Ballason
Gloria Mabeiam
.On Tuesday 20th December,2016, House of Justice will play host to some of Nigeria’s finest at her 2016 annual dinner and awards evening. In the preceding months, so much effort has been put in place for this big event which promises to be a platform where citizens would do a postmortem of how Nigeria fared in 2016 and then strategize on how things could be better. The evaluation would be made through the prism of the law.
No doubt, 2016 has been quite a year- of recession; clamp down on judicial corruption, election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, insecurity…you name it.
Yet, we are here; we are survivors. We won some and lost some which clearly shows that as a nation, we are not easily broken. However, we cannot revel in this elasticity and refuse to do a reality check of who we are, what we are and where we are as a nation.
Given the present circumstance we have found ourselves, ignorance is not bliss for many reasons but especially for these three:
First, any talk about moving Nigeria forward is often met with cynicism and misgivings. The subject comes across as too broad and the factors to contend with too intimidating and complex. Second, there is the notion that our values and institutions have so degenerated that fixing them, if possible, would require an overhaul.
The third reason is that the government has failed to communicate hope to the citizens in such manner as to allow the vast population subscribe fully to ethics and morality. Even though the situation appears intimidating and confusing in a manner capable of causing people to give up hope on a better Nigeria; we do not have the luxury of throwing in the towel.
Those who should know have often maintained that the journey of a thousand kilometres begin with a step. There is need to give prominence to this saying as we take stock of issues and look forward to a new year. DrIbrahim Tahir once said that we have disappointed even our most ardent admirers and sympathisers and that given the manner in which public and private standards have deteriorated in our society, our country, our nation, every one of us is fast running out of time.
He said those words over two decades ago. It is depressing to find that those words are probably truer now than they were before. But it is also liberating to note that as a country, we have not stopped trying. Why for instance do we think Buhari emerged as president? It was for a clear desire of seeking change. Nigerians felt they deserved better than they had with the Goodluck government.Buhari appeared to be the symbol of the fulfillment of the Nigerian dream.
Today, nothing seems to be different from where we are coming from. If anything, things have become worse. Food is now luxury in many homes. The price of fuel has hiked astronomically. Power supply has become epileptic. For the first time in a long time, parents have in unison decried the cost of school fees in secondary and tertiary institutions. The expectation that this government will deal with insurgency is still an expectation.
When a problem recurs, what should be checked is the system and not so much the occurences.Speaking of systems, it has become fashionable for many to use systemic failure as an excuse for not getting it right. It seems exotic and esoteric to just dump it all on a system, a lifeless, blame receiving auto machine. In reality, people create systems. One of the major gaffes of the Nigerian national space is the inability for people to agree on areas that cannot be tampered by politics.
Take power. A government comes in with an agenda for constant power supply which would drive the economy. Some people seat at one corner to decide on sabotaging the agenda often as a strategy for off-seating a government. We forget that when this power cut is experienced, everyone suffers for it. Another example-health.
For as long as we remember, government has had health as priority yet not much is visible in that regard. We have a huge revenue leak in that sector as a procedure as basic as child birth, are done across the shores. Don’t blame health tourists, if you have had any experience with our hospitals you know not to fall ill for your own good.
Another factor is insecurity. Tales from the grape vines some of which have been substantiated have it that insecurity is big business for some; pretty much like a buy and sell merchandise. Sometimes monsters are created so others can smile to the bank. The macabre idea leaves one wondering how turning the nozzle at oneself is a smart idea. How does anyone make money by killing himself?
Our problem is made even more complex when we find that institutions that should be insulated from vices become hubs for the uncanny.
This is why, House of Justice will host members of various sectors of the Nigerian public to cap up the year at a dinner and awards banquet which enables guests to let down their hair, lace up dancing shoes and interact with the very best in a congenial and relaxed atmosphere. It promises to be a bubbly, brimming eclectic mix of law, real fun and nationalism.
This year the guest speaker is Oxford-bred Dr Obadiah Mailafia. Mailafia needs no introduction. He has been a guest speaker at the national merit award and in many national and international fora. He was a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and presently heads the secretariat of the African Caribbean Pacific Group of States. Dr Mailafia is a socio-economist and policy analyst with profound experience in International Development, Banking and Finance. He is one of the world’s deep philosophers and a well sought after speech writer.
Dr Usman Bugaje chairs the event. He is a pharmacist and one time national secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria. He contested the last gubernatorial elections of Katsina State, was a political adviser to Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a prolific writer and speaker and a man who engenders public intellectual participation. He is presently the Convener, Arewa Research and Development Project.
Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu is synonymous to one word: Human Rights. The immediate past Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission is a leading member of the International Human Rights Community. He was a lecturer at the Harvard Law School, Cambridge, is an adviser to the United Nations, is a Senior Legal Officer of the Open Society Foundations and presently the President General of USOSA.He was recently cited as one of 100 most influential Nigerians alive today.
He is the Chief Host at this year.
Yours sincerely and the House of Justice team will be your hosts. We shall also present to the public Spruce Magazine, a House of Justice law and life magazine. So as we look forward to a great time together, we do so in hope that someday we shall get it right. We call on all members of the Nigerian family to do their bit so our little efforts in our small corners can pool into the huge difference we want to see.God bless Nigeria.
Even though the situation appears intimidating and confusing in a manner capable of causing people to give up hope on a better Nigeria; we do not have the luxury of throwing in the towel
