July 31st, 2007

A World Bank team took a look at the state of infrastructure in Nigeria and said it was shocked by the condition of the roads, the privatisation programme, indeed all the facilities that could have made life easier for the citizenry.


The team from the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) of the bank assessed World Bank’s policies of engagement and projects in the last 10 years and could not believe what it saw.

Both federal and state roads across the country have been the subject of much concern by business and the Nigerian public who use them. Over an eight-year period, the last government, under Olusegun Obasanjo, is believed to have spent well over N1-trillion for the rehabilitation of roads across the country for which nothing is on the ground to show for the huge expenditure.

The country also continues to suffer from poor state of electricity supply, with generation capacity falling to below 3,000 megawatts this year. The country acutally requires an estimated 40,000 megawatts to able able to enjoy constant power. Poor state of refineries has also meant that the country is faced with constant disruption in fuel supply, with a litre of petrol selling for N150 in some far northern and eastern states.

Education remains in a shambolic state in a period of rising global oil prices for a country known for being the world’s eighth exporter of crude oil in the world. The five-man team from the World Bank appears to have been convinced to draw its conclusion from its observation of the current state of disrepair of the different infrastructural facilities that it examined. The team comprises Basil Kavalsky, Catherine Gwin, David Pearce, Inder Sud and Omar Lyasse. The group is independent of the bank management and so answers directly to the board.

The July 1 1998 to June 30 2007 evaluation covers mostly projects and policies funded during the Obasanjo tenure.

The team’s areas of coverage include macro and public-sector management, capacity building and governance, poverty and Human development, infrastructure and private sector development as well as agriculture, environment and community development

Team leader Basil Kavalsky said in Abuja that the roads were in a sorry state and needed urgent repairs. Kavalsky assisted by Catherine Gwin said: "...we started two weeks ago with the Federal Government and then went to Lagos to look at World Bank projects as well as talk to people.

"Some went to Calabar also and some went to Ibadan , the University of Ibadan and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) by roads.

"The problems of Nigerian roads are lack of maintenance culture. This has to change. The first change has to ensure that old roads have to be maintained."

He expressed shock that the country was still grappling with the problem of infrastructure, in spite of the huge funds injected into its provision during the tenure of Obasanjo.

"Infrastructure is a difficult problem. There should have been a breakthrough but it is taking a longer time. In my discussion with President Obasanjo, he said he thought they could fix the problem in six months but it was not possible."

He, however, described the privatisation programme under the last administration as a difficult issue with the several policy somersaults experienced as he condemned the sale of refineries.

"Privatisation is a difficult issue. The private sector is not developed to take the lead. We have seen that the public sector cannot manage the state enterprises. Yeah, we should not have privatised refineries but how do we manage it?"

He stated that countries like China and India had used the World Bank to achieve a lot, stressing that the bank would listen more to government, civil societies as well as engage people in debate and dialogue.

The IEU assessment is designed for all major borrowers at eight to 10 years interval.

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