the Director General Mr. Von Kemedi blatantly refused to appear, and by that very fact scuttled the exercise. It is therefore safe to assert that the Due Process Bureau is operating illegally without legislative approval and the BSHA is comfortable with this status quo. The question is; Why would the Bayelsa State House of Assembly allow the Due Process Bureau to operate without its approval? This is where most Bayelsans are suspecting that there is a conspiracy between the House and the Bureau to diminish the fiscal policies of government rather than reinforce transparency.

The nature and functions of the Due Process Bureau are such that only highly experienced and competence people take charge. In my candid opinion, the Due Process and e-governance bureau is one of the proverbial branches of the tree of the Bayelsa State Government that does not bear fruits. The BYSSDS midwifed by the Bureau is watery and bastardizes the real essence of sustainability. As the sages admonished, any branch that does not bear fruits should be cut off. The Due Process Bureau is now a liability to good governance in Bayelsa State, and the earlier this branch is cut off, the better for the people.  Every year, huge sums of money is voted to the Bureau without any tangible results. The Due Process Bureau  in Bayelsa State now serves as a conduit-pipe of fraud and this trend can only foist stagnation on the development of the State.

May I in all humility advice Governor Timipre Sylva to unbundle the Due Process and E-Governance Bureau so they can exist separately as earlier proposed. The Due Process Bureau should be focused to be able to achieve its mandate, while the E-Governance Unit should be private sector driven.

Once again, I call on the Governor to examine these issues dispassionately and implement any suggestions that appeal to him. Governor Timipre Sylva has a binary option: to push for reorganization of these layers of inefficiency and achieve high productivity or vote for stagnation and allow the status quo to continue. The Governor has an option to unbundle the Due Process Bureau to make re-position it for effectiveness. After all, Good governance is about  honesty and amenability to change and not just sticking to rules and regulations. The Governor has a binary option to work towards bequeathing a legacy or continue to make avoidable mistakes and engage in damage control - which is acidic to genuine democratic praxis, but also inimical to the higher calling that genuine leadership requires. Please, your Excellency, for the sake of the wellbeing of our children, give a listening ear to these matters of urgent importance.

Idumange John, is a University Lecturer and Activist