Opinion
Civil Servants And Govt Housing Policy
Tonye Fuayefika
Previous governments in Rivers State, in their efforts to provide accommodation for the populace and embrace the global policy on Urban Housing Renewal Scheme, built low-cost houses at Ndoki, and Marine Base Waterfronts as a test case. The Marine Base Waterfront Housing Scheme was divided into three phases. As a follow-up of past government‘s effort, the Sam Ewang administration, embarked on the Igbo-Etche Housing Scheme, while the Peter Odili administration embarked on the construction of 1,000 housing units across the twenty-three local government areas of the state.
The original intention of government was to build and sell these houses to civil servants and other indigenes to alleviate the acute accommodation problem in the state. Accordingly, the Ndoki, Aggrey Road, and Marine Base (Phase 1) Waterfronts houses were sold out on owner-occupier basis, the Igbo-Etche. The 1,000 housing units built by the Odili administration also followed the same concept of owner-occupier basis.
In June 1996, seventy semi-detached two-bedroom flats constructed by the Ada George administration in 1993 were completed at the Marine Base Housing Estate (Phase II). Fifty of the flats were allocated to senior civil servants as official quarters, while the remaining twenty flats were given to the University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt. This marked a drastic shift from the original policy to sell the houses on owner-occupier basis.
It is pertinent to point out that the Komo administration, in order to hurriedly complete the houses at the (Phases II) of the estate before leaving office, pressurised the contractors and so left many works uncompleted. Most of the houses did not have all the fixtures and fittings required. For instance, the road and gutter in lane one (opposite the Marine Base plank shed) and the main drainage for the estate were not constructed, while the transformer for the estate was not supplied. Twenty flats were connected to two or three shallow soakaways.
Tell-tale signs of leaking and broken ceilings, broken louvre blades, brought about by corroded and ill-fitted louvre frames, peelings, cracking and depressing floors, and dust from termite-eaten woods abound in most flats, which shows the low-quality materials and poor workmanship of the buildings. Even, necessary amenities such as portable water, central refuse receptacle, fence-wall and play ground for the comfort of residents of the estate were not provided for in the physical structures.
So also, past governments failed to register the allottees with NEPA. So the allottees were forced by NEPA to register with them and pay for new metres which unfortunately, had then risen to N25,000 per meter. The brunt of the above problem was borne by the allottees as several letters written to government did not yield any fruit.
Compared to other waterfront estates, the Marine Base (Phase II) estate was built on a very low, marshy, saline soil. No sand-filling was done. Apart from the buildings being hastily carried out, workmanship too was very poor. Workers waded through two to three feet deep of water to carry out construction work, and the porousness and mashiness of the soil has caused the buildings to crack in some flats. Right now, the houses are fast deteriorating and dilapidating, and the allottees have taken up the responsibility of maintaining the houses at their own expense, in addition to paying high rents to government.
Findings have revealed that from inception to this moment successive governments have not done any maintenance or renovation work on the said buildings. It was the allottees who took the onerous burden upon themselves to put in fittings and fixtures not provided by government. The policy implementation of owner-occupier principle will definitely justify all financial obligations made by the allottees concerning the maintenance of the buildings.
The population of Port Harcourt is increasing by the days hence, the need to embark on more new housing estates for the populace. Revenue derivable from the sales of flats in the Marine Base Estate (Phase II) will enable government to embark on the building of more estates to meet the ever-increasing housing needs of the state.
Already, the allottees have registered with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) scheme which entitled them to housing loan at the eventual release of the houses in view. The policy implementation of owner- occupier principles as pronounced in the allocation of the Phase III of the Marine Base Housing Unit, should also apply to the Phase II of the same estate.
It is a known fact that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a civil servant to build a house from his monthly salary. Thus, frustration arising from homelessness has sent many civil servants to a terrible life and untimely death. And since shelter is undoubtedly the third most important thing after air and food. The Rivers State government should consider the implementation of the Federal Government’s “Monetisation” Policy for Rivers state workers. This will definitely lesson the burden of the resident occupants of Phase II, and make their eventual retirement in service a worth while dream.
Fuayefika wrote in from Port Harcourt.
Quote:”Communities have rights to peace, safety, and quality of life. Noise pollution, crowds, or other impacts from religious activities can affect these rights. Balancing these interests requires consideration and dialogue”.
“All work and no play”, its said, “makes Jack a dull boy.” Despite this age-long maxim that recognises the role of play in early childhood development, play appears to be eluding many Nigerian kids. The deprivation of play opportunities comes in different forms for the Nigerian child depending on family’s social setting or status, but the effect is much the same. For children in Nigerian poor families, life is becoming as much a hassle as it is for their struggling parents. Due to harsh economic conditions, many families resort to engaging their kids prematurely in trading activities especially in hawking, to help boost family revenues, when these kids should be enjoying leisure after school. Some of these children barely attend schools while being forced to spend much of their childhood hustling in the streets. For children from well-off families, time could be as crunchy as it is for their busy parents when, obsessed with setting agenda for the future of their kids, parents arrange stringent educational regiment too early for their kids.
These group of children are made to get-off the bed by 5.30am every weekday, get ready for private school buses that call at 6.00am, otherwise report by however means to school at 7.20am.The situation is worse for kids in the city of Lagos where the need to beat urban traffic rush-hours is very high. Most children are further subjected to extra hours of lessons after school at 2.00pm, only to be released with loads of homework. On many occasions children who leave home for school at 6.30am get back by 3.30pm. With hardly enough time to eat, do school assignments and take afternoon naps, these children hardly had time for plays before dinners. In Nigeria, kids of ages between 3 and 12 spend averages of 9 hours a day and 45 hours a week to and from schools, and additional hours doing home assignments and domestic jobs, whereas their peers in developed countries spend about half that duration and have more time for leisure.
Any remaining spare time left after school work or street hustle is further stolen, when kids who usually are fascinated by gadgets, are exposed to household electronics like phones, tablets and gaming consoles. Electronic games may create a sense of leisure, but the difference with human interactions is that kids doing games interface mostly with machines or with programme structured in ways that entrap a child’s pysch directionally, according to the game’s programming, in ways that may not encourage independent thinking. Moreso, attraction to such gadgets displaces kids’ attention from important television and radio programmes. The prevalent tight, academic schedules for some Nigerian kids, though intended for academic excellence, encroaches on childhood leisure time needed to achieve an all-round childhood development, and could make children to resent formal education altogether. Besides, academic excellence or economic pursuit, is not all there is to living a well-nurtured life.
Children’s leisure time, defined as time left over after sleeping, eating, personal hygiene and attending school or day-care, is very crucial to childhood development. Sociologists recommend that children should have at least 40 per ceny of the day as leisure. According to Berry Brazelton, a former pediatrician at Harvard Medical School, “Play is the most powerful way a child explores the world and learns about him or herself.” Unstructured play encourages independent thinking and allows the young to negotiate their relationships with their peers, and in the process build self-confidence and self-control. Play is one of the important ways in which young children gain essential knowledge and skills. Leisure time enhances learning as fun enables children to learn at their own level and pace. Young children naturally explore and learn many skills by making cognitive connections from events that catch their attention.
Unstructured plays help children developed their cognitive, physical and communication skills that make them acquire social qualities necessary in navigating relationships in adult life. Plays enable children assess how others feel and learn perspectives as well as empathy through observing differences in facial expressions, body language and even tone of voice, which helps them copy how to express themselves to others, and therefore develop socially acceptable behavours that build relationships. In cooperative activities, children willingly take things in turn and may delegate roles. Children can also share the glory of winnings through competitive games, which is all great for working together in task sharing. Aside encouraging parents to ensure adequate leisure time for their kids at home, schools should make plays and exercises an integral part of the educational curriculum. The educational curriculum set by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) includes specific training durations and break periods, as well as sporting activities, as part of the school system.
Due to poor government funding, sports in public schools have declined, while most private schools lack sporting infrastructure or even play grounds. These make recreational activities and sports implementation almost impossible in schools. Also, the increasing rate of urbanisation in Nigerian communities is gradually eroding ancient playgrounds, while established urban centres have lost community playgrounds. With tightening apartment spaces now being the norm in most urban residential areas, many kids are forced to wriggle within burglary-proof enclosures. Nigerian governments and the relevant agencies should ensure that existing child labour protection laws, educational and urban development codes are implemented in the country, to enable proper nurturing of children as the future stakeholders of our society. Private schools, especially, should be supervised to ensure they follow the educational curriculum standards set by NERDC.
In a bid to impress parents and draw more patronage as better option than public schools, private schools, most of whom operate in cramped environments, have continued to set high regiments of training schedules beyond the capacity of most kids, and even encourage enrollment of pre-school age kids who can not sit still to listen for an extended periods of time. Schools, from creche to secondary levels, without playgrounds and recreational facilities should not be allowed to operate, and should be made to understand and implement appropriate curriculum and training durations. Many Nigerian kids, whether from rich or poor families, appear to have been set-up inadvertently, in the same leisure denial that affects their parents. All work and no play could lead to some messed-up kids who grow up not understanding social cues, and being unemotional and self-centered, manifest later as obsessive-compulsive adults.
By: Joseph Nwankwo
We thank God who is above all human contrivance and arrogance. Congratulations, Your Excellency Amaopusenibo Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara. Your victory takes us back to the Bible as a living document of a God that rules in the affairs of all His creation. In a manner of speaking, welcome back from your first war with Phillistines, Your Excellency! Yes, first example is David and Goliath! And like David, Your Excellency stands over Goliath in victory. But that is not enough. Our real enemy is that Your Excellency is Governor of a State with a wretched economy. Indigenes of Your State are today reduced to battalions of beggars waiting for who will hire their loyalty on the usual “pay-as-you-go” basis.
Your Excellency, it brings us to another Bible- based parallel. Conscientious Rivers indigenes above 50, should identify with and commit our all to this second parallel. It is to liberate the economy and people of Rivers people from 23 years enslavement and poverty, for us to regain our dignity and pride. When the economy of Egypt was drifting into a disaster zone, even Pharaoh did not know it. He also did not know what to do. But God sent a Joseph to build the economy into a fortress of good fortune that overcame the economic and social disaster Egypt did not know was ahead. Your Excellency for 23 years, Rivers State has been ruled without any logical, credible and consistent PLAN of how to overcome mass poverty from our dehydrated local economies.
Your Excellency, Rivers State cannot survive one month without Federal allocation! So called IGR only about 10 per cent of Federal allocation.It is also not based on what we produce but on tax from other people’s productivity that pass through our State. Pharaoh did not know what to do in the case of Egypt. May it please God to position another Joseph in Governor Siminalayi Joseph Fubara to heal Rivers State and build an economy that all Africa will come to access in order to chart a new course out of worsening economic hardship that is caused by near zero investment in productivity and endemic reckless looting. They are the twin chambers nursing a corporate cancer unfolding across Nigeria and Africa. The hard work begins today, Your Excellency.
We need an economic blueprint that will enrich every Rivers senatorial district from investment to grow productivity and to enrich every Rivers person from career-based productive labour, just as Pharaoh was enriched by Joseph’s economic Blueprint. Let Rivers State stop the trend of waiting the lives of young Rivers people recruited by Phillistines into cultism, thuggery and easy money, as a career. These Phillistines believe they have only lost one phase of many legal battles and battles by other means. But from comments in the public media, their eyes are fixed on 4-years of war and more! Your Excellency, we the people will not let you forget what you owe us. We have to make unbelievers see that your leadership is different and that we are uprooting the old order of an unproductive Feudal System. That system makes a few persons and their cronies to monopolise our collective wealth, while the majority are left in misery. Let’s put an end to enslavement by cabals and mass poverty in Rivers State. That is when the Phillistines will surrender.
By: Amaopusenibo Brown