TheCable

Last Monday, the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, lamented that the current free fall in the value of the naira was putting his plans for his state in jeopardy. Governor Mohammed went on to add that the current economic condition occasioned by soaring prices of goods and services might delay the completion of projects across his state. “Even the projects that we flagged-off may not be achieved and this is a stark reality. Cement is almost three times the cost of estimate,” Governor Mohammed further lamented.

With Governor Mohammed’s comments last Monday, the argument that governors should speed up development because they are getting ‘more money’ from FAAC after the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira falls flat when one looks at the purchasing power of the ‘more money’ the states are getting. We hope that things get better. We believe that President Bola Tinubu – who showed enormous capacity as the governor of Lagos State – and his team are working round the clock to stabilize the nation’s currency.

In Anambra, Governor Chukwuma Soludo – an economist and an excellent manager of men and resources – has shown enormous resilience. As a result of Governor Soludo’s prudence, many construction projects are still going on in the state despite all the current economic challenges.  The payments of salaries and pensions have also been prompt in Anambra. All these the Governor has achieved without borrowing a penny from any bank so far.

Governor Soludo used a couple of strategies to ensure that contractors executing projects in Anambra were not caught in this current cycle of project cost escalation. He seems to have seen the future. Take for example, the case of the internal roads in the slum area of Okpoko in Ogbaru local government area that were awarded to NBHH Engineering Company. In order to ensure that this project was delivered on time, Governor Soludo made sure that the contractor got 50% of the contract sum as mobilization payment. Ideally, this kind of gesture would have helped the contractor push the job before the current level of inflation started. Sadly, the contractor could not complete the work as planned. This resulted in the termination of NBHH’s contract by the Governor last Tuesday.

Governor Soludo’s strategy of ensuring that contractors’ cashflow are not hampered while working for Anambra has also helped in the success of most projects in the state despite the harsh economy. Today, in Anambra, contractors are paid immediately their certificates are approved by the relevant ministries. This helps contractors to get the cashflow required to push their projects and to buy materials in bulk beforehand. For some contractors, this has helped them to navigate the current inflationary trend.

This is not to say it has been easy for Governor Soludo. (A governor without the financial acumen of Governor Soludo would have bankrupted the state). Some awarded projects might now cost more because of inflation. Actually, this is a very difficult time for everyone in Nigeria. Development has been seriously hampered in some sub-national governments due to Nigeria’s current economic realities. But Governor Soludo is determined to continue the construction of the large kilometers of roads he is already constructing. He is determined to continue his free education and antenatal policies. He will be even starting up new projects in the coming weeks.

While Governors like Soludo are doing everything possible to keep their states functioning at optimal levels, Nigerians need to support the government at the federal level in order to turn things around.

Apart from problems associated with the supply of forex into Nigeria, many of the issues related to the skyrocketing prices of food and cement have been linked to the activities of smugglers and currency speculators. Last Tuesday, the Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima, lamented that some people were working to undermine the efforts of President Tinubu’s administration to revamp the Nigerian economy. The Vice President stated categorically that ‘’forces are hell bent on plunging this country into a state of anarchy’’. With this information from the Vice President, it is high time patriotic Nigerians came together to salvage the country.

At the sub-national level, one thing is clear: there are governors who are eager to transform their states despite the headwinds from the current economic situation in the country. Some of these governors work day and night in order to give their people the dividend of democracy. The governors of Anambra, Lagos, Abia, Bauchi and many more other states fall within this category.

Nwankwo is the special adviser to Soludo on special projects.