Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue and I am shocked at how we deceive ourselves so much in the Nigerian society. We act like we are Saints but operate otherwise.
We deliberately make laws to destroy the weak amongst us and the rich break the laws. I was shell shocked when I saw cars auctioned out due to traffic office and I heard some funny arguments that the law is the law, but I argue: who writes the law? Isn’t it human beings? But why is it that once you have police escort or you are an official in government or a police officer you can drive one way and nothing will happen.
I also think in the traffic laws, they should make exemptions so we all know some people are above the law. If I am to collect 50 kobo for every time a government official with police escort and blazing sirens causing noise pollution violates the traffic laws I will be a billionaire by now.
The first time that the okada laws were made, it was law enforcement officers that first broke the law by starting commercial motorcycle business. The reason why laws don’t work in Nigeria is because the lawmakers are the lawbreakers.
I will be excited if they can make stronger laws against corrupt officials and anyone that steals our commonwealth, but in the song of African China “richman wey steal, they no go see him face for crime fighters.”
My argument has always been: make the laws quicker to execute. Once you commit an offense and there is a fine, make it easier to pay the fine. I believe the government can set up a fine portal where people can pay on the spot for fines. It will bring in more revenue for government and those monies can be used judiciously, so people can move on with their lives. But when measures are punitively executed it brings about a societal disconnect.
For those that deliberately break the law, I think it is incumbent to use other means of deterrents like behavioral psychology with simulations by different psychologists. But the approach of sending offenders to psychiatrist is wrong as clearly stated by psychiatrists themselves as psychologists can make better societal simulations. The government can even start by using billboards to reiterate societal cause and effect and make adequate road signage. I ask how many of our roads are properly marked? How many street lights are working? How many traffic lights are in good conditions? Once a traffic light breaks down, it takes months to fix. Do we even have data on how many traffic lights are in Lagos and their working conditions? There is a science to road management and are we employing the science? Who are our road planners? How many more cars are we projected to have in the next 10 years and how many new roads do we need to build? Society is truly cause and effect and we must interrogate this.
Laws are meant to be corrective, in fact at a point in America prisons had better services than some towns because they wanted people to be corrected not destroyed. I think it’s time to build a loving society that truly cares for the weak. Our society destroys the weak and that’s why we have all the problems. In my Dad’s dying days, the things we talked about the most were lovely memories and not about status and all the achievements, somebody needs to tell people that the best things in life are free and with love we can build a loving society.
Written by Rufai Oseni
