The calendar with its division of time into neat compartments is somewhat artificial, too neatly mathematical to be anything more than symbolic short hands for denoting the passage of time and events. The high drama of political upsets in 2016 such as Brexit and Donald Trump’s election into the United States’ presidency, cannot be understood outside the broader ferment of right wing populism and the distrust of big government, long in gestation.
That said, it is also true that happenings in any particular year, even the little unnoticed ones, often hold the key to unveiling a dimension at least, of national character and predisposition, of
changes in the global arena, of emerging combinations of the jaded and the new. Sometimes, too, it is not big, sizzling headlines that ultimately matter most, but the sideshows, the downplayed news reports that are lurking in the wings, as it were, to exact what an American writer recently called “the revenge of the forgotten”. The three recent events of the rapidly closing year, chosen in this write-up for highlighting disturbing, emerging trends were not reported on the front pages, but on the inside pages of our newspapers. My reasons for dovetailing on them, however, will presently become clear.
Two days ago, it was reported that hefty amounts of plastic rice in the neighbourhood of 2.5 tonnes were seized by the Customs, thus aborting food consumption that would have occasioned for many Nigerians a far from Merry Christmas. Haruna Mamudu, the Customs’ boss revealed that although the rice looks deceptively like normal rice, it becomes very sticky after it is boiled. He went on to add ominously that “only God knows what would have happened if people ate it”. Experts say that this lethal rice emits a faint chemical odour after it is boiled, providing, perhaps the only giveaway of the poisonous nature of the food item. In order to mask the identity of the rice, presumably smuggled from China, it has been branded “Best tomato rice”. Nobody knows what quantity of the deadly rice that has made its way into the Nigerian market before the seizure occurred.
For many years, hapless Nigerians have lived with imported fake drugs and substandard or dangerous products, locally made or from abroad; the current exploits of unscrupulous rice merchants targeting the poorly policed Nigerian market update this practice and reopen discussion on the explosion of Nigeria’s uncivil society. Did you notice, that in recent times, and especially, with the raging economic recession, there has been an upswing in the emergence of mini industries of kidnapping for ransom or for rituals, baby factory gangs, among other cruelties? There is also, booming commerce around adulterated cement and other building materials resulting in the frequent collapse of buildings.
In other words, it is not only incompetent governments that are sending Nigerians to early deaths an uncivil society is actively engaged in this business resulting for example, in the alarming number of deaths through cancers and other diseases. Nigeria cannot be made whole outside of a total sanitising of state and society. To do this will require an upgrade in the capacity of law enforcement institutions, as well as civic campaigns with the objective of sensitising Nigerians concerning the relationship between making a living out of the sale of harmful products and upsurge of untimely deaths.
The second item, relates to the regaining of freedom after a six-year incarceration by the British authorities, of a former Delta State governor, Mr. James Ibori. The former governor who, in the heyday of his glory, was reverentially addressed by his colleagues as Sheikh was jailed in 2012 over a 15 million pounds fraud by a British court. The story is familiar enough, and not to be discounted in the scheme of things, Nigerian law enforcement has threatened to reopen the trial of Ibori. What should concern us however, is how a once hallowed justice system patterned after the British failed spectacularly to convict Ibori, leaving a British court to do its work for it. This question assumes salience in the light of the ongoing war against corrupt judges, and by implication, senior lawyers by the President Muhamudu Buhari administration. We are familiar, as a country, with the litany of unresolved high profile trials. That is one way of indexing, that justice is up for sale to anyone who can pay the price of stalling the process endlessly, or get the political authorities to turn a blind eye to their guilt. Some have argued that mounting another Ibori trial amounts to an overkill, and punishment twice for the same offence. That may well be so, but what should worry us more, is how to bring our justice system out of its dishonourable doldrums to par with international best practices. A recent minor advance in this direction is the announced commencement of prosecution, regarding cases of corruption by top officials of the Buhari government.
As a country, we have had no problems about bringing opposition figures, by which it is meant opponents of incumbent governments to justice. The hard part was always putting the fire to the feet of loyalists, party officials, and appointees of ruling parties. If Buhari’s recent order to the Attorney-General of the Federation to proceed with the prosecution of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and others is followed through, then, the ongoing anti-corruption war would have surmounted a major test of credibility. Beyond that, however, we should aim to build a system that does not need the President to direct the probe or prosecution of state appointees. To give an example from a more developed democracy, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States does not require a nudge from the US president to begin investigation of either elected officials or political appointees. A related issue would be to ask the question why officials of the Buhari government, accused of corruption have not yet turned in their resignation letters.
Overall, the Ibori saga should serve as a wake-up call for our justice institutions to begin to function as they ought to, even if admittedly, it is still a long journey to that goal.
The final item relates to the rate of inflation hitting nearly 20 per cent, something that has not happened for well over a decade. What this translates to, for consumers, many of whom are not being paid their salaries, or have no jobs at all, is that the galloping prices of goods have become a life threat to their chances of survival. As everyone knows, in a chaotic market system like ours, artificial inflation imposed by sellers of goods, increases the bite of official inflation. So, we can expect, as it’s already happening, logical and illogical increases in a wide range of services and goods, related to food, utilities, school fees, hospital bills, among others. The cost of borrowing will remain outrageously high, while small and medium scale enterprises operate at the very margins of survival. If the welfare goals outlined in the N7.3tn 2017 budget, is not to become merely rhetorical, then more determination should be employed in beating back the inflationary upswing threatening to wipe us all out.
Credit: http://www.peoplesdailyng.com
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