Quite A ‘Peculiar Mess’

Nigeria’s political and administrative systems are bugged with too many irregularities and misapplications, an infestation that is now full blown in most public institutions across the country. Many problems that we thought would be summarily dispatched with Buhari’s body language simply mutated and returned with incorrigible audacity:

Unwieldy and moribund bureaucracies duplicating responsibilities, corrupt officials who think the performance of duty means the same thing as dispensing patronage and favours, and a whole lot of agencies of government adding little value, but sponging off public resources in a manner that would be considered economic sabotage if Nigeria were not Nigeria.

Before you scream ‘generalisation’, let’s consider a very practical and saddening example.

For many decades, the local government authority has regressed from a functional unit of administration to a useless bureaucracy contributing nothing, generating nothing but taking allocations from the federation account, even if such allocations are inside the aprons of state governors.

The unit of governance closest to the people has become a channel for sleaze with chairmen and legislative council members whose main concerns are the volume of their allowances, cars, other properties, flirtation and nothing for the grassroots population but the flaunting of self-aggrandizement.

Their accounting systems are wired to pay salaries to living and nonliving staffers, with little far-flung tokens in the name of projects. And the cost of those projects in comparison to size and value, won’t ever fail to shock a normal person.

When searching for the causes of our national maladies, we seldom remember the third tier of government – a system that had once proven to be the most effective foundation for growth and development. At the local government area is where we must open the Book of Lamentations.

And the lamentations are now also coming from – you already know – the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In spite of the 14 silky robes not wanting their lamentations to become a public discourse and media sensation, that precisely, is what it has become.

In a sort of internal SOS memo, the justices of the Supreme Court tried – in a manner of speaking – to use eye contact and draw the attention of the first amongst them to teething problems on the floor of their temple. They wanted deliberately, to err on the side of caution, their letter clearly states.

But it would appear the Chief Justice did not hearken to their winks and silent gestures, which has given rise to a desperate scream and now – a scandal. Nigeria’s ultimate arbiters, the ones who have the final say in the resolution of every dispute in Africa’s largest economy are disputing among themselves.

They too have learnt the trick of leaking strategic information to the media. If the boss won’t open the file containing the memo, he can be jolted by the headlines on radio, TV, newspapers and if he has data, the internet will shock him double. And that’s what they’ve done – open the doors and windows of the Supreme Court to the sacrilegious stares of the public and social media insurgents.

Despite the undertone and inference at corruption, one is a little relieved that the discord has little to do with professional misconduct but is more about welfare concerns of the justices.

The assumption that one of the biggest problems facing the judicial arm of government was its heavy reliance on the financial whims and caprices of the executive has always been a winning narrative. But here is a self-accounting Supreme Court managing its own capital and recurrent appropriations and still underperforming. And what is more, in a manner that raises eyebrows.

After many years of subterfuge and self-dribbling by different administrations, one is wont to presume that financial autonomy for the judiciary, apart from strengthening its independence and weaning it from executive rascality, would resolve most problems associated with funding.

The Nigerian malady beggars belief. We can now see from the ruffling of feathers that justices of the Supreme Court are also concerned with issues like the price of diesel, internet services, accommodation, electricity. Our rich and powerful folks don’t cry, no matter the price of life; but here are Supreme Court judges also worrying about data and light – like everyone else. No! it’s not funny!

Dependence of any kind, predisposes members of the bench to many elementary temptations with compound effects including the lack of moral courage to take decisions freely, fairly and without fear.

Perhaps it was with this in mind, that President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2020, signed Executive Order 10, to compel state governments to include allocations for the legislative and judicial arms of government in their appropriation laws in accordance with section 121(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

It is now clear, that while the states enjoy the political prerogative of appointing judges and enjoying the accompanying privileges, they detest the financial burden, and therefore, didn’t think twice before suing the government and seeking the nullification of Executive Order 10. They won!

It does seem queer that rather than incubate and exercise some sort of doctrine of necessity, the Supreme Court in a majority decision of 6-1, declared Executive Order 10 as illegal and unconstitutional. – Could it be enlightened self-interest?

The implication of this for a lay interpreter like yours sincerely, is that the responsibility for funding courts at state level remains the responsibility of the Federal Government in one instance, and in the second instance, that the 36 state governments can deal financially with the legislative and judicial arms of government as it pleases their discretion.

What has happened in the Supreme Court, happens across most, if not all public MDAs in our country: Appropriations are made, funds are allocated, and presiding officers decide whether the funds will be disbursed for the right or for subterranean purposes. They do this without flinching because they know there are usually no consequences. The President’s body language is his alone!

One hopes that Justice Ibrahim Tanko does not think – like his colleagues in Nigeria’s public departments and agencies – that approving and releasing statutory training funds, providing official vehicles and residences already budgeted for in the financial appropriation of the Supreme Court is a matter of favour and patronage.

He can very well see that his colleagues are having none of it. And they have told him in black and white that “it is unacceptable”.