DIALOGUE NOT VIOLENCE - THE BEST SOLUTION TO
NIGERIA'S CRISIS
Being lecture delivered by MIAKPO
EMIASO on the occasion of the installation of the 4th president of
Rotaract Club of Ughelli Metropolis on the 23rd of July 2016 at Fri
High Events Centre Ughelli
If the crises of Nigeria are ever
to be effectively addressed and resolved,
we must first grow Nigeria to
become a nation.
If we cannot do that, then we
must grow nations out of Nigeria
in such a way that there will
always be Nigeria!
Let me begin by thanking those who thought me fit to
be honoured with the invitation to deliver this lecture from among so many
other eminently qualified individuals. This invitation has given me an
opportunity to learn a little more about the Rotaract Club and their members
about which I have heard so much.
I know now that Rotaract Club is a collection of
young persons (which sadly, no longer include me) who are committed to serving
humanity through leadership and philanthropy. I am so glad to be now associated
with them.
When
their officers came calling with their invitation, they were armed with two
topics for this event. They wanted me to choose one. I chose this one: Dialogue Not Violence: The Best Solution to
Nigeria’s Crisis. Why I chose it I cannot really tell. May be because I
thought I was more familiar with the words in the topic compared to the other
topic.
But as I settled down to putting my
ideas in place, I realized that the assignment I had chosen for myself was not
going to be as easy and simple as I thought. The first challenge which
confronted me was with the word ‘crisis’! I took my dictionary and checked. It
said the word crisis means
a dangerous or worrying time. A situation or period
in which things are very uncertain, difficult, or painful, especially a time
when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster or breakdown. (See Microsoft Encarta Dictionary 2009
edition).
A dangerous or worrying time!
Nigeria’s Crisis! A time when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster
or breakdown! Has Nigeria a crisis? Certainly. And plenty of it I dare say. Is
Nigeria going through ‘a dangerous or worrying time’? No doubt about that. Is
Nigeria at a time when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster or
breakdown? That, too, is correct.
Also, the dictionary told me that
the word ‘crisis’ has a plural form spelt as ‘crises’. And, realizing that the
answers to the above posers are all in the affirmative, my next challenge in
understanding what these Rotaract guys really want me to talk about, was which
of the many crises buffeting Nigeria as a country do they want me to talk
about? For indeed Nigeria is beset with a myriad of crises! But the topic I
have been given is in the singular. So, which of the crises should I talk
about? I have got to choose just one crisis.
And then another challenge. Can
anyone really talk about the crises assailing Nigeria and do so frankly and
truthfully? Can I? In these politically turbulent times? Can anyone honestly
discuss the challenges and problems of Nigeria without being pigeon-holed into
one or other political camp? That is something I must avoid. I am no politician
and I don’t talk politics.
But I am Nigerian. And I want to
remain Nigerian. I am a lawyer. A Christian. Catholic. A Niger Deltan and a
Deltan. An Isoko man (a very proud one). A public servant which status is
particularly worrisome in the circumstance. Being a civil servant, particularly
of my kind, makes this kind of assignment most onerous and dangerously
hazardous. Persons of my kind of status are not expected to be frank. They are
to be tactful when discussing the problems of this country. I am expected to
talk with my tongue in my cheek and from both sides of my mouth. Something I am
not very good at. But that is the way to go so that the powers that be will
consider one as belonging. That way, you are able to protect your skin.
However, I am this morning going to
talk only in my personal capacity as a humble Nigerian citizen in the context
of the definition ascribed to that phrase in Chapter Four (particularly at
Sections 38 and 39) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. I am not here as a civil or public servant but only as a Nigerian
citizen.
Having so defined the capacity in
which I am here this morning, let me turn back to the question I asked earlier.
Which of the many crises besetting Nigeria do these young chaps of the Rotaract
Club expect me to discuss here? You must forgive me for describing you as young
o. I only took liberty of my understanding that the Rotaract Club is
“a service, leadership and community service
organization for young men and women
between the ages 18–30 (which) focuses on the development of young adults as leaders in their
communities and workplaces.”
YOUNG
MEN AND WOMEN: Young men and woman.
The youth! These are those that are also generally referred to as the leaders
of tomorrow. But they constitute one of the greatest crises of this country
deserving of a discussion. It is a well-known fact that I have always had
issues with the Nigerian youth. I am not happy with the way they are growing up.
I have had, and still do, this worrying feeling that today’s Nigerian youth is
not being equipped with the requisites for a useful future life let alone one
for leadership. Are they really the leaders of tomorrow? When will that
tomorrow come? Will it ever come?
I ask these questions because when
I was a lot younger and qualified as youth, I was told the same thing. That I
was one of the leaders of tomorrow. And we were taught in school about the then
leaders of today. We learnt about who was the head of state. We were told about
the various federal or state ministers and commissioners. We learnt about the
various state governors. And I tell you something. The same names which we
learnt about then as leaders are the names that my own grandchildren are being
taught to memorize as leaders of Nigeria! What happened to the youths of
yesterday who ought to be today’s leaders?
As for today’s youth who are also
being touted as tomorrow’s leaders, I ask you: Are you really being prepared
for tomorrow’s leadership? I have my fears. Because the youth I see today is
that young person who wakes up in the morning and has no domestic duties to
perform even when she or he is but just 10 years old. He is the guy who wakes
up in the morning and plugs earphones to his ears to listen to uninspiring
lyrics of music played from external cultures and being oblivious of the immediate
world around him. This is a major crisis for Nigeria.
The average Nigerian youth is more
versed in the lewd lyrics of today’s music than he knows of the beautiful stories
in the Bible and Quran. Today’s youth reads nothing useful out of a passion. He
is not taught to take anything serious. Life for him is all about music, home
videos, pornography and sex.
The Nigerian youth is the I go die o chap who is ready to fight in
support of his favourite European soccer club and yet does not know the names
of any Nigerian club! The Nigerian youth, especially the girls, is the wuzup babe who prefers to keep awake all
night watching Telemundo or browsing
pornography on her phone instead of reading Half
of a Yellow Moon written by her Nigerian compatriot about Nigeria. She sees
reading a book of any sort as some tedious punishment. She prefers to remain
glued to her smartphone face-booking. Don’t ask me what she is spending so much
time doing on Facebook!
The Nigerian youth is given to
cultism into which he is lured so very early in life believing that by ‘belonging’, he gets every good thing he
desires just by wishing. Sadly, the psyche of the Nigerian youth is one more of
violence than civility – thanks to prolonged military governance and a failure
of our education.
But today’s occasion is not about
the Nigerian youth. I shall cool my temper for now. There will be some other
time, I hope, to discuss this better. Besides, I want to be allowed to believe
that the youths gathered here today are some of the very good few Nigerian
youths and represent an exception since not all Nigerian youths are a source of
worry.
AMALGAMATION: So, I ask again. Which crisis of Nigeria do these
young chaps want us to discuss? Is it the crisis into which Lord Lugard plunged
the peoples living around the River Niger in 1914? Ok. We shall talk about it.
ECONOMY: Is it the economic crisis which the discovery and
exploitation of crude oil has blindly led us into due to greed and poor
management? Does Nigeria have an economy in the real technical sense of that
word? Is the production and sale of oil alone an economy? The country has oil.
The oil is exploited and produced by foreigners. How much of it is produced is
known only by the producers because we do not have the know-how to be able to
monitor how much is produced. So we are content to accept whatever these
foreigners tell us they have produced.
Meanwhile, in the course of the
production, they mess up our environment by unmitigated spilling of highly
corrosive crude oil onto our land surfaces and by a ceaseless flaring of
noxious gas into the air. They kill our vegetation and destroy the land and
seas so that our people are unable to farm or fish any more.
A huge chunk of the little money declared
by the foreigners which ought to come into the ‘economy’ for sharing from Abuja
is then first waylaid at a point referred to as a tower! NNPC if you like. The
remnant is then placed on a huge dinner table at the centre of the country
where 36 super guys assemble, cap in hand, to collect their share. This ‘share’
is then promptly waylaid again before it is distributed to the people. And that
is what we call an economy! The whole country depends on this for survival. Of
course, this is a major crisis. Shouldn’t we talk about it?
EDUCATION: Or is it the fact that our educational system has
woefully failed? We are building more universities daily but our streets are
filled with educated illiterates! An educational system which denies its youths
knowledge of their history.
We have a country that behaves like
it is doing its children an undeserved favour by providing them with education.
A country which does not pay its teachers for months un-end and yet expect that
these teachers will turn out knowledgeable students!
A country where children must write
the School Certificate examinations commonly known as WAEC with trepidation and
multiple times paying exorbitant fees therefor. Where children are brought up
thinking and believing that passing WAEC and indeed any examination is a matter
of luck and, perhaps, also through some ‘magic centre’ manipulations and other
forms of malpractice.
And when he manages to scale
through WAEC, his ordeal would have just begun as now he must contend with
another monstrosity known as JAMB. He pays through the nose to enroll for the
Almighty JAMB! Writes the JAMB multiple times paying each time through the
nose.
After managing to eventually pass
JAMB with an acceptable “cut off mark”, the university of his choice tells him
it does not have confidence in the JAMB result and he must again pay for a Post
UTME drill. Here again he is further subjected to a procedure he cannot
appreciate as the rules are never clear. There is a merit rule. Then there is a
catchment rule. And there is a rule about some educationally disadvantaged
zones! And, of course, there is a further rule which is unwritten but generally
referred to as the ‘Nigerian factor’.
All of these just so that a
Nigerian child can get education! And these are in spite of the fact that Chapter
II of the 1999 constitution provides that
“Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring
that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels”
and
that government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy and provide free,
compulsory and universal primary education, free secondary and free university
education as well as free adult literacy programmes. (See Chapter II –
Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy - Section 18 of
the Constitution). This is a major crisis!
I think every Nigerian child has a
fundamental right to education. This is the minimum that a country can give to
its children. It is a natural right and the child need not be subjected to
impossible hurdles before he gets educated. Educating the Nigerian child is not
a favour to the child but a duty owed him by the state in whose ultimate interest
the child is educated.
We must put in place such systems
that enables the child discover himself in whatever area of learning he
naturally has a comparative advantage in and he should be allowed to go through
it without all the cruel hurdles to which he is currently subjected. I really
do not see the usefulness of all the entrance and admission examinations. They
should and must be abolished. A child that has gone through a six year primary
education should be seen to be fit to directly move to a secondary school. And
when he has gone through another six years of secondary education, he should be
ripe without question to directly proceed to a tertiary institution without
ridiculing him with all manner of tainted admission procedures which are in
dire want of integrity.
HISTORY: Another crucial crisis which I believe these
Rotaractors want me to discuss is the sad reality that today’s Nigerian youth
knows nothing about the history of his own country!? He knows nothing about his
own history. Beyond being told that Nigerian attained independence in October
1960, he knows nothing about the founding fathers of his country and their
struggles which led to that independence. He is not told the details about the
war which his country once fought between 1967 and 1970 and the reasons for it.
Least of it is the roles played by Nigerians in the infamous World Wars I and
II and whatever concerned them in those wars. They are not told that brave and
courageous Nigerians got involved in these wars in far-away lands such as the
Congo and Burma. Some never returned to their homelands as they paid the
supreme price in those far-away lands unsung
Our children are no longer taught
about the Mansa Musas, the great tribal wars between great kingdoms of the
Binis and of the Yorubas. The Queen Aminas, the Aba women’s riots, the exploits
of Madam Tinubu of Lagos, the struggles of Mrs Ransome Kuti. Nothing is taught
to our children any more. How can they know who they are? How can they prepare
for tomorrow? How can they become effective leaders?
SECURITY: What is the crisis of Nigeria I am called upon to
talk about? Is it the security challenges of Boko Haram and such other
misguided gatherings of IPOB, MASSOB, Niger Delta Avengers and the new one in
the Cross River axis? What has led to the rise in the number of such groups? Is
it that these persons love to wear masks and live in the creeks crawling with
dangerous animals and mosquitoes? Where do they get those weapons they
intimidate the rest of us from?
RELIGION
AND MORALITY: What am I called upon
to discuss here? Is it the moral decadence of our society especially among the
youths? Are we going to talk about a generation of youths where the girls give
themselves out in marriage to equally unscrupulous young men who ‘marry’ the
girls on credit without even knowing who the girls’ parents are? Shouldn’t we
talk about the crisis of a generation where the young ones no longer respect
age? What should we talk about?
Is it the fact that our towns and
cities are riddled by churches and mosques yet we have become more distant from
God and churches have become profit-making businesses and stealing in the name
of God is glamourized? Churches and mosques where fornication and adultery are
played down as sin and the preachers do not consider these good homily topics?
Where even celibate priests and pastors have a personal mastery of the use of
condoms?
Am I to talk about the fact that
our churches have become a ground for entertainment, where a music minister
competes and compares himself with secular
musicians? Where the altar of God is now a ground for comedy and where a
successful minister of the Gospel is
measured not by his closeness to the doing of the will of the Almighty but by
how rich he is and how much influence he wields in the society?
We now have churches where the passion to win souls for the Lord has been
replaced with fashion parades and the love
for money, where motivational speaking has replaced Biblical preaching, where you really can no longer differentiate between daughters
of Zion and harlots, where pastors kill each other for juicer postings and higher
positions, where preachers now tell us that Jesus Christ is no longer coming back
and soon and that, as born again Christians all our sins including the ones we
are yet to commit have long been forgiven once and for all at Calvary and
therefore we should claim the kingdom of God even by violence as our bona-fide
right; where we are told that, as Christians, suffering, poverty, and sickness
is not our portion since the blood of Jesus has been shed for those purposes.
Our churches are
now places where packaging and special effects have replaced the
beauty of God's glory, where sexual sin is now referred to in passing as
mere weakness of the flesh and made to look like it
is no more a sin; churches where the grace of God is taken for granted and the
Holy spirit is casually assaulted daily as tongues are casually spoken no
longer as the Spirit gives utterance; where
prophets prophecy as psychologists and sorcerers do using demonic powers as
livelihood.
We now have big
time gatherings of persons in search of everything except what happens to their
souls in the hereafter, where the church can no longer decipher the difference
between witchcraft spirit and the Holy
Spirit, where filling the church seats has
become a priority over and above the raising
of disciples for the kingdom, where sinners feel more comfortable and the hand
full of those struggling to do the will of the Almighty no more feel a sense of
urgency to preach the good news to the lost;
where our so-called men of God are more concerned about how much money members give than how much the members truly love
the Lord, where the word of God is scarce
and the fire on the altar is going out; where the priests have become blind,
the watchmen sleeping, and holiness is no
longer the standard.
CORRUPTION: What am I to discuss? Corruption? A thing that has
long become a way of life with us where even those sent to fight it are
themselves masters of corruption? This is so huge a crisis that it does not
merit a discussion as part of a discussion. It is a discussion on its own. We
shall just keep it for some other day. Corruption is one of the major causes of
all Nigeria’s crisis. It seats everything else on its head including logic.
Corruption blurs the vision. Kills reason. Creates so much motion but results
in no movement.
EXAMINATION
MALPRACTICE: Is it examination
malpractice where parents shamelessly pay invigilators to look the other way
while the students cheat? A society where lecturers distribute marks and grades
for sexual gratification and in exchange for such vain things as money? A
school environment where teachers and lecturers to whom we sent our children to
be tutored and mentored into responsible citizens are the very ones who without
shame sleep with our innocent daughters on the threat of failure should they be
stupid enough not to succumb? Such lecturers carry with them a curse. A curse I
have long pronounced on them. Unless they change their evil ways, their
daughters will pass the path they have paved and they will leave this earth
unfulfilled.
SELF-SERVING
POLITICS: Should I talk about
our many self-serving politicians who have turned politics into profit-making
business instead of service for the general improvement and good of humanity? A
country where campaigns are entirely on how to distribute money freely received
from the centre in a fraudulent federal arrangement with no ideas as to how first
to make money?
Even an imbecile can distribute
money! How can you describe yourself as a federal republic whereas everything
that matters including finance is centralized? A lazy practice which kills
intellect and initiative. All the states have to do is where big flowing robes,
wait behind in their luxurious government houses until collection date. Then
they zoom off to Abuja most times in chartered aircraft or even private jets to
sign for their monthly allocation for onward distribution back home. And I am
told that most of these guys are wizards when it comes to distribution of
resources.
There is no gainsaying the reality
of our politicians who, as our leaders, are more concerned with their personal
interests than the common good of the people. Leaders who, after serving only a
four year term, insist that they are entitled to a juicy life pension which
includes luxurious houses and brand new cars that changed every four years and
the payment for which enjoys a priority over the payment of the monthly
emoluments of the civil servant who, even after serving his country and state
for 35 years only enjoys a hope for a pittance as pension which is never paid!
CHAPTER
II of the 1999
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the most beautiful part of
that constitution. It is the part which deals with the Fundamental Objectives and
Directive Principles of State Policy. The opening section of this
chapter provides that
“it shall be the duty and responsibility of all
organs of government, and of all authorities and persons, exercising
legislative, executive or judicial powers, to conform to, observe and apply the
provisions of this chapter of this constitution”.
The Chapter then makes provisions
for the different objectives which every government must strive to achieve.
These objectives include political objectives, economic objectives, social
objectives, educational objectives, foreign policy objectives, and environmental
objectives. The Chapter also contains directives on Nigerian cultures,
obligations of the mass media, national ethics, and duties of citizens.
Unfortunately, our governments and leaders do not even take a look at this
beautiful part of our constitution let alone implement its provisions. This is
a major crisis.
JUDICIARY: Should I talk about our judiciary where I am made
to understand that the judge is as good as the society which produces him? The
Judiciary! Last hope of the common man! Is it correct that in our dear country
Nigeria, judgement has a price in cash?
HOMO-SEXUALITY: What is the crisis about Nigeria that I am supposed
to talk about? Should we talk about a society where abducting under-aged girls
by very powerful individuals and forcing them into marriage without even the
knowledge of their parents is glamourized and unquestioned? Should we talk
about a society where men sleep with men and women marry women and sleep with
each other? Should we talk about a Nigeria where family values have all
collapsed? A society where crime is so prevalent that such evil as kidnapping
and day light murders do no longer cause us outrage?
ELECTRICITY: Should I talk about the crisis of electricity or
the lack of it where over 170 million people struggle to access a generation of
electricity less than is required to cater for one million people? A crisis
which has made generators render public electricity supply a stand-by source!
In Nigeria today, almost every household generates its own electricity via all
sorts of generators emitting dangerous fumes which affect the quality of air we
breathe and thus endanger our health.
THE
POLICE: Shouldn’t we talk
about a country where its police force is ill-trained, ill-provided for. Poorly
motivated and whose morale is at an embarrassing low? A police force where its
leadership mouths what it calls ‘community policing’ but denies the place of
state police even when the country’s constitution provides that the governor of
a state is the ‘chief security officer’ of the state!
How can any serious country with a
land mass as large as Nigeria and a population of over 170 million people some
of whom are located in very remote inaccessible rural areas and creeks expect
to be able to run an effective police force centrally controlled from Louis
Edet House? So that when gun-totting herdsmen over-run local communities
killing hundreds of innocent farmers, the local police authorities cannot take
steps and act as is expected of an effective security outfit unless and until
instructions are received from above!
Here
is a country with a police force belonging to the government at the centre
which is barely only able to pay personal emoluments and thereby placing the
state governments in a helpless situations to provide the working tools while
the individual police man provides from his personal means for whatever else is
required (including fuel, writing materials, communication gadgets, personal
kits etc) to just ensure that the police station remains open.
We run a police force which
necessarily must be corrupt as they have to provide for themselves those basic
essentials for being able to perform their duties since their employers have
shirked this responsibility over the years and this has come to be accepted as
the normal.
HEALTH: Should I talk about a country with a crisis of
medical care that even its president’s health needs foreign expert
re-evaluation? We have a country where medical personnel spend more time in
strikes within the year than they spend in the hospitals which, by the way, are
poorly provided with working tools. Hospitals where there no syringes, no
electricity supply, and no water supply. Do not bother about medications and
drugs.
TAX: Am I going to talk about the crisis of a country
where its currency is on a jet-speed free fall? Or a country which has depended
for decades on a single commodity for the sustenance of what it calls its
economy? So that whenever the price of this single commodity plummets as it is
currently doing, the country goes starving! A country where the collection and
payment of internally generated revenue is a matter only for lip service. A
country where the payment of tax is alien to the people? A country where,
except for PAYE by government workers, no body else pays income tax. A country
where companies and other business outfits shamelessly collect VAT without
remitting same to appropriate authorities. This is a country where religious
organisations run regular businesses and successfully hide under the name of
God to avoid taxation!
A
BASKET FULL OF CRISES: The sad truth
is that Nigeria is beset with a myriad of crises and each and every one of them
including those mentioned above deserves to be talked about. There is none that
is too trivial to be ignored. The crisis of Nigeria is a combination of all the
above crises. And the time to talk about them is now. Now is the right time to
talk about these issues. I suppose this is what the drafters of the topic for
today’s lecture had in mind. They must have had at the back of their mind a
call to dialogue to discuss these issues now before they overwhelm us into a
complete disaster. Take for instance the issue of the amalgamation of the
southern and northern protectorates of Nigeria by Lord Lugard in 1914.
Of course, the gentleman Lord
Lugard may have meant well. He had his good reasons for doing what he did. And,
till today, many Nigerians still share his conviction. What really is this
amalgamation? What were the actual reasons for the amalgamation? In whose
interest was the amalgamation? Are those reasons still being served today? The
answers to these questions can better be provided by someone who not only saw
the events unfold but participated in the process. He is Chief Richard Akinjide
SAN. At speech he delivered recently in 2012, this legal icon said:
“I was in the first cabinet that was
overthrown by the military in this country. I entered parliament in December
12, 1959. And I remained in parliament until January 15, 1966 when the
government was overthrown. I was the Federal Minister of Education in that
cabinet. … So I had the fortune or the misfortune of being a victim of the
first coup in this country.
… In Balewa’s government, Alhaji
Shehu Shagari was the Minister of Works while I was the Minister of Education.
When the military handed over to us after about 14 years, Shagari emerged as
the President while I became the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.
Again, Shagari’s government was overthrown just a few months after I left the
cabinet.
When I was in Tafawa Balewa’s
Cabinet, all Cabinet Ministers had access to written intelligence report every
month. That was the practice at that time. But when Shagari came in, for
reasons which I cannot explain, that practice was no longer followed. But by
virtue of my duties as the Attorney-General and as a member of the National
Security Council, I continued to have access to some sensitive matters.
Nigeria is a very complex country.
Our problems did not start yesterday. It started about 1894. Lord Lugard came
here about 1894 and many people did not know that Major Lugard was not
originally employed by the British government. He was employed by companies.…
Unless you know this background, you
will not know the root causes of our problems. The interest of the Europeans in
Africa and indeed in Nigeria was economic and it’s still economic…. Nigeria was
created as British sphere of interests for business.
In 1898, Lugard formed the West
African Frontier Force initially with 2,000 soldiers and that was the beginning
of our problems. Anybody that wants to know the root cause of all the coups …
and our present problems and who does not know the evolution of Nigeria would
just be looking at the matter superficially. Our problems started from that
time….
When Lugard formed the West African
Frontier Force with 2,000 troops, about 90 percent of them were from the North
mainly from the middle belt. And his dispatches to London between that time and
January 1914 was extremely interesting. Lugard came here for a purpose and that
purpose was British interest.
Between 1898 and 1914, he sent a
number of dispatches to London which led to the Amalgamation of 1914. The
Order-in-Council was drawn up in November 1913, signed and came into force in
January 1914. In those dispatches, Lugard said a number of things which are the
root causes of yesterday and today’s problems. The British needed the Railway
from the North to the Coast in the interest of British business. Amalgamation
of the South (not of the people) became of crucial importance to British
business interest.
He said the North and South should
be amalgamated. Southern Nigeria came into existence on January 1900…….At the
centenary of the fall of Benin, I wrote a piece in a number of papers but
before I published the piece, I sent a copy to the Oba of Benin….
What is critical and important are
the reasons Lugard gave in his dispatches. They are as follows:
He said the North is poor and they
have no resources to run the protectorate of the North. That they have no
access to the sea; that the South has resources and that they have educated
people. The first Yoruba Lawyer was called to the Bar in 1861. Therefore,
because it was not the policy of the British Government to bring (their)
tax-payers money to run the protectorate, it was in the interest of the British
tax payer that there should be Amalgamation. But what the British Amalgamated
was the Administration of the North and South. That is one of the root causes
of the problems of Nigeria and the Nigerians.
When the amalgamation took effect,
the British government sealed off the South from the North. And between 1914
and 1960, that’s a period of 46 years, the British allowed minimum contact
between the North and South because it was not in the British interest that the
North be allowed to be polluted by the educated South. That was the basis on
which we got our independence in 1960 when I was in the parliament. I entered
parliament on December 12, 1959.
When the North formed a political
party, the Northern leaders called it Northern People’s Congress (NPC). They
didn’t call it Nigeria’s people Congress. That was in accordance with the
dictum and policies of Lugard. When Aminu Kano formed his own party, it was called
Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) not Nigerian Elements Progressive
Union. It was only Awolowo and Zik who were mistaken that there was anything
called Nigeria. In fact, the so-called Nigeria created in 1914 was a complete
fraud. It was created not in the interest of Nigeria or Nigerians but in the
interest of the British. And what were the structures created? The structures
created were as follows: Northern Nigeria was to represent England; Western
Nigeria like Wales; Eastern Nigeria was to be like Scotland.
In the British structure, England
has permanent majority in the House of Commons. There was no way Wales can ever
dominate England, neither can Scotland dominate Britain. But they are very
shrewd. They would allow a Scottish man to become Prime Minister. They would
allow a welsh man to become Prime Minister in London but the fact remains that
the actual power is rested in England.
That was what Lugard created in
Nigeria. A permanent majority for the North. The population figure is also a fraud.
In fact, a British Colonial Civil Servant who was involved in the fraud was
trying to expose it but he was never allowed to publish it.
The analysis is as follows: If you
look at the map of West Africa, starting from Mauritania to Cameroun and take a
population of each country as you move from the Coast to Savannah, the
population decreases. Or conversely, as you come from the Desert to the Coast,
right from Mauritania to Cameroun, the population increases.
The only exception throughout the
zone is Nigeria. Nigeria is the only Zone whereby you go from the Coast to the
North, the population increases and you come from the North to the Coast, the
population decreases. Well, geographers, anthropologists and population
experts, draw your conclusions. Someone has told me that the last population
census was done by computer. What nonsense. A computer is as good as its
programmer. A computer will produce what you ask it to produce”.
(See the speech of Chief Richard
Akinjide (SAN) at the public presentation of the book Fellow Country Men- the story of Coup d’etats in Nigeria by Richard
Akinnola).
So, clearly, the amalgamation was
by the fiat of an individual white man who came, saw, and conquered. The views
of the people were not sought as it would have happened in his native country
where they recently held a referendu over an issue so similar. The people of
the United Kingdom were called upon to vote whether they wanted to remain in
the European Union or not! In Nigeria, the people are forced into a marriage by
reason of the ‘superior’ logic of a few who insist till tomorrow that Nigeria’s
elusive unity is not negotiable! No reason is given for this view. At least the
proponents should be charitable in advancing some convincing arguments why this
has to be so. Let the advantages and benefits of not negotiating be laid bare
for all to appreciate.
This issue persists till today.
There are people who are convinced that the unity of the amalgamation is a
forced unity and is not real. Some held this view all their lives till death. Chief Obafemi Awolowo is known to have
described the result of that amalgamation thus:
“Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical
expression. The word Nigerian is merely a distinctive appellation to
distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do
not". (See his Path To Nigerian
Freedom of 1947).
As at the 3rd of August
1966,Yakubu Gowon was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Nigerian Army and was Head of
State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. On that day, he
had also declared that:
“there is no basis for Nigerian unity, which has
been so badly rocked, not only once but several times.”
Yakubu Gowon is from Plateau State
in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. But before Gowon spoke, Sir Ahmadu Bello as the
Sardauna of Sokoto of the Nigerian core North had declared publicly as reported
by the Parrot Newspaper on October
the 12th 1960 that:
"The new nation called Nigeria should be an
estate of our great grandfather Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a
change of power. We use the minorities in the north as willing tools and the
south as a conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us and never
allow them to have control over their future."
Sir Ahmadu Bello
was then the Premier of Northern Nigeria (the only one) who is also on record
as stating that in running Nigeria, a northerner comes first and if a
northerner cannot be got, then an expatriate will do.
More recently,
some northern politicians have boasted of having conquered part of the south
and yet others have claimed by reference to some international conventions that
the on shore crude oil found and lying on the beds of the Atlantic Ocean belongs
to the north. According to one of these northern leaders, Alhaji Usman Bugaje,
at a recent Northern Elders Conference and aired by Channels Television,
“It is wrong for any
state to claim that it is oil producing because 72% of the total land mass in
the country belonged to the North and that by the United Nation’s law; it is
only the North that actually has the right to claim ownership and that there
are no oil producing states except the Nigerian state itself.”
Some of these statements especially
by northern leaders have been as provocative as they are most unfortunate. But one
thing that is common to all the statements is the fact that they all agree that
the geographical expression known as Nigeria is composed of a diverse grouping
of persons whose ways of life are so incurably different that not even a four-decades
old National Youth Service Scheme has succeeded in stemming disuniting feelings.
Most southerners still feel infuriated at the arrogance and superior feeling of
some northerners which is very real.
In fact, a report published by the
US military has not shied away from the fear of Nigeria disintegrating.
Published in the Tribune, the report reads thus:
“A new
report entitled ‘Nigerian Unity in the Balance’ authored for the United States
Army War College has, again, warned Nigerian leaders to beware of another civil
war or an outright break-up following what it called ongoing divisive trends in
the country.
The
report released by the Strategic Studies Institute of War College was written
by two former American servicemen, Gerald McLaughlin and Clarence J. Bouchat.
McLaughlin is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College while Bouchat is also an
adjunct professor at the U.S. Army War College (USAWC)
The
report … observed that divisive forces were becoming stronger than uniting
forces in Nigeria, warning that unless this was reversed, Nigeria`s existence
could be jeopardized and that parochial interests created by religious,
cultural, ethnic, economic, regional, and political secessionist tendencies are
endemic in Nigeria. Under such stresses, Nigerian unity may fail.
Should
Nigeria’s leaders mismanage the political economy and reinforce centrifugal
forces in Nigeria, the breaks to create autonomous regions or independent
countries would likely occur along its previously identified fault lines,” the
report warned.
Having
already experienced one brutal civil war, Nigeria is at risk for a recurrence
of conflict or dissolution, especially since some of the underpinning
motivations of the war remain unresolved, the report observed….
While
conceding that Nigeria’s fate is primarily in the hands of Nigerians, the
report noted that such could be positively affected by actions of the US,
adding that “Nigeria’s future is in the balance ….
The
report particularly warned that religious differences were taking the
centre-stage in the emerging conflict situation in the country, disputing
repeated reports that economic reasons were to blame for the insurgency and
other conflicts in the country.
For the
full report, please see
But then, times have clearly
changed. 2016 Nigeria is not the same as 1914 Nigeria. So much water has passed
under the Nigerian bridge. Nigeria has moved from protectorates through indirect
rule to a republic and a federation. The
country currently runs a system which is neither a unitary system of government
nor a federal government notwithstanding that we are nominally so. This, to so
many, is not acceptable.
In the circumstance, so many
Nigerians are daily waking up to a realization that the Lugardian thinking of
1914 no longer serves as a good model for running a more politically complex people
and have called for the outright dismemberment of the country on the grounds of
marginalization. Some have called, not for a dismemberment, but for a
restructuring on the ground that such restructuring will enhance development as
each autonomous section of the country will in pride develop along the lines of
their comparative advantages and then make contributions to the centre. They
argue that the centre as presently constituted is top heavy, too powerful, too
rich, and therefore inappropriately too attractive. They call for what they
call ‘true federalism’ or true fiscal federalism which allows each federating
unit to take direct responsibility for its resources. Persons who belong to
this school of thought are mostly young persons.
Their views have been countered by
an older group of Nigerians who claim to have either witnessed or actually
participated in the Nigerian civil war. For this people, the sacrifice that has
been made to keep Nigeria one up till today has been too monumental to
contemplate any form of change to the existing structure. In fact, the issue of
any form of restructuring is a no-go area. Has always been. Will always be.
Now, the latter group is the more
powerful group. They occupy government houses and wield the greatest of
influence in this country. Their word is law. They have always been. Some of us
read about them in our history and government classes as governors, ministers,
commissioners, heads of state and so son. They are now in their seventies and
eighties. And they still hold sway in government.
Unfortunately, since these powers
that be have insisted that a restructuring of what ever kind of the
geographical contraption known as Nigeria is not negotiable, the former group
of young persons have started revolting recalling in aid of their position the
popular saying that those who make peaceful change impossible render violent
change inevitable. I saw a video of a leader of one of these groups actually
threatening to over run ‘the zoo’ (as his group now calls Nigeria) and
annihilating any one claiming to be Nigerians. Some of these young ones have
not stopped at just talking tough, they have actually taken to violence. They
have gone undercover. They operate from abroad and from inaccessible creeks.
They were black masks and wield fear-inspiring weapons.
Their conduct reminds me of a
scene in Shakespeare’s As You Like It where an oppressed young man, Orlando,
forced by hunger into desperation, stumbled onto an unfairly deposed king (Duke
Senior) and his group of noblemen in the forest of Arden as they got set to a
meal. In his desperation, the young man (rather than appeal for an
understanding of his plight) drew his sword and ordered the good natured king
and noble men to steer clear of their food.
In response, the good natured
deposed king had wondered if the young man was emboldened by his distress or that he
was a rude disrespecter of good manners so much that he was so empty in civil
behavior:
“Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy
distress,
Or else a rude despiser of good manners,
That in civility thou seem'st so empty?”
The king then went on to lecture the
young man that he ought to realize that he would achieve his purpose faster and
much more easily by being gentle and civil than by force:
“What would you have? Your
gentleness shall force
More than your force move us to gentleness”.
I know that most of you here gathered have been
denied the privilege of studying Shakespeare - another undoing of our education
in this country. Therefore let me reproduce this scene verbatim to tickle
you.
AS YOU LIKE IT – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
ACT II SCENE VII
Enter
ORLANDO, with his sword drawn
DUKE SENIOR
As can be seen from this excerpt from this play
written over 400 years ago, dialogue gets better results faster and cheaper
than violence. This remains true even today and in Nigeria. I hold the view
that all of the crises which beset Nigeria revolve around one fundamental
crisis which has to do with the strange kind of federal system of government
Nigeria operates.
Unless and until this fundamental
crisis is resolved, all the other crises as enumerated at the beginning of this
paper will remain with us. And to resolve this, Nigerians must talk. The
Nigerian state must be renegotiated. That there is a renegotiation does not
necessarily lead to a disintegration of the country. It only leads to a
spelling out of an agreed terms under which the various nations which
constitute the country are willing to remain together under one flag. Such
talking, dialogue or renegotiation is to be preferred to the continued mutual
suspicion pervading the present amalgamated arrangement where no one section is
satisfied that it is not being marginalized. As a country, all the nations
constituting same must walk together. But the Holy says
“How can two
walk together except they be agreed?” (See Amos 3:3).
And how can they be agreed if they
do not talk to each other? They can only be agreed from negotiating since an
agreement is always a product of a negotiated arrangement which starts with talking
to each other.
Under Yakubu Gowon and especially
during the civil war, it was common to hear that keeping Nigeria as one
indivisible entity was a task that must be done. Nigerians heard this chorus
again recently from their leaders who seem now to believe that they have
conquered the South of Nigeria as were told to “please pass this to the
militants that one Nigeria is not negotiable and they had better accept this.”
Containing a veiled threat as it
does, this is violent talking and it is not what is needed now. Such statements
from leaders are, with the greatest respects, do not and cannot engender unity.
They, instead, stoke the fires of disunity. Retaining Nigeria’s unity or
improving on it is achievable but certainly never by force of arms. Never by
intimidation or threats. Let no one group feel superior to another. Hitler led
the Germans to think and behave this way. The history of the World Wars are
there to remind everyone of the outcome. The Tutsis and Hutus of Rwanda are
still telling their stories and licking their wounds.
If the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia could
disintegrate, then it is evident that no force of arms can keep an unwilling
people together in an unjust and inequitable union. It is only a question of
time. What will keep the people together is justice, equity and fair play which
are currently missing in Nigeria but can be freely and willingly negotiated
into being.
A forced union is bound to implode
no matter how long it takes to happen. Today’s leaders must do nothing to
bequeath to children yet unborn a country pregnant with an implosion. No one
section should arrogate exclusive ownership of Nigeria to itself and attempt to
lord it over the rest of the country. There was a time when the rest of the
country caught cold and shivered when what was then known as the “Kaduna Mafia”
sneezed. Not anymore.
Time was when the fear of the
Caliphate as embodied and personified in the Sultan was the beginning of wisdom
in Nigeria. Not anymore!
The Izons are wiser. The Urhbos are
on alert. So also are the Isokos and the Christian minorities in the far North.
The Igbos of the East are putting their acts together. The fear of rampaging gun-totting
herdsmen believed (wrongly or rightly) to be of Fulani extraction has made the
people of the Middle Belt and from Southern Kaduna to become alert.
Times have indeed changed! Every
people of the world have a fundamental right to self-determination through
peaceful means, which if denied, only begets destructive violence. To keep
Nigeria one is an ideal. It is a welcome ideal whose content must be
satisfactory to all involved. The contents must be negotiated.
There once was a
Soviet Union. Today it is no more. Negotiated into smaller viable independent
units. The heavens did not come down. There once was a united Sudan. Today it
is no more. From it has sprung a South Sudan. Again the heavens have not
fallen.
There once was a
Yugoslavia officially then known as The Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (SFRY). It consisted of six namely (a) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (b)
Croatia, (c) Macedonia, (d) Montenegro, (e) Serbia which included the regions
of Kosovo and Vojvodina), and (g)
Slovenia.
On the 25th
of June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from The Socialist
Federal Republic Yugoslavia. No single gunshot was fired. In April 1992,
Macedonia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina declared their independence with
firing gun shots. This left Serbia and Montenegro within The Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia but with Montenegro formally declaring its own
independence on the 3rd of June 2006.
These break away
independent nations are doing well and are good neighbours with each other. The
heavens did not fall. The idea of an independent Scotland
was once an unspeakable taboo. It is now freely discussed and a referendum held
in respect thereof. With Brexit, there is renewed talk of a second referendum
that would very likely give birth to an entirely independent Scotland.
At the commencement of the crisis
which led to the unfortunate civil war of 1967 to 1970, the gladiators of that
time convened at a place called Aburi in Ghana and talked. This was because
they knew that talking was more beneficial than warring. They talked and
arrived at conclusions suggestive of a confederal system of governance for
Nigeria which would entitle each federating unit greater autonomy. Somehow,
because of external interferences, this arrangement never took off.
In recent times, succeeding
governments realizing the importance of talking lest things get out of control,
have set up conferences to discuss Nigeria but with clear orders not to discuss
the “unity” of Nigeria which is seen as sacrosanct and beyond negotiation. I
take a position against any arrangement which compels persons to refrain from
speaking their minds freely. If Nigeria is to remain what it is, let all feel
free to talk about it and agree so. If Nigeria is to be restructured, or
“diversified” I say let us all feel free to talk about it and agree so. And
even if (God forbid) Nigeria is to break up, Nigerians must be free to talk
about it and agree so.
In the event of an unlikely break
up, I plead that we do it like Shakespeare would say, let’s do it honourably
such that it would be like a sacrifice fit for the gods and not a butchering
fit for the hounds. Only a few weeks ago, the United Kingdom went through a
referendum whether they should break away from the European Union or remain. As
painful as the outcome of that referendum may be to some people, the UK will
survive.
Violence cannot be an option. Let
us remind ourselves of what happened in Sudan. After so much bloodshed there,
they still settled for dialogue and gave birth to South Sudan. Let us recall
the events in Yugoslavia. Even the USSR broke up and the heavens have not
fallen. The Irish Republican Army took to violence for years without achieving
their objectives through that channel.
God forbid that Nigeria should
experience the Colombian situation or even the Rwandan type of catastrophe
before we realize that the heavens will not fall if the present lopsided
federal system of government is not retained in Nigeria. All over the world, a
federation is a group of autonomous and independent nations uniting together to
form a central organ to which every federating nation contributes resources for
their continued common enjoyment of the benefits which accrue to them for
belonging to that centre. It is never otherwise. A system whereby the centre
arrogates ownership of all resources to itself from which it distributes
pittance to the federating units is not a federal system and cannot encourage
the units to develop themselves. Such a system is designed to fail and will
surely fail.
Everyone recognizes that the
geographical space now known as Nigeria consists of many nations arbitrarily
put together by an individual not for the interest of the peoples who inhabit
the geographical space but that of himself and his home government. It was said
to be intended as an experiment for a hundred years which has now lapsed. The
day has come for its review. Such reviews require a renegotiating dialogue
without fetters. A dialogue at which every participant is equal. A dialogue
that is designed at achieving equity in the way we relate with each other. A
dialogue that is designed to produce a less heavy centre and a devolution of
most of government activities to the federating units safe for such limited but
fundamental items as military, currency, immigration and external relations. I
do not see what a federal government is doing with establishing and running a
fire service for instance. What is a federal government doing with agriculture
and housing? What kind of government is a state government without control over
its own police for ensuring internal security of lives and property?
Nigeria will run more effectively
as a group of consenting federating nations in which the consenting nations
must retain a lot more independence and autonomy while delegating a few
strategic powers to a central organ. We must go back to something closely like what
obtained before 1966 when each federating unit had its own constitution and
there existed a healthy competition between these federating units to outdo
each other in terms of good governance and both physical and human development.
This was before the military, sadly, came and imposed on the federal republic
of Nigeria its unitary hierarchy style of command on governance pulling all
resources into one basket! That basket has today become unable to withstand the
weight of a more politically complex population which has long exploded beyond
the sixty million inhabitants of 1966!
A return to the original conception
of our federal system as conceived by our founding fathers or something very
close to it will restore to the federating units a sense of pride, greater
dignity and that healthy competition among them in which one unit tries to
develop more than the other using its own generated resources and in so doing
concentrating on those economic areas where they have comparative advantage.
This is a minimum requirement and the view that Nigeria must remain what it is
can no longer hold. A forced amalgamation which is over a century old seems not
to have worked for us. Neither has a unitary type of “federation” served our
purpose. Something must now peacefully give otherwise we shall lose it all.
Again, permit me to recall the
words of Shakespeare. This time from Julius
Caesar at Act 2, Scene 1 via the voice of the conspirator Brutus thus:
BRUTUS
“Our
course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,
To
cut the head off, and then hack the limbs,
Like
wrath in death and envy afterwards.
For
Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
Let
us be sacrificers but not butchers, Caius.
We
all stand up against the spirit of Caesar,
And
in the spirit of men there is no blood.
Oh,
that we then could come by Caesar’s spirit
And
not dismember Caesar!
But,
alas, Caesar must bleed for it.
And,
gentle friends, let us kill him boldly but not wrathfully.
Let’s
carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not
hew him as a carcass fit for hounds.
And
let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir
up their servants to an act of rage
And
after seem to chide’em.
This
shall make our purpose necessary and not envious,
Which
so appearing to the common eyes,
We
shall be called purgers, not murderers.
And
for Mark Antony, think not of him,
For
he can do no more than Caesar’s arm
When
Caesar’s head is off”.
Nigeria must do what it has to do
while it is still possible to do it peacefully. It is my fervent belief that if
the crises of Nigeria are ever to be effectively addressed and resolved, we
must first grow Nigeria to become a nation. If we cannot do that, then we must
grow nations out of Nigeria in such a way that there will always be Nigeria! If
Nigeria must bleed like Caesar, let us not dismember it and hew it like a
carcass fit for hounds but let us nicely carve it as a dish fit for the gods
not by conspirators but by true purgers who must come together at a round table
to discuss the crises of Nigeria with a sincere view to purging the country of
all the negative weights which prevent it from ascending onto being the glorious
nation which it deserves to be given all the natural blessings God has endowed
it with.
Whenever some of our leaders
declare that Nigeria’s unity is ‘not negotiable’, what exactly do they mean? Do
they realize that such statements are provocative and do not represent the path
to peace but contain veiled threats? Do they mean that the present phony
federal system of governance which is more unitary than federal is serving
Nigeria’s purpose and must be left the way it is? Do they mean that the various
cries of ‘marginalization’ by different sections of the country are not loud
enough yet so that there is no need to listen to them? Do they mean that we are
going to continue to give persons seeking to Avenge their grievances reasons to
continue to blow up the pipelines to our mono economy? Do they mean that they
do not see any issues being raised by those who regard themselves as Indigenous
Peoples? Do they mean that they do not hear the voices who claim they are the
owners of all on-shore oil and not to those whose lands abut the ocean shores?
Do they mean that they are not at all disturbed by the killing of hundreds of
farmers by gun-totting herdsmen from within and without Nigerian shores?
To all those groups which have
already taken to some form of violence, I think they have made their points.
They must now cease their hostilities and tread the path of dialogue and
negotiations. Violence does no one any good. War is not what anyone should
contemplate. The effects and consequences of war should never even be imagined.
Nigeria already saw and experienced a gruesome civil war. We cannot afford
another war.
The time is NOW for Nigeria to
embark on a frank, honest and holistic discussion of the various issues which
constitute crisis for the country. Nigerians must talk to each other. Nigerians
must avoid violence of all sorts including violent language. This is the only
way to carve Nigeria fit for the gods.
NIGERIA OF MY DREAM: Like I said at the opening of this paper, I want to
remain a Nigerian. But not this Nigeria. This Nigeria has got to its wit’s end
and is going nowhere. I want to remain a Nigerian truly. But not this Nigeria
where the youths of today lack true role models. Not this Nigeria where
dishonesty is
rewarded and superficial role models are celebrated, impunity celebrated, where
injustice is seen as being smart since the most corrupt is the most successful.
Not this Nigeria where hardworking and honest persons find it
difficult to eke out a living for reasons of pervading corruption and
injustice.
I want to remain a Nigerian in a Nigeria
where I can get food to eat to bed, where my refrigerator is capable of
freezing my food and the fan in my bedroom helps to serenade me to sleep
because there is uninterrupted power supply round the clock. A Nigeria where
the policeman is truly my friend because he is under no pressure to survive and
so prone to bribery and corruption; a Nigeria where there are strong
institutions and not powerful individuals, where the rule of law is applied
across board and not selectively, where my children as a poor man has no need
to feel inferior to the child of the governor and both of them can attend the
same schools and write the same examinations without any favouritisms.
I want to remain a Nigerian in a Nigeria
where there is
(a) equal
opportunity for all irrespective of gender, tribe or religion; where the son of
a nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody
(b) economic justice for all deserving persons – for there can be no food
for the lazy
(c) social justice for all irrespective of one’s station in life
(d) transparency and accountability in all facets of life
(e) integrity in public and private life
(f) civic responsibility for and by all
(g) respect for the rights of the individual to self-determination
(h) respect for the individual rights of
fellow men and women.
I
want to remain a Nigerian in a Nigeria where I can become the governor of
Sokoto State without anyone reminding me that I am but a proud Isoko man and
where an Alhaji Usman Danfulani can become chairman of Isoko local government
area or the governor of Lagos State without somebody reminding him that he is
but a muslim and a northerner. I want to remain a Nigerian in a Nigeria where I
can sing and dance to the more convincing music of
Nigeria we hail
thee
Our own dear native land
Though tribe and tongue may differ
In brotherhood we stand
Nigerians all and proud to serve
Our sovereign motherland
Our flag shall be
a symbol
That truth and justice reign
In peace or battle honour
And this we count as gain
To pass unto our children
A banner without stain
O God of all
creation
Grant this our one request
Help us to build a nation
Where no man is oppressed
And so with peace and plenty
Nigeria may be blessed
