Fash - o - Law!
| Fashola |
Given his presence in the media, Governor
Babatunde Fashola appears to be doing well in his sought task of
governing Lagos State. In normal climes, such press certification puts
the subject in good potential stead of advancing the political
leadership ladder up to the pinnacle of the presidency of the nation.
This is the reason why the mindset, policies and performance of such
individuals (and implicatively their political platform) should be a
subject of critical analysis. Such analysis could serve two of many
purposes. One, the public may be assisted in discerning the reality of
the individual beyond propaganda such that they are not sold a pig in a
poke. The other is to assist the individual to make adjustments or
confirm persuasion of his chosen track.
That being the case, there are signal
activities of Fashola since he became Governor which are disturbing
about his evaluation and treatment of the citizens he governs; and about
the relationship of his state to the federation.
Continue after the cut...
Clearing and bringing sanity to Oshodi
was his first major public activity. This was hailed by almost all. The
issue of lack of resettlement plan for the dislodged citizens which was
raised was brushed aside by the explanation that the presence which
obliterated the road and adjoining public spaces was illegal; and that
there had been numerous ignored warnings to clear the area in the past.
The relief that the restored sanity brought did not allow critics to
further push the fundamental principle of fair treatment of resettlement
of the displaced citizens. The acceptance of the Oshodi treatment may
have encouraged the governor to make it an acceptable template for
dealing with whatever he reads as unacceptable activity/settlement by
the poor which are unpleasant to the elite. Makoko. Okada.
Next was the deportation of beggars from
Lagos to their ‘states of origin’. Surprisingly, this move which
violated the constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of citizens to live and
work in any part of the nation received little, if any, public
criticism. The implication that Fashola could deport anybody he wants
from Lagos for any reason was not contemplated. The victims were the
voiceless poor. This brazen unconstitutionality surfaced again in the
regulation that vehicles (explained as commercial) that ply Lagos roads
must carry the Lagos plate number. The restriction that this will cause
free trade and movement of people was, again, not contemplated. The
disruption to national harmony if other states reciprocated was also not
thought of. The mindset seems to be that the rest of the nation needs
Lagos but Lagos could not care less about other states.
Then came Fashola’s war on the doctors.
This came in two waves with uneasy peace in between; and even now. The
first war saw assault on the leadership of the doctors including
physical attack and attempts to victimise elements in the leadership
through grave charges of professional misconduct. The second war became
necessary when the first was unsuccessful in detaching the members from
the leadership. This led to the dismissal of about 1,000 doctors in the
employ of Lagos State. The justification for these assaults is that the
state should determine what to pay its workers (i.e. less than a
national benchmark wage for the doctors). One would have thought that
the high cost of living in Lagos should dictate a higher than the
national benchmark wage. The historical fact now is that Fashola has
moved into the league of infamous rulers who have assaulted a mass of
Nigerian workers. Other examples are the dismissal of tens of academic
staff of the University of Ilorin by Vice-Chancellor Shuaib Oba
Abdulraheem; Gen Ibrahim Babangida’s dismissal of the entire academic
staff in the nation’s universities in 1992/93; and Buhari/Idiagbon
massive assault on doctors nationwide in 1984/85. The result of such
assault is that the systems never fully recover. The wound is deep and
the reaction even at the level of the subconscious is lasting. The state
of our hospitals and universities today is indicative.
The last signal policy of Fashola that we consider is the ban on Okada
operators in Lagos as a sub set of draconian traffic laws. It is
incontrovertible that the traffic situation in Lagos is chaotic,
inadequate, unplanned, dangerous, unduly life-threatening and
undesirable. So many factors are responsible for this situation. A prime
one that Fashola seems to have identified to address is human
behaviour. However, human behaviour is contextual. For example, moving a
population through a wide space generates a different human behaviour
than moving the same population through a much narrower space. That okada
operation has become a menace is indisputable. The question is what is
the appropriate thing to be done taking all aspects and parties into
consideration. We should never forget that the development of okada
as a means of mass transport was a consequence of irresponsible
governance over the years that refused to provide necessary transport
for a rapidly growing population. We should also acknowledge that even
now there is a need for that means of transport. It is alleged that okadas
are used for robbery and as get-aways from crime scenes. But so are
taxis, cars and buses. ‘One chance’ crimes are flourishing in Lagos, so
are we going to ban buses or is it irrelevant since the elite are rarely
affected? An analogy: Stealing by government officials is so pervasive
and destructive of citizens, do we then ban the institution of
government?
Fashola’s response is faulty in a number
of respects. It has virtually elevated traffic offence into a capital
offence. A law that prescribes a ‘death’ sentence not only for the
individual but the family cannot be right. The nature of traffic
offences is not how draconian but the frequency and certainty of being
caught; and assured punishments which are made incrementally cumulative
up to the point of a ban of the individual from vehicular operation. Use
of law to address a situation is the simplest, if not the laziest, way
of addressing societal problems especially in a dictatorship or civilian
conspiracy. And what we have in Nigeria now in the name of democracy is
a civilian conspiracy where legislative houses are mere robotic
appendages of the executive arm, especially at the state level.
When 3,000 Okadas (and counting) are seized and destroyed, the number of people affected should be multiplied by a factor of 10 as most Okada
operators are breadwinners. In any case, in how many other offences
created by the state is destruction of property part of the penalty? We
have been told that the ban is on a mere 475 out of 9,000 roads. The
question is are users of the 8,525 roads not deserving of the said
protection offered by okada ban, or is it that the 475 roads are
where the elite live, work, traverse and therefore have to be protected
whereas the remaining roads habour the wretched of the earth for whose
protection Fashola has no commitment? Dubious statistics have been
provided that hospital admission has reduced since the ban on okada. Pray, who is monitoring the case of hypertension in the poor community since okada ban or children of banned okada riders who have died of untreated malaria because their parents’ okada was destroyed?
Needles to say, there are other ways, slower, more tortuous but more humane, to respond to the okada situation. These include organisation and education of the okada operators which will also improve security; provision of okada lanes and parks; provision of alternatives to okada which will compete with and eventually crowd okada
out of market in the long run. It appears to me that adequate
consideration was not given to the economic and social implications of
criminalising and the destruction of okada. The thousands of okada
operators demobilised will not all die. They are not likely to leave
Lagos. That means they will relocate to other businesses that can
immediately provide a living. Your imagination is as good as mine on
this.
This piece is, however, not on the okada
issue but a review of Fashola’s signal relationship to classes of
citizens he governs. We should note that most of the people under
assault are the low class poor: Oshodi denizens-beggars- commercial
drivers-Makoko residents-okada operators. Fashola’s vision,
apparently, is for a Lagos developed into a world class city-state for
the enjoyment of the elite/ ruling class. It would appear that poor
citizens irritate Fashola and he would rather eliminate the poor instead
of eliminating poverty.
- Prof. Akinyanju wrote in from the Dept of Microbiology, University of Ilorin, via pakinyanju@yahoo.com
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