Rawls Theory of Justice: A Panacea to the Jagons of Societal Proceedings


In spite of the incessant efforts of Political Philosophers on how best justice should be administered, societal proceedings in Nigeria are clearly being done unjustly. The rich often prey on the poor. Nigeria has become a country where the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer. A country where underpaid professions are being discriminated.

Based on a firm research, a Police Recruit earns a consolidated annual salary of N108,000. This brings his monthly salary to about N9,000-N10,000. A police on grade level 02(1) earns a monthly salary of about N42,000, while a police on grade level 02(10) earns about N46,000-N47,000 monthly. Also, a Street Cleaner earns a monthly salary of about N18,000-N25,000. A Nigerian teacher also earn about N60,000 for level 8.

Furthermore, a federal University lecturer at a Graduate Assistant level, earns about N105,000-N120,000 per month(CONUASS), while at an Assistant Lecturer level, he earns about N120,000-N146,000 per month(CONUASS), excluding tax and other deductions. Lastly, the entry level salary for federal government Doctors is about N195,000-N220,000 per month(CONMESS), also excluding tax and other deductions. These alone shows injustice being administered in societal proceedings. Perhaps another look as the salary scale of our legislators, will shed more light to the point we are driving at.

According to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission(RMAFC), the annual Take-home allowance of each senator and member of the House of Representatives(HOR) in Nigeria is estimated at N19.66million and N18.26million, respectively. Also, the basic annual salary for each senator is about N2.3million, while each member of the HOR is about N1.99million.

Of course, the Senate President and his Deputy earn about N2.48million and N2.31million respectively, while the speaker of the HOR and his deputy earns about N2.47million and N2.29million respectively. In total, the Take-home allowances and salaries of Senators and members of the HOR is estimated at N2.14billion and N6.58billion. The overall annual legislators Take-Home Allowances and salaries is estimated at N8.72billion.

So tell me, can a country that spends N8.72billion annually on its legislators, (whereas the average citizens live in abject poverty), be regarded as a Just country? Can its societal proceedings be termed Just? In fact, the RMAFC specifically states that, "with the national minimum salary of about N18,000 per month and N216,000 per annum, it will take an average Nigerian worker, 60 years and 44 years to earn the annual salary and allowance of a Nigerian senator and a member of the HOR respectively". Its no wonder Ben Murray-Bruce, a Nigerian Senator, called for a reduction of the salaries and allowances of legislators.

Something needs to be done. A Nigerian street cleaner, police man, doctor, lecturer and so on, is just as important as a Nigerian senator. A Nigerian senator can not survive without a doctor. In fact, Nigeria as a whole can not survive without policemen/army to defend its territory, doctors to treat its sick citizens(including its senators), street cleaners to keep the country clean, and lecturer/teachers to educate and impact on its youths(its future).

Seeing this, it is quite unfortunate that most of these important professions are not really seen as important. Their take home salaries do not depict their usefulness and relevance to the country. Instead, our brothers and sisters at the helm of affairs continue to get richer and embezzle money, while important Artisans who also play important roles, continue to get poorer.

However, given this societal illness, my proposed panacea to the unjust salary scales of professions in Nigeria, is the application of John Rawls Theory of Justice. In his book "A Theory of Justice", John Rawl gave his own version of the Social Contract Theory. He imagines a situation where members of a newly created society come together to determine the principles and proceedings of their new society. Nobody knows his future profession. For instance, nobody knows if they will be become Farmers, lecturers, senators, doctors, and so on. In Rawl's words, they were covered with the "Veil of Ignorance". Later on, principles(like salary scales) where given to different professions according to their relevance and usefulness, while they(the members) were still covered with the Veil of Ignorance.

After the principles were set(and there was no going back), the Veil of Ignorance was removed. This was done because, if those choosing the principles that will govern the society were to know their future professions, they would choose a principle(or salary scale) that will favour their profession. Hence, the Veil of Ignorance.

Unfortunately, Nigeria is different from the society proposed by Rawl. Nevertheless, his theory of justice can still be applied hypothetically to the unjust salary scale of professions in Nigeria. This can be done through a total and drastic reallocation of annual salaries and allowances to professions, according to their relevance and usefulness in the society. In doing this, the purveyors of this reallocation, must be covered with the "Veil of Ignorance".

In actualization of this, i also suggest we, as Nigerian Youths, let known our displeasure towards this unjust societal proceedings. We need to see to the actualization of this reallocation. We need to engage our senators in political talks. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that really matters"(Martin Luther King jr). If some of us are too shy(like me) to directly engage these senators in talks, we can also engage them through write ups(like Dele Giwa), articles, music(like Fela), paintings, reasonable protests, and so on. When this is done, our voices will be heard, and the flamboyant lifestyles of our legislators, will be reduced drastically and salary scales of profession like Lecturing, street cleaning, and so on,  will depict their undeniable relevance in the society. Thus, administering true justice.

Thank You
Yours Faithfully

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