The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, has been sentenced to three months in prison for contempt of the court.

The ruling was handed down by Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon on Tuesday, in response to a suit filed by Patrick Okoli, a former police officer who was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian police force in 1992, according to the affidavits supporting the suit.

A Bauchi High Court had in February 19, 1994, quashed the compulsory letter of retirement in a judgment delivered in favor of Okoli. The high court also ordered that the applicant be reinstated with all rights and privileges.

In accordance with the High Court’s ruling, the Police Service Commission (PSC) in a letter dated October 13, 2004, directed the then-IGP to reinstate the applicant and issue a recommendation for his promotion.

But the Nigerian Police failed to obey the order of the High Court and didn’t follow the recommendation of the PSC, prompting Okoli to file a lawsuit.

In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/637/2009 at the Abuja federal high court, Okoli prayed for an order of mandamus to compel the enforcement of the order of the Bauchi state high court and the directives of the PSC. And once again, on October 21, 2011, the Abuja High Court delivered its judgment in favor of the applicant.

Efforts by the office of the IGP to quash the case were unsuccessful. The office of the IGP’s appeal to the judgment of the Abuja High Court was dismissed yet it did not honor the judgment, prompting the applicant to take further steps by approaching the House of Representatives and as a last resort, hired a law firm to commence a committal proceeding against the respondent.

Based on these series of contempt by the office of the IGP, Justice Olajuwon ruled that the IGP should be committed to prison until he obeys the judgment of the court.

“It is unfortunate that the chief enforcer of the law is one who has deliberately refused to comply with the same law. It is important to state that obedience to orders of court is fundamental to the good order, peace and stability of a nation.

“It is a duty which every citizen, who believes in peace and stability of the Nigerian state, owes the nation and the court has a duty to commit the individual who has failed to carry out the order of the court for contempt, so as to prevent the authority and administration of law from being brought to disrespect and to protect the dignity of the court.

“The terms of the Orders of this Court are clear and unambiguous. This court is satisfied that the respondent (presently and those before him) has had proper knowledge of the Orders of this Court, there is no denial of such knowledge and the receipt of Forms 48 and 49.

“The respondent filed a counter affidavit, was duly represented in court by different counsel, who stated how they had written several legal opinions which were not attended to.

“The refusal and failure of the respondent to comply with the orders of this court has been proved in this case. The respondent, in this case, the inspector-general of police, in the person of Usman Alkali Baba, is to be committed to prison and detained in custody for a period of three months or until he has obeyed the order of this court, made on the 21st October, 2011, in all things that are to be performed, whichever period is shorter.

“If at the end of the three months, the contemnor remains recalcitrant and still refuses to purge his contempt, he shall be committed for another period and until he purges his contempt,” the judgment said.

The ruling comes the same month that the chairman of Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, was sentenced to prison for contempt of court.

But like Bawa, who appealed the judgment that committed him to prison and was pardoned on the ground that he was not the EFCC’s chairman at the time of the ruling, the IGP is expected to be acquitted following an appeal.

However, the courts’ judgments denote a shift from the Nigerian judicial system, which previously seldom committed prominent public office holders, especially in the executive, to prison.

Check most faded ancestral kingdoms, they failed not because of lack of resources, rather, due to the poor utilization of their people. Typically, the people become enterprising, build wealth and after passing an inflection point, they pause – and lose their minds. Over time, another kingdom takes over.

As early as 1961, most European countries have written out any support to Nigeria because they saw a nation with a dynamic and pragmatic agricultural policy which if built upon could make it a respected nation in the world. In Belgium, they argued that any financial help to Nigeria was stupidity as the nation was already in a virtuoso cycle to greatness. Unfortunately, that did not happen and has not happened. Let me take you to economic systems for why:

Country A generates aggregate economic output (GDP) via agriculture of $5 billion but employs 1 million doing that. But it does not have a lot of money, just $0.5 billion, in the foreign reserves.

Country B generates output of $1 billion via crude oil sector but employs 100,000 people doing it. But  it has $20 billion in foreign reserves from the sale of the oil. 

Many people will say that Country B is in a better shape. Possibly, if that $20 billion is not mismanaged or stolen. But structurally, Country A has a stronger positioning provided it can keep getting more productive. It has found a way to employ its 1 million citizens and it has a decent reserve.  

In Country B, the citizens are under stress with largely zero economic participation, implying that risk is concentrated on what leaders do with that $20 billion. When you have bad leaders, you have the Nigerian case. When you have better ones, you have UAE (Dubai).

This explains why Nigeria has 133 million extremely poor people despite having earned $741.48bn  from oil & gas in 21 years. The curse of oil is not that oil is bad. The curse is that you can be partying in Abuja, drinking kunu, eating nkwobi and amala, and your bank balance will be growing in New York via oil sales. But when you look around, only few are in that party with the majority dying of the real curse: poverty in a land of plenty.

A National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report has revealed that 63% of persons living in Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor: “65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South. Poverty levels across States vary significantly, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty ranging from a low of 27% in Ondo to a high of 91% in Sokoto.”

Nigeria earned $741.48 billion from oil and gas over a period of 21 years covering 1999 and 2020, according to Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

This was disclosed by the Executive Secretary of the organization, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, during a stakeholders’ engagement forum on the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in Abuja. Orji said the reports involve 25 cycles of audit of the oil and gas sector.

“The 2021 oil and gas sector audit is currently ongoing and will soon be released.

“This is guided by a five-year strategic plan (2022-2026) which will enable the agency to establish a presence and operate at sub-national levels to support government’s revenue growth plan and resources mobilization,” he explained.

The Nigerian oil sector is riddled with corruption and malfeasance that have enabled revenue shortfalls for years, particularly in 2022, when the country’s oil production was halved by oil theft. Consequently, there have been calls for the government to ensure transparent operation in the industry.

Orji said that he is delighted that NEITI’s reports had led to the recovery of several billions of dollars by the government from companies operating in the sector. He added that the recommendations made by NEITI in its reports have also triggered huge reforms in the sector.

Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), aimed at sanitizing the industry. The PIA which birthed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), has not been fully implemented. Orji said that NEITI, being a member of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), would provide the information and data in the oil and gas sector that would help to effectively implement the PIA.

“As an agency charged with promoting transparency and accountability in the extractive sector, NEITI has responsibility to facilitate and strengthen participation by diverse stakeholders for a successful implementation of the PIA.

“Therefore, the implementation of the Act and full operationalisation of its provisions are of great interest to NEITI and its stakeholders.

“NEITI has been working with relevant stakeholders and leveraging on our experience and exposure in the oil and gas sector to ensure that the implementation of the PIA delivers its objective and desired results,” Orji said.

He explained that NEITI has pioneered a programme designed to provide platform for stakeholders, and state and non-state actors to discuss and engage with the process of PIA implementation. In addition, he said that the platform will serve as a platform to update the public and galvanize the needed public support for the implementation of PIA.

“As an agency with the mandate to promote transparency and accountability in the extractive sectors, with a multi-stakeholders platform for dialogue on natural resources governance, NEITI has a huge responsibility to facilitate and strengthen the participation of diverse stakeholders for a successful implementation of the PIA.

“So far, NEITI has conducted and published 25 cycles of audit reports in the oil and gas sector, covering the period 1999-2020. From the report, a total of $741.48 billion was recorded as revenue earnings to government coffers from the sector.

“Besides, NEITI reports have led to the recovery of several billions of dollars by the government from companies operating in the sector. Recommendations of our reports are also triggering huge reforms in the sectors, one of which is the PIA we are discussing here today,” he added.