By Louis A koko, Esq (PhD, ACA)

Recently, the Debt Management Office ( DMO), a government agency established pursuant to the Debt Management Office ( establishment) Act 2003 and the provisions of the Presidential executive order No 16 of 2023 on Foreign currency denominated financial instrument local issuance programme and related matters order, 2023 offered for subscription US$500 million, 5 year 9.75 per annum series 1 Domestic FGN US Dollar Bonds due in 2029 on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The eligible investors are :

**Nigerian residents
**Nigerians with savings abroad.
**Nigerian Diasporans
**Qualified Institutional investors.

The coupon rate ( interest rate) is 9.75% annually, payable twice yearly and the debt redemption date at maturity is 2029.

The analysis of this so-called domestic bond revealed that the country will be paying US$4.875million as interest annually to the bond holders for a period of 5 years which translates to an aggregate of US$24.375million. At the bond redemption date in 2029, FGN would have incurred a cash outflow in dollars of approximately $525 m assuming no tax deductions.

The fact that the domestic bond would be issued in dollars, a foreign currency makes it an Eurobond, hence a type of external borrowing or creation of external( public) debt at a time when the country is currently in a debt trap. Nigeria is in debt trap because over 97% of the country’s revenue is use in debt servicing alone and only 3% is left to fund the other items in the federal government budget.

The negative impact of debt service is worst when it is denominated in foreign currency as in the recent US$500m domestic dollar bond or other forms of external borrowing because it will require the outflow of resources either in cash or other form of assets such as crude oil and gas for repayments of the debts to the creditors.

The repayment of external debt at the expense of critical sectors like education, health, power, agriculture and other physical infrastructure is partially responsible for low real sectors outputs and the poverty in the country.

The fact that Nigeria is in a vicious circle of poverty due partly to high unsustainable external debt which stood at $43.5 billion dollars in June, 2023 is a major concern for all those who truly appreciates the enormity of the debt burden of the country. Therefore, it is imperative that FGN prioritise her public expenditures to align with the budget items that are not only necessary but urgent.

It is equally important for FGN to to avoid the mismatch of debt type and its application ( use). It does not make economic sense to use external debt like this current $500m Eurobond whose maturity date is just five years to fund long-term projects like the Lagos to Calabar coastal Highway whose gestation period (10years) is twice the redemption period for the dollar denominated domestic bond. It amount to a mismatched public investment incapable of yielding positive economic outcomes that may enhance private and public investments in the country.

However, every year the FGN is expected to pay interest of about $5m dollars less tax for this (domestic) dollar denominated bond. Where will the revenue to fund the repayment come from at a time debt services takes more than 97% of our revenue? I pray Nigerians are not plunged into escalated tax burden as a wayout.

Eternal debt, in whatever mask and costume it wears, be it dollar denominated bond or concessionary loans from international financial institutions like IMF, World Bank, AfDB and the Paris club leads to outflow of resources from our country during debt repayments. Therefore, it is deleterious to the economy in terms of missed economic opportunities , especially when misapplied, hence must be discouraged. FGN of Nigeria should engineer more prudent means of financing economic programmes and projects that have immediate and direct impact on our economy and has the potential to enhance economic growth and revenues of government.

By Lasisi Olagunju

Nothing we do or say now will change Nigeria unless it turns back from its present plunge. Nothing. “No spring changes the desert. The desert remains; the spring runs dry. Not one spring, not thirty, not a thousand springs will change the desert…” That quote is from ‘Two Thousand Seasons’, a tumultuous novel by Ayi Kwei Armah. Remember he also wrote ‘The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born.’

We won’t stop asking that this country be rebuilt on the foundation of its beginning. Nothing will shoo away the present birds of hunger and thirst. Not this government; not the next. You don’t turn your back on your destiny and be well.

Grandfather of Nigerian theatre, Hubert Ogunde, sang a prayer which must be the prayer point of those in power today: “If I have a good head, may I also have good legs (Bí mo l’órí ire, Elédàá jé n l’ésè ire).” Orí (head) is destiny; Esè (legs) are the tyres that propel destiny to its realisation. Right there in the mix is ìwà (character) which helps man do what Karin Barber describes as “picking his way, aided by his Orí, between a variety of forces, some benign, some hostile, some ambivalent…” If your head gives you a throne, rule well; do not let your character open the door to forces that blow off roofs. 

We become what we choose to become. I have two destiny stories to tell. They are from the earliest times’ tray of knowledge. The first is about a serially failing young man who asked questions and was told by the oracle that he wouldn’t amount to anything in life unless he became a thief. The second story is about another who was told that he wouldn’t ever be rich unless he was cruel and bloodthirsty.

The young man who must sell cruelty to be rich thought fate was not fair to him. A precondition of wickedness before wealth would sound alarming to whoever had that (mis)fortune. But this man did not have to wait long before an accident of fate created a trade for him. He became the pioneer maker of tribal marks. In the palace in Oyo, he got royal contracts to beautify princes and princesses with eyo marks. To the noble of Oyo, he slashed horizontal marks on each cheek and called it àbàjà. He went to Owu where he etched six incisions on each of the cheeks. In Ogbomoso, he gave straight and curved lines and called it kéké. He dashed down to the courtyard of the Osemawe in Ondo and, with generous thanks, inflicted one pronounced stroke below each eye. To the Ijebu, Ife and Ijesa he made the marks perpendicular and called what he offered pélé with variants of his offering dropped across other clans and towns of Yoruba land.

The man took his trade to the Tapa (Nupe) where he gashed the young there with the beauty of below-the-temple cruelty. He was called and invited to virtually all kingdoms around to come and sell the pretty pain he was hawking. They all looked at the work of his hand, pronounced it beautiful and paid him handsome sums. The ‘wicked’ grew rich and famous. His descendants today answer a praise name that valourizes his trade in brutality. Adebayo Faleti, in one seminal piece, said this man’s offspring are children of “he who stabs people and gets paid for doing so/ The one for whom it was divined that he must be brutal for him to be wealthy (Omo A-sá-mo-l’ógbé gb’owó/ Tí wón ní ìkà ni yí ó se là).”

The one who was to become a thief rejected the prophecy the way Pentecostal Christians reject bad portions. But nothing the man tried his hands on prospered until one day hunger pushed him to go dig his neighbour’s yam. At the very point of his being caught by the farm owner, his cutlass fortuitously killed a big snake coiled up by the yam heap. To the thief’s horror, the farm owner leapt out of a thicket. Among the Yoruba, death is always preferable to shame. If the ground would open its mouth and swallow the yam thief, he would kneel in eternal thankfulness to his Creator. But, there was neither a place to hide nor a wand to transport him out of the mess. This was, however, the point at which destiny took over. To the thief’s shock, the farm owner shouted for joy on seeing the big snake’s death. The farmer did not see a thief in the trespassing gentleman; what he saw was a benefactor who had delivered him from a dreadful reptile that had almost sacked him from his farm and barn. The yam farmer thought he owed the killer of his nemesis some token of appreciation. Fate pushed him to give the thief enough field and yam seeds that forever weaned the wretched of his poverty. The ‘thief’ was to become rich and famous. That is fate’s cultural explanation for the prosperity of the ‘unworthy.’

In both stories, the two gentlemen enjoyed their good fortune till the end of time because they had character (ìwà). Early this year, I told the mythical story of one poor, old prince in Ofa who owned neither calabash nor plate (kò ní’gbá, kò l’áwo) yet he became king because he had a good head. Then his enemies said “this one will not be long before he dies and another will take his place.” But the old man became king and refused to die. Because he had character in addition to his good head, he ruled well; his people enjoyed him and prayed for his reign to last forever. He reigned long and died well. Why do you think Baba Opalaba in the Mainframe master play, Saworoide, asks the long dead Alaafin Abiodun to come back? You remember that solemn request? It is because the living oba has failed.

Thomas Hardy, in his novel, ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’, says “character is fate.” He adds that “fate and character are names for a single idea.” It was as if Hardy was born a Yoruba with their very elaborate concept of destiny. My people put destiny at the mercy of character. They say if you have good destiny, pray also to have a character that is desirable because a bad character will most certainly destroy your good head. We see in ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ how fate propels someone from the gutters of life to wealth and to the position of mayor; we watch as the man loses his good character and consequently declines progressively in public estimation and respect. We see how he finally loses his authority and wealth and life – all to his bad character, his awkward ways.

A person’s calling is their destiny. It is my job to write what I feel. The right to hold opinion is a fundamental one which neither state nor its operatives can alienate. I am neither an enemy of the state nor hater of those in government. One funny coward who lives abroad is sending notes, with names, across WhatsApp groups suggesting exactly that about some of us – newspaper columnists. The idler may not be the only one with that pastime. Were they sent that errand of slaves? I am not sure. They just think they are inciting power against the bard. They forget that no matter how early a child gets to the farm, he will always meet Kùkùté there. Fishers of attention from corridors of power do what they are doing to please their palate. They tie the forehead to the occiput; they sit back and laugh. They are Esu, the one whose eyes cry blood while the bereaved sheds mere tears.

We warn because we notice not just the beak of the fowl; we see the whole bird. The seed we offer our soil is of the day; we offer none that is of the night. That is a line of invocation from the Bakongo. If you want more of the words, read J. Van Wing’s ‘Bakongo Incantations and Prayers’ (1930). It tells how trauma invokes the elements, seen and unseen.

The world is sick; even the sky weeps. Anyone who tells this government that things are alright is an enemy of the state and a hater of the president. It is probably the abroad fellow’s destiny to live away from the hassles of home. But, we live here. And, I do not know how to thank or ignore the ones to whom we are victims. We gave some people chickens to rear for us; we turned and they started peeling yam and washing their soup pot. And you think we should be deaf and dumb. To their own teeth, they feed the softest of meat; for the teeth of others, they give the toughest of tendons. Eyín eléyín ni wón fi nj’eran tó l’éegun. We write so that the prowling wolf shall see our sheep and goats and cows and have its teeth on edge. Van Wing again.

Businesses are bleeding; the rich are crying. Weevils have taken the barn; weasels have overwhelmed the pen. Right on the road to the stream are wolves of thirstiness. We can join the Alleluyah chorus and feed from the gatehouse of power. But if we do and everyone keeps quiet, and this desert completes its encroachment, the hill will lose its trees and leafy glade; the valley will be shorn of its verdancy; the abroad will have no home to return to. We keep talking and warning because it is almost midnight. Nothing works – except mindless gluttony. Nothing is available – except long queues at petrol stations. In places that have sanity, electricity is called power; here, it has same value as the shit of the masquerade – very unavailable. On special nights when grace brings light, it is quickly switched off because its price is dagger to the heart of homes. So, shall we not talk in the midst of all these bad news? We get abused for putting our mouth into that which ‘friends’ of power think should concern us not. It is Fatwa they have not pronounced. We are fighting for Oja’s sake; Oja is asking who is fighting at his backyard.

Arise News founder, Nduka Obaigbena some days ago received Tinubu’s media/public relations managers in his office. They were there to seek his understanding and support. I watched them; they looked sober. Then, with acrid calmness, Obaigbena told them the truth: “People say you’re not communicating – you are communicating, you are here. But the communication you are not doing is communication by example.” Obaigbena said the way people in government live, “the way they conduct themselves, does not show that we are in trouble.” Candid words.

There is always a problem anywhere the palace feasts while the people yawn. Filthy, festy ostentation and mindless show-of-force degrade authority. Freedom curtailing, extra-legal actions shame democracy; they put a lie to all its lofty claims. They drag democracy back to be at par with where we were before May 1999. Copying what the military did that made it lose the people will post a tag of regret on our struggles that birthed this era. Perhaps, everything takes us back to the need for a restructuring of this cracked structure.

When Obaigbena said his words, I would have loved to see how his guests took the shot. The visiting ones are not the problem. They have a difficult job to do which is increasingly made more difficult by the real culprits, the cats in opulent offices. Those ones are too big to care about what image they etch in the psyche of the city. They don’t go out to seek help; they are too big to crawl out of the vault. You can’t be feasting and telling the people to fast. I am fasting for your sake, you are flaunting mid-day meals (A ngbààwè nítorí won, àwón nj’òsán). That is what this government and its big men do. They feast and fart; the people fast and faint. They say it is patriotism. The government is wise; the people are stupid.

Starving workhouse inmates of Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ never prayed for the housekeepers. Friends of this government in the media are daily embarrassed by its aberrant ways. One of my old university teachers wrote a warning in a Lagos newspaper some weekends ago. The professor told the government that “creating a zone of affluence in circumstances of bewitching poverty or a new breed of billionaires in a condition of appalling deprivation will produce a toxic effluence which can overwhelm the entire society.”

I hope ‘they’ listen to the advice from the prophets and tell the big boss to clean up his government. A government that won’t go with the winds will do what the eyes do. The eyes, in utter humility, lower their gaze, and because they are humble, they are allowed to see the nose. Hubris is a government speaking the words of Archibald MacLeish’s poet persona: “We have learnt the answers, all the answers. It is the question that we do not know.”

By Ernest Ojukwu, SAN; Sam Erugo, SAN; Chidi Anselm Odinkalu; & Mbasekei Martin Obono

Amid the greatest crisis of judicial authority since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on 23 August 2024 swore in an Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). For the new Chief Justice, this challenge is also an opportunity to articulate an agenda for reform that can restore public trust in the judiciary. Such an agenda must address the following:

(a) ensuring merit-based judicial appointments;

(b) addressing the problem of abuse of interim injunctions, ex-parte orders, and conflicting judgments;

(c) enhancing judicial discipline and accountability;

(d) addressing the crisis of political cases, election petitions, and judicialization of politics; and

(e.)reform of the Supreme Court.

1. JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS

The National Judicial Council (NJC), which oversees judicial appointments and is led by the CJN, has been severely criticism for mishandling judicial appointments. In 2020, for instance, it authorised 15 vacancies for the Federal Capital Territory High Court but nominated 34 for appointment. The NJC has also been accused of retrenching its Procedural Rules for judicial appointments, thereby undermining merit-based appointments; compromising judicial integrity; and breeding a loss of confidence in the judiciary. Against this background, it is of the utmost importance that the new CJN commits explicitly to a policy of restoring integrity and merit to judicial appointments through the introduction of transparent processes of advertisement of vacancies; nomination of candidates, interviews, short-listing, and selection.

2. CONFLICTING JUDGMENTS AND ABUSE OF INTERIM INJUNCTIONS

Rule 3 (3.5) of the Judicial Code of Conduct provides that “a Judicial Officer must avoid the abuse of the power of issuing interim injunctions, ex parte.” Although the standards governing interim injunctions are very well established in Nigeria, these are often either disregarded or abused without consequences. Equally, courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction routinely issue conflicting orders that seem almost calculated to damage the institution of the judiciary. It is suggested that:

(a) Priority should be accorded to monitoring and reporting interim or ex parte orders by trial judges. There should also be clear consequences attached to a breach of the Judicial Code of Conduct.

(b) Judicial appraisals should be both quantitative and qualitative. Accordingly, they should proactively address evidence of ethical deficits in the work or output of judges, focusing on adherence to ethical guidelines and the quality of judicial decisions.

(c) There should be clear Practice Directions on the management of jurisdictional overlaps. The structure and scope of such overlaps should be discussed at the All Nigerian Judges  Conference and the Practice Directions should be uniform across all the court systems in the country.

(d) The NJC should establish a central database or easily searchable platform for judges to share information on ongoing cases.

3. DISCIPLINE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Preserving the dignity and integrity of the judiciary hinges on upholding discipline and accountability which is in turn essential for preserving the institutional authority of the judicial branch. If the judiciary lacks credibility, its authority suffers irredeemably. Tragically, this eventuality may already be upon us. A recent survey by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) finds the judiciary as the recipient of the highest per capita rates of bribery, ahead of both the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Customs Service. The damage that this does to the institutional credibility and authority of the judiciary is incalculable. To reverse this, it is suggested that:

(a) Disciplinary processes within the judiciary should be both prompt and decisive and dispositions should be calibrated to be proportionate to the seriousness of the misconduct found.

(b) Reports on disciplinary investigations by the NJC should routinely be transmitted to law enforcement agencies for follow-up.

(c) The CJN should initiate public consultation leading within six months to an announcement of measures designed to address the escalating patterns of judicial corruption as documented by the UNODC-NBS Corruption in Nigeria Report 2024.

4. ELECTION PETITIONS AND POLITICAL CASES

Political cases and election petitions now increasingly threaten the foundations of fairness on which the judicial system should be anchored. Of 248 judgments issued by the Supreme Court in the last judicial year, 74 or about 30% were “political cases.” At a similar occasion only two years ago, his predecessor reported that the court’s portfolio of 269 appeals disposed of included 139 civil appeals, 102 criminal appeals, and 28 “political cases”. The volume of election petitions has become an adverse charge on the credibility of the judiciary and an intolerable burden on both judges and non-political court users alike. Underlying this burden is a judiciary that has installed itself as the sole dispenser of electoral mandates, with judges routinely substituting their views for the votes of the people contrary to the considered recommendations of two presidential panels on electoral reform led respectively by former Supreme Court Justice, Bolarinwa Babalakin in 1986 and by former Chief Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais in 2008. It is suggested that:

(a) The Chief Justice should initiate reform of the election dispute resolution system to ensure the implementation of the Babalakin Commission and Uwais Panel recommendations concerning the need for Courts to respect and not subvert the will of the people in elections.

(b) The category of “political” cases should be reviewed and court systems should be encouraged to establish Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms for political disputes.

(c) Consideration should be given to utilizing retired senior judges for the administration of election dispute resolution, so that serving judges may be preserved for regular court work.

(d) Election petitions should be disposed of before inauguration. The current practice whereby candidates are sworn in despite pending petitions against them facilitates judicial capture.

5. REFORMING THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court is overburdened and its Justices are paying for this with their lives. In the 30 months from the beginning of 2021 to the middle of 2023, three Justices of the Supreme Court tragically died in service. This period coincided with a revolt by Justices against the conditions of work and judicial well-being at the Supreme Court. These two developments underscore very clearly the urgent need for reform of the Supreme Court. As the apex court, the Supreme Court should settle the most rarefied questions of law and legal policy in Nigeria. Instead, it is burdened with inconsequential appeals and crippled by priority to political cases. The result is a court with an ungovernable docket which also endangers the constitutional promise of fair trial “within a reasonable time.” Structural and procedural enhancements needed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Supreme Court will include:

(a) The National Assembly should review and re-enact the Supreme Court Act and amend the Constitution to limit the kinds of cases or appeals that can be introduced to the Supreme Court.

(b) The full digitization of the Supreme Court is overdue. Judgments should be publicly available on the day they are delivered and it should be possible to do filings at the court remotely.

(c) The Court needs to implement a structured system of judicial clerkships which would help to relieve Justices of some of the tedium of research and writing.

CONCLUSION

Far from being exhaustive, this five-point agenda only highlights pressing priorities for the incoming CJN. There remain important issues, such as the question of whether the NJC has continuing relevance; what should be its composition (if it continues to exist), and whether or not it should continue to co-exist as it presently does with the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).

As the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights declared in 2009: “Courts need the trust of the people to maintain their authority and legitimacy. The credibility of the courts must not be weakened by the perception that they can be influenced by any external pressure.” Success in judicial reform will depend on engaging a broad constituency of stakeholders, especially citizens, civil society, and court users. By fostering a collaborative approach to judicial reform, the CJN can construct the foundations for reclaiming public trust.

The measures suggested here can reverse inefficiencies; retrench renegades from the system; and reposition the judiciary as an institution fit for the changing landscape of a complex political economy. By implementing these changes, the new CJN can rebuild public confidence; put the judiciary on track towards credibility; and guarantee a legacy that will be evergreen at the end of her tenure.

Prof. Ernest Ojukwu, SAN is former Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Law School

Prof. Sam Erugo, SAN is former Dean of Law, Abia State University

Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

Mbasekei Martin Obono, a lawyer, is Executive Director of TAP Nitiative

The full text of this agenda can be downloaded here.