Why has Nigeria remained backward despite its abundant human and natural resources? Why has its leaders been unable to solve its myriad of challenges, particular insecurity, poverty and corruption?
It is because it has had the misfortune of being governed by “transactional” and “pseudo-transformational” leaders, which has accounted for its underdevelopment, emeritus professor of political science, Jonah Isawa Elaigwe has said.
In a keynote address at the 63rd Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), he said the country has not been blessed with “transformational” leaders.
A transformational leader, Elaigwu said, wants to change the system to a new direction, and leads by example. A transactional leader, on the other hand, lacks vision, leadership skills and creative ideas of how to develop a nation, he said.
The don described a pseudo-transformational leader is “a 419” (or fraudulent) head who transforms nothing but only uses the rhetoric of the transformational leader. Nigeria, therefore, needs a truly transformational leader.
“One of the challenges of the country is to grow the economy. There can be no democracy on an empty stomach,” Elaigwu said.
An estimated 8,000 lawyers gathered at the Tinapa Business Resort, Calabar, for the conference, which begin on August 25 and ended last Friday. It had the theme: Law, leadership and challenges of nationhood in the 21st century Nigeria.
In attendance were Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), who represented President Goodluck Jonathan; former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN).
Also present were Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba who represented Senate President David Mark; House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar, represented by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police Marvel Akpoyibo.
Former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore, chaired the opening ceremony. The conference featured a show-case session with presentations by Atiku and Imoke, a plenary session, which examined lawyers’ reporting obligations under the money laundering regime.
Several NBA fora, such as those on Section on Legal Practice, Young Lawyers Forum, Military Law Forum, Section on Business Law, Lawyers in the Media forum, Judges Forum, Women’s Forum, among others had separate sessions where they discussed various sub-topics bordering on the legal profession, rule of law and development.
A day before the conference began, NBA held its pre-conference National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting. Religious services were earlier held to mark the beginning of event. Several social events were held.
The kidnap of Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) led to several discussions on the country’s security situation, with lawyers calling for the creation of state police to tame the high rate of insecurity in the country.
NBA President Okechukwu Wali said the conference theme was carefully chosen in view of the current trend of event in Nigeria.
“The bar believes that once we get the leadership right in Nigeria, every other component of good governance will be well-established.
“But we believe that apart from leadership challenges, weak legal framework which underpins sustainable reforms and economic development is part of the cog in the wheel of Nigeria’s progress as a nation,” he said.
Adoke said any society which desires to bring about social justice and development will ultimately address “the functionality and centrality’ of law.
“In my respectful view, social justice and a development perspective to a nation’s legal system requires that the rule of law must be sacrosanct.
“This fundamental concept entails that rights (including economic rights) are protected and that arbitrary powers of the state curbed by the prescription of rules and codes that regulate and sanction,” Adoke said.
For Atiku, nations are not built on empty promises, avarice, greed and corruption. There must be something which citizens can point to as a benefit from their country, such as security, education, health care, electric power, or good image abroad.
“Our crossroads is clear,” he said. “The road to continued mediocrity is simply not an option. Nigeria today is on the wrong track. We must do better. We must change. We must finally realise greatness. This giant must rise!
“The path to greatness demands honest, experienced and incorruptible leadership. it demands a sustained focus on economic development, critical improvements in infrastructure and uncompromised security system nationwide.
“Greatness demands putting the dignity, hopes and dreams of Nigerians – especially our youth – first and foremost as we chart our next 100-year course,” Abubakar said.
Mark said very Nigeria’s dream is to see a secure, just, equitable and prosperous Nigeria with strong social institutions and values, and developed infrastructure.
“This Nigeria of our dream can indeed become the Nigeria of our reality through law and leadership. Our various problems will remain problems and challenges if we choose that they so remain.
“On the other hand through leadership, leadership by everyone of us in any given position, we can turn these problems and challenges into opportunities. This we can do and must indeed do,” the Senate President said.
According to him, in every calling or situation a citizen finds themselves, they must advance the common good.
“Those in public life must offer selfless service and service from the heart; those in the legal profession must facilitate justice and not create obstacles to justice as we see today especially in criminal matters that affect the high and mighty of society.
“Our justice system has created such widespread cynicism that it is now publicly canvassed that our criminal justice where the well-heeled are involved has been outsourced; that the big among us can only be successfully brought to justice beyond our shores. This situation is certainly not edifying and should concern the legal profession.
“On terrorism, our judicial system is clearly yet to rise to the urgency of the need to stem the threats. The legal profession must always be resourceful and versatile to respond to challenges as they arise and you all must be involved.
“We stand on the threshold of history and history beckons on us to seize the moment and transform our country. We must heed history’s call by contributing our very honest best towards making Nigeria of our dream a reality,” Mark said.
Tambuwal said Nigeria faces serious challenges of nationhood, especially “crass insecurity of the proportions which in yesteryears was news from other lands.’
“We have played games with tribalism and ethnicity; we have patronised the chess board of regionalism, sectionalism and now geo-political zonealism.
“We have allowed these negative ‘isms’ to pull a wool that obliterates the reality that we are indeed a nation, however constituted, thereby denying ourselves the joy and benefits of oneness and unity.
“In the face of stupendous wealth, resources and potentials with which we could build a united nation of prosperous people we are indirectly but gradually building two nations in one: A nation of prosperity and affluence on the one hand and another nation of poverty and squalor on the other, yet our desire and expectation is nation building.
“It would appear that as a people we have thus far applied our intellect and wisdom in aid of our destruction. I am not in doubt, just as I am sure we all aren’t, that if we had deployed this intellect and wisdom in good governance over the years, we would not be suffering today from the challenge of mal-governance, from the challenge of poor infrastructure, from the challenge of insecurity, from the challenge of poverty and squalor, indeed the challenge of abject poverty of the majority,” Tambuwal said.
Fashola, who called for the removal of Section 285 (6) of the 1999 Constitution that places a time-line on resolution of election petitions, said Nigeria will not need special agencies to deal with situation is people change their ways.
On the need for an Electoral Offences Commission to prosecute persons for electoral offences, Fashola said such agencies only increase the cost of governance, consume tax-payers’ money, and in most cases, their performaces do not justice their existence.
“The same money can be used to strengthen the investigative capacities of the police and the existing courts to do the same job. There, I say to us all, that we must never give up,” the governor said.
He urged legal practitioners to see themselves as leaders, saying many nations have been led to greatness by their lawyers.
“The Nigerian lawyers must rise from this conference and seek to be counted amongst the best professionals in their land by showing the way forward to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign,” he said.
In a communiqué at the end of the conference, NBA said the Constitution, as it operates, does not truly reflect the people’s yearnings and aspirations.
It added that ordinary amendments to its provisions may not necessarily cure the fundamental flaws in it.
“There is, therefore, a dire need for a people-oriented Constitution, which will be subjected to a national referendum and will be self-enforcing,” NBA said.
The NBA condemned the deplorable security situation in the country and “challenged” the Federal Government to review the strategy for fighting the menace of kidnapping and other forms of criminality. “The Bar condemns the seeming involvement of security officers in the payment of ransom for kidnapping and views this as aiding and abetting kidnapping,” NBA said, adding that payment of ransom by even the government can only serve as motivation and encouragement to kidnappers.
NBA urged security agencies to rescue, sympathising with the police authorities and families of four policemen said to have been killed during the kidnap.
The Bar identified corruption and unemployment as the factors leading to the degenerating security situation and urged the government at all levels to design workable policies to tackle the problem.
NBA said to prevent the judiciary’s independence from being eroded, it should be well-funded, modern facilities should be provided in courts and corrupt judges must be sanctioned by the National Judicial Council.
The association criticised the government’s economic policies, saying past reforms exacerbated the citizens’ economic condition.
“The Federal Government should, as a deliberate and practicable policy, ensure that all economic reforms should be people-focused and oriented.
“In its implementation of economic and social reforms, institutions should be structured and enhanced in order to achieve overall good for the people.
“Governance should not be appraised in terms of the infrastructural development that is visible, but should be defined in terms of real human development indices.
“Governance should focus on technical problems of political legitimacy, administrative and legal capacity and the improvement of public sector management, the legal framework for development, accountability through better auditing, decentralisation, the policing of corruption, civil service reform, and improved information on policy issues for both decision-makers and the public,” NBA said.
