The "City" without Walls

2012 was a year of missed opportunities by the Jonathan administration.  The N2.3trn scam in the oil sector, ironically uncovered by the government’s attempt to foist higher fuel prices on the populace, was a great big opportunity to send a resounding message about corruption. The hearings at the House of Representatives were televised, published and analyzed daily. Some of the less jaded amongst us waited with bated breath for the torrent of consequences, we thought to ourselves “surely heads will roll; this level of corruption cannot be swept under the carpet…not even in Nigeria” It’s been over a year now and no one has gone to jail, Diezani-Allison Madueke is still the Minister for petroleum and the ‘subsidy’ gravy train is still rolling. The other big scandal of the year also emanated from the subsidy probe – Farouk Lawan and the $500,000 bribe allegedly stuffed into his cap and garment pockets. Guess what? Lawan is still a member of the House of Representatives and he’s never been prosecuted. The bribe giver cum whistle blower, Otedola has never been questioned about his role in the whole fiasco. In fact, he remains very close to the Presidency as an ‘economic’ adviser.

Also in 2012 the newspapers were awash with stories of how Governor Fashola ‘arrested’ a colonel and a staff sergeant for driving on the dedicated BRT lane. All The articles had a triumphant ring to them; it was if someone was finally standing up to the inherent lawlessness in our society.  I was one of the happy ones because I thought that those two military officers would get punished and their punishment would be an example and a deterrent to would-be offenders.  In spite of my great expectations, they were handed fines by their military command and the thing is most people aren’t even sure they paid the fines. Fast forward to 2013 and the BRT lane has become a dedicated military lane shared with BRT buses; they now use the BRT lane brazenly, all proudly wearing their military uniforms, after all who’s going to stop them? And even if they get caught what’s the worst that could happen?

In the past few weeks, we’ve had the case of the Minister who apparently needs not one but two armoured vehicles to feel safe in Nigeria. The usual hullabaloo is on; every single headline of the past week was about Stella Oduah and her precious cars. Many people already know that it will blow over as soon as a bigger scandal surfaces; all will soon be forgotten and the Minister will get on with the business of protecting life and limb by acquiring more stuff.

These events are just a few of the sordid tales of corruption and lawlessness that occur on a VERY REGULAR basis in Nigeria. Anyway it would be extremely daunting to attempt to chronicle all Nigeria’s recent corruption scandals and the lawlessness that has become a way of life. I even think it might be an endless task because we have no respite from corruption and scandal in this nation.

The question is why does corruption thrive so well in Nigeria? Why has right become wrong and wrong become right? Why is it that everywhere you look somebody is breaking the law without a second thought? Some people will quickly say “oh it’s because we’ve got bad leaders” but bad leaders in other climes feel the consequences of their poor stewardship at some point or the other but not so for Nigeria. I don’t think that lawlessness is a unique Nigerian trait; anybody will attempt to break the law for some sort of personal gain if they can get away with it. Whilst most countries have deterrents in the form of commensurate punishment for law breakers, ours is a nation where a judge will give a fine of N750, 000 to someone who embezzled billions of naira of other people’s pension funds. Nigeria has become a country where people who are supposed to censure wrong doing will rather chastise the wrongdoer for getting caught! Farouk Lawan’s colleagues in the House of Representatives weren’t outraged that he took a bribe; they were outraged that Farouk made himself vulnerable by going to Otedola’s house to collect the bribe, thus giving the bribe giver the opportunity to trap him!

Consequences for wrongdoing exist to maintain law and order; traffic in the United Kingdom is orderly and controlled not because Britons (including thousands of Nigerians who reside in the UK) are robots who never have the urge to run red lights, hop lanes or drive dangerously but because there are stiff penalties for breaking traffic laws; just ask Chris Huhne and his wife! On the other hand, driving in Lagos is like navigating an asylum where you should always expect the unexpected simply because there are no consequences for dangerous driving.

The consequence of no consequences is a downward slide into anarchy; it is an open invitation to brazen criminality. No consequences promote a total lack of self-control on personal and national levels. A wise man wrote in the book of Proverbs “a person (substitute nation) without self-control is like a city without walls” Walls in biblical times protected cities against marauders and invaders; they ensured the continuous existence and prosperity of the cities and their inhabitants. It’s time we put our walls back up in this ‘city’ called Nigeria.