Introduction
The rule of law is defined as the mechanism, process, institution, practice, or norm that supports the equality of all citizens before the law, secures a nonarbitrary form of government, and more generally prevents the arbitrary use of power (Britannica).
Two important key phrases can be surmised from the above definition – equality of all citizens before the law and nonarbitrary use of power. These two phrases were absent when Deborah Samuel a student in Sokoto, northwest Nigeria, was recently arbitrarily accused, judged, condemned, dragged out of her classroom and publicly humiliated, stoned and summarily executed by a murderous mob and her body cremated in a gory and most abhorrent manner. The rule of law is a pillar of democracy without which democracy will wobble and cannot stand which explains why Nigeria is not making progress politically and economically!
A nation where if someone does not like your face or what you have said and all it takes is for him or her to accuse you of blasphemy and immediately you are served a death sentence and summarily executed can never attract investors especially the much needed foreign ones with the capital, technology and expertise that is needed to unlock Nigeria’s economy to bring to an end the nation’s status as the poverty capital of the world. Which multinational company will want their staff to be put in such harm’s way?
Nations with capital punishment go through a painstaking judicial process presuming the innocence of the accused and usually going all the way to the highest court in the land before a death sentence is confirmed. And usually, it takes tens of years for the sentence to be executed because the state gives it enough time for any contrary evidence to emerge that will give a different verdict to the sentence and there have been instances where death row inmates have been found to be innocent and set free. That within a few minutes someone in Nigeria can be accused, judged, condemned and sentence carried out shows the distance the country is from the civilisation of the 21st century! This is surely a red flag that will cause shivers to run down the spines of investors and they will simply not show up regardless of the investments summits and foreign trips officials make in the name of shopping for investors.
A nation where as if the prevalence of jungle justice is not bad enough has an attorney general who procures judicial decisions through the black-market is a big turnoff for investors. Even 100 level law students should know the requirements for jurisdiction and locus and to think that an attorney general was ignorant of these basic tenets of the law in his haste and pursuit to procure a shady judgement which he triumphantly was boasting to use to delete certain provisions of the law cannot attract investors. When people commit their capital in a country, they want to have confidence in the legal and judicial process that when things don’t go according to plan, they can speedily and expeditiously receive adjudication in a fair, transparent and equitable manner. A nation parading an attorney general who is acting like a deputy god can never see serious investors and can as well forget about economic growth!
As if having a Lord of the Manor attorney general is not a big turnoff enough, Nigeria is a country where citizens are held hostage in the territory and sovereignty of the country and the chief of defence staff, the service chiefs, police and other security chiefs simply go to their offices, return home and have a good sleep (murdering sleep perhaps) without a bother about the fate of citizens held in captivity by a ragtag bunch of criminals. No investor of pedigree will take such a country serious. Investors are concerned and rigorously manage risks around the security and safety of their staff and a nation where thousands of citizens are being held in bondage in hundreds of sites around the country and even medical officials are brought into such hostage camps to deliver pregnant women and yet the security apparatus and architecture is acting timid will be avoided and given a cold shoulder by investors in same vein as Covid was!
Conclusions:
1 Without taking care of the rule of law, sanctity and independence of the judicial and legislative arms of government and free and transparent electoral process, the hope to see growth in Nigeria’s economy will remain a pipe dream!
2 Instead of constantly engaging in jamborees called investments summits, Nigerian governments at all levels need to do first do their homework of creating the enabling environment for investors to come through the door. Without this enabling environment first created, no amount of investment summits and foreign trips will bring in the much-needed investments.
3 We now live in a globalised world where information flows seamlessly across boundaries, so investors are already aware of the huge investment potentials in Nigeria. Investment summits therefore don’t add anything new to what investors already know. What is keeping investors away is such barbaric acts like the cold-blooded, daylight murder of Deborah Samuel and the ignorance being spewed out by otherwise educated and exposed people who have come out in support of such dastardly act.
4 A nation is as good as the quality of the leaders. Nigerians have a unique opportunity in 2023 to elect leaders at all levels who will heal the nation, unite the country and take care of basic requirements of the rule of law to create the enabling environment for investors to come in and lift Nigerians out of poverty. The most legitimate, legal, constitutional and less risky way to do this is simply for every Nigerian of voting age to approach a voter registration centre, register to vote, then troop out to vote for the right candidates regardless of their party platforms, watch the vote and go home satisfied that they have done their job to change the leadership of Nigeria for good. Voter registration closes on 30th June and if you don’t plan to be part of the electoral process because you fear for your life, would you rather prefer Deborah Samuel to happen to you?
References:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/rule-of-law
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