It is all in the news. The Federal Republic of Nigeria is not liable to pay an obscure firm a total of ~US$11 billion arising from a bizarre contract concerning non-existent gas facilities. Considering allegations that the Central Bank of Nigeria either lied or executed “strategic miscommunication”, Nigeria surely had no way of forking out that many benjamins right now. Our closest options would have been either to give international law the middle finger (and outrightly destroy our economy) or negotiate some longer-term payment plan that would effectively turbocharge our debt burden (and further degrade our economy). Fortunately, neither option is currently required. But before we get drowned in the euphoria of a little respite for the naira, here are a few lessons to avoid the next gang of swindlers.
- The “rule of law” is not a fancy ruler
At the heart of the P&ID case is a perception that contracts are inconsequential. Nigeria is fortunate to have escaped by the hair of its balls. The initial approach to our legal challenge seemed in line with our famed “anyhowness”. Fortunately, as we stared at national financial ruin, we took the case a lot more seriously and pulled out all the stops (including a counter media campaign) to demonstrate that indeed a contract was signed but the entire process was fraudulent and designed to rip hope off an upcoming nation. However, if the P&ID case had been filed in Nigerian courts, would we have defended it vigorously within the confines of the law? Would a random aggrieved party be confident to take on the Nigerian Government in a Nigerian court and hope to be able to enforce a judgement if victorious?
- Patriotism means nothing to many of us
Many Nigerians are currently swearing at the crooks who conspired against their own country, but many of the accidental saints would fly at a chance to screw over Nigeria. The businessowner who “settles” a tax officer to enable tax evasion, the metal dealer who buys stolen manhole covers and rail tracks, the civil servant who collects a government salary while living a new life abroad, the politician who procures a new petrol-devouring bulletproof SUV while the poor struggle to breathe, and the trader who pays a utility worker to bypass her electricity meter, all come together to shame the formerly smart compatriot who thought the P&ID contract was a sure ticket to elite status wealth. Have we learned anything about patriotism?
- Professional excellence is a critical virtue
Even without the dangling chains of corruption, we have found a way to make professional excellence seem like a curse. Each time we ask a diligent colleague why he is working hard when “no be your papa company”, or why she is acting as if “no be government worker you be”, we are creating the kind of climate for numerous P&IDs to occur. Someone at some point would have gotten a memo or report about the P&ID proposal, or even the draft contract and may have been asked to “review and revert” but may have just done a shoddy job. Similarly, someone would have seen the initial legal summons alleging a contractual breach but may have not grasped the implications to quickly raise an alarm. Whichever way, if we maintain our culture of not reading the fine print, we could find ourselves in yet another stranglehold just like we escaped the Paris Club debt burden and managed to acquire a lot more debt not many years later.
- Spare the consequence and spoil the country
After the euphoria of this victory dies down, would anyone be punished for putting the welfare of millions of Nigerians at stake for thirty silver coins? Non-existent consequence management is one catalyst that maintains the culture of misbehaviour. The EFCC is currently prosecuting some persons, but fingers are crossed to see if there would be any sense of justice. If nobody gets punished, nobody takes any warning. If civil servants see the government prosecuting someone for conspiring against the country, most civil servants would avoid illegal enrichment, leaving only the committed criminals to try their luck. This way, government resources would then be spent on preventing those diligent crooks from earning from their commitment. This is better than the current situation where theft could easily be seen as a free-for-all with just anybody trying their luck to steal from the country.
- The world is leaving our judiciary behind
The Honourable Mr Justice Robin Knowles CBE had his 140-page judgement well typed, formatted, and ready for issuance in open court, emailed to the parties, and public archiving on the day the court sat for the judgement. Conversely, as we saw via the recent Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal, the Nigerian judiciary may provide 999 reasons why the full text cannot be available on the day of the judgement. Rather, parties may need to wait for days or even weeks to request for a “certified copy” to be issued by the court. Except the law practiced in Nigeria is a special one, maybe we need to consider leaving ancient times for the new.
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Finally, I am very glad about the outcome of the P&ID judicial process. Nigeria has had a string of bad news lately, so a victory, even if the initial injury was self-inflicted, is very welcome and worthy of celebration. And as a person who works with P&IDs, I can go to sleep knowing that the mention of Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (“P&IDs”) would not be a traumatic trigger for engineers. Tamuno miebaka!
Image Credit: www.rappler.com
Jilomes 