Princewill Odidi|10 July 2016|7:00AM
When I saw the pictures of starving children in the IDP camps in northern Nigeria I was sad. Anyone who understands how nations develop and service delivery actually works will not hold but weep for Nigeria.
It is sad to say this but it is true. Most of the good intentioned programs of PMB especially on the development of social infrastructure including job creation, provision of security, addressing concerns of IDPs will all fail woefully, if structural changes are not effected immediately.
They will fail not because the current government does not mean well, but because the service delivery structures are all faulty and are all a product of maladministration.
I have had the privilege to discuss this structural deficiency both with senior officials in government and the ruling party chieftains, but again it's all promises with no definite action plan.
As days go by, it is becoming obvious that when the administration talks about change, it is change in the introduction of new programs like school lunch, and arrest and detention of the accused corrupt, and not actual structural changes that will build our institutions and ensure proper service delivery.
Let me give you an example. As I write, CBN and the office of the Vice President are currently doling out billions of Naira on job creation and employment readiness, I read about it and just laugh. This program which is ongoing will soon end and budgetary allocations for it depleted and the ordinary Nigerian in the street will have no idea of any such programs, those who even know about the programs, the structure of our delivery system or being able to participate makes it virtually impossible for the poor with no connections to access those funds.
On internally displaced persons in Borno, government keeps budgeting huge sums to NEMA to address the situation, recent pictures coming from the camps is a clear indication that children are under fed and Kwashiorkor is ravaging the camps.
The reason is simple. Instead of addressing the problem, we have made IDPs a business for contractors to make money. NEMA prefers to issue contracts to buy mosquitos net, build temporary shelters, contracts to cook food, contracts to share food, contracts to wash plates and even contracts to determine what to cook or make a menu.
We have sacrificed the future of our children and their welfare for a plate of porridge in the name of contracts.
The fraud associated with contracting service delivery is what I mean by the structure of our delivery system is faulty. How should a problem like this be resolved? No contracts. Count the people and distribute the money directly to the displaced people to relocate with their children and start a new life elsewhere. Solve the problem permenently.
Temporal accommodation of displaced persons should not exceed 10 days instead of making it a money laundering scheme for friends and family.
If Buhari administration fails today, or fail to deliver the dividends of her electoral promises, it's not because they don't have experts to design wonderful concepts of development, if it fails it will be because the regime rather than focus on restructuring the service delivery apparatus which we all hoped for, is focusing on program designs and how to implement the programs.
You cannot use the very structural apparatus that has failed in the past to implement a new program and expect a different result. New wine in old wine skins will contaminate the new wine. Development just does not work that way.
I wish president Buhari will listen and act fast. The people are getting disappointed.
Take for example the monetary regulation policy which failed and was reversed, it failed not because it was a faulty economic assumption, it failed because our financial system and economy does not have the disciplinary framework to execute regulations as the Chinese do. We like to copy, but we copy wrongly. Because it worked in China does not mean Nigeria has the structures to implement same.
It is my prayer that the regime sits up and get it right. The anti corruption drive is impressive, but fixing the structural challenges of the judiciary to interpret laws and ministry of justice and the police to handle prosecution more efficiently is more important. Create permanent and lasting solutions that is the change we expected.
While the fear of Buhari may deter criminals, what we really need is the fear of the law.
Until we come to the understanding that change cannot be effective without structural amendments, four years will roll by and life will become more intolerable, unemployment will quadruple, cost of living will increase, insecurity will increase and we will be forced to ask, is this the messiah or are we to look for another.
Princewill Odidi
Is a Public Commentator writing from Atlanta. princewillodidi@yahoo.com