ENGINEERING IS DEVELOPMENT (Serialised) No 13

FIDIC & International Activities

I welcome you to another week of our ongoing discussions based on the book, Engineering Is Development. I particularly enjoyed the interactions the last topic generated and I hope today’s article will match, if not surpass it. Remember that you can download the book or get a copy from the managing director of ACEN on (abolajiogunsanya@acen.org.ng).

ACEN has always had a relationship with Fédération Internationale des Ingénieurs-Conseils, FIDIC since its formation. F.A.O. Phillips and the members of the newly formed Nigerian association met with the then president of FIDIC, W. W. Moore in Lagos in 1971. It is not clear why Bill Moore visited Nigeria, but he was the principal partner of a consulting engineering firm, Dave and Moore, with an office in Nigeria at the time. Subsequently, Moore encouraged the formation of the Association in a letter dated 4th of January 1972 enclosing drafts of the Articles of Incorporation and Bye-Laws of the Consulting Engineering Council of the United State of America, with a promise to send those of the ACE (UK) and the Malaysian Association.

The first opportunity for ACEN to be admitted to FIDIC was in 1974. The Secretary General of FIDIC, Mr. Frijlink, proposed that Nigeria should apply for full membership and be presented for admission at the 1974 conference scheduled for Cape Town, South Africa. However, Nigeria declined this offer as it was then politically impossible for the Nigerian delegation to visit South Africa at the time as South Africa still operated the Apartheid policy. Nigeria therefore did not attend the 1974 conference, but attended the 1975 conference in Paris.

Eventually, an application was sent in 1976. A reply, dated 21st February 1977 was sent by Mr. Hillebrand informing ACEN that the Executive Committee had approved the application and that they would be admitted at the forth-coming conference in Helsinki, Finland. ACEN promptly responded and nominated the President and the Honorary Secretary, V. O. Oyefodunrin to attend the General Assembly Meeting, GAM. Nigeria was presented to GAM along with Hong Kong and Portugal and they were all admitted as members of FIDIC on the 8th of June 1977 to join South African, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

About FIDIC

FIDIC was formed in Belgium in 1913 and had an initial membership of 11 countries. Being the voice of consulting engineering business in the world, FIDIC’s mission is: “To promote the business interests of members providing technology-based intellectual services for the built and natural environment, and while doing so, accept and uphold our responsibilities to society.”

The key focus areas of FIDIC are: 1. Representation, 2. Business Best Practice, 3.  Ethics/ Integrity, 4.  Image, 5.  Sustainability, 6.  Globalisation, and 7.  Quality

Organisation and Administration

The highest body in FIDIC is the General Assembly. This is made up of delegates from Member Associations. Initially, two members represented each country. Today, representation varies from a minimum of two to a maximum of six members per country, depending on the size of the consulting engineering industry in the respective countries. An Executive Committee to run the affairs of the Association comprising of nine members, no two of whom may be from the same country. The election is on individual basis and the members are not seen as representing their individual countries. The Committee recommends a president, vice president and treasurer for the ratification of the General Assembly.

FIDIC secretariat is presently located in Geneva and is headed by a full-time managing director and a general manager supported by four or five part time staff. Most of the original professional work of FIDIC is carried out through volunteers in committees, task forces and forums. As at 2008, there were nine committees, seven task forces and five forums. FIDIC has several business products for the use of the consulting engineers. The most popular are the Contract Documents which are used by the World Bank and other international lending organisations, and many other public and private sector organisations.

ACEN in FIDIC

Nigeria continues to play a very active role in FIDIC. After several attempts, Dr. Joseph Ibikunle Folayan was elected to the FIDIC Executive Committee. He was the first from Africa to be so elected and he served from 1988 to 1992, a four-year term. During his tenure, Dr Folayan brought the attention of the Executive Committee to the challenges of building a viable consulting engineering industry in Africa. It was at this time that the formation of GAMA was being actively debated and he was at the centre of it all. While awaiting the formation of GAMA he had responsibilities for African affairs on the committee.

Since his election, it has now become traditional for an African to always be on FIDIC EC. He was succeeded by Steyn Laubscher of South Africa in 1992. Gamal Nasar of Egypt was elected in 1994, Rafik Meghji of Tanzania in 1999, Bayo Adeola of Nigeria in 2003 and Patrick Batumbya of Uganda in 2007.

FIDIC Conferences

Perhaps the most popular FIDIC event among Nigerians is the Annual FIDIC Conference. This is usually the climax of the FIDIC year where all the Member Associations and individuals from their member firms and other stakeholders in the construction industry converge for an Annual Conference and the AGM. The venue changes from year to year with hosts bidding for the hosting rights. Dr. Joseph Folayan had, as at 2002, attended twenty FIDIC successive conferences. Other very regular attendees include past presidents Lanre Sagaya, Segun Adesina and Mayen Adetiba, and this writer, Bayo Adeola. It is usual for Nigeria to have one of the largest delegates at the conference.

Presentation of papers and participation at discussion forums are the major activities at FIDIC conferences, and Nigerians have had some opportunity to fully participate. Unfortunately, ACEN cannot be regarded as an active paper writing association and participation at these activities have fallen short of expectation. In 2001, the organising committee of the Montreaux conference specifically invited a paper from Nigeria, and by competition, Bayo Adeola and his paper were selected for the conference which was well received. In 2005, Suleiman Adamu, the then chairman of the International Relations Committee of ACEN was invited to present at a discussion forum in Beijing.

FIDIC Committees and Task Forces

FIDIC operations are organised around committees and task forces. Task forces are usually formed to address specific short-term concerns while committees address issues of going concern to the Association. Nigerians have had the opportunity to serve on these committees, though not as much as our attendance at the conferences reflects.

In 2001, Bayo Adeola was invited to serve on the Governance Task Force that reviewed the structure of governance of FIDIC. In 2003, he was invited to serve on the Strategic Review Task Force. FIDIC periodically reviews its strategic objectives to make sure the right issues are being addressed, and this was the primary objective of this Task Force. Several Nigerians have also served on various committees. Past presidents F. A. O. Phillips, Adenrele Adejumo, Michael Adesina and Engr. Yemi Songonuga served on the Risk Management Committee for several years while past president Lanre Sagaya recently served on the Business Practice Committee. Bayo Adeola was the chair of the Capacity Building Committee from September 2007.

Group of African Member Association of FIDIC, GAMA

At every FIDIC conference, African members meet to share experience and discuss the challenges of building viable consulting industries in their home countries. These meetings soon led to the decision to formalise the interaction among African consultants and gave birth to the Group of African Member Associations GAMA of FIDIC. Since the first meeting, annual conferences of GAMA have taken place regularly with different countries volunteering to host. Countries that have hosted include Tanzania in 1994, South Africa in 1995, Egypt in 1996 and Zimbabwe in 1997.

Despite Nigeria’s active participation in GAMA, ACEN was hesitant to hold the conference for security and infrastructural reasons. There were fears that participants would be unwilling to come to Nigeria, and concerns about safety and infrastructures to host the conference. In 1997 in Harare, Zimbabwe, the then executive committee led by Aremo Okunoren as president and Bayo Adeola as secretary took the challenge and Nigeria accepted to host the 1998 conference. The conference chairman was Mayen Adetiba (later president of the association) and the committee included elder statesman Engr. Adeoye Fowora. In order to avoid the insecurity of Lagos, Abuja was chosen as the venue. The Abuja conference turned out to be a huge success in terms of planning and execution and set a new standard for GAMA conferences. The fear of poor attendance was, however, validated with only four (Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda and Zimbabwe) out of the nine member countries attending. Nigera hosted again in 2004, and this time the attendance was much better with Dick Kell, the FIDIC president present.

From its founding, ACEN has remained in the forefront of the growth and development of GAMA. GAMA however was for a very long time rather weak. While on the FIDIC executive committee from 2003 to 2007, Bayo Adeola championed the cause of GAMA and headed a task force for establishing a sustainable GAMA. Since the completion of the work of the GAMA Task Force, things have looked better. The first president under the new organisational structure and constitution was Exaud Mushi of Tanzania who was succeeded by Mayen Adetiba of Nigeria in March 2009.

The African Development Bank

The African Development Bank was set up to provide Africa with the necessary capital for the provision of infrastructures, physical, social and economic. It provides loans to African countries for a wide range of projects. It is therefore basic that the activities of the Bank would be of interest to ACEN. In the early nineties, GAMA approached the Bank to support the setting up of a GAMA secretariat. The bank, however, saw GAMA as being engineering focused and wanted an association with a wider coverage of services. This gave birth to the Federation of African Consultants, FEAC (Federation des Conseille Africaine, FECA). The Bank provided the funds for the setting up of a secretariat for FEAC in Abidjan. ACEN encouraged its members to join the organisation, which was essentially at individual and firm levels. However, the involvement of Nigerians in African Development Bank projects remains very weak and the network poorly developed to date.

Reflections

It sometimes seems that FIDIC procurement policies and publications are targeted at the exploitation of the African and developing countries’ markets. FIDIC Conditions of Contract are hardly used for developed countries’ projects, all of which have their local procurement documents. Practice of engineering is highly controlled in developed countries with very little opportunities for engineers from less-developed countries to participate. On the other hand, FIDIC continues to promote the adoption of procedures that encourage the participation of international consultants in Africa. The meeting of FIDIC with the international multilateral organisations are most often attended by consultants from the developed world and not enough third world voices are heard.

Third world focused projects within FIDIC often meet with difficulties, and when approved have even more difficulties at implementation. The Capacity Building Committee, in particular, has made very little progress in the past eight years.

Membership of FIDIC EC is also permanently distorted in favour of the developed countries, which are in the majority. The weighted voting introduced a few years ago gave additional advantages at the polls to this group to consolidate the number and resource advantages. It is usual to have two or three each from Europe and North America. The norm is to have one from Africa and two from Asia and Pacific region. It therefore always seems like a lone voice in the committee of nine, wanting to be understood. And sometimes the stronger groups can be distracting. EFCA has been competing with FIDIC on several fronts in the recent past.

Yet, there is no doubt that Nigeria and Africa, and indeed the world consulting industry needs a world association such as FIDIC. Perhaps strengthening the regional groupings is the way forward. Perhaps a more business-like structure with a bigger functional secretariat is the way. FIDIC carries out both governance and strategic reviews from time to time to address these issues. Perhaps the next review will be more visionary. ACEN also needs to carry out periodic review of its international relations.

What do you say? My feedback mechanisms remain the same. See you next time.

Bayo Adeola +234(0)8022910259; kaa@cpmslimited.com; www.cpmslimited.com