Tuesday, August 18, 2015

A peep into the Code of Conduct for Public Officers

Nigeria’s problem is not so much about the lack of rules but more with the breach thereof and impunity. Take for instance the provisions of the ‘Code of Conduct for Public Officers’, which forms part of the Nigerian Constitution, in the Fifth Schedule. That Code is very clear as to what public officers must and must not do. Yet, the same officers flout them without any sanction, much like many road users are bound to break road traffic rules with impunity.

Whenever I see such audacious disregard for the law, I am tempted to believe that some of the perpetrators may be doing so more out of ignorance of the code than anything else. If so, shouldn’t we then focus on making the laws known to the persons and others who may someday be in those positions or may consciously or unconsciously be aiding and abetting the breach. That, I intend to do in this discussion.

The Code lists 16 categories of public officers to include the president and vice president; state governors and deputies; Senate president and deputy; speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives; every judge and staff of law courts; federal ministers and state commissioners; all members of the armed forces; all personnel of the police and other security agencies; all personnel of the civil service (federal or state); officers and staff of all Nigerian missions abroad; chairpersons, members and staff of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal and of local government councils. It also includes chairpersons and members of boards or other governing bodies and staff of statutory corporations and of companies where the federal government has controlling interest; all staff of universities, colleges and institutions owned and financed by federal, state and local government councils and; chairpersons, members and staff of permanent commissions appointed on full time basis. Simply put, virtually everybody connected with government is captured in this definition.

Just a few provisions of the Code would suffice for this discussion. The Code starts by stating in paragraph one that a public officer shall not put himself (or herself as the case may be) in a position where his/her personal interest conflicts with his/her duties and responsibilities. This summarises the guiding principle of the Code. But apparently in Nigeria, most public officers see their office as an opportunity to promote their personal interests first. And too often, their supporters expect and prompt them to act that way. Now who doesn’t know that all the fighting we saw lately in the National Assembly were as a result of personal interests conflicting with official duties and responsibilities?

In Paragraph 2, the Code precludes public officers from receiving ‘emoluments’ of more than one public office at a given time. The code defines ‘emolument’ as ‘salary, wage, over-time or leave pay, commission, fee, bonus, gratuity, advantage (whether or not that advantage is capable of being turned into money or money’s worth), allowance, pension or annuity paid, given or granted in respect of any employment or office’.

Could it therefore mean that the several retired public officers (military and civilians) who have found their ways again into other public offices have been in breach of this Code? That would be so if apart from receiving the emoluments of their present offices, they are still receiving any form of emolument (pensions etc.) from their former employments. There is yet another area that needs scrutiny. The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is equally the chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), a Federal Executive body established under the Constitution. Would the CJN be in breach of the Code of Conduct if he appropriates any such emoluments like allowances and vehicles from the NJC while he already does so through the office of the CJN?

The same paragraph 2 of the Code requires that a public officer on full time employment shall not ‘engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade’ apart from farming. Therefore, as many of our public officers as have businesses they run, promote and benefit from, are in breach of this code. It would be interesting to audit procurements in offices to know the extent of this breach. Obviously, the breaches would be too many to cope with for appropriate sanctions. And what I have so far listed here is a fraction of all the provisions in the Code. What therefore should the Code of Conduct Bureau do, knowing that they are overwhelmed? The response cannot include not doing anything about anyone at all. They have to start something at least.

First published in The Niche newspaper of August 9, 2015. http://www.thenicheng.com/a-peep-into-code-of-conduct-for-public-officers/

What manner of universities?

Is anyone out there taking notes of what is happening to our universities? The pathetic news coming out of Ondo State last week was the closure of the Wesley University of Science and Technology following the failure of the school to pay salaries. Newspaper report indicates that employees of the school are owed up to 21 months salaries. The university authorities announced the closure through telephone text messages addressed, not to the students, but to their parents. In the message, it said: “Our esteemed parents, we have some challenges with salaries and lecturers said they could not conduct exam until they were paid. Since it is dragging, we resolved that students should go home for safety. They’d be called back close to resumption for next semester to write the exam. Please, bear with us.”

I am really at a loss as to what that message was trying to suggest. So, to owe staff for 21 months is considered merely as ‘some challenges’. And the message seems to suggest that the lecturers are to blame for the closure because they (lecturers) say they ‘could not conduct exam until they are paid’. I tried to imagine what it means to be owed salaries for that period of time and still couldn’t comprehend. It only occurred to me that while we recently bemoaned the fate of several employees of governments at different levels who were owed salaries, nobody realised there were others in public institutions like this being owed so much.

The Wesley University is considered a ‘private’ university. When we talk about private schools, we refer to their ownership, not their operations, since they are not owned by the state (i.e. federal or state governments). There are clearly three types of university ownership in Nigeria now – government, individual and registered ‘charities’ made up mainly of religious missions. The Wesley University is in fact owned by the Methodist Church. Whatever the nature of ownership, every university in Nigeria is public to the extent that their licensing and operations are regulated by the National Universities Commission (NUC). Also, their admission is open to everyone, because the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) is still the clearing house for admissions.

The question, therefore, is what the state institutions responsible for standards in our universities are doing to ensure that students are not short-changed. The regulations required here should start from the grant of licence. I am not satisfied that there is enough rigours put into the process of granting licences for the establishment of universities, be they owned by the state or private citizens or groups. One really wonders what the NUC considers when granting the licences. Do they require properly-researched and written business feasibility plans to show that the promoters can successfully run the schools without such embarrassments as running into debts with salaries payments?

Promoters of universities must realise that it is a mega operation requiring huge investment of funds, not only at the initial stage but continuously until such a time that the school can break even. And that could take up to 10 years from inception. Merely relying on contributions of adherents of the religious missions as basis for funding a public institution is not enough. And school fees alone may not also cover the costs of operation. Even more important is the fact that a university should ideally be seen as a charitable establishment meant to improve human knowledge, and profit-making should not be the basis for their establishment. My concern is that, like most things with us as a people, every religious mission sees it as a right to be licensed to operate a university because other missions like theirs have such universities. And this happens even when many of these missions are struggling with the operation of lower levels of schools owned by them.

Another area of concern for me with the operation of universities is the gradual and consistent erosion of independence of thoughts among students. Many of the universities run by religious institutions have so muscled the students, forcing them to live a regimented life of religious observances, including abolition of the use of mobile phones on campus, compulsory light outs in the night and signing of exits before leaving the school etc. There was this photo that trended on the social media a few years ago of university students who were made to kneel outside the school chapel for arriving late for the compulsory Sunday service. You would almost conclude that these universities are glorified secondary schools.

In the instant case of the Wesley University, it is curious to me that the notification was addressed to parents, not the students. This can only mean one thing: the university does not recognise the students as adults yet or that they are important enough to be consulted, even when they are the primary beneficiaries of the school’s services. I can understand nursery, primary and maybe secondary schools writing directly to parents and guardians, sometimes signing the ‘communications book’ and sending it through the pupil to parents to pass information about the schools. But to suggest that our universities have been reduced to the level of lower schools where the students are not considered old enough to take decisions for themselves is worrisome. It is not therefore surprising that some of the universities have since instituted the parent-teachers association (PTA).

First published in The Niche newspaper of July 26, 2015. http://www.thenicheng.com/what-manner-of-universities/

Stop the pilgrimage sponsorship

A few weeks ago, I received my tax clearance certificate from the tax authorities. It showed details of the personal income taxes I have paid in the last three years. Rather than excite me that I got a certificate for my contribution to financing public funds, it made me angrier at some of the things I complain about the country, top of which are corruption and mismanagement of public finance. As we joked about it in the office, someone drew my attention to the fact that my one year tax was about the sum used in clothing a member of the National Assembly in the name of ‘wardrobe allowance’. Now, who wouldn’t be mad about that? So next time you see any of those federal legislators move about with swagger in dapper suit, just know that they are in borrowed robes, paid for by citizens like me who pay the right taxes.

The pain of paying taxes and the government carrying on as if it owes you no duty or responsibility and the feeling that government is not using your contribution judiciously led me to write a few years ago that I needed amnesty for my tax burdens. Today, even with a new government that got into office on the wings of ‘change’, I still need to be convinced that my interest and those of majority of citizens are always reflected in the decisions of government.

Just this past week, I began feeling that way again after I heard this piece of news concerning government’s planned subsidy for pilgrimage. According to media report, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a special exchange rate of N160 to a dollar for those who plan to go for ‘Christian pilgrimage’. The information was given by the Executive Secretary of the Christian Pilgrims Commission, John Kennedy Opara. He spoke to State House correspondents after he held a meeting with the President, so he couldn’t possibly be speaking out of ignorance and, to the best of my knowledge, the presidency has not denied that report.

Just so that we understand where my anger is welling from, the official exchange rate of the dollar to naira is one dollar to about N200. In the parallel market (that is the open and more patronised market) the street value of the dollar is at least N225. What that means is that for every dollar a potential Christian pilgrim would buy in prosecution of his/her trip, the Nigerian state would officially spend at least N40 to subsidise that. So we are in for another regime of subsidy. No doubt this obnoxious support by the state has been with us for a long time (so technically it is not just a Buhari problem) and similar subsidy is also provided for Muslims when they go on pilgrimage. So the enormity of our financial losses should be well understood here.

Here we are in a country whose Constitution is against state religion, but we routinely squander public resources on religious causes, even if in the process we promote Christianity and Islam and discriminate against other religions. And I keep wondering what government’s business is with citizen’s private lives on which realm religion sits. For the avoidance of doubt, government should stop spending our dwindling public funds on sponsoring pilgrims of any faith or appointing heads of delegation for any pilgrimage with cost to the state. And there are enough reasons for this position.

The resources of Nigeria ought to be managed in a manner that is equitable to all Nigerians. To the extent that our citizens are not only Christians and Muslims, there is no justification in splashing state resources on followers of just those two faiths. There are many more Nigerians who do not adhere to these two faiths and therefore may have their own religious or spiritual equivalent of pilgrimage which the state could be called upon to also support.

Even among the adherents of Christianity and Islam, there are many who do not consider these kinds of pilgrimages as mandatory or necessary. I know some Christians whose equivalent of pilgrimage would be visit to the headquarters, prayer ground or some other ‘camp site’ of their church denominations, and many of their members from across the world troop down there annually for the event. So why is the state not sponsoring or supporting such gatherings? Besides, there is nowhere in the Christian Biblical teachings where there is a suggestion that the faithful should go on pilgrimage and that to any particular location. So, the bare truth (which some Christians would rather not accept for political-economic reasons) is that these so-called ‘Christian pilgrimage’ is nothing but religious tourism and a creation of Nigerian Christian elite.

Granted but not admitting that there is justification for state sponsorship of pilgrimages, how equitable is the selection process of the beneficiaries? What are the tangible gains of all the funds Nigeria has expended on pilgrimage since it started funding such? Even at the spiritual level, would we say ours is a country where morality, honesty and love have risen higher as a result of this window of squandering of resources? Truth is, corruption and lack of integrity have grown even geometrically over the years and the level of religious bigotry is even higher now than before.

There is even the question of how the access to these cheap dollars in the name of government largesse would be managed. I speak of a truth that I do not have confidence in the leadership of even the religious groups to manage this access and sharing of the largesse honestly, fairly and equitably. And unless we want to pretend, most Nigerians would agree with this. And for me, a Christian and certified payer of huge and appropriate personal income tax, I feel thoroughly cheated for my resources to be used to support people going on their personal enhancement projects at the expense of the public.

The Buhari administration would do well to put an end to this inanity. And if it does so, it would save the country huge sums of the much needed resources to invest in critical sectors like education and health. We cannot be shouting change and be stuck in our old ways and expect better results.

First published in The Niche newspaper of July 19, 2015. http://www.thenicheng.com/stop-the-pilgrimage-sponsorship/

Is this new wave of prosecutions for real?

Our courts were on overdrive this past week, churning out interesting rulings and judgments. In Kano, the court ordered the former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, and two of his sons to be remanded in prison custody until the next hearing of the case two months away. They are charged for allegedly collecting N1.3 billion kickback (bribe) from Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company.

It was heart-rending, however, for his supporters who, as has become the tradition now with the prosecution of high profile accused persons, held a protest or rally outside the court in solidarity with their principal or ‘hero’. But the judge couldn’t be bothered by such shenanigans. We always see that happen, especially with former governors. I recall how some Nigerians travelled from Nigeria to the United Kingdom to stage similar protest before a London court where former Governor James Ibori was standing trial for money laundering. That did not stop the court from convicting him. And he has remained in jail since then.

Note, however, that Lamido is still a mere accused person until the prosecution can prove its case ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. And that isn’t often a walk in the park. It requires serious work and water-tight evidence while at the same time trying to remove or discredit any doubt that the defence team may raise. It is often easier to destroy a case than build it. This is a fact often misunderstood by the public, hence their disappointment with the judiciary whenever an accused person is not found guilty.

While the Lamidos and their supporters went away crest-fallen, former Governor Ihedi Ohakim of Imo State had a reprieve. He was granted bail in his case where he is being prosecuted for money laundering and failure to disclose all his assets in his declaration submitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) during investigation.

Yet in another decision, another court nullified the sham local government elections conducted by then Governor Rotimi Amaechi a few days to the end of his tenure, against every sound reasoning, apparently to spite the next state administration. The court’s decision was to be expected after Amaechi flagrantly went ahead with the elections despite an interim order from the court not to proceed. So now, who takes responsibility for the public funds and precious human resources and other inconveniences suffered as a result of the callous action of the then administration, all in the name of politics?

Back to the Lamido case, one is happy that the EFCC, which for many had been in hibernation, seems to have bounced back to life. But one is also cautious that merely charging accused persons to court is not enough to ‘celebrate’ that corruption is being tackled. We have passed a similar road before. Flash back to 2007 when several of the governors had just completed two terms in office. Nearly all of them were taken to court. They included Lamido’s predecessor, Ibrahim Turaki; Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia, Jolly Nyame of Taraba, Boni Haruna of Adamawa, Joshua Dariye of Plateau, Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, Adamu Abdullahi of Nasarawa and George Akume of Benue.

Many would still recall the dramatic images of many of those ex-governors being brought to court and then to prison custody in very humiliating manners to the jubilation of hapless citizens who thought it was comeuppance yet. Alas, their excitements were misplaced. Before long, all the accused persons were as free as can be. Some of them were at the time already holding other political offices including sitting as senators.

I have previously observed how we prosecute high profile accused persons in Nigeria. And the pattern often goes this way. The EFCC or similar investigating body hypes about the evidence it has about the accused, dramatically arrests the accused and dramatically brings the accused to court. The drama trends in the media and in gossip centres for a while. In court, the judges would initially refuse bail and after a few appearances they may grant bail because the accused, being a powerful citizen, would have enough high profile friends who can meet the bail conditions as sureties.

At other times, the accused suddenly falls ill (some even collapsed in court) and their defence lawyers would plead that their clients need to undergo urgent treatment in a foreign hospital. That is not surprising since the government officials had since rendered our local hospitals almost useless to attend to serious ailments. In the case of Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers State, he would have none of such. He simply got a perpetual injunction from the court against his prosecution and I am still at a loss as to why the government has not deemed it fit to appeal against that ruling to set it aside.

In any event, after all the drama, just few months after, everybody seems to forget about the entire thing as the trials drag on and on until the case slips away from citizen’s memories and we wait for another round of drama.

The one way to ensure that all the pending cases are speedily and comprehensively disposed off is to have serious-minded, result-oriented and non-partisan persons appointed as attorneys general. But ultimately, we would need to have the proposed amendment of the Constitution to separate the office of the attorney general from that of minister of/commissioner for justice.

First published in The Niche newspaper of July 12, 2015. http://www.thenicheng.com/is-this-new-wave-of-prosecutions-for-real/