CHAIRMAN’s MEMO
By Garba A. Dangida
It will not be an overemphasis to say that injustice has become part of Nigeria’s normal way of life. In every facet of our national and private life, injustice manifests in various ramifications.
At the government level which everyone is familiar with, those in authority perpetuate injustice with impunity because they understand that there is no consequence for their actions. In some cases, the system promotes injustice.
Let’s start from the leadership. Here is a country whose annual gross income is worth over 50 billion dollars over the last 20 years of our democracy. But its citizens have been described as the poorest in the world. We are now referred as the world poverty capital. Is this typical? Is this normal?
Still on the leadership, the lowest worker in the civil service earns 30,000 minimum wage, while a federal legislator who was elected to make law for the country receives 35million per month.
The president, VP, Ministers, Governors, Deputy Governors, Heads of government agencies all enjoy the best medical care at government’s expense while other citizens have to attend a wretched public health facility where there are no doctors on duty or no medication. Is that normal?
The same trend can be found in the education sector where those in leadership positions from local government are up to the centre have the liberty to take their children to the best schools in the world, while the rest of the population have to make do with the abandoned public schools.
Just recently our public universities were shut down for over seven months. It took the intervention of some legislators for the President to give a matching order to his Education Minister to negotiate with the striking lecturers and reopen the universities.
Even the rising cases of armed banditry and kidnapping cannot be divorced from the injustice of our system that breeds discontent without any provision for redress. A Fulani cattle herder who had his cattle rustled and sold had no place to seek redress. His children grew up to see their father deprived of his cattle as he told his own story. What do we expect from such children?
A child in the village who lost his father to a treatable disease because of the insensitivity of the doctor on call or lack of wherewithal to seek medical treatment will grow up to hate the society that abandoned his father in times of need.
A report of the United Nations Development Programme (2019) has stated that Nigeria had 10 million out of school children. I’m sure the figure has increased by another million or two. What future do we portend for these children? Do we think we can live peacefully when these children have neither education nor skill to earn a decent living?
I recall that in 2015 when President Buhari came to office, several high profile persons had been arrested and charged to court on charges of corruption. They were accused of benefitting from the proceeds of corruption through the office of the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki who allegedly shared money meant for purchase of arms and ammunitions to politicians, traditional and religious leaders in a bid to seek a second term for President Goodluck Jonathan.
What becomes of those cases? Have the accused been discharged and acquitted, or the government simply dropped the charges silently? Nigerians are yet to know why the cases have been discontinued after the accused were released on bail. Even the case of the erstwhile Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris has been put in a cooler.
How can Nigeria survive this injustice? Who can stop the rot?
Nigeria needs a leader who will correct these anomalies. Someone that will stop the jumbo salary of the legislators, stop the purchase of the multi million Naira bullet proof vehicles for legislators and ministers. Someone who can stop medical and education tourism by public officials as Malaysia did in the early days of Mohmed Muhathir’s regime.
Everyone thought that President Buhari would be Nigeria’s Muhathir who would draw a line and say enough is enough! But alas, he failed the integrity test. He has ended becoming another dashed hope for Nigerians.
Now the question is when and from where will Nigeria’s Muhathir emerge? Is he among the four leading presidential candidates? Should Nigerians seek divine intervention to propel such a person for the rescue mission? I leave these questions to Nigerians to answer.
How can Nigeria fight injustice before it pulls the nation down to its knees? This is a difficult question to answer. But I will try to give my modest understanding of how societies instill justice among its people.
The first step is to restore the rule of law through constitutional amendments that will empower the judiciary, the police and other human right institutions to work together to identify cases of injustice, prosecute offenders.
The establishment of state and local police becomes imperative because they would be ones to enforce state and local government laws while the federal police take care of federal laws and criminal offences against the state.
The nation’s bureaucracy too must be overhauled and restructured to eliminate redundancy and institute an attractive reward system that will discourage corruption and inefficiency in the service. This will mean laying off thousands of workers and improving the welfare package of those that will be retained. The 30,000 Naira minimum wage does not reflect the reality of inflation in our country where a bag of rice cost 35,000 and above.
Nigeria needs to establish a commission similar to the South African Truth and Justice Commission after the Apartheid Regime to look into cases of injustice and compensate the victims, and urge those that wronged them to tender public apologies. This will bring reconciliation and build trust among the various ethnic and religious groups.
I must say that without healing old wounds and rebuilding trust our nation will hardly move forward as we want it to.
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