We live in a world full of risk in whatever we do. The risk facing every Nigerian in the comity of nations is that the world has become cautious of anything, indeed everything, associated with Nigeria. The conduct of those who exercise power in government institutions has, willy-nilly, put Nigerians in bondage.
On a personal note, the risk associated with being a Nigerian citizen became clear to me in September 1992, when I was sent to London for training before assuming the position of Chief Inspector at Crystal Bank of Africa (later Standard Trust Bank, now merged to form the new United Bank for Africa). The bank sent me to London to understudy the rudiments of the Globus banking software installed for their online, real-time operations.
On arrival at Gatwick Airport, we disembarked and went straight to the arrival hall for immigration protocols. The disembarked passengers were of mixed nationalities. All of us with Nigerian green passports were asked to stay to one side, while the other passengers from other countries were promptly cleared. When it came to my turn, the official sternly looked at me and asked me to go to one room and pull down my clothes for a thorough search. I vehemently refused, but some other more liberal Nigerians submitted and were later cleared without incident.
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One of the senior immigration officers came to me and asked, “By the way, what have you come to do in London?” I replied rather angrily, “I have come to make a poor British company rich.” He said, “What?” I replied, “You heard me very well,” because I shouted at the top of my voice. He asked further, “What do you mean you have come to make a poor British company rich?” I replied, “Exactly what I said, and we are two.” That was when my colleague Dennis came to the arrival hall with one of the officials from the software vendor company to clear me after identifying me as their guest.
Fast forward to September 2024. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), being unable to satisfy the foreign exchange demand of importers, has a policy allowing them to source foreign exchange from independent sources. So I designed a financial product, the Standby Letter of Credit, which I leveraged with foreign banks on a consulting basis.
Below is an unedited reply to correspondence with my associate in the USA (name withheld):
“Hi Chris, I went to the bank today. My bank manager said they have stopped doing Standby Letters of Credit with Nigeria for reasons he will not discuss with me. Apart from this, all my accounts are in both our names, myself and my wife. My wife, after our visit to the bank, said she wouldn’t want to go ahead with the proposal. I don’t know if you know she is a Methodist church minister. They are very mindful of what they get involved in.”
What is playing out is the integrity and image Nigeria projects in the international community. The point is that the integrity of the government of Nigeria, and by extension the character of people in leadership positions, negatively affects its citizens’ private and business dealings.
It is important we examine the power equation and the way leaders emerge. Political power, unlike religious power, is vested in the position, not in the person occupying the position. Because political parties, not the Nigerian people, nominate those who end up in positions of power, individuals lacking integrity often find themselves occupying high political offices. From charges read in courts of law, people without integrity—political touts, jobbers, drug pushers, certificate forgers, pen robbers—find themselves elected to positions like President, Governor, Senator, House of Assembly member, Local Government Chairman, and Councillors. Once in power, these individuals exercise political power without integrity. Some others, however, conduct themselves above board. For the avoidance of doubt, these individuals are the face of Nigeria, and when they do not obey court orders, it negatively affects citizens, who become victims of a country that does not uphold the rule of law, even in a democracy.
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For example, in 2001 or thereabout, I was a victim of the Chief Obasanjo-led government’s impunity in refusing to obey a Supreme Court order in a revenue suit between the Lagos State Government and the Federal Government, which refused to release allocations to Lagos State on the grounds that it unconstitutionally created 57 Local Government Areas from the 20 listed in the constitution. This action amounted to the executive arm of government disrespecting the judiciary, thus undermining its independence.
During that period, I was to sign an estate development agreement with some foreigners for mixed housing development in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. I even brought American and Swedish nationals as Executive Directors in my company. Because of the refusal of the federal government to obey the Supreme Court order, they lost interest in the project and refused to sign the agreement for fear that they may not get an enforceable judgment from Nigeria’s judiciary in the event of a dispute.
The lack of integrity on the part of the government and its officials has caused Nigerian businessmen to lose business opportunities and money. If Nigeria is to command respect in international relations and domestic affairs, it must do away with the culture of impunity and begin to obey court orders.
In this connection, it is heartwarming that the newly sworn-in Chief Justice of the Federation, Mrs Kekere-Ekun, has promised to address the disobedience of court orders. This is crucial because the disobedience of court orders has reached a crisis point where, in cases like that of Nnamdi Kanu, even lower courts do not obey the orders of the Supreme Court. A paradigm shift is urgently needed because, as things stand, Nigerians have suffered injuries due to the misconduct of their government, which ought not to be the case in an orderly society.
Chris Enyinnaya; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bankers: [email protected]
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