THE Minister of Works, David Umahi, raised both hope and apprehension with his recent announcement of the award of a contract for the construction of the Lagos–Calabar Highway to a local firm. The project will link the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, the Fourth Mainland Bridge, Lekki Deep Sea Port Road, and connect various points in the North via Ogoja-Ikom. While it excites in its potential for stimulating business and travel, critics fret that it may have bypassed due process and necessary input from all stakeholders.
Umahi needs to provide clarity and reassure Nigerians that it is not another great hope that could crash amid controversy.
According to the minister, the project has an initial design length of approximately 650 to 700 kilometres and will also feature rail lines running in the middle of the main carriageways.
With its infrastructure amounting to just 30 per cent of its GDP, Nigeria falls short of the international benchmark of 70 per cent set by the World Bank. Such major infrastructure projects are therefore sorely needed.
But transparency is equally important. In the past, opacity, cronyism, and corruption in contract awards have led to the collapse of many important national infrastructure projects. Contracts must pass through the laid down processes to ensure accountability, fair competition, efficiency, and public trust. Umahi and President Bola Tinubu should reassure Nigerians that this one passed that test.
Beyond revealing it as a Public-Private-Partnership deal, Umahi failed to disclose when the contract was awarded, the number of bidders and other relevant details.
The Public Procurement Act 2007 and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act endorse competitive public bidding as the procurement procedure of choice. The ICRCA stipulates further that the concession contract will be granted to the bidder who satisfies the pre-qualification criteria and submits the most technically and economically comprehensive bid. It however waives the requirement of competitive bidding if after advertisement, only one contractor submits a bid, or if only one contractor meets the pre-qualification requirements.
Umahi should accordingly shed light on the processes that birthed the Lagos-Calabar Highway award.
Transparency is a crucial element of good governance; it fosters accountability, competition, and ultimately better value for taxpayers’ money. Transparency International says it “enables processes and decisions to be monitored and reviewed, and ensures that decision-makers can be held accountable.”
Pervasive corruption acts as a brake on Nigeria’s development. Opacity in contract awards facilitates graft. Merit suffers.
The Tinubu administration should comply with the laid down procedures in contract awards and give all interested contractors a level playing field.
In the United Kingdom, contract awards follow a set of rules and regulations to ensure transparency, fairness, and competition. All stages in the process are open to public and parliamentary scrutiny.
United States’ public agencies are also required to identify their procurement needs, and plan the acquisition. From market research, bidding and independent reviews, the entire process is openly available for public, Congressional, and media scrutiny.
The input and concerns of local communities where the projects will pass through are also taken into consideration everywhere. In established democracies, projects have been stalled or diverted following protests and court cases by impacted communities excluded in the procurement process.
Every effort should be taken to redress Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit; but projects and contract awards must meet global best practices, involve all stakeholders, and undertaken transparently.
The Tinubu administration should strictly adopt this template. It should start by providing full details of the Lagos–Calabar Highway contract.
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