The Viral Videos from Igarra
Recently the video recordings by Mr. Alaba Lawani about the poor state of infrastructure in Igarra, headquarters of Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State went viral on the social media. Akoko-Edo is the largest and oldest, Local Government Area in Nigeria. Igarra the headquarters of Akoko-Edo local council is also said to be the most neglected local government headquarters in Nigeria with respect to lack of infrastructure and functionality in terms of lack of job opportunities.
One of the video recordings was about a 200 meters link road and drains in Igarra which he claimed was substandard. The other video from Igarra that went viral contemporaneously was that of the dilapidated, decrepit and unfenced Orere primary school in Igarra. The member representing Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency, Edo State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Akpatason who attracted the road project as part of the “Zonal Intervention Projects in the 2020 Appropriation Act” claimed that the video “was done to malign and discredit his reputation”. He promptly wrote a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Agency, demanding for an investigation and a report within 24 hours on the narratives about the road project captured in the video. The government of Edo State swung into action and “took over construction of the road project” after an inspection visit of the project by Edo State Deputy Governor Comrade Philip Shaibu who claimed that the project was substandard and fell short of the current standard of road construction in the state. While Igarra community residents jubilated that the attention of the world has being drawn to their plight, Mr. Alaba Lawani the whistle blower, informed all that his life was allegedly being threatened by those who believed he shot the viral videos for political motives. Mr. Alaba Lawani who is an indigene of Igarra claimed he shot both videos for altruistic reasons and he wondered why the deputy governor did not also visit the site of the decrepit Orere primary school. While the accusations and counter accusations continue we must learn lessons from the video saga from Igarra, some of which include: the urgent need to ramp up the level of collaboration between federal agencies and the state government in terms of project monitoring and evaluation cannot be overemphasized. The prevailing state of suboptimum collaboration is one of the reasons for the phenomenon of abandoned projects in Nigeria. Recent media reports attributed to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs claim that preliminary findings from the forensic auditing of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), reveals that so far about 12,128 projects have been abandoned.
The local government in Nigeria is the third tier of government. It is acclaimed as the tier of government closest to the people. Going by constitutional provisions it ought to be autonomous as its leadership is democratically elected and answerable to the electorate. In a system that functions well, the supervising councillor for works or the councillor representing where the road project in question is cited ought to have raised the flag about the alleged substandard status of the road project. The latter scenario of non-existence of democratically elected officials for the third tier of government is replicated across most states in Nigeria. In some states of the federation, where democratically elected local government exists they lack security of their tenure. The House of Assembly in most states have not also helped matters as they are alleged to be appendages of the executive and make laws that can only throw up incompetent individuals sponsored by moneybags as elected local government officials. The respective regulatory bodies for professionals in the construction industry should take proactive measures to stem the tide of the spectrum of failed, substandard or abandoned projects in Nigeria by making their members accountable.
In conclusion all men of goodwill can only hope and pray that the lessons learnt from the Igarra viral videos will have positive impact on the citizenry as well as reinvigorate the relentless clamour for a better society.