Benue Budget

By

Tina Gryne

msgryne@yahoo.co.uk

"In a country where statistics are unreliable, records are hardly kept, and important files disappear from government custody or are set ablaze by thieves in official corridors, planning really can be an uphill task. Planning without facts is like a walk in a blind alley."

How true! How many times have I stated here that we are nation that is data averse. We do not like numbers and it shows in everything we do or say. I have often asked that if we were to ask the Benue State Commissioner of Health to name the top five killers in Benue what would the answer be? I am not trying to question the effectiveness of this Commissioner, but to illustrate a point. If we cannot list the top five killers, what is the basis for health policy in the State? What is the policy addressing? Talking about setting government records ablaze: should we not be moving in the area of conducting government business electronically? Sorry - there is no reliable electricity supply in an oil exporting nation like Nigeria, and yet no heads are rolling...

Take Education - my pet project. What indexes are used to determine the health of our educational system? If you have no benchmarks how can you determine the health of your educational system and what needs to be done. Some of us have tried in vain so far to help government come to terms with this vital sector. Without a vibrant education, vision 20/20, 7 point agenda is dead on arrival (DOA). We will talk until we foam at the mouth but talk is cheap and nothing will happen. How can we develop our solid mineral potential without education? yet that is one of the seven point agenda of the Yar'Adua Government. In 2008, I asked for permission to undertake a study tour of some solid mineral projects in Nigeria. The mineral in question is one of the seven that Nigeria is focusing on. I traveled economy class. I did not have an official car and had to take car hire to travel and to cap it I was given the run around at one of the plants by officials until someone from Abuja came and saved the day. While on this assignment, I paid my hotel bills and after one week of travel,I produced a report with some practical suggestions, but there has been no follow-up.  How can we improve agriculture when we cannot develop our phosphate resources? I went to Sokoto to talk to State government officials there on this development but no one was interested. I had to make two trips there before I saw the Deputy Governor but his interest was different from the larger picture - he was more interested in exporting raw phosphate ore than rying to ad value to it. As an engineer, I was asking myself does he know how muchit would cost him to transport that rock to the cost? How can his unti cost compare with rock from Togo and Morocco whic is produced near the coast? I have come to one sad conclusion: When you decide to do something pro bono for Nigeria, no one is interested. My New Year resolution is anyone asking me to do something for Nigeria will pay me the going rates: Business class ticket, hotel accommodation in min 3 star hotel, consulting fees of $150 per hour (or $1,200 per day including travel time). May be when some is paying that kind of money, they will be interested in what I have to offer.

Where do you start with the problem called Nigeria. I am happy that at least my children are in a place where they do not have to contend with that system. So why do I care about what happens there? because every person should have a chance to better his/her lot like I did growing up in rural Tivland. My late illietrate father told me at a tender age that: "your education is your inheritance, you will use it to marry and take care of your family." While my children are relatively more comfortable than most children in Nigeria, including even children of the rich and powerful, a satisfying life is more than one's comfort. Life should be about making a difference in the live of someone other than your immediate family. Nothing satisfies like seeing a smile on the face of someone who has been empowered.