INFRASTRUCTURAL GAP , ABANDONED PROJECTS AND FINANCIAL RECKLESSNESS IN NIGERIA.

It is not out of place to conclude that the heavily malformed Nigerian economy is not only deteriorating but also in serious dillema and somewhat irrecoverable mess.We cannot challenge nor compromise the epistemology that the debilitating ratio of recurrent to capital expenditure is quite nauseating and chronically lopsided with no multiplier effect even where contraption of capital expenditure was undertaken.Moreso as we have proliferation of abandoned projects everywhere.Ever since the return to democracy,this Inherent routine of financial lackadaisical inaptitude had worsened and persisted, garnered much more casualties than the gun shot that was heard at the Nigerian civil war or even the greater gunshot that was heard at Lexington and Concord.

In the last essay we treated the solution to nigerian problem basically the adoption of Abraham growth model.The coordinating minister of the economy and finance minister okonjo nweala in 2012,had noted the staggering dent of this wasteful spending when he said and I quote"Our expenditure pattern has been very volatile and quite unsteady.This is not healthy at all.We want to cut recurrent expenditure and restrict it to below 70%  of annual budget."Today the current budget is still  not yet in favour of proposed capital expenditure,though we're still concerned with unrepentant subsidy politics .Way back when the budget was 69%recurrent in 2014,a report of presidential task force headed by  Bunu Sheriff a former  minister presented in 2011 was quite alarming as it was then disgusting.About 11,886 abandoned projects by successive administrations required a staggering seven trillion to complete them .Today abandoned projects have more than dotted the Nigerian landscape and skyrocketed everywhere and too nauseating to behold.In the report by Vincent Ezenagu published in the Oriental News about 56,000 abandoned projects littered the nook and cranny of the country worth twelve trillion naira left moribund for over two decades.Poor costing, bad contracting,bad financial capability, corruption, incompetence and poor knowledge were cited and identified as the main reasons for the failure.Access bank group,head risk management and project monitoring,Dr.Edmund Otaigbe lamented the unfortunate situation in which the projects were either abandoned or cancelled.While he called for national policy to address the messy situation,the project management institute chapter president  Paul Omigbe urged government to patner with them to end this bad experience.From the worst case scenario of Ajaokuta steel Company conceived by military regime of obasanjo in 1979 to be completed in 1986,covering over 400km,that gulped over $8b.still 98%completed,to the Nigerian military aircraft, federal Secretariat,Suleja international hotel, Bayelsa tower, Millennium tower,Minna five star hotel down to the colossal nightmare of Nigerian airways formerly West African airways  were heavily abandoned with impunity.Nigerian airways a special sorry case had 8,000staff at the peak,ferried 600,000passengers annually, pioneered air travel in black Africa, inspired Kenyan airways, Ghanaian airways, Ethiopian airways and black African airlines,the sorry story was not the same but out of this world.There are more dead airlines in Nigeria than in any country of the world. After using our model to develop other climes we couldn't run our own.What is wrong with us?Arik formerly had 19airlines and now under receivership.While foreign airlines in other climes are thriving local airlines are still complaining of high cost of aviation fuels. The Federal Secretariat became moribund,when federal government relocated to FCT Abuja in 1991.When you pass through no.147, Marina str.abandoned projects have become a hideouts of criminals.Nigeria is a crazy country.The funniest part top projects that were even completed like NFF building were also abandoned and unused.Suleja international hotel at the foot of Zuma Rock along Abuja Kaduna road was left to decay more than forty years after it was conceived.It was conceived when the capital was relocated to Abuja for use by federal parastatals, embarked upon not only as five star hotel but also as a tourist destination world wide.Why was it abandoned?Was it because of the myths that surrounded Zuma Rock?I beg to disagree with this prejudice.Scary myths such as the gateway to after life , sacred hunting of the super natural powers, avengers of the wrong doing and a host of other zuma myths scared potential tourists, stakeholders,investors away.The 18storeyed Bayelsa tower codenamed "Towers of controversies"another proverbial still born,messy stillwater was initiated by Governor Alamieyeseigha left moribund after it squandered state meagre resources.Millenium towers and cultural exchange located in the central district the tallest artificial skycrapper in Abuja at 170meters or 560feet was designed by Nicolleti Manfredi.Roc International hotel was Initiated in 1981 located at Sphere hills in Jos north local government of plateau state on 29hectares.The monument was conceived to have 318rooms,luxury suites, presidential suites,casino,specialised restaurants, Olympic size pool,helipad,golf course,cinema,horse stable including diverse luxurious facilities,close to 4 decades uncompleted.Plateau Olympic stadium gulped over 8billion naira uncompleted for thirty two years (1988-2014). Rivers Moonrail project was initiated by hon.Rotimi Amaechi to cover 12km at a cost of fifty billion naira but was abandoned at just 2.6km.into the project.

NITEL Building  bought by former speaker Dimeji Bankole was jettisoned for two decades like national oil building,NICON building and federal government house in victoria island.A 5 star skeletal hotel in MM2 was also abandoned for two decades.The pan African centre originally dubbed Oluwalogbon group towers located on Adeola Odekun Rd,12floors developed by Oluwalogbon motors was abandoned for a decade.The Waves Towers one of them completed by Ecobank was pioneered by Oceanic bank.What about old federal Secretariat complex?The luxury collection hotel formerly Le Meridian hotels cast aspersion on the national capability to manage towers in general.

In the break down of this national embarrassment,Dr Victoria Okoronkwo  President and Chairman of governing council , chartered institute of project management in nigeria in 2015, estimated abandoned projects at 12trillion naira. In the online diary Newswire NGR break down their spread across the geopolitical zones.They comprise of 15,000 projects in the South East alone, Abuja,2,000 , Southwest 10,000, South South 11 ,000 , Northwest 6 ,000 , North Central ,7,000 , North east 5 ,000 respectively.

To add insult to my headaches or injury,in the course of my media research, I thought it was over until I stumbled into the worst case scenario and the worst embarrassment ,I ever had as a Nigerian blogger or reporter.It was the report by Musliudeen Adebayo in an interview with Professor of economics , Ademola Ariyo at the University of ibadan, shocked me beyond bone marrow.In the interview published in Daily post the don threw  bombshell that over 400,000 projects were abandoned per annum by politicians for good two decades.If 56,000 projects could cost 12tr.or say 20tr.for 100,000projects,then it could be 80tr.per annum or  800tr.naira per decade or more $1tr.or over $2tr.in two decades.This is phenomenal financial RECKLESSNESS.Infact using the black market rate,it could cost more than the above estimate to complete them.

This offers us a good empirical evidence of a poorly planned economy and most of the projects are somewhat outdated and requires fine-tune in line with latest innovation.

We should be able to comprehend our infrastructural gap because we're a joke a huge non starter.In the cost of my research to turn nigeria into the most beautiful country of the world with the most beautiful cities we shall have to spend between $25tr.-$50tr.to produce Paradise on Earth . Did  I hear El Rufai say cost of fixing infrastructure was five trillion dollars?I was just laughing when I came across the figure in a  PostScript essay on Thisday.Infact we re doomed when top technocrat like that couldn't do proper calculation.Now we know we should take action.