GOVERNMENT MUST PUMP MONEY INTO INFRASTRUCTURE FOR REAL DEVELOPMENT- ENGR ADEFEMI KAMALDEEN

Adefemi Kamaldeen, an engineer,
is the Managing Director/Chief
Executive Officer of Periscope
Engineering Limited, a construction
company handling some road and
housing projects for Lagos State.
Kamaldeen frowns at the tendency
of awarding contracts to non-
professionals who end up doing
substandard jobs and blamed it on
sheer corruption that government
must look into. In this interview, he
also emphasizes the need for
infrastructural development in the
country.
Could you give us a rundown on the
administration of your company?
We are a consulting and
construction company trying to
create our own niche in the
construction industry. We basically
get contracts from Lagos State
Government. We have well
educated and seasoned engineers
that manage our projects for us.
What challenges did you face while
starting up the company?
They’re same challenges anyone
would face while trying to set up a
company in Nigeria. Number one, in
getting construction contracts, you
need to know the who-is-who in
the society. We are registered with
the Nigerian Society of Civil
Engineers. I’m a certified
practitioner with a Master’s degree
in my kitty and starting my PhD
soon. With that, I can say I am fully
grounded in Civil Engineering. But it
is not just about education and
professionalism. In Nigeria, it is also
about links. We have a couple of big
projects in Lagos State and these
are projects that speak for
themselves in terms of quality and
delivery. If the likes of Julius
Berger would get a loan, they can
easily get it at a single digit interest
rate, because they might be
sourcing it from abroad. Getting
the needed equipment is also a
huge challenge and you may have
to hire some, which are very
expensive to rent. Hiring is also very
difficult but our personnel is there
and well trained.
Annually, the University of Lagos
calls me to take some students
from the Department of Civil
Engineering and train them. I am an
alumnus of UNILAG you know?
Have you ever encountered the
challenge of trying to break into a
system for a contract?
I consult for one of the major
banks in Nigeria. You find out that
some of the key people that
eventually get the contracts are not
even engineers. They are just into
the industry simply because they
have the money or so. When you
try to submit your proposals to
compete with these people, you
find out that it becomes pretty
difficult. It may even turn out to be
that the contract would now be
awarded to a nonprofessional who
is just interested in his profit
margin. Whether we like it or not,
we can’t shy away from the truth.
Some of the projects you see out
there are not even awarded to
professionals. Some even go to
politicians who would now call on
professionals to help them execute
them.
So, how were you able to get the
contracts you got from Lagos State
government?
The projects we got from Lagos
State government came from
Lagos State Development and
Property Corporation (LSDPC). I
served there as a corps member
and when I was with them, I
personally developed two projects
for them. Major schemes were to
be constructed in Ikorodu and
Badagry and I designed them for
LSDPC. So, they have always known
that I know the job. We started with
consulting and later, we started
getting projects from some private
organisations. Our first contract in
Lagos was awarded by former
governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.
We were among contractors that
built Lagos Homes and we
completed them even before the
deadline. At present, we are
executing two projects in Ikorodu.
We just finished one. The one we
did at Shogunro was rated among
the best. Once you are able to
throw in a profile of the works you
have done, you are okay.
What do you have to say about the
anomaly of some road contractors
getting the mobilisation fee but
doing substandard job and the
road begins to deteriorate soon
after commissioning?
I won’t lay the blame solely on the
contractors’ doorsteps. A lot of
intrigues play out before the jobs
are awarded. People behind closed
doors demand bribes in some
cases before the contracts are
issued and contractors wouldn’t
want to go back home without
anything. The project may suffer
from that.
Who’s to blame?
It’s all about corruption and without
it, local contractors would deliver.
Some of them would say that local
contractors cannot deliver the jobs
but when the contractor finally gets
it, they still want to get their cut
from it. Contractors should be able
to stand their grounds and say their
integrity is at stake too. You cannot
deliver well when this is the issue.
How about the tendency of
winning a contract but not having
enough funds to execute it,
especially when the client is not
willing to pay your mobilisation fee
promptly?
Lagos State Government, LSDPC,
Total Nigeria are our major clients.
For every project, our clients
mobilise us with at least 30
percent. I have never got any
contract from Lagos State without
getting 30 percent mobilisation fee.
During evaluation, when they see
we have even executed the job
beyond the 30 percent mobilisation
fee, they would definitely pay us,
except when you default. We have
never had a cause to approach any
bank for a loan to execute any
project.
Really? Not even once?
We have never had cause to do so.
Our clientele base is defined and
our clients always mobilise
contractors.
As a professional, what do you
think people need to know about
Civil Engineering?
The word “civil” is from
“civilization’. You cannot talk of
Civil Engineering without talking of
water, agriculture, road, soil and
environment. It cuts across all
walks of life. The major issue in this
country is that if we do the right
things, there wouldn’t have been
any cry over recession. If we have
good roads, potable water, sound
telecoms sector and their
corollaries, there wouldn’t have
been any recession. Any
reasonable government would
pump money into infrastructure, if
you are looking for real
development. Nigeria is rated as
the fastest urbanizing country in
sub-Saharan Africa. What urban
people are rushing into is not even
well developed. When you think
anything, you think Civil
Engineering and let me just say that
Civil Engineering is life.
What can we do as a country, to
cause a revolution in
infrastructural development?
I think the present government is
moving in the right direction but a
lot still needs to be done. The
honourable minister of power,
works and housing said something
quite profound about that recently.
We need to start pumping money
into infrastructure. This is the first
time we would be putting more
money into capital expenditure. If
you are not putting more money in
capital expenditure, then you are
not looking at the area of
development. I travel the Benin/
Ore road regularly and I can tell you
some of the projects the present
government has embarked on. If
you have to revolutionize Nigeria,
you must be looking at
infrastructure.
Work-in-progress is often
abandoned by successive
governments and this is a major
issue to be addressed. Do you
think so too?
It has always been so. What we
should be looking at is whether the
project is meant to serve the
people or not. A major cause of this
is corruption, because they would
be thinking of getting their cut
from an existing project. Tinubu
started the paper works on BRT
transport and Fashola finished it.
That is the right step in the right
direction. There are some projects
that Fashola couldn’t finish that
Ambode is continuing. Jonathan
started rehabilitation of the railroad
and Buhari completed and
commissioned it. Contractors have
been mobilised to go back to site
on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway.
Also, on Oyo/Ogbomoso road too,
contractors are back on site. That is
why I said the present government
is moving in the right direction.
Do you support government going
into bilateral relations with other
countries over capital intensive
infrastructural projects?
It is not always necessary. A couple
of months ago, Qatar, a very
wealthy country, paid $622m to the
US just to have a share in empire
building. I don’t think bilateral
relations for capital projects is a bad
idea. We need to go into such
relations sometimes and we cannot
always run from them.
How do we checkmate contractors
that default?
As long as you can establish that
after receiving mobilisation fee, the
contractor still defaults, you should
punish such contractor by
blacklisting him and making him
refund the money. It is not just
enough revoking his contract.
What is your assessment of
Nigeria’s infrastructural base
compared to most developed
nations?
There is no basis for comparison at
all. The question is do we even
have good roads and potable
water? The infrastructure is not just
there. The honourable minister of
finance has just mentioned that
there would be low cost housing
units valued at between N2.5m and
N2.8m. I think it’s still very
affordable. I think that’s good
subsidy for Nigerians when looking
at rent-to-own housing schemes.
Since the era of Jakande, I don’t
think we have ever had any housing
scheme at a low price.
Maybe we should just say
government only builds for the rich
, because most of the housing
estates are hardly affordable to the
poor…
Yes, some of their cronies buy the
houses but the former governor of
Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola
proved cynics wrong by making it
very transparent. You just fulfill
some criteria and they do the
balloting in the open.
In your capacity as the CEO of
Periscope Engineering Limited,
what are you doing differently
from your competitors?
Two things. There is the belief that
local contractors cannot perform as
good as foreign contractors. I try to
prove this wrong. It’s about
integrity. When we built for Lagos
Homes, our buildings were
adjudged among the best and I
must tell you, I know of some
contractors who didn’t do a very
good job. We were also one of the
first that met Governor Ambode’s
deadline. One is timely delivery of
projects and two is delivering up to
standards to meet international
best practices.