Date Published: 02/02/10

Bayelsa: Why Some Ministries Cannot Perform (1) By Alamene D. Pereowei  

This  article is part one of a three-part serial on why some Ministries/parastatals in Bayelsa State cannot perform. It consists of a terse analysis or rather a commentary on the Interim Report released by the Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG).  

A couple of weeks ago, the Niger Delta Integrity Group  published an Interim Report of a study on the performance ranking of Ministries & Parastatals in Bayelsa State. While the publication has been widely applauded as a milestone towards entrenching good governance and public accountability in Bayelsa state, it has also thrown up some fundamental issues affecting the productivity of the State Civil Service. It is not a score card but a veritable template for government to make decisions. The report which the group says, is tailored towards providing an environment where every person can have an equal opportunity to allow his genius to flourish, to promote a good quality of life based on the recognition of dignity, decency, equality, equity, social justice and freedom of all individuals and simultaneously promote order and stability, is no doubt in line with global best practices in promoting transparency and democratic accountability. The results of ten Ministries/Parastatals are as follows:  

                     Source: Niger Delta Integrity Group, 2010. P.4  

Ranking is a characteristic of complex societies in which different persons within a society have different quantities or qualities of power, rights and responsibilities. Basically, as organizations grow in complexity, different tasks are assigned to specific people based on specialization. In bureaucracies, specialization may result in status change. Dulewicz (1989) posits that appraisal is a basic human tendency to make judgments about peoples’ performance, but in an organizational setting, collegiate appraisal is as good as appraising  oneself. Within the context of politics  performance ranking or appraisal seems both essential and inevitable, since it provides a signpost of how Ministries/Parastatals meet their targets, implement their budgets and deliver good governance to the people. In cases where carefully structured systems of appraisal do not exist, people have the tendency to judge the work performance of others, including subordinates, naturally, informally and arbitrarily without objective performance indicators.  

In research, ranking methods are generally used empirically by the participants. A failure to understand and compensate for the inherent limitations of the method can limit the overall fairness of the process. Unranked, everyone is average – which is most unfair to the high performers and rewards low performers. With the philosophy that: “good governance is supposed to be considerate and compassionate for everyone in the society with a view to enlarging peoples’ choices for the holistic development of all,” the NDIG seeks to analyze governments’ concrete achievements, identify areas of critical challenges with a view to making recommendations for effective policy formulation and implementation. Moreover, the efficient and effective performance of Government Ministries/Parastatals will complement the efforts of political power holders to implement government policies and programmes in a sustainable manner.  

The general perception among the Bayelsa populace is that ‘politics of self interest’ at all level of government has negatively affected the performance, efficiency and productivity of key government Ministries, Board and parastatals. Against the background of the developmental challenges and the need to place Bayelsa State on the speed lane of development, the NDIG resolved to conduct an empirical study with a view to executing an impartial rating of Ministries and Parastatals in a systematic way of reviewing and assessing their performance during the past 12 months with a view to planning for enhanced and sustainable development. While the ranking by group is not a substitute for a scorecard, the ministries and parastatals include: Education, Energy, Finance & Budget, Public Service, Housing & Urban Development, Capital City, Works & Transport, Agricultural & Natural Resources, Local Government and Due Process Bureau. The respondents according to the findings pointed out numerous development challenges facing the State. Whereas some of these challenges are basic challenges that face administrations in transitional societies, others appear to be peculiar to Bayelsa State. For example, in many States of the Federation, the Due Process Bureau is headed by technocrats, in Bayelsa State it is not quite so. Respondents also fault the biometric exercise carried out by the Due Process Bureau because of the shoddy manner it was conducted. There are serious allegations that most of the workers laid off in some Ministries and Parastatals were genuinely employed by the previous administration. The illegal termination of the workers would further alienate the administration from the people.  

The Bayelsa Public Service is believed to be lacking in the ethical basis, which underpin discipline, punctuality to work and increased productivity. The report points to absenteeism on the part of the political class and the career officers, which often stifle policy implementation. Worse still, there is general lack of accountability to the people by law-makers and political appointees. Whereas the Legislature is accused of not performing its oversight functions of scrutinizing appointments, members are generally believed to be engaged in primitive accumulation at the expense of the people. More than 85% of Bayelsa people are of the view that the Law Makers should be recalled. In fact, most of the administrative deficiencies and fraud perpetrated in the State are attributable to the inability of the BSHA carry out their oversight functions. The Niger Delta Integrity Group in collaboration with other civil society organizations would, in the nearest future work for the recall of some members of the House to entrench discipline.  

On the general living conditions of people in the State, a preponderant majority of respondents agree that the prevailing hardship seems to be unbearable, especially with the non-payment of overhead and sundry allowances to Ministries/Parastatals. Respondents lamented the absence of regular power supply and decried the poor sanitary situation of the State Capital. Most of the people push for the sack of the Sanitation boss for certain obvious negligence or incompetence. More over, power supply is a key enabler of the economy and investment power should be a top priority of the government. Lack of experience in public service is generally identified as a principal reason for the under-performance of some Commissioners, Heads of parastatals and political appointees. This is most conspicuous with those who earned their appointments as mere politicians. For such people, their deficiencies can be by periodic and regular in-service training and capacity building programmes.  

The report findings reveal that the core values of morality, sincerity and policy consistency are jeopardized because of the entrenched political patronage network. Critical observations were made about the lack of due process in appointment and the award of contracts. Analysis of responses showed that more than 87% of respondents believe that the Due Process Bureau delays, distorts and mystifies contract awarding processes because of lack of transparency. Another poorly rated Ministry is that of the Ministry is the Local Government administration, which has not been able to conduct Council elections. Besides, workers allege that the leadership of the Ministry engages in sharp practices such as illegal deductions and withholding of statutory allowances due to the Council staff. It was rated 30% performance index and appears to be the most  Ministry with the poorest perform index. The reported pointed out three reasons for this trend. First is the profligate attitude of the honourable Commissioner, who is believed to be one of the richest in the State in real estate and assets. He is living large at the expense of the people, respondents said. Secondly, workers at the third-tier of government are particularly irked that elections are not conducted. The implication is that there is an obvious disconnect between the State and the LGAs and the Commissioner and his kitchen cabinet stand to reap enormous benefits because the general notion is that the administration of the Councils with Caretaker Committees does not create room for accountability. Thirdly, the personnel of the Councils are ill-motivated hence most of them visit their offices only on pay days.  

The Ministry of Finance and Budget is noted to be hamstrung by the diminished accruals from crude oil owing to militant activities prior to the amnesty period. However, Bayelsans expect the Ministry to exercise stricter budgetary discipline, enforce statutory taxes to boost IGR and be more pro-active in engaging foreign partnerships in the execution of capital-intensive projects such as roads. Of particular concern is the attitude of Bayelsa people towards the payment of statutory taxes. The Integrity Group suggested that the Board of Internal Revenue should be re-engineered to boost the IGR profile of the State. The study partially blames this trend on the tendency for previous administrations to provide essential social services ‘free of charge’. However, before new tax regimes are introduced, there should be sensitization, on why such taxes are levied, and accountability in the expenditure of tax revenues.  

The Ministry of Finance and Budget in collaboration with its parastatals should benchmark the performance of Ministries/Parastatals in terms of compliance with the budget and blacklist non-complying Ministries/Parastatals. Accordingly, recurrent allocations to should be based on budget compliance. This is critical so that monies can only be deployed to rate busters. A Budget Compliance Prize may also be awarded through the office of the Ministry of Finance, Establishment and the Secretary to the State Government.  

Most Ministries were identified with developing unrealistic targets, usually fixed or imposed on them by the politicians and overzealous bureaucrats. Some functionaries of the administration engage in an unhealthy competition with each other with a view to burnishing their image and to create the impression of high productivity. This often results in inaccurate reporting, unprofessional practices and ego massaging. Respondents across the spectrum also criticize the fraud and graft routinely and systematically built into all government transactions especially by the Due Process Bureau, because in the view of the public, there can be no accountability without public scrutiny. Transparency, accountability and public scrutiny are basic pre-requisites of good governance.  

The lean financial resources at the disposal of the State government suggests that the State Government should set her priorities right and capitalize on a few niche’  areas. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development as well as the Capital City Development Authority recorded an average score but the initial enthusiasm and momentum they mustered to achieve their mandate has been watered down by politics characterized by mutual suspicion, unhealthy competition and vendetta.  

The above underscores the misery that has befallen the rural dwellers and commoners whose views and interest are not represented in a practical manner in the administration’s policy thrust. What the Niger Delta Integrity Group in its research mission failed to take into cognizance was the fate of the ordinary people who constitute the majority of the Bayelsans, these are those directly affected by the activities oil multinationals flaring gases and polluting the environment. These people bear the brunt of all the policy blunders of government. The Integrity Group should extend the study to the eight Local Government Headquarters in the State to feel the pulse of the people. Recognizing that the State has no federal government presence in terms of heavy industrial infrastructure/manufacturing companies. The effective administration of the LGAs is critical to the success of the administration. The few oil Joint Ventures in the State have their headquarters sited outside the State. Examples include: the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC),the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas Project (BLNG) have their headquarters in Port Harcourt and Lagos respectively. The implication is that these firms do not pay taxes directly to the Bayelsa State Government.  

The trend of ensuring good governance and good life for a section of the society to the exclusion of others will be non-sustainable and will be serving a self-defeating proposition. Accountability of the administration involves a lot of grit, courage and determination to own moral responsibility for the consequences of one’s action. This, however, does not always happen. What invariably happens is the tendency to stonewall public outcry, if anything goes wrong, or to evade and circumvent responsibility and then do damage control. Damage control erodes the moral capital of the administration. If adequate steps are not taking to arrest grassroots dissatisfaction through aggressive overhaul of the entire gamut of Bayelsa government apparatus, this writer foresees an uprising situation where the current damage control approach cannot mitigate the implosion thereof.  

Some prominent Bayelsa people remarked that Governor Sylva has alienated himself from the people because of frequent travels and inability to communicate with the people directly. The Governor’s inattention is partly responsible for the laissez-faire attitude of some political appointees at the highest level of government. This is why most people allege that most of the appointees are operate the business of government as if they are managers, others  see their responsibilities as merely administrative while very few exhibit leadership traits.  

Governance is about the peoples’ welfare, leadership styles should be adapted to the demands of the situation and the relevant publics, the requirements of the people involved and the challenges facing the administration. Good governance is less about the needs of the leaders but more about the needs of the people and the state you are leading. They should be adapted to the particular demands of the situation, the particular requirements of the people involved and the particular challenges facing the State.  

The leader of an organization or State is the mirror image of that State. Reality starts with the person in charge. Governor Sylva needs to re-appraise his policies and some appointments made to placate the political class. ‘Man is the problem and man is the solution’. Since the State Governor is vicariously liable for any administrative lapses it has become imperative for the Executive Governor to hold, a quarterly Town Hall meeting, to interact with the people and understand their plight. Most of the concerns of the people are the result of communication gap between political power holders and the governed. When healthy communication channels are opened, the administration can successfully tackle the root causes of the development challenges facing the State in a sustainable manner.  

Mr. Alamene D. Pereowei - a Policy Analyst, wrote from Port Harcourt