A national negligence of duty
It’s been suggested that if it were possible for non-Nigerians to appear on the ballot and be elected into political office then it would be unlikely that any of the current Nigerian political actors would ever win an election! It has been posited on the social media that in a supposedly “ideal situation” the Nigerian president would come from France or England, vice-president from Russia, ministers from Germany, legislators from England, governors from America, and local government chairmen from China. This isn’t to say that there are no dubious, corrupt or incompetent characters from those nations. It’s more a comment on the fact that in the countries mentioned, the one common feature of public office holders at all levels of government, is their response to the call of duty. Errant behaviour in public office is considered reprehensible, unbecoming, and not the norm.
In Nigeria things are somewhat different. Such behaviour is routine and indeed to some extent expected! As in most underdeveloped nations, it’s normal for Nigerian public office holders to concern themselves with the authority and privileges of office rather than their duty of care. This belies the fact that a duty of care represents the highest form of public duty and supersedes all other duties. The implication of the duty of care is that public office holders have an obligation to act towards the general public in a certain way and in accordance with certain standards.
They must avoid acts of omission or commission which could reasonably be foreseen to injure or harm. This means giving dignified and respectful treatment to citizens, providing high quality care and services, creating avenues for voices to be heard in respect of complaints, and continuously striving towards a free society. Simply put, it defines a responsibility on public officers not to harm citizens through carelessness, corruption or bad policies.
Under Nigerian law, a duty of care is the first element required to establish a prima facie case of negligence. It’s the first of the three elements required to claim civil wrong – a duty of care, a breach of the duty and causation of the breach. To breach an established duty of care is to have failed to behave with the level of care that an ordinary person would have exercised under the same circumstances. This is exactly what pubic office holders have put Nigerians through over the years. They have serially harmed citizens physically, mentally, and economically while in the process of holding public office.
There is no denying that correct actions and policies could not possibly have led to the various well-documented failures of governance and ills in Nigerian society. What requires an explanation is how come the nation serially fails to solve its problems and tragically retrogresses from one government to another? Self-evidently the reason is the serial breach over the years, of duty care towards Nigerian citizens by public office holders. The explanation for this probably lies in the national psyche. On the whole, Nigerians have become immune to the call of duty. The minority who respond positively are often referred to derisively as “suffer head”!
The word “duty” came in to national prominence in governance back in 1966 when a few misguided youths in military uniform told the nation, that it was their “duty” to overthrow a democratically elected government! Successive military regimes routinely referred to their duty when announcing the overthrow of their superiors.
Prior to the civil war, Odumegwu Ojukwu spoke of his “duty” to protect his people. Paradoxically while in the process of supposedly carrying out their “duties” Nigerian leaders have consistently moved the nation from one crisis to another! Quite tragically, it’s not only political leaders who are in breach of their duty of care, truthfully it’s become a national trait.
Once upon a time known for possessing a diligent, hard working and caring nature, Nigerians are becoming increasingly immune towards the suffering of others. These days there are hospitals that reject accident victims. Policemen more interested in extorting under duress than actually preventing crime and maintaining law and order. Schools that lock children out to roam the streets through no fault of their own because their parents are behind in payment. Exams supervised by invigilators who connive with candidates to perpetrate malpractice. Legislators who collude with public officials during oversight functions, spare parts dealers who sell fake parts, and patent medicine dealers who import or sell fake drugs. Most condemnably, banks are unwilling to give overdraft facilities to customers whose salaries or pensions are paid into their accounts.
It’s been speculated that the main reason for this behaviour is the way and manner in which “success” is defined in Nigeria these days. In the “good old days” reputation and social standing were acquired by inventing something, establishing a viable business, or serving humanity, nowadays it’s all about how much money an individual can boast of. The manner in which inordinate wealth is “earned” has become of increasingly little relevance! In a continuously declining economy where honest living places most people on the poverty borderline, it should really come as no surprise that duty of care has been discarded in favour of substandard service provision, price inflation, cost-cutting practices and outright fraud.
As far as public office and political leadership goes, the importance of adhering to this duty cannot be overemphasised. It is noteworthy that the murmurings making the rounds concerning the 2023 presidential elections focus on the ambitions of certain old political warhorses and which geopolitical zone the next president should come from. Little is being said as to how to ensure an adherence to the duty of care towards all citizens next time round. It isn’t the highest level of service, it’s the absolute minimum performance requirement. Those who perform excellently and exceed it are said to have gone “above and beyond the call of duty”. In Nigeria, as in most other nations, leadership is a reflection of the people. The current national psyche is a wake-up call for the National Orientation Agency to reach out to citizens in a more appropriate and realistic manner. It’s their responsibility to enhance national social and economic development by reinculcating a duty of care into Nigerian society. It is imperative that they develop and implement both school and public education programmes to stress the importance of adherence to duty of care and put end to the continuous cycle of nationwide negligence, most especially in public office.