On October 25, Nigeria was ranked 120th out of 142 countries in terms of adherence to the rule of law.
This ranking was made available by the Global Rule of Law Index and released by the World Justice Project (WJP), in Washington DC, United States.
The Jurist Newspaper takes a look at Nigeria’s poor outing in the recent rule of law ranking.
Background
The WJP is an independent, multidisciplinary organization working to create knowledge, build awareness, and stimulate action to advance the rule of law worldwide.
According to the WJP, the four universal principles of the Rule of Law are Accountability, Just Law, Open Government, Accessible and Impartial Justice.
In the recent ranking, countries were evaluated based on eight parameters.
There are limits on government authority, the lack of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice.
The rule of law is a political concept in which every citizen and institution within a country, state, or community, including lawmakers and leaders, are held accountable to the same laws.
What data is saying
Globally, Nigeria scored 121st out of 142 countries in absence of corruption, and 23rd out of 34 countries in the area.
The country is ranked 104th out of 142 in the world and 14th out of 34 in the region in terms of open government.
In a comparable vein, Nigeria is the second worst country in the Sub-Saharan area in terms of order and security, ranking 33rd out of 34 countries.
It is ranked 139th out of 142 countries. In terms of fundamental rights, Nigeria ranks 116th out of 142 countries and 23rd out of 34 in the area.
For regulatory enforcement 119th, civil justice 100th and criminal justice 86th out of the 142 rated countries.
Why does Nigeria rank low consistently?
In 2021, the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) traced a €500,000 COVID-19 fraud to Nigeria.
According to the statement, the scheme was coordinated using compromised emails, advance-payment fraud, and money laundering.
It stated that the fraud was uncovered by financial institutions and authorities across Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, as part of a case coordinated by INTERPOL.
In September 2022, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) recovered N2.8 billion worth of assets earlier diverted or embezzled under the constituency projects scheme.
The commission said it achieved this recovery through its Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI), which tracked 2,444 projects between 2019 and 2021.
Following these revelations of corruptions it is yet to be seen if any of the institutions or individuals who perpetrated such acts were made to face justice in accordance to the law.
According to Professor Sam Erugo (SAN), Nigeria’s poor ranking in rule of law is because institutions that enforce the rule of law like the Court, Police, EFCC, amongst others in the country are weak.
He noted that the institutions are bedevilled and hampered by basic challenges, including poor remuneration and low morale.
He pointed out that the greatest challenges are corruption, arbitrariness and impunity as well as failed values. Consequently, they have poor ranking in terms of observance of rule of law.
“We have generally weak institutions traceable to corruption, nepotism, ethnic profiling, and generally poor governance.
“The greatest challenge in Nigeria today is the failed value system. We need ethical re-orientation, starting from the head down.
“Only adherence to ethical values will change the system of leadership and follower-ship to observe the rule of law, and do the right things. Then other things will follows when the leadership is right and ethically responsible.” Professor Erugo said.
According to the WPJ, Justice System failures expanded in 2023 and Two-thirds of countries (66%) saw their Index scores for Civil Justice fall this year, of which Nigeria is among this statistic.
It added that greater justice delays and weaker enforcement are largely to blame. Meanwhile, scores for Criminal Justice also fell in slightly more countries this year (56%) than last year (55%).
Professor Ernest Ojukwu, SAN says there have been many instances where strong individuals have been able to undermine the rule of law.
He stated that corrupt politicians have been able to use their power to influence the judiciary and the police.
“This has led to a situation where the law is not applied fairly, and where powerful individuals are able to get away with crimes.
“However, there are also some strong institutions in Nigeria that are working to uphold the rule of law.
“For example, the judiciary is relatively independent, and there are a number of civil society organizations that are working to promote human rights and good governance.
“Overall, Nigeria is still a country where the rule of law is weak. However, there are some signs that this is improving. As the institutions in Nigeria become stronger, the rule of law will also become stronger.” Prof Ojukwu explained.