Just about anything is possible in this country. Some of these realities include the fact that 16 is greater than 19; a sitting governor could be humiliated by a “mere appendage of the Presidency”; an ailing governor will insist on keeping power; ASUU strike will last this long under a President that has a PhD degree; and we might as well keep the rest till October 1, when another round of lies would be dished out. So the question arises, why should we play by the rules?
When you visit some examination centres, you would be amazed that to attempt not to pay the invigilators when others are paying might in fact get you into trouble. I was told recently that in a particular Polytechnic in the South-West, students actually pay lecturers during examination periods and just before the submission of their projects. Those who don’t pay will need to pray extra hard to scale through those courses and lecturers. In some other cases, it is the students themselves who induce such proposals. For example, during my undergraduate days, I was asked to help invigilate an examination of some junior set of students by a senior lecturer. When the exam was over, two fair female students approached me. The first one shook hands with me and didn’t let go of my hand. After exchanging pleasantries, she made a request that I help her influence her result with the lecturer. I was stunned. Within the few seconds I had to ponder over her effrontery, she began scratching the centre of my palm with her finger. I lost control and began to stammer because I knew what that meant. I gently withdrew my hand and declined the offer.
However, what is of concern to me in this piece is the issue of driving against traffic or “one-way” as it is commonly called. It is not new in these parts. It is also not new when major offenders are uniformed persons — soldiers, police officers and of recent LASTMA officers. We are sort of used to it. But what is most uncivil about all these is that these guys create the picture that they have more pressing things to attend to than the rest of us and that they are above the law. And maybe indeed they are, because according to the testimony of a former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, about the “potential” in Nigeria, this is a country where individuals are more powerful than institutions. You will hardly find a Police van in traffic. And if ever they are, it’s because they can’t help it. Their sirens tell the tale. They are always in a haste even when the roads are free. God help anyone they hit mistakenly. They drive against the traffic and nobody can hold them accountable because the average Nigerian is afraid of a uniformed person. Come to think of it, who would willingly confront a set of red-eyed armed uniformed men?
Some other officers in plainclothes hang horsewhips or emblems of the military on the windscreens of their cars as clear signals to all and sundry, and probably to force it down people’s throat that they are not bound by civilian caprices. The case is more pathetic when a commercial bus driver drives against traffic simply because he is carrying ‘staff’ in the bus. And then you begin to wonder, “since when did the military become an extension of the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers?” (Or maybe they are, after all they both wear uniforms; they both have areas of jurisdiction; they both carry weapons and they both board commercial buses within Lagos without paying, etc.). The presence of these uniformed men in the bus rather than deter the drivers ironically serves as their motivation for driving against traffic.
Many people have lost their lives as a result of these road rascals and sadly many more will because nobody will challenge, question or seek to check “one-way” drivers. The arrest of a bullion van sometime ago is one case in a million. That was the main reason it generated news. Some three years ago, I was knocked down by an overzealous okada rider in Ogun State right in front of my office. I would have been run over by an oncoming jeep if I hadn’t sprung up on time. While I tried to figure out what had just happened to me, a jeep ran over my phone, which was at the centre of the road. One would have expected the riders to have had a rethink but that encounter proved to be the first in a series of similar accidents involving some of my colleagues on a free flowing Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
In saner parts of the world, people don’t drive against traffic, even if they are running late. They leave home earlier if they foresee being held up in the traffic. Alternatively, they could employ the option of a train, ferry or other available means rather than drive against traffic. Even a Nigerian won’t follow ‘one-way’ in established law-governed nations no matter how late he is because he doesn’t know someone who knows someone who knows some other person who will get him off the hook of justice. Similarly, if he runs into trouble on an issue like speeding or drunk driving or even any other issue ranging from drug trafficking, child abuse, falsification of age, documents and records, assault, terrorism to money laundering among others, the law will run its course. James Ibori is a good example in this regard.
But things are different here in Nigeria. We don’t play by the rules and I think this is deliberate. It is deliberate on two levels – on the part of the ruler and the ruled. For the ruler who wields powers, it is deliberate because except he steps on the toes of some godfather figure, he can do anything and go free. He can arrange for the kidnap of a political opponent or in extreme cases murder any threat to his ambition and nothing will come out of it. He can even “rule from anywhere”. For the ruled, it is that of a nonchalant attitude. As far as he is concerned, the situation is bad already and it can only get worse. A few feeble attempts might have been made in the time past but they were not consolidated upon. Previous regimes had promised him butter even when he had no bread. When desires are not met, you wouldn’t expect him to play by the rules either. As such, he doesn’t care anymore. Or maybe it is not that he doesn’t really care, maybe it’s just that he is more driven by the survival instinct and this in itself has driven him towards the path of desperation, frustration and ultimately, corruption
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