by Mark Amaza

This is the second and concluding part of the review of federal ministries in 2013. You can check through the first part HERE.

• Mines and Steel: Despite Nigeria’s immense endowment in mineral resources, very little has been done to exploit these resources commercially. In all honesty, there is little incentive for state governments to develop their mining sectors, since all the revenue from it will go to the federal government. Although there is a National Minerals and Mining Policy that is supposed to help develop the sector into a solid revenue earner, little has been done by way of implementation of the policy, while the country keeps losing money to the activities of illegal miners. We are still waiting for Musa Sada to produce some results.

• National Planning: The idea behind this ministry is to provide a strategic roadmap for Nigeria’s development; and when former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman was posted there, it was widely expected that results will be seen. However, the plans of the ministry continue to look good only on paper with no impact felt. In anyway, Usman lost his job in the tsunami that swept him and eight of his colleagues in September.

• Niger Delta: The ministry set up as an interventionist ministry for the oil-rich but impoverished, polluted and restive region, in addition to the Niger Delta Development Commission continues to cause questions as to whether its existence has been of any positive impact. Projects continued to be carried out within region by other ministries and the ministry cannot still point to what it has accomplished in the outgoing year.

• Petroleum: When Nigeria’s petroleum sector, the whole country catches cold – not surprising considering that we depend on this commodity for 70% of our earnings. 2013 has come and gone and the Petroleum Industry Bill is yet to be passed; meanwhile, foreign oil majors are gradually winding down their investments in the sector and selling off their assets due to the uncertainties because of the non-passage of the bill. Our earnings are also taking a hit, and not being helped by crude oil theft. Dieziani Allison Madueke continues to be heavily criticized from last year and she is yet to implement any of the probe reports from the four panels that were constituted in the wake of the fuel subsidy protests last year.

• Police Affairs: Like every year, the rhetoric on how government will improve funding to the Nigeria Police Force to enable them serve and protect the people better continued in 2013; like every year, very little changed within the police. Maybe it is beyond just the federal government to upgrade the police. State police, anyone?

• Power: After the privatization of the assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) suffered a slight hiccup with the sudden resignation of the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, his replacement, Prof. Chindeu Nebo has found his feet and been able to conclude to successfully the sale of all the distribution and generating assets to the tune of $3.5bn – the largest single sale since Nigeria started its privatization in 1999 – and all the while, trying to pacify the workers of the power behemoth from carrying out their threat of preventing the handover of the assets. The transmission via the National Grid has also been concessioned to Manitoba Hydro Power of Canada, while loans from China have been taken to improve the transmission network. The ministry and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) is carrying the momentum from this privatization and has commenced the privatization of the 10 generation stations under the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). Excellent work. Here is hoping that they consolidate on the good work they have already started in 2014.

• Science and Technology: All was quiet in this ministry in 2013, unless one is counting the seemingly tall and unrealistic ambition of sending a Nigerian to space by 2015, which is just two years away from now. In the end, its minister, Bassey Ewa Henshaw lost his job in the September tsunami of ministerial sackings.

• Sports: 2013 was a very good year for this ministry: Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations for the 3^rd time and the U-17 World Cup for a record fourth time; while our own Blessing Okagbare ensured football did not take all the shine by beating the African record in 100m and winning the race at the London Anniversary Games. However, the issue of unpaid salaries of title-winning Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi remain a sore point for the ministry. Overall, Bolaji Abdullahi is doing above average.

• Tourism: The Tourism Master Plan developed by the ministry last year is yet to show results; although the onus on developing the abundant tourism attractions within the country falls more on the states than the federal government. It is however the responsibility of Edem Duke and his ministry to sell Nigeria as a whole as a tourism destination.

• Trade and Investment: Despite making promises such as improving our Ease of Doing Business and making it easier for new businesses to be registered, Olusegun Aganga and Samuel Ortom, the two ministers in this ministry seem to be more enamored with banning goods and signing memoranda of understanding. Despite rising foreign direct investment into the country, there is still an urgent need for Nigeria to sort out its challenges of doing business within the country, and improve its ranking on the Ease of Doing Business index.

• Transport: The revival of the nation’s railways continued in 2013, despite the fact that the National Railway Bill which would open up the sector to private sector investment remains in the National Assembly. However, not enough attention is being paid to developing water transport. We are hoping that Idris Umar takes note of this.

• Water Resources: A minister that is almost forgotten to exist, Sarah Reng Ochekpe obviously likes to work well behind the scenes. She has the highest proportion of capital budget to the overall budget among all ministries, and it is same again in 2014. Among her competed projects were earth dams and six new water laboratories across the country. She also pushed for the revival of river basin development authorities (RBDAs).

• Women Affairs: Another ministry that is more famous for its rhetoric than actual performance, the Ministry of Women Affairs has the mandate of pushing for the inclusion of women at all levels of governance as well as advocating for them on all kinds of issues ranging from HIV/AIDS to protection from violence. However, the minister, Hajia Zainab Maina is making efforts to turn the rhetoric into action by launching a Widows Empowerment Scheme to help widows economically.

• Works: A very important ministry, Mike Onolememen and his ministry made a lot of strides on important road projects such as the East-West Road, the Maiduguri-Kano Road (despite the Boko Haram insurgency) and completed the Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX) from Abuja to Kaduna. However, the non-start of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway reconstruction remains a negative for the ministry in 2013.

• Youth Development: Almost the entire budget for this ministry goes to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). So far, everything seems to have been going well with the scheme, although the practice of Northern corps members being posted to mostly Northern states alone and Southern corps members being posted to Southern states alone due to security reasons is defeating one of the cardinal aims of the scheme – national integration via exchange. However, its minister, Inuwa Abdulkadir was sacked in May for failing to properly conduct the elections of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), which curiously enough is not even a government body.