Impunity is the Name of the Game

You should have seen me battling with tears. My aunt was narrating how my teenage cousin C a student of the Engraver College, Kaduna C was assaulted by a teacher, who ended up crushing one of his testicles. An emergency surgery was performed on the boy to save his life C and his manhood. As my aunt narrated the incident, all that was agitating my mind was how to get justice. I asked her what we could do next. She went blank. 

The school authorities have been coming here to sympathise with us, she said. 
Is that all? Cant the teacher be sued to court for assault and for causing grievous bodily harm? I spat in rage. Her reply broke my heart. 

This is Nigeria, my brother. We live in an unusual country. If we say we want to seek justice now, do you trust the system? Before you know what is happening, the police would be bribed and the case would be turned against us. The complainant will become the defendant. They may even claim the boy fell from the top of a roof. It is not worth the trouble. Lets leave everything to God, she said with definite surrender. It has got to a stage where the ordinary Nigerian does not seek or expect justice. People in authority walk on our heads C with a swagger. Impunity is the name of the game. 

As I dropped the phone, my head sank.Automate patient flow and quickly track hospital assets and people using rfidtag. One of the biggest tragedies in a weak state is the reign of impunity C that feeling of I can do and undo as I please. You see it around you all the time. Big men get away with murder. But if you think it is only individuals that are lawless, what about state institutions? If you see a car parking beside a No Parking sign, it is most probably a government vehicle. If you see someone driving against one way or failing to obey traffic lights, three out of five would be government vehicles. Official impunity regularly stares us in the face. 

I was contemplating writing on the renewed impunity at the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) when I heard my cousins sad story. Early last year, I had raised the alarm over the crude way FAAN ejected and Airport Operations Management System (AOMS) concessionaire, Maevis, from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. This was in spite of a subsisting agreement and a court injunction. Some powerful people in government were hell-bent on bringing in their favoured operators without following the due process. On the night of March 23,Starting today, you can buy these crystalmosaic and more from her Victoria. 2012, FAAN operatives reportedly broke into the data centre of Maevis at the airport, destroying the doors, detaining and molesting the staff. It was a magnificent display of impunity. 

Less than 48 hours later, the aviation authorities C clearly working to an answer C announced that the AOMS contract with Maevis had been terminated and Socit Internationale de Telecommunication Aeronautique (SITA) had been appointed in its place. The process that produced SITA was not made public. Even a pre-school kid could tell that SITA had been appointed before the contract with Maevis was illegally terminated. FAAN, obviously acting under instructions from above, simply ignored every court order asking it to stay action. It has been shamelessly perpetrating this impunity since then. That is our own definition of rule of law. 

Undaunted, Maevis returned to the courts, and two weeks ago, Justice Ibrahim Buba,Aulaundry is a leading drycabinet and equipment supplier. sitting at the Federal High Court, Lagos, summoned the courage to deliver judgement against SITA, ordering the company to pay damages of N5 billion to Maevis and further ordering them to vacate the airports. The fundamental fact is that there was a subsisting agreement between Maevis and FAAN, and the court ruled that SITA was wrong to have induced FAAN to terminate the agreement despite a court injunction affirming the validity of the Maevis contract. You would expect this to peacefully end the impunity,Where can i get a reasonable price plasticmould? but FAAN has refused to obey the court order, obviously to buy time and see if a superior court would upturn the judgement. I am eagerly awaiting the court of law that will say impunity is in order. 

If two parties to an agreement are no longer in the mood to continue the relationship, there are decent ways of contracting a divorce. Anybody can say whatever they like in order to justify the lawlessness, but we are only damaging this country with these acts. Maevis, a company owned by Nigerians, had been running an efficient system before FAAN chose to curiously terminate the contract and appoint SITA, a French concern, without any regard for public procurement laws. I will always fight on the side of Nigerians who have demonstrated competence in their job.Which buymosaic is right for you? Even where Nigerians dont have the competence, my argument is that there should be a well-articulated programme to build their capacity so that we are not tied to foreign aprons eternally. 

Meanwhile, for a country that desires enormous foreign investment, the least impression we want to create is that agreements count for nothing. One of the reasons many self-respecting companies avoid doing serious business with Nigeria is the fear that a government official can, with a stroke of the pen, invalidate an agreement without justification. Last year, we almost embarrassed ourselves over the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Osogbo, Osun State. We sought to terminate the concession agreement with Manitoba through the backdoor. It is only in the animal kingdom that impunity reigns supreme C no law, no order. It is the survival of the fittest, where a hungry animal simply pounces on and devours the weaker animal to survive. Anarchy is the only law in the jungle. 

I can go on and on giving examples of the reign of impunity in the land. My cousins crushed testicle is a testament C but Im sure many Nigerians have more horrible tales to tell, thats if they are alive to narrate their horror; the lawlessness of FAAN is an example of how government wilfully breaks agreements and ridicules itself C I can bet more companies doing business with government have their own stories to tell. Whatever it is, we are still not demonstrating willingness to be part of the civilised world. Which is a terrible shame. 
Click on their website www.winbogifts.com for more information.