The benefits of projects’ monitoring

Over the years, several projects in the basic education sub-sector of the nation have been abandoned due to the absence of political will and the required high level supervision to drive government officials, contractors and consultants to deliver on their respective assignments.

As at 2011, all across the Federal Unity Colleges and other basic education institutions in the country, several uncompleted and some abandoned projects greeted visitors to these institutions of learning. More than anything else, these uncompleted and abandoned facilities formed the premise of the criticisms and deep seated loss of confidence in the basic education set up of the nation.

At the inception of his stewardship, Minister of State for Education Ezenwo Nyesom Wike committed himself to changing the face of the sector and ensuring that the Federal Government’s goal of increasing access to quality education for Nigerian children is realised.

To achieve the fundamental objective of the administration, the minister right from the beginning declared that he would not be an arm-chair minister who sits in the office to receive reports without personally supervising and monitoring the implementation of projects on the field.

The first leg of on-the-field inspection and monitoring of projects across the six geo-political zones of the federation led to the discovery that the numerous uncompleted projects in the Federal Unity Colleges were due to the budgetary formula previously adopted, which led to piecemeal execution of projects. This conclusion was reaffirmed by the needs assessment committees set up by the minister of state for education. The budgetary challenge was addressed and the principals of the Federal Unity Colleges had direct access to funds for phased rehabilitation of facilities.

The approved facilities for 2012/2013 included hostels, classrooms, libraries, school fences and laboratories. For schools not included in the phased rehabilitation, the Federal Ministry of Education through her parastatal, the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, approved the construction of comprehensive libraries.

In order to create access to quality education for disadvantaged groups, the Federal Government committed to the construction of special girl-child model colleges and almajiri schools. One hundred of the almajiri schools are being constructed, whilst 16 girl-child schools are under construction in different parts of the country.

Since the third quarter of 2012, when the Minister of State for Education Ezenwo Nyesom Wike introduced monthly meetings with contractors and consultants handling different basic education projects across the states of the Federation, sustained improvement have been witnessed.

At these meetings attended by journalists and other interest groups, the minister scrutinises the details of project execution as provided by UBEC officials, Federal Ministry of Education supervisors, independent monitors, consultants and the project contractors.

The data examined at these meetings include percentage of work done, amount of work released by implementing agencies, quality of work as assessed by project consultants and expected project delivery date.

The January meeting led to the decision that the Minister of State for Education should lead another round of nationwide inspection of projects to pull through the completion of the schools and facilities by the contractors and the onward hand-over to the beneficiaries and respective state governments.

The scheduled inspection of projects for the South-South commenced on February 18 in Rivers State and was concluded on February 25 in Edo State. Through the seven days of the inspection, the minister visited about 30projects spread across the six states of the zone.

On the average, the projects awarded in the first and second phase of the Jonathan administration’s intervention in the basic education sub-sector have reached 90percent completion. The contractors of these projects are presently involved in putting finishing touches and concluding external works. However, the projects awarded in third phase are still at infancy level, with the minister resolving to engage the contractors to speed up work at the affected sites.

Generally, the close monitoring of basic education projects by the minister has been quite productive. The benefitting states have keyed into the programme with the understanding that the Federal Government is intervening to strengthen basic education in the country.

•Nwakaudu is Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education