Donald
Committees [by whatever names they are called] are useful instruments of governance. Two good heads are always better than one; decision making is enriched as diverse opinions are canvassed, various interests are represented, expertise is pooled and creative ideas are generated. But committees also waste time and resources, delay decision making, hinder individual creativity, are easily manipulated and at times, members are pressurized to conform to group opinion, leading to groupthink in extreme cases. These disadvantages led to the mischievous definition of a committee as a group of the incapable set up by the unwilling to do the unnecessary! There is increasing evidence in support of this mischievous definition, especially in the public sector and most especially in our beloved and re-branded country, Nigeria.
In the corporate world, all the corporate giants that crashed earlier [Enron, World.Com, Parmalat] and those that are currently in crises for underreporting their affairs, cooking their books, and other corporate governance infractions-including Citigroup- had very vibrant audit committees, credit committees, independent boards, risk management committees and dutifully complied with all aspects of the Sarbanes Oxley Act! In The British House of Commons- which is apparently occupied by common crooks- the existence of various committees did not prevent the massive thievery that has just recently been uncovered-including buying 16 bed-sheets for a one-bedroom flat within 2 months
In Nigeria however, the abuse and misuse of committees in governance-especially in the last 10 years- has reached Guinness Book of Records proportions. When former President Obasanjo set up the Christopher Kolade Contracts Probe Committee and the famous Oputa Panel of enquiry, Nigerians were glad that at last, a Daniel had ascended the throne. He even underscored the importance of the Oputa pane by appearing before that distinguished body. Well, the reports of those two confidence building committees have since been ‘referred to the drawer’ and all the resources expended and expectations raised have come to naught. The same goes for the Paul Dike Committee on the aviation sector. Apart from providing a honey-pot from which aviation ministers and their patrons looted the distressed sector, nothing else has come out of the committees report.
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But the present government has set a new record in what has been referred to as ‘panelisation’ of Nigeria [The Nation, ‘Hardball’, 23/4/09]. It is not just that committees or panels are established when there is no intention of acting on their recommendations; it is that there is a multiplicity of committees funded by the same government investigating or working on the same issues. Committees are set up for issues that even a simple memo will resolve[like the African Finance Corporation affair], and at times, there are public quarrels as to who has the right to institute the committees.
Recently, the battle of supremacy between Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, the only two globally certified Nigerian billionaires, has led to the manipulation of AP shares. By the last count, that matter has been investigated by committees set up by the NSE, SEC, EFCC, Senate and House of Representatives. Before then, the November 2008 Jos crises was investigated by the Federal and Plateau State Governments[and the court was asked to rule on which committee was more legitimate] Plateau State House of Assembly, Senate, House of Representativess, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Defence Staff etc. The Government established the Ledun Mitee Technical Committee but went on to establish a ministry without waiting to know whether it tallied with the recommendations of the committee. The Halliburton scandal which has been investigated, signed, sealed and delivered from overseas is now being investigated by the committees set up by the EFCC, Attorney General, Inspector General of Police, National Security Adviser and the Federal Government!
In the NASS, the honourables-who do a lot of horrible things- have mastered the art of probes and nothing has come of any of them. The Ndudi Elumelu Committee on Power sector shows how the NASS abuses and misuses committees. The House kept the committees report in the cooler for almost a year and within that period, a minor committee was set up to probe the main committee. By the time the report came out, its greatest opponents were committee members while the house actually wanted to throw away the entire report. Another committee was set up to re-examine the report within 7 days but it took about one month and when it submitted its own report, it threw away 84 out of the 88 original recommendations, adopting only those that called for more staffing and training for power sector institutions and staff. Ironically, Elumelu and one of those he recommended for sack/ further investigation are now jointly being accused of fiddling with N5.2bn rural electricity funds!
The Uwais Electoral Reform Committee report has become a contentious one. The distinguished Nigerians traversed the length & breadth of Nigeria, received 1500 memos and had 900 appearances all of which lasted 18 months and cost the nation up to N1bn. The Government set up a committee to review their report and another committee to review the work of the second committee-simply because it has an idea of what it wanted; it was working from the answer to the question! If the Government had an idea of what it wanted and that idea is embedded in the mind and brain of Andoaka, why did it set up the Uwais committee, in the first instance? As the Ekiti debacle has shown, while accepting 73 out of 83 recommendations may appear commendable, the issue of completing all litigations before inauguration is unimpeachable. Infinite litigation may favour PDP today but that will not be forever.
During the infamous Ekiti rerun elections, a senator was arrested with weapons of mass destruction; another set of thugs was arrested with an armoury; another senator was harbouring about 60 thugs; miscreants beat up election observers including a certified staff of National Human Rights Commission; INEC staff fought over a N250m gift from an identifiable kind-hearted Nigerian; ballot boxes were snatched and stuffed while 10000 police men watched. And the REC said publicly that some results were questionable. Eventually the senators and thugs-guns & all- were released; the observers were charged and detained; the REC went on to affirm those same results and a winner was sworn in! Two weeks later, after the trophy had been captured and safely returned to base, the president set up a committee to investigate the shameful episode: closing the stable after the horse has escaped. Do we require committees to punish criminals, gun runners and cases of bribery?
The practice of using committees to buy time, deflate public anger, deceive or confuse the populace or create a false impression of action is a quintessence of governance failure. And as we have been advised, if you see a snake, take a knife and kill the snake; do not set up a committee on the snake! Action: that is what governance is all about.
