…NOT REALLY LIKE THE PIG

When a person is referred to as a pig, it usually would mean such a person is dirty, gluttonous and repulsive. There are quite a number of very uncomplimentary sayings and analogies around a pig. A few of them are listed below:

When you wrestle with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig likes it.

…the place is like a pigsty (meaning the place is very messy and dirty).

The pig remains one of the most maligned animals in the world judging by how people (mostly wrongly) associate many things negative including immorality with the pig. Some religions in fact banned the eating of pork (pig meat) because of its perceived filthiness.

It is said that if something is repeated often enough, even when it is utter falsehood, it becomes the truth (sic), and so it is that I was one of those who believed the popular sayings about pigs being dirty. Indeed I was as surprised as some people might be after reading this when several years ago in my second year at the university I read in the general course textbook we were required to read, that pigs were (I believe still are) generally very clean animals if they are bred in a regulated environment. Articles I have read in recent times also point in this direction. The dirty pigs are said to be those in the wild or the stray pigs (like we have stray dogs) which have nobody rearing them. And even for the supposedly dirty stray pigs which seem to enjoy rolling around in the mud, a very good reason has been suggested for this behavior and it is that since pigs do not sweat, they usually roll in the mud in order to bring down their body temperature.

Humans are the highest of all God’s creatures. We are smart, we possess a very high level of reasoning that we may safely say most animals lack. To a very large extent then, we can say that we are in control of quite a number of things we engage in. For instance, the focus of this article is completely within our control as humans. We are fully in control of whether or not we want to litter our environment.

I visited Calabar twice last year on some land-related study and I was very impressed at how clean the place was. No pure-water sachets littering the streets or other such things that come together to make a place an eye-sore. One would in fact be forgiven if one assumes that the good and neat people of Calabar do not join those of us in the South-West in the consumption of pure-water (by the way, do they actually drink pure water in Calabar?). What is even more impressive is the fact that you don’t really see the city cleaners as they go about their duty like we see them here in Lagos. The cleaners come very early in the mornings to clean the city. It is not an all-day affair like it is here in the not-so-clean Lagos.

The fact that the people of Calabar were able to achieve the level of neatness they have, is a pointer to the fact that at least, that aspect of our lives is completely within our control as humans.

In spite of this however, it is a fairly common sight to see drivers and passengers in both private and commercial vehicles throwing all sorts of things on the road out of their vehicles. The first time I saw someone throw a plastic bag and the back of a watermelon out of a car, I was shell-shocked. I have since then seen very well dressed ladies and men driving very nice and expensive-looking cars calmly wind down their windows and throw all sorts of rubbish ranging from the very small to the biggest thing that one can imagine (and even the ones no rational person can imagine! )can be thrown out of a vehicle onto the road.

Where this sort of thing is done by the commercial bus drivers, one may somehow rationalize it by saying that the Indian hemp and kaikai they indulge in have taken their toll on their reasoning ability. But where you find otherwise respectable members of the society who should serve as beacons engaging in this dirty habit…

Some of the articles on pigs go so far as to say that some pigs sometime make themselves ill by holding their urine because they could not get to an acceptable place in which they could relieve themselves. It is in fact said that if a pig kept in a regulated and clean environment begins to defecate or urinate in its bedding, then that pig has a health problem.

Perhaps, one should by the same token conclude that a human who chooses to litter the environment might have some health challenges that makes him/her incapable of doing the right thing.

And so if you are one of the too many supposedly educated people who still litter the city, and you do not have any health challenge which makes you litter, then you are not really like the pig, it would in fact be an insult to the pig to compare you with it.

THAT HUGE $5.2 BILLION NCC FINE ON MTN

It was widely reported on Tuesday the 27th of October 2015 that NCC, the regulatory body for the telecommunication companies in Nigeria had slammed MTN with a huge fine of $5.2 Billion! The fine was to serve as punishment to MTN for failing, contrary to the directive of NCC, to disconnect about 5.1 million phone lines which were not registered as directed by NCC after the end of the August 2015 deadline set by the NCC.

While it is appropriate that MTN be sanctioned for violation of NCC’s directive, the fine levied, N200,000 for every line not disconnected by MTN is huge and could result in crippling the network’s operations.

Analysis of the fine according to AP (Associated Press), may provide some guidance. In the AP report, the $5.2 Billion fine imposed on MTN is equivalent to at least 2 years average profit for MTN and nearly three times the $1.83 (this figure might be a mistake as the figure on MTN's website differs) the telecommunications network has invested in Nigeria. Also, when looked at from the fact that MTN in 2001 paid what now seems like a mere $285 Million for the licence that enabled it to start operations in Nigeria, one can only conclude that the regulatory body has dealt a blow which while it may not result in death for the big telecommunications firm, may send a big part of its operations into a coma for quite a while.

Information available on MTN’s website show that MTN invested a total of $12 billion in the country from 2001 to 2013 and planned to invest additional $3 Billion between 2013 and 2015. The amount invested in the country by MTN was said to include what was spent on getting the largest digital (microwave) transmission backbone across the country, the investment in fibre optic service and the largest network switch centre in the country.

The above are mentioned to serve as a guide to what an amount as huge as $5.2 Billion can achieve.

Indeed, the NCC in imposing the fine on MTN must have borne in mind the provision of Section 2 of its Guidelines on Procedure for Granting Approval to Disconnect Telecommunications Operators. Paragraph (3) under Section 2 of the Draft (Not sure whether it’s still draft or now in force) Guidelines provides that one of the criteria which NCC should consider in deciding whether or not to grant approval for a network operator to be disconnected shall include the public interest to observe the rule of Law and the need to entrench good corporate governance practices among operators.

There is absolutely no doubt that the above guide is a very sound one. I am a firm believer in the fact that the major reason why our dear country has turned out the way it has is because no sanction attaches to wrongdoings. Where the wrong doer is particularly a “big” man or woman, not only is there no sanction, what the wrong doer gets is a reward. This will always have the effect of promoting wrongdoings while at the same time discouraging all those who always want to the right things.

Because of this, I believe very strongly that MTN should be sanctioned for disobeying the NCC directive especially in these days when the country is battling with terrorism and kidnappings and all sorts of other criminal activities. However, much as I support that MTN should be sanctioned, the sanction should not be such as would cripple the operations of the company unless that was the intent of the NCC in imposing such a debilitating fine.

A look through the provisions of NCC’s Guide on Interconnectivity earlier mentioned shows the reluctance by the drafters of that guide to approve the disconnection of any network operator mainly because of how this may affect subscribers. In the same vein, I believe NCC should also bear in mind the larger impact crippling a company as big as MTN may have on the economy. There is no doubt MTN should be sanctioned. But while the sanction should have an impact on the sanctioned in order to serve as deterrence to others, it should not be such that it could kill it.

NCC under Sections 55 & 65(1) of the 2003 Nigeria Communication Commission Act that created it has the power to impose fines in such amounts by exercising its discretion. But just like judges, such discretions are not to be exercised arbitrarily.

As an aside, I wonder what NCC does with all the fines collected from licensees. I remember that NCC slammed huge fines a few years ago on the three major telecommunication networks for the bad services they were rendering. Since then however, the services of the network operators have consistently deteriorated. Perhaps, NCC has to think of another way to enforce provision of good services to consumers of telecommunication services.

SOMEWHERE IN THE LAW… Lagos State Traffic Management Authority Law 2004

Since LASTMA is a hot topic at the moment, it might be appropriate to start off this new segment (which I hope to continue diligently) with the Law which established the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority in 2004. The focus today in that Law is on Section 16 which provides:

Section 16 (1): A person shall, before he is appointed as a member of the Authority, be required to declare his interest, if any, in any transport or other business organization undertaking transportation of passengers, or goods or engaged in the repairs and maintenance of vehicles or manufacturing or sale of any equipment used by the Authority.

Section 16(2): A member of the Authority who acquires any financial interest in any organization undertaking transportation of passengers or goods or engaged in the repairs and maintenance of vehicles in the production or sale of any equipment used by the Authority shall within one month of such acquisition give notice thereof in writing to the Authority specifying the interest so acquired and the Authority may, after taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case, decide whether—

(a) to retain him as a member of the Authority; or
(b) to remove him from such membership; or
(c) attach any condition to his membership.

Section 16 was picked in view of the fact that a good number of the members of LASTMA either have interests or own quite a number of commercial vehicles now operating in the State. I in fact got to know once when I was at one of the LASTMA offices in the State that commercial buses arrested are not booked until LASTMA officials ascertain that such vehicles were not owned by one of them.

It is also not much of a secret that some LASTMA officials (or members as the Law refers to them) either own or have interests in private towing vehicles.

In view of the provision of Section 16, one wonders how many commercial bus-owning LASTMA officials declared their interests and how quite a number of them would be able to explain the acquisition of the buses and towing vehicles. Perhaps the really relevant question to ask is how many of them are aware of this provision of the Law.

LASTMA ON "STRIKE"

Sometime in the early 90s, I represented my mum at the Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) meeting at one of my brothers’ school. One of the parents at the meeting in talking about getting the school back on track said it was important that the standards of education not be allowed to decline. He said that if there is a serious problem with the infrastructure in the school, that could be built within a short time once the funds were available but if pupils/students are not given the right foundation or education, it may take much more than just funds to get things right. I have never forgotten that statement and I will come back to the statement later in the course of this write-up.

In 2004, the then governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Tinubu, who really achieved more for Lagos State than most people remember or are willing to give him credit for, established the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) to ease the traffic bottlenecks in the State.

In spite of the fact that the Second Schedule to the Law under which LASTMA was established created some offences and listed the penalties therefor, I doubt that very many people would dispute the fact that LASTMA under Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu stuck to its mandate and indeed achieved the main objective of easing traffic bottlenecks in the State.

LASTMA continued in the direction under former governor Bola Tinubu in the first few years under the immediate past governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola. And indeed, it should be said that the procurement for LASTMA under the administration of former governor Fashola of several towing vehicles, helped in no small measure to quickly clear the road either after a breakdown or an accident.

Trouble started in my opinion however when the State under the immediate past governor decided that slamming heavy fines on errant drivers was the ultimate solution to traffic lawlessness. It is no secret that most LASTMA officials make a lot of money daily by entering into negotiations with apprehended drivers and diverting fractions of the official fines to their own pockets. The heavy fines set by the State government turned most LASTMA officials into the monsters they later became. I don’t know if the State government was making a lot of money from the fines imposed on errant drivers, but I know that a lot of LASTMA officials made a lot of money because the fines set were so high.

LASTMA went from being a genuine traffic management outfit to a body which had as its priority, revenue generation; both for the State and (as it appeared), more importantly for individual officials. The lust for money became so great that quite a number of LASTMA officials would in fact deliberately mislead drivers into entering one-way roads in the absence of conspicuous signs which should have done the job, and have their colleagues waiting ahead to make arrests. Where LASTMA officials should have been proactive in preventing the commission of traffic offences, they wait (and perhaps even pray) for you to make sometimes, honest mistakes and then swoop on you because it puts money in their pockets.

It can then be imagined, how majority of these extremely dirty LASTMA officials would feel when the new governor told them to stop harassing motorists. Perhaps there was a meeting, perhaps there was a directive. But what followed after the governor’s directive was an open defiance or rebellion by LASTMA officials who then decided to report at their duty posts, but to lift no finger (or leg) in traffic management.

LASTMA officials, at least a good number of them, stopped working. In Lagos State where commercial bus drivers have an infinite capacity for lawlessness, LASTMA officials stopped working. In Lagos State where the average private vehicle driver has a near infinite capacity for lawlessness, LASTMA officials stopped working. The result is what most Lagosians have been experiencing in the past several weeks. Traffic gridlocks for no discernible reason. And of course, with these gridlocks come robberies in traffic.


Governor Akinwunmi Ambode should respond by sanctioning a number of LASTMA top officials. The last I checked, the governor retains the power under the 2004 law which established LASTMA. He can remove any official however high-ranking who openly defies his directive. Under Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, LASTMA did not need to harass motorists to be effective. And majority of people in Lagos and other States acknowledged LASTMA’s effectiveness.

Back to my earlier story about the fixing of decayed infrastructure versus the fixing of damaged humans. It is my belief, rightly or wrongly, that over-emphasis on too heavy fines and criminalization of every little infraction under the Fashola government did substantial damage to the psyche of LASTMA officials and turned them into monsters. The heaviness of the fines and the fact that it took average of a whole day to get it paid, was an effective bargaining chip for LASTMA officials who thus enriched themselves immensely and illegally at the expense of both the State and the people.

Governor Ambode should insist on LASTMA, VIO & KAI not harassing people. And this insistence should in no way stop them from performing their duties. If this open defiance continues, the governor should make examples of a few top officials to keep the underlings in line. The State cannot long afford to waste such long debilitating hours in traffic.

AIRLINES, FLIGHT DELAYS AND PASSENGER COMPENSATIONS

It is often said that time is money. Indeed, this holds really true because time squandered can never be regained. Sometimes, persons who fail or neglect to keep appointments or be on time for an appointment may thereby miss opportunities of a lifetime. Sometimes, the missed opportunity might not be the fault of that person. It might in fact be the fault of some other third parties who do not think that considerations for their customers/clients should form part of the service they are supposed to render. Let’s go the route of the airlines on this one today.

Airlines usually require passengers to check in for flights booked at least 50 minutes before departure and oftentimes, we have heard stories of passengers missing their flights not necessarily because the plane had taken off before they got to the airport, but because they came in several minutes after they were supposed to have checked in. There have in fact been stories of a particular airline in Nigeria which allows itself to be so over-booked online that sometimes when you turn up at 1 pm for a flight that is supposed to depart at 1.40 pm, you will be told that you have arrived too late!

In such situations, the missed flight and having to make arrangements for another flight are the passenger’s punishments for “late coming”. While the passenger however gets some form of punishment for coming late or even sometimes with an over-booked flight, for not coming early enough, the situation is very different with the airlines when they, for whatever reasons, cancel or delay their flights. We understand that airlines can sometimes be forced by reasons beyond their control such as really bad weather conditions to delay their flights or even totally cancel such flights until further notice. However, even in such situations, airlines owe their customers, the passengers, the duty of promptly informing them of their proposed action and the reason(s) for such actions.

Where however, the reasons for delaying or cancelling a flight has nothing to do with, say, the weather condition, then, it is only fair that the airline compensates the passengers who had booked and paid for such a flight. Compensation should come not just in form of refunding the money already paid where necessary, it should also come in form of paying back more than the passengers paid in an attempt to mitigate whatever inconveniences the delay or cancellation might cause to them.

A responsible airline management, especially in climes where there the business is quite competitive will realise that offering some sort of compensations even without the existence of a law to compel them to do so, will keep the passengers returning to their airline. Of course it cannot be in the interest of any airline to make flight delays and cancellations a habit just because it provides some sort of compensations.

The Air Passengers Bill of Rights currently in the process of being passed in Nigeria while being a step in the right direction, has, in my view not yet adequately addressed the issue of compensation of passengers in the events of delays. For instance, the Bill is said to have provisions that passengers can demand for reimbursement of money paid where flights have been delayed for up to two hours or more. And where the delay is just an hour, the airline should make provisions for two free calls, emails and snacks for affected passengers. While admitting that this is better than nothing, it is nevertheless the case that some people cannot be adequately compensated in monetary terms for even a delay of one hour. It is therefore recommended that the provisions in the Bill should be more stringent and should make it mandatory for airlines to compensate passengers in cases of flights delayed for up to one hour or more and where cancelled, compensation should not just come in form of provision of accommodation and transport to and from the airport. The compensation should be much more than that. It could come in form of perhaps, a 30% discount and refund on the ticket already bought or the passengers’ future tickets. These measures will serve to keep the airlines on their toes and will definitely go a long way to reduce the frequency of flight delays and sometimes outright cancellations in many cases, with scant or non-existent regards for the convenience or situations of the passengers.

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Diamond Bank workers protest

Diamond Bank workers protest

THREE MEN IN BLACK?

I was doing a research for a matter on-line when I stumbled on the quote of Honore de Balzac below. I have decided to share the quote with everyone not because I agree with everything in it, I most certainly do not, but because it is nothing if not interesting. Some of the things in the quote are true, even in my short years of legal practice, I have seen quite a lot which always remind of the cliché that truth is always stranger than fiction. I have seen hitherto close siblings become bitter enemies because of their parents' inheritance, I have seen marriages break which had no business coming together in the first instance, I have seen people do things which make me wonder whether their brains were on sabbatical at the time of doing the deeds...

I do not agree with the author of the quote that priests, doctors and lawyers do not think well of the world, perhaps I am only speaking for myself in this wise, but I really haven't seen too much to make me agree with this part of the quote. While I agree that most priests and lawyers in most countries wear black robes, the only kind of doctors that my research tells me wear black robes are the academic doctors and not medical doctors that I think he means in his quote. I nevertheless think the quote is interesting enough to be shared with you.






There are in modern society three men who can never think well of the world, the priest, the doctor and the man of law. And they wear black robes, perhaps because they are in mourning for every virtue and every illusion. The most hapless of these is the lawyer. He sees the same evil feelings repeated again and again. Nothing can correct them. Our offices are sewers which can never be cleansed. I have known wills burned. I have seen mothers robbing their children, wives kill their husbands. I could not tell you all I have seen for I have seen crimes against which justice is impotent. In short, all the horrors that romancers suppose they have invented are still below the truth.

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850)