Enugu is rated above other states in Nigeria in the delivery of democracy dividends…
By Ademola Adegbamigbe

Those who watch Governor Chimaroke Nnamani from afar may be tempted to view him only through the prism of a giver of public lectures. The lectern-knocking speeches for which the Enugu helmsman has carved a niche for himself range from philosophy, media, economy, culture, history, politics to other specialized subjects.

However, a recent performance rating of Nigerian states by the National Planning Commission (NPC) and some international agencies, which put the state at number one, will convince cynics of Governor Nnamani’s true standing among his peers.

In placing Nnamani’s Enugu State above other Nigerian states, the NPC, World Bank, United Nations Development for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DFID) and other international organizations, used different criteria to appraise the activities of the state. Their verdict: Enugu is number one in Nigeria, scoring 57.22 percent among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Enugu was ranked as the best performing state in the areas of policy formulation, budget and fiscal management, service delivery, communication and transparency in governance.

The FCT comes second, with 50.28 per cent. Osun, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Ondo,Lagos, Kaduna, Anambra, Cross River and Yobe scored 45.72, 45.45, 44.27, 42.65, 41.40, 40.50, 40.25, 35.45 and 36.45 respectively. These are the top 11 performers among the states in descending order.

Other states from the 12th to the 37th position are Benue, 43 per cent; Jigawa, 40.60; Adamawa, 39.45; Delta, 37.70; Kano, 37.60; Edo, 36.95; Kogi, 36.57; Kwara, 33.65; Plateau, 33.65; Gombe, 33.60 and Akwa Ibom, 33.10. there are also Kebbi, 32.50 per cent; Sokoto, 31.50; Ogun, 31.35; Zamfara, 31.05; Niger, 30.75; Abia, 29.85; Katsina, 27.65 and Nassarawa, 26.67. Others are Bornu, 25.80 percent; Oyo, 23.52 and Taraba, 22.20 percent. Bayelsa did not participate.

All these were based largely on Enugu’s implementation of the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (SEEDS) benchmark. This is also the state’s equivalent to the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).

The criteria, according to a document entitled “SEEDS Benchmarking: the Assessment of Reform and Quality of Governance in States,” are:

Policy: Do the state’s policies address the real needs of the people? Have all key stakeholders had a chance to have their say in the policies? Are they widely known to people of the state?

The second criterion, according to the organizers, was budget and fiscal management. They asked: does the state manage its budget and public funds in a transparent way, such that resources are directed at achieving the priorities of the state? Is there responsible and prudent fiscal management that effectively contains the negative impacts of revenue fluctuation?

There is also the benchmark of service delivery. The group asked: What efforts is the State making to improve service delivery to the citizens, both in terms of reach and standards? What is the quality of service rendered?

There were also the factors of communication and transparency. The questions were: Does the state plan and implement policies in a transparent and accountable manner? Is procurement open?

Are there measures against corruption? Do citizens have opportunity to question their leaders? How easily can citizens obtain information about the state’s finances?

Each of these benchmarks, according to the organizers, was assessed by a range of indicators. The assessment team assigned scores according to the performance of each state. This was meant to be evidence-based, that is, the state being assessed must present acceptable documentary (hard) evidence to convince the assessment team.

The set of benchmarks, the teams’ document explains, are widely accepted amongst donors and the NPC as an appropriate tool to measure performance of states.

“It is believed that the benchmarks will clearly identify states that demonstrate a clear commitment to improved governance, service delivery, transparency and accountability. The states will then be eligible both for special grants from the federal government as well as a package of donor assistance to support their state level programmes,” it states.

The group maintained that before commencing with the assessment of the states, the assessment tool, termed SEEDS Benchmarks, was presented to the National Economic Council early in year 2004 and later given to the 36 state governors. This was carried out under the general oversight of the NPC. In order to ensure that the tool is appropriately customized to reflect local conditions in the country so that all states are fairly assessed, the organizers said further, the performance assessment tools were pre-tested in two states (Kwara and Enugu) and following the trails, “recommendations and lessons from the states were incorporated into the benchmarks and the methodology updated in readiness for nationwide application.”

All the 36 states of the federation were expected to put themselves forward to be assessed. NPC got together with the development partners and, recruited an independent body, the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) as the supervisory firm to conduct the assessment. This done, a team of assessors made up of experts in various fields were also recruited and provided with necessary training for the exercise through joint donor effort, including DFID, UNPD and World Bank.

In the first instance, 29 states indicated interest to be assessed. They were grouped into two, made up of 15 states for the first round from 5 to 18 June and 14 states for the second round, 19th June to 2nd of July. The remaining states, the assessors revealed, were prevailed upon to be benchmarked and of the lot, only Bayelsa opted out, leaving a total of 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) participating.

Independent teams of experts, in their submission, jointly commissioned by the NPC and development partners, visited each state that put itself forward for assessment. The independent quality control firm (the African Institute for Applied Economics) appointed through a competitive process, managed the exercise.

The assessors revealed further that the job of testing and assessing the states was carried out by a team of three consultants assigned to each state. The consultants assigned to each state. The consultants were carefully selected with a condition that they must have a profile which include adequate experience in Public Expenditure Management and budget processes in Nigeria, policy and strategy analysis and government accounting and reporting. The donor community nominated at least an observer to attend the assessment visit to each state.

Accordingly, each state, as the document reveals, was assigned a team of three assessors, one supervisor from the quality control firm and the observer from the international community. The supervisor coordinated the entire exercise; the assessor conducted the assessment, while the observer/s was there to observe and ensure compliance with set rules. The experts carried out an in-depth assessment of the progress at state level in designing and implementing key reforms and better service delivery, as embodied in, but not exclusively linked to the state’s SEEDS.

“All efforts,” according to the document, “were made by the development partners to eliminate bias and ensure a fair and consistent pattern of evaluation. For instance, members of the assessment teams were not allowed to take part in the assessment of any state in their own geo-political zone, or any state where they had previously been employed.” Moreover, consultants who have participated in supporting the production of any state’s SEEDS document were not eligible to participate in the evaluation of that state. In addition, assessments by the field team were submitted to the plurality control firm for harmonization and only scores which were backed up by hard evidence were allowed.

However, Professor Ode Ojowu, Chief Economic Adviser to the President and Chief Executive Officer of NPC said the performance rating of the 36 states governments in Nigeria and the FCT was not officially released by his organization and could not have been conclusive.

He said further that the High Level Oversight Committee (HLOC) was yet to meet on the submission.

Deputy Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Dr. Adetokunbo Oshin, also argued that the rating “is scandalous, deplorable, appalling, and unacceptable. The report leaves much to be desired. The yardstick used to measure the level of performance in the states must have been jaundiced.”

These comments notwithstanding, what the 13 European Union Ambassadors in Nigeria, who visited Enugu between 22 and 24 September 2005, saw confirm the state’s superlative performance. All of them showered praises on Governor Nnamani like confetti.

In the words of Leonidas Tezapsidis, Head of the European Commission delegation, “Enugu is a pilot state in many respects. It is one of the first states to establish SEEDS. It is a vibrant civil society, very much committed to the development of the state and in participating in the economic development and in the alleviation of poverty…”

What impressed the Italian Ambassador, Marcello Ricoveri, most was the quality of Governor Nnamani’s leadership. “The capacity of the leadership and the cohesion that exists between the leadership and the people. This is a fundamental factor for development,” he opined.

A source at the State House Enugu said the envoy’s observation is in line with one of NPC’s criteria on transparency.

The British High Commissioner, Richard Gozney, whose country owns the Department for International Development (DFID), one of the organizations that rated Enugu above others, said he suggested the state to his colleagues because “I wanted to show them how exceptional and dynamic, Enugu was.”

The envoys made these submissions after visiting many project sites in the state. some of them were: the Ezeagu electrification scheme, the Enugu Airforce auditorium, (with its link road and admin block), the Enugu State University of Technology, College of Medicine, Ebeano dual carriage way tunnel crossing, international conference centre, the Udi Water Project, Nyaba bridge among others.

During his meeting with the ambassadors, Governor Nnamani explained the thrust of programmes that keep him above his peers. He stated that initially, he thought dividends of democracy meant just roads, water, electricity, provision of enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

“We did that for the first four years of governance until we ran into Joe Abah, (manager of the State and Local Government Programme of DFID) and Lynn Simmons (Coordinator of DFID, South east) and we sat down and talked and we realized that it was all about poverty,” the Governor revealed. “We realized that the restiveness, the concern , the hostility, the anger in Nigeria are all about poverty. It is all about the struggle of people for very few resources.”

The first thing the Nnamani government did was poverty dialogue, to define poverty within the system. He added that there are several parameters for defining poverty: monetary definition, where somebody is living on less that one dollar a day; capability approach, where the system, the institution or the state “failed to provide minimum for the individual to express his minimum capability in terms of longevity, health, reproductive life and freedom. There is also the social exclusion parameter when the state excludes some people either through age, race, infirmity or class system...”

Participating parameter, according to Nnamani, means that “the individuals sit together to define poverty rather than being externally defined.” This is what the European Union used and it was borrowed by Enugu state. To define poverty, Enugu state brought together various stakeholders: legislators, non governmental organizations, civil societies, traditional rulers, trade union executives, the state’s development partners.

“We came out with clear cut poverty reduction strategies,” the governor informed his guests.

Enugu state, therefore, set upon the Ministry of Poverty Reduction and Human Development. The state has some basic arms of poverty reduction strategy: health and human services, wealth creation, criminal justice system, the state and local government programmes, public finance and civil service reforms.

Under health and human services, the state introduced the school meal programme (called school meal plus). Enugu was divided into 56 health districts with each having a cottage hospital, 10 bedded units, manned by the “Enugu core of doctors.” The state is doing this in concert with DFID.

For wealth creation, Enugu made use of neighbourhood associations for micro credit, cooperatives and community policing.

On public finance management, Enugu also set up the Budget Evaluation and Monitoring Team (BEAMT), “a committee set up by NGOs that looks at public expenditure patterns and advises government on its priority.” The on-going civil service reforms in the state have to do with computerization of the pay-roll, provision of identity cards to workers and others so that, according to the Governor, “we can address issues of ghost workers.”

Beyond these, the Enugu state government, under Governor Nnamani through solid infrastructural development had impressed visitors to the state.

One of his achievements has to do with the way he built the Enugu State University of Technology, complete with College of Medicine consisting of Admin block, hostels, staff quarters, (for junior staff and professors), first class conference centres, faculty buildings, pre-clinical building and laboratories among others. He complemented all these with solid road networks.

In the Law school annex in Agbani, the Nnamani administration built hostel blocks, staff quarters access road and auditorium. The buildings are modern architectural pieces.

The Nnamani administration also built hundreds of kilometers of roads like Chima dual carriage way, Achara layout, the Ebeano dual carriageway tunnel crossing, Nyaba bridge, Air force school direct link road and others. Enugu state also recently commissioned a water project in Udi local government area. The Nnamani government also built a state building in Abuja.

Whatever may be the misgivings of critics about Enugu State’s rating, a commissioner in the state told The NEWS that these do not detract from the great achievements of the Governor.

Culled from The News, November 28, 2005, pp. 26-29.