Open Letter to Governor Gabriel Suswam.

BEFORE YOU APPOINT YOUR COMMISSIONERS;
Your Excellency,

I was woken up from sleep by a phone call, yesterday night, from a friend who wanted to confirm the breaking news of a cabinet dissolution in Benue State. At first, I dismissed it as a mere recurrent rumour; however, I was to confirm the news a couple of hours later. I am therefore prompted to write you this open letter before your party lobbyists, loyalists, stalwarts and chieftains besiege you with requests, demands and desires.

It may be necessary to define my "interest" in all of these, considering that I am an active participant and sympathizer of the cause of the opposition in the state; I am a bona fide citizen of the State and I have genuine interest, among others, in the equitable development cum evolution of a decent cityscape/built environment in our dear state. This has, in time past, informed my commentaries on the workings of your government in areas of construction contract administration and projects execution by your government. As a trained Architect, I will constrain my comments to the areas where I have the capacity to do so.

I want to thus commend you for sacking the trio of the Commissioners for Works; that of Lands and Survey as well as that of Housing and Urban Development. This should, however, not be misconstrued to mean an indictment on the character of the individuals involved, which I may not be privy to, rather it is a categorical indictment of their professional competence to man these otherwise professionalized ministries. To buttress my point, just imagine the scenario of appointing an accomplished and prudent Architect as your Commissioner for Justice AND ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE!! Without sounding unnecessarily biased, these ministries, among a few others, should naturally be manned by seasoned professionals and not necessarily politicians.

In the very recent past, I had cause to criticize your government on your approach to construction contracts administration as well as due diligence in over sighting the execution of projects in the state - key among them being the yet ongoing Benue State University Law Faculty building (which I am told, should have been delivered in November 2012, later shifted to January 2013 and now to???) and the very shoddily executed works at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital all Makurdi. You simply cannot expect to get it right when the highest decision making body in the executive is lacking in the key personnel competent to advise government accordingly, without fear or favour. You simply cannot get it when you do not have Architects, Engineers or indeed any member of the building team and/or the construction industry in your kitchen cabinet!!

Recall, at the national level, when Tony Anenih held sway at Works Ministry, a whooping three hundred billion Naira appropriated for roads (re)construction was reported misappropriated (?); now we have an Architect at the helm of affairs and the story is different. At least and for the first time in a very long while, roads were rehabilitated for the festive period that usually witnesses the highest amount of traffic on our roads.

Back home in Benue, the "planning misadventure" effected at the ACHUSA LAYOUT in Makurdi, characterized by bare-faced greed and purposelessness on the part of the Lands and survey Ministry, with the endorsement of the Commissioner in charge, is something that should not be contemplated in a city like Makurdi of the 21st century.

The perpetual lack of character of ALL towns in Benue State; the persistent haphazard "growth" of Makurdi and other towns; the inner city decay without effective actions or attempts at URBAN RENEWAL in our first class towns; the seemingly uncontrolled and potentially implosive springing up of shopping complexes in Makurdi (in particular) et al, are the results you get when you sacrifice professionalism in the MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT on the altar of political patronage.

The poor and shoddy execution of government projects; the unnecessary and unwarranted need to employ individuals or firms as "global project consultants" with corresponding cost implication on a cash trapped State like ours; the ill-informed manner of constructing roads such that they ultimately become avenues for inhibiting the free flow of neighbouring drainage systems as witnessed with the INTERNATIONAL MARKET ROAD PROJECT et al, is what you get when your MINISTRY OF WORKS has incompetent leadership and/or leadership bereft of its core obligations.

You should not be tempted to go with the barest minimum requirement as stipulated in section 192(4) and elaborated in section 106, especially S106(4) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for very obvious reasons. Rather, you may need to pay closer attention to Section 193(2a & 2c) and be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the would-be commissioners are in the mould of the expectations thereto. I therefore make bold to state that this time around you should endeavour to appoint in these three ministries, any of the following professionals:

· MINISTRY OF HOUSING AN URBAN DEVELOPMENT – An ARCON Registered ARCHITECT, qualified to practice Architecture, as a principal partner, in Nigeria. His professional affiliation and cognate experience can be of immense benefit to the state.

· MINISTRY OF WORKS (AND TRANSPORT?) – An experienced and COREN certified ENGINEER.

· MINISTRY OF LANDS AND SURVEY: - A SURCON Registered surveyor, A duly Registered Urban and Regional Planner, A TOPREC Registered Town Planner or even An ARCON Registered Architect.
You may wish to avoid the temptation of operating, in this information age, as though we were still in the Stone Age Sir; your party the PDP, in Benue State, I should assume, is not lacking in any of the aforementioned professionals. If however you are faced with the bad fortune of not getting anyone fitting within, you may wish to extend it beyond the State and even beyond the borders of our country for the Diasporas as well - for all those who actively or passively subscribe to the cause of your political party, PDP.
With a focused leadership, these can help reverse the negative course that the former may have caused the ship of the State to sail. The best time to have drawn a line between Political expedition and Professional capacity to deliver "democratic dividends" was June 2007; however, the next better time to do it is NOW!! The ball is in your court and the buck stops at your table; endeavour to do the RIGHT THING.
GOD BLESS BENUE STATE!
GOD BLESS NIGERIA!!
Aondover Lawrence UTSAHA mnia; cem.