By Muyiwa Adetiba

On the eve of our 59th Independence Anniversary, the President symbolically furthered the cause of justice when he commissioned an edifice that would house an Industrial Court. Excerpts of his short speech included the need for equal access to justice for all Nigerians. But structures alone don’t make for justice or even access to it because elsewhere on that same day, justice was being denied a young Nigerian. Omoyele Sowore, a child born when Nigeria had attained its independence, a child who probably grew to learn about the heroic labours of his forefathers, a child who might have learnt the anthem of a nation bound in freedom, peace and unity, was on the eve of Independence, denied his freedom again, and would celebratethe 59th anniversary of his country in detention.This was in spite of a court of law, similar in some respects to the one the President just commissioned, granting him freedom. There would be no clicking of glasses for him and indeed, any member of his family on the day. His life as he knows it is on hold and his freedom is not subject to law, but to the judgement—or whims—of the security forces which have enforced his captivity.

Sowore is an online Publisher and activist. He came to public prominence on those platforms. We may not all agree with his methods. I personally don’t. But each gives what he has. He recently stirred the hornets’ nest when he called for an ill-defined revolution of sorts. The authorities were not amused and picked him up. That he has been incarcerated since then despite a court order somehow justifies his call for a change in the way we do things. He is not alone. There have been many high profile cases where security forces have unilaterally and whimsically defied court orders. We can only imagine how many low profile cases there are where keys to freedom have been thrown away in spite of court orders.Democracy thrives on a rule of law which is not subject to executive interpretation. To flout or ignore it is to breach the very principle of checks and balances. And to breach this principle is to promote authoritarianism.

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Speaking of checks and balances, a member of the hallowed chambers where laws are supposed to be made for the good of all, came out last month to say that those who want a check and some balance to their opulent lifestyles are insulting them. Some people had expressed concerns that billions were going to be spent on the purchase of expensive SUVs in spite of the dire economic situations in the country. This is in spite of the fact that efforts to move the basic minimum wage from 18,000 naira to 30,000 Naira are still inconclusive; in spite of the fact that these ‘distinguished senators’ earn between 200 million to 350 million Naira a year—depending on who you are listening to—for barely a hundred days a year work; and in spite of the fact that they can easily afford any car of their choice from their jumbo pay. No, they are the ones insulting us by insisting on a remunerative package that bears no semblance to the economic realities of the country. But that is what our law makers regard as ‘justice’ in Nigeria at 59.

Our budget runs into trillions of Naira when we bring ourselves to pass it. Roughly 70% of it is recurrent. Which means 70% is used to feed the appetite of less than 5% of two hundred million Nigerians. The 30% which is supposed to trickle down to the rest of us through infrastructure is again, misappropriated. That is the face of‘justice’in Nigeria at 59. Those who were born at independence 59 years ago are getting ready to retire. It would have been a career of struggle and frustration for most. They know old age is going to be perilous if they have not salted any money away because pension might not be forthcoming and largess from children might not be forthcoming. Meanwhile, Governors and their ‘Special Advisers’ are swimming in opulence. That is the face of ‘justice’ in Nigeria at 59, where the gap between the rich and the poor, has widened to a chasm over the years of independence. Meanwhile, we continue borrowing—some will say irresponsibly—so that our elites can continue to live in denial while maintaining the lifestyle to which they have been accustomed. A sensible first step to living within our means would be to slash the remuneration of our political office holders.

Now we come to education.Some reports stated that those who enrolled for WAEC from the South-Eastern zone were roughly three times their counterparts from the North-Eastern zone. In fact, the three lowest enrolments came from the three Northern zones. This has been the pattern at all levels of education for quite a number of years. You would expect this huge disparity to be made manifest at some point in the workplace. Not so. Instead, you find as many Northerners as Southerners (if not more) in parastatals and the civil service. At what time on the educational ladder did they catch up with their Southern counterparts? It can only mean that merit and academic seniority/excellence have been cast aside at some point. This means we are content to field our third or even fourth eleven in national assignments rather than our first eleven. This in turn means the incentive to excel in education and be productive in the civil service is severely dampened. It also means we have inadvertently created two classes of Nigerians. That is the face of ‘justice’ we experience in Nigeria at 59.

But it is not only in human resources that we short change ourselves. We fare worse in natural resources. Every state has its own natural resources but the wealth we have relied on for the greater part of our 59 years has come from the tiny South-South States. Yet, very few of their people were ever allocated oil wells. None of their cities have the grandeur or the sky scrapers of Abuja and Lagos. In fact, their villages have been plundered and their soil ruined. That is the ‘justice’ that stares us in the face at 59.

As we go into the 60th year of nationhood, the President should be courageous enough to take a hard look at these distortions which we see as exigent and therefore justifiable, but which actually serve the interests of a class of people, if we are going to build a nation that is bound in freedom, peace and unity because there cannot be a sustainable peace if we don’t pursue true justice.