How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? - Politics - Nairaland
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| How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 8:25am On Apr 16, 2013 |
By Chukwuma Charles Soludo Nigeria operates a peculiar kind of federation (unitary federalism) with overwhelming concentration of powers on the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). Its fiscal federalism is also peculiar, with about 50% of the Federation Account shared among the 36 states and 774 local governments, and each armed with constitutional powers to spend without supervision by, or accountability to the federal government. Yes, the FGN has control over monetary, financial and exchange rate policies, taxation, external trade and finance, wage policy, and a monopoly of internal and external security. But the size, composition and qualityof public sector spending still exert the greatest impacts onthe economy and the welfareof citizens. Thus, given the enormous spending powers of the other tiers of government, it means that if they do not “perform”, efforts at the federal level to improve the welfare of citizens could amount to clapping with onehand. If the local governments create prosperity at the local communities, the huge rural-urban migration and the frightening urban youth unemployment could be averted. But in over 20 states, there are no elected local governments, and the state governments also run the councils. Unfortunately, all eyes focus on the FGN andthe states escape intense scrutiny. How do we know if the states are ‘performing’ or not? We are constantly inundated with self-advertisements and propaganda by various states on what they term “unprecedented” accomplishments. Of course every new public office holder usually starts off by painting a gory picture of what he or she ‘met’ on assumption of office. Everyone starts by announcing that “nothing had been done until I arrived”. His successor also starts by stating that he only met rot and ruin, and been busy cleaning the ‘mess’, and the circus continues. The Good Governance Tours organised by the Minister of Information has gone round some states to “see” what was on ground, while the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has instituted States Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM) to evaluate performance and share experiences. Almost every media house or NGO now has one award or another for ‘best performing’ governors. But what exactly do they measure? At the international level, the first effort to codify and universalise the concept of good governance was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (December 10, 1948 at Palaisde Chaillot, Paris). UDHR consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions, and laws. More particularly, the International Bill of Human Rights which took on the force of international law since 1976 consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols. Since then, the discussion and debate relating to governance found some common anchor, albeit that the communist countries andsome Islamic states challenged some aspects of the Bill of Rights. In spite of these, the apparent legitimacy and colouration of‘international best practice’ given to the UDHR and its Bill of Rights have changed the global discourse on governance and given us some universal benchmarks against which to compare performance of governments across time and space. Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution on the “Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy” is Nigeria’s adaptation of the UDHR, its Bill of Rights, and Covenants. King Hussein I had once argued that “the quality of life of the individual citizen isthe ultimate yardstick by which to measure the success of any government”. Chapter Two of our constitution agrees, and states that “the security and welfare of the people shall bethe primary purpose of government”. It goes on to make extensive provisions on what should constitute the contract between Nigerian citizens and their governments. Sometimes I wonder how many public office holders have studied Chapter Two of our constitution. Ideally, the manifestoes of the political parties and the programmes of respective governments should spell out HOW they would actualise the blueprint for good governance as detailed in Chapter Two. Defining or even measuring the constituent elements of the “quality of life” or “security and welfare” of the individual citizen can be subjective. Most people would however agree that the ‘quality of life’ would encapsulate a person’s spiritual, physical, social, and economic wellbeing. The Bill of Rights guarantees the individual liberties, freedoms,as well as voice and participation in how he is governed. Socialist countries or dictatorships largely ignore these universal (metaphysical) aspects of the human person and focus almost exclusively on his material wellbeing |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 8:31am On Apr 16, 2013 |
After all, according to this school of thought, what do liberties, freedoms, and democracy mean to a hungry person? But as we have seenfrom the violent protests in the Arab world and other repressive regimes in recent years, people need more than food on the table. For societies like ours where the private sector drives wealth creation while the government is the enabler or promoter, the importance of the Bill of Rights, rule of law, freedoms, voice and participation is decisive for sustainable prosperity. Unfortunately, some state governments run their fiefdoms as emperors, stifling opposition and run the elite out of town with thugs and threat to life. In those states with high insecurity, you can tar all the roads, provide the infrastructure, and have a thousand pages to advertise “dividends of democracy” and yet private businesses are on the run and poverty is on the rise. The World Bank has recently produced its worldwide governance indicators summarised in three broad categories as follows: (1) The process by which those in authority are selected and replaced (voice & accountability; political stability & absence of violence); (2) The capacity of government to formulate and implement policies (government effectiveness; and regulatory quality); and (3) The respect of citizens and state for institutions that govern interactions among them (rule of law; control of corruption). In attempting to produce quantitative indicators of governance quality, each of the six sub-categories is further explained by several variables. Evidently, the three broad categories encompass political participation, accountability and security oflife and property; the capacity of government to deliver services to the people and business; and the capacity of institutions to restrain excesses and enforce contract. How many states will measure high on the basis of the above criteria? Check out the conduct of local government elections even in the few states that allow elections to hold. Check out the quality of institutions especially whereby the governor in most states is the chief procurement officer, and literally the sole approving authority for all matters pertaining to money. Commissioners are mere advisers without executive powers. Don’t ask about due process or value-for-money audits. The parliament is mostly co-opted and embedded within the Executive, and the governor acts as a sole administrator. A major missing link is the absence of robust framework for measurementof performance among Nigerian states. The pioneering attempt to provide comparative state-level quantitative indicators of sound economic governance is the Business Environment and Competitiveness among Nigerian States (BECANS) produced by the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE), Enugu (now The African Heritage Institution). Its indicators canbe grouped into five clusters:business environment index;infrastructure and utilities; regulatory services; business development support and investment promotion; and security. The data on the performance of the states over time are very revealing. Ideally, the states that score highly on good governance indicators ought to score highly on improvements in the living standards of the citizens. But do they? I am not sure the states pay any attention to the standards of living. If they do, I have not seen the numbers. Self-evaluations of governance are done by states in terms of artefacts and intermediate inputs. Governments dole out statistics on the amount of budgetary allocations to specific sectors and programmes (without any sense of the value-for-moneyin the spending); kilometres of roads tarred even if most don’t survive two rainy seasons; number of chairs donated to schools or number of hospitals and schools built; etc. There is competition among the states as to which one would outshine the others in terms of the propaganda on performance. Pages of newspapers show bungalows and buildings, bridges, roads, etc as the ‘dividends of democracy’. Some even advertise on the CNN. My guess is that the expenditure of many states on performance propaganda, including paid live TV events could exceed their expenditures on ensuring security for the citizens of their states. Tragically, performance evaluation has become showbiz. No mention is made of the final outcomes in terms of impacts on the “quality of life” of citizens. We have no information on the number of new jobs created by the private sector; what is happening to per capita income, incidence of poverty;what percentage of the citizens now have access to adequate health facilities and how is the average life expectancy improving; impact of educational spending on student grades (especially in Maths and, Science); etc. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 8:34am On Apr 16, 2013 |
How many states have baseline data on key performance indicators at the start of the regime and periodically publish progress or retrogression? For example, what percentage of secondary school students obtained five credits including English and Maths in the SSCE before you took over, and what are the annual percentages since you came in? What was the rate of youth unemployment in your state when you took over and what is it now? What was the statistics on number of armed robbery or kidnapping before you took over and what are they now? I have not heard any state governor beat his chest about how drastically his regime has reduced the incidence of poverty or rate of unemployment in his state. But these are the ultimate measures of performance. In democracies with informed citizenry, no government has been re-elected if these two key indicators worsen dramatically, irrespective of any progress on physical development. If the recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics on state-by-state poverty incidence are correct, then even the states with the most loquacious propaganda machinery on performance should look themselves againin the mirror. What I find most amusing is that ‘performances’ are flaunted without stating costs. Most state governments actually have more than three to four times the resources available to their counterparts in 1999- 2007, even adjusting for inflation. Do they have 3-4 times their performance even in terms of infrastructure? Also, we compare states with very poor allocations with others that have four times their resources. We sometimes compare apples with oranges. We understand the political pressures on state governorswith short, four-year electoral cycles and a largely poor population to concentrate governance on what the people can “see”. Governance is about here and now. Only very few governors focus on long-term sustainable development or projects whose impacts would take time to manifest. Everyone wants to launch “his own” programmes which the people can ‘see’ and attribute to him. Continuity of projects embarked upon by previous regimes is rare. Dead assets or abandoned projects adorn most states. We can’t go on this way. If performance is solely about physical projects that we cansee, then only states with huge resources (Lagos, and the oil-producing states) will be star performers. But if jobs, security, poverty incidence, life expectancy, quality of institutions, citizen participation, etc become the ultimate measures, a new governance framework will emerge and finally a consolidated national development will begin. http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/how-do-we-measure-the-performance-of-state-governments-/144910/ 1 Like |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 8:41am On Apr 16, 2013 |
"Unfortunately, all eyes focus on the FGN and the states escape intense scrutiny" The ACN/CPC internet cockroaches should meditate on the above quote. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 8:45am On Apr 16, 2013 |
"Also, we compare states with very poor allocations with others that have four times their resources. We sometimes compare apples with oranges" Very correct! |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by tomakint: 9:06am On Apr 16, 2013 |
Sincere 9gerian: "Unfortunately, all eyes focus on the FGN and the states escape intense scrutiny"Unfortunately, they won't but would rather want to engage sane-minded ones here with their usual psychobabble and urban legend! Keep it up bro, you are one of a kind  1 Like |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Sibrah: 9:08am On Apr 16, 2013 |
The more reason why states like Bayelsa(PDP) have no business being compared to Nasarawa(CPC), Osun(ACN), or Bauchi(PDP). Or a lagos with almost ten times the population of Bayelsa to deal with being compared to Bayelsa on the Basis of Infrastructures on ground, clearly one should expect more from state with lesser population to deal with. As for potential, i believe all states have a good part of their destiny in their hands. 1 Like |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 9:37am On Apr 16, 2013 |
Self-evaluations of governance are done by states in terms of artefacts and intermediate inputs. Governments dole out statistics on the amount of budgetary allocations to specific sectors and programmes (without any sense of the value-for-money in the spending); kilometres of roads tarred even if most don’t survive two rainy seasons; number of chairs donated to schools or number of hospitals and schools built; etc. There is competition among the states as to which one would outshine the others in terms of the propaganda on performance. Pages of newspapers show bungalows and buildings, bridges, roads, etc as the ‘dividends of democracy’. Tragic really - but just some of the reasons you won't find me fawning over some structurally unsound edifice built by the latest convert to the world of white-elephant projects. Some even advertise on the CNN. My guess is that the expenditure of many states on performance propaganda, including paid live TV events could exceed their expenditures on ensuring security for the citizens of their states. Imagine that, huh? All this in a nation where less than one percent of the population actually get to watch CNN (See No News, according to Fela Kuti) Tragically, performance evaluation has become showbiz. No mention is made of the final outcomes in terms of impacts on the “quality of life” of citizens. We have no information on the number of new jobs created by the private sector; what is happening to per capita income, incidence of poverty;what percentage of the citizens now have access to adequate health facilities and how is the average life expectancy improving; impact of educational spending on student grades (especially in Maths and, Science); etc. Why should governors or politicians who hardly patronize state schools or local hospitals give a damn? Is the general public not expecting to much here, after obligingly supporting the heist which propelled certain upstarts into high office? How many states have baseline data on key performance indicators at the start of the regime and periodically publish progress or retrogression? For example, what percentage of secondary school students obtained five credits including English and Maths in the SSCE before you took over, and what are the annual percentages since you came in? What was the rate of youth unemployment in your state when you took over and what is it now? What was the statistics on number of armed robbery or kidnapping before you took over and what are they now? I have not heard any state governor beat his chest about how drastically his regime has reduced the incidence of poverty or rate of unemployment in his state. But these are the ultimate measures of performance. We need civic and private sector organisations to assist in the process of gathering meaningful data. When Nigerians perfect the art of crowd sourcing information, to the extent that it puts government to shame, the changes we expect will come. In this regard, I intend to contribute my own quota, without fear or favour. 1 Like |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by EkoAtlantic: 9:59am On Apr 16, 2013 |
Sincere 9gerian: "Also, we compare states with very poor allocations with others that have four times their resources. We sometimes compare apples with oranges" That's the point. States like Bayelsa and Delta I wonder what they're doing with their damn huge allocation with their sparse population. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 10:38am On Apr 16, 2013 |
Eko Atlantic:THE BAYELSA STATE GOVERNMENT RECENTLY SET UP A RUMOUR MONGERING COMMITTEE. THAT ITSELF IS A GOOD DEVELOPMENT, ISNT IT? |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Profkomolafe(m): 10:42am On Apr 16, 2013 |
by the people's standard of living. Weda high or low, nd hw the govt efficiently nd effectively manage their resources or allocations given 2 them by the f.G |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Freiburger(m): 10:44am On Apr 16, 2013 |
With the amount of money he got a swiss account. abi nobe so? |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 10:50am On Apr 16, 2013 |
Any Gov who can get his deputy impeached is trully performing. It is not really easy to do that. Even Obasanjo could not get Atiku out. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by mumumugu(m): 11:01am On Apr 16, 2013 |
lakhadimar: THE BAYELSA STATE GOVERNMENT RECENTLY SET UP A RUMOUR MONGERING COMMITTEE. THAT ITSELF IS A GOOD DEVELOPMENT, ISNT IT?yes it is. :-@ |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by dc555: 11:08am On Apr 16, 2013 |
By the number of times he travels for "Foreign Medical Examination". I can't prove it statistically, but i believe the Rate of performance of a sitting Governor is INDIRECTLY proportional to the number of times he travels abroad for "Medical Check-up" |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by adim2(m): 11:21am On Apr 16, 2013 |
For many years, states like delta, bayelsa, and some rich states have not been able to recruit into the civil service neither have they been able to exploit some areas to create new jobs yet they self appraise themselves, use billions of naira to organise a seminar for themselves and also loot huge sums of money. It high time states starts a comparative battle among themselves and people start writing. Two states governors are brought on a public television to publicly declare how they have managed the funds allocated to them by the federal government. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by slimming: 11:24am On Apr 16, 2013 |
welfare and security is the basis for their existence so is the best yardstick for performance measurement. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Demdem(m): 12:22pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
The states are basically following the footsteps of the miserable FG. Once the head is rotten, the rest of the body is useless. The FG knows itself to be a rotten entity and that explains why she isnt courageous enough to tasks his security agents to beam searchlights on the accounts of the states. In view of the kind of democracy we are praticising, the head needs to be near perfection. If Aso rock can consume up to 1Billion naira of food in a financial year, its not out of place for each state houses to consume up to 500Million naira however if Aso rock consumes like say 100Million naira, woe betide the state that will consume above 50Million. The FG leads and the states follows. Though the states are important and essential i for one prefer to tackle the head, besides most of the states are controlled by the killer party who also control the rotten head. 2 Likes |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by seanet01: 12:55pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
tomakint:With all the money GEJ is paying you to post junks here, you still cannot afford to pay your internet connection fees? Instead you are looking for a way to circumvent normal procedures, cut corners and short changed the Telecommunication companies. You preach sincerity, values and honesty yet you GEJ lapdogs are the most INSINCERENIGERIANS i have ever seen. Verison doesn't charge that much. You can tell oga at the top to increase the meagre amount being paid to you and insincerenigerian so that you as a lapdog can stay glued to your laptop all day long and defend the clueless Jona. 4 Likes |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by tomakint: 12:58pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
seanet01: With all the money GEJ is paying you to post junks here, you still cannot afford to pay your internet connection fees? Instead you are looking for a way to circumvent normal procedures, cut corners and short changed the Telecommunication companies. You preach sincerity, values and honesty yet you GEJ lapdogs are the most INSINCERENIGERIANS i have ever seen.Hey ACN Thug my request for his BB pin is none of your business Mr Fault-Finder, Iam very sure your phone and computers are all 'Jagbas' so don't come here and form one holy Mallam for me, I repeat my request for his BB Pin is private it has nothing to do with what you think, afterall hackers are the best programmers around  |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by seanet01: 1:06pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
tomakint:Fool! By their acts you shall know their personality. You want to patronize an unethical hacker whose only source of living is providing source codes for the circumventing of the normal Internet connection charging system? What a dunce. Isn't that Economic sabotage? Anyway, you have been a scavenger all your life. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by seanet01: 1:09pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
tomakint:not everybody here is a gutter kind like you. That you are only able to use a laptop only when you see awoof money does not mean others are your type. Stop stereotyping. Bingo |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by solomon111(m): 1:10pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
As usual,moronns and cretinns have polluted the thread with their nonsensities. 1 Like |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Orikinla(m): 2:11pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
By the testimonies of the citizens in every state. Facts don't lie. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by trix1: 2:53pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
Demdem: The states are basically following the footsteps of the miserable FG. Once the head is rotten, the rest of the body is useless. The FG knows itself to be a rotten entity and that explains why she isnt courageous enough to tasks his security agents to beam searchlights on the accounts of the states. Of all the ridiculous things I've read on NL, this definitely takes the price. So its Ok for the states and LGA to under-perform as just because you feel the FG isn't performing? I keep telling people that is is much easier to hold your counselor/ward chairman/LGA chairman accountable, than to be looking at far away Aso Rock. Lets join hands together and make Nigeria great! The change must begin from the bottom up! 1 Like |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by Nobody: 2:59pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
eGuerrilla: .I love ur dissection and apt analysis. Its a nice and illuminating piece from soludo filled wt actual truths. Our Leaders in power rather than using power to hound and witch-hunt and cast blames and aspertions on newspaper wt states resources should endeavour to creat beyound basic infrastructure an industrial friendly enviroment. Modern developmental and industrial striddes should also not jst be concentrated in state capitals. Almost all our states are 1-city states, in that if ur not resident in the sate capital, ur more or less staying in a semi-village or far -from-urban area. But wht struck me most is your siggnature.. ''It is not Gods will for some to have everything and others nothing..'' A wise man said a long time ago that ''God created each and every one of us for a place in the world and for the least of us to think that we were created only to be what we are and not what we can make ourselves is to impute an improper motive to the creator for creating us''. God didn't create you to come and suffer and watch others enjoy..! Nice1 bruv..! |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by baynix(m): 3:10pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
tomakint: LWKMD!! Was Just Readin The Topic Whr You Were Trading Words Wiv Eggheader!! EGGHEADER Was Right!! |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by PHIPEX(m): 3:29pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
My dream has always been to see Soludo become the Gov of my dear state so that he'll help us lay the foundaion for a long-term socio-economic properity. As it stand right now, party affiliations have always disappointed us as a nation, let's vote for men of substance. For example, apart from Fashola and maybe Oshomole, the rest of ACN Govs are dormant. I can't remember the last time I heard of a progress news from a state like Oyo. I still don't know what CPC Gov has done better. APGA Govs haven't done anything exceptional, also apart from Rivers, Akwa- Ibom and Enugu the rest of PDP Govs are waste of time or at best average. I have concluded then that perfomances of our Governors has nothing to do with their party affiliation but based only on their individual character. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by MT: 3:51pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
These governors make promises to the citizens during their campaign as highlighted in their manifestos.I guess their performance should be measured based on the percentage of the manifesto implemented. It is strange that these governors insult our sensibilities by blaming low state allocation for their ineffieciencies. But I will never excuse any of them because they are aware of these constraints before making unrealistic vows to the citizens. They should have had ways of going round those constraints. |
| Re: How Do We Measure The Performance Of State Governments? by OmoTier1(m): 7:11pm On Apr 16, 2013 |
So in the bedeviled world of this disgruntled OP, ACN is now the only party that has governors? Who bewitched you with such a daft brain Doctor that smuggles 'things' to equatorial guinea?  |
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