Who
else notices that many contacts with state agencies and their officials in
Nigeria are always defined by transactions? These transactions cover the formal
and informal engagements and sometimes borders on extortion. It is not about
service, but discomfort to the citizens for the purpose of fleecing them, to
the advantage of the state and its corrupt agents, or even private businesses
whose owners are cronies to those in government.
Let
us take a few examples. If you are a victim of a crime and you report to the
police, some police personnel may require you to pay some indirect cost of
documenting the case such as providing money for stationery or the cost of
investigations.
The
battered image of the police is notorious enough and society almost often
expects them to act in transactional manners anyway, so also are their brothers
in transaction, the Customs service. Customs transaction is mega. ‘Settle’ them
and you get away with just anything.
This
image of an extortionist or transactional agency cuts across virtually every
law enforcement agency by whatever name called. Until the recent suspension of
the park-and-pay policy in Abuja business districts, the agents involved in the
ticketing were a pain in the neck. Drivers have had their tyres clamped for
staying five minutes beyond the duration they paid for, with the agents
refusing to accept payment for the extra minutes of N50 per 30 minutes,
insisting that the driver goes to pay the penalty of N5,000. The truth remains
that those who conceptualised the policy had transactional interest behind it;
hence the implementation was outsourced to private businesses for the purpose
of profiteering them, while also generating revenue for the Federal Capital
Territory Administration (FCTA). So, as long as government received its agreed
revenue from their agents, it couldn’t be bothered about the transactions used
by those agents against the society.
Take
also the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), an agency set up to ensure
safety on the roads. It has since expanded its mandate to include revenue
generation as central to its operation.
The
political class is equally involved in the transaction. It is a notorious fact
how government officials, including parliamentarians, use their supervisory and
approval powers to transact personal advantages. They pressure the agencies
they are meant to have oversight on to sponsor their frivolous foreign trips;
request slots in job opportunities and contracts for their nominees and footing
of bills for their committee assignments, including oversight visits to the
agencies.
How
did we get into this bind? One reason this is happening is because citizens
have left governance to all-comers who have little clue about what public
office and duty are meant for.
The
political space is one that citizens need to claim back to put its ‘best
eleven’ on the field. We need to hold our governments to account on the basis
of the constitution which makes the welfare of citizens the primary purpose of
government.
Citizens
need to be well-informed about their rights and insist on them, sometimes under
difficult situations and not budge to pressures to compromise. We need to
strengthen the mechanisms of oversight of regulatory and law enforcement
agencies. Very importantly, we need robust, effective and properly staffed
citizens’ re-orientation programmes.
The
elite class needs to get out of its comfort zone by not seeing every obstacle
foisted on it by the state as only requiring transactions to overcome or avoid.
It needs, instead, to stand up to the state to do what is right in the interest
of all.
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