No Right Thinking Person Can Doubt Nigeria Is Failing – Jega

Former Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has bemoaned the level of insecurity in the country.

He said so many lives had been lost and property destroyed as a result of this monster saying many Nigerians have been driven away from their homes and now living as internally displaced persons or taking refuge outside the shores of the country.

The former INEC boss said this in a lecture he delivered at the Owolabi Afuye Memorial Lecture organised by the NBA Ibadan as one of the events to celebtate its 2021 Law Week.

Jega said while many might argue with those who described Nigeria as a failed state, no person in their right senses would dispute that the country was fast failing.

He said, “Specifically, on insecurity, a combination of militancy, insurgency, banditry, farmer-herder conflicts, kidnapping for ransom, and ethno-religious or communal conflicts, with evident lack of competence and capacity to address these challenges, has unleashed generalized individual and collective apprehension, palpable insecurity and fatalistic resignation.

“Many citizens have been killed, maimed, raped, displaced, and properties stolen, confiscated and/or destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of citizens have been staying in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps for long, with the future of children compromised by malnutrition, diseases, and prolonged abandonment of schooling.

“In some areas of the country, notably North-East and North-West geopolitical zones, famine is imminent, as insurgents and/or bandits have obstructed farming and agrarian food production and destabilized the rural economy, with outright killing of whoever ventures out to their farms, or imposition of heavy taxation on those allowed to farm.

“Indeed, things have been so bad for so long that, some scholars are beginning to perceive Nigeria now, perhaps exaggeratedly, as a “failed state” (see Campbell and 2021).

“Even if we doubt that Nigeria is now a “failed state,” nobody in his right senses would dispute that it is a “failing state.”

He also said some lawyers and judges were engaged in corrupt practices which he said was one of the reasons for the security challenges the country was facing.

He said the NBA and other bodies saddled with responsibilities of maintaining ethics among judicial officers should act urgently to stamp out these corrupt practices from lawyers and judges.

“Some senior lawyers have become stupendously wealthy defending corrupt public officials, or handling electoral litigation for governorship and presidential candidates. Similarly, many judges have become notorious for corrupt enrichment for ‘cash and carry’ judgements, especially in election matters generally and in election tribunals more specifically.

“Some election tribunal appointments were in the past widely said to have been made to senior judges about to retire, who allegedly ‘sold’ judgements, most likely to the highest bidders, enriched themselves and quickly retired to avoid being sanctioned by the National Judicial Council the NJC.