By
Anthony Akinola*
Recently, President
Goodluck Jonathan was in New York with a large entourage to drum up support for
Nigeria’s membership of the exclusive security council. He probably
would not have had that confidence if he were president of an Ogoni nation or
that of Arewa! What makes Nigeria a most important African nation
derives from the attributes of size and population – the fall outs from the
amalgamation of 1914.
I met a Gambian research
scholar recently in Oxford. I introduced myself as a Nigerian only
after he had said all that he had in mind about Nigeria, and it was
positive. He said the West African sub-region could have been in flames if
not for Nigeria. He mentioned our nation’s intervention in Liberia
and Sierra Leone to support his contention. I told him we are
currently contending with internal problems of our own, Boko Haram and
kidnapping and hope we shall triumph.
So, there are elements to
Nigeria which we ourselves may not so much appreciate. I remember
Cameron Duodu, a Ghanaian journalist , saying in an article that it could only
be the enemies of the black race who would wish for the downfall of
Nigeria.
It could have been out of
ignorance that anyone might have described the creation of Nigeria as the
“mistake of 1914”. Big and purposeful nations will continue to
dictate terms in the same world that America shares with the Armenians. America
is currently the most revered nation in the world; if that important nation
fears any rivalry, it could only be from other big nations such as China, India
or Brazil. The per capital income of Kuwait might be awesome but the
world of power can hardly be bothered by that.
America itself, if I may
restate here, is a product of amalgamation. The nation started as a
confederation of 13 independent colonies but accumulated 37 more states to be
the colossus it is today. America is rightly described as a “land of
opportunity” because it has space for others. Our problem in Nigeria
is that we have been unfortunate to have had a swing of political leaders who
lacked the talent to move a nation forward.
Would it have been because
of amalgamation that our political leaders steal public money? Is it
because of amalgamation that we rig elections? Is it because of
amalgamation that we are prodigal, spending public money in purchasing exotic
vehicles while the education sector is collapsing? Would it have
been because of amalgamation that our political and religious leaders lack the
courage to condemn those atrocities committed by miscreants in their respective
states or regions? There are those who wish they were sons and daughters
of kings or billionaires, so on what terms did we agree to be the
children of the parents that gave birth to us?
I beg, let us stop
ruminating about the fact of amalgamation and chart ways of resolving the
contradictions that militate against progress in Africa’s most populous and
most feasible nation. A deep look into the sordid past of American political
history and the modest achievements the nation has now made in the area of
racial integration, reminds one that those who build great nations do not
permit themselves to be defeated by the problems of their
generation.
We do not have to question
the basis of our nation after 100 years of its existence and more than fifty
years after independence. Instead we should be working for a
peaceful and united Nigerian nation so that generations yet unborn will not be
condemned to wishing they were members of those big nations that dictate terms
in sports, economy, military and other spheres of power indices – perpetually
celebrating that their own president had a 5 minute audience with that of
America or China.
We undoubtedly have cause
to be angry with ourselves but I must remind all and sundry that we are also
inter-dependent. The call for the sovereign state of Biafra is, for
instance, not in consonance with the fact that the Igbo, more than any other
ethnic group, have contributed to a possible demographic integration of
Nigeria.
In a functioning democratic
culture, the privilege to improve on the constitution would be the preserve of
elected representatives. Even when elections might have been
fraudulent, the fact remains that elected men and women share the emotions and
sentiments of the groups to which they belong. However, our elected
men and women have been selfish in pursuit of vested interests; they need help
to sort out the thorny issues in our federation.
Elected politicians
contribute to the culture of greed and corruption which we must end if Nigeria
is to make progress. The people themselves have a role to play in
this. We must also be determined to end the culture of electoral impunity
where the politics of “do or die” prevails. Those who have not won
in a free and fair election have no right to be our representatives and
leaders.
Our nation cannot be
anything other than federal. We must resolve to put structures in
place that give meaning to “true federalism”. This would entail
devolution of political and economic powers to the constituent units of a new
federal nation. It should not be the responsibility of Abuja to
write a constitution for the sub-units of the federation. The reason we are a
federal nation is because we share different values and our realistic objective
would be to create a society where our differences co-exist
peacefully. “Uniformity” does not substitute for “unity”.
We also need to be reminded
that political tension in our polity has historically been about
leadership. We fought a civil war between 1967 and 1970 because of
this. The current crisis ripping the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
apart is because of the same issue. President Goodluck Jonathan might not
have nodded to the idea of a national conference if there had not been a
challenge to his perceived ambition of re-election in 2015. Maybe it
is time we sought a Nigerian solution to a Nigeria problem rather than be
myopically preoccupied with a political arrangement that works
elsewhere. The need to remodel the presidency cannot be more urgent.
Governor Oshimole of Edo
state was shouted down while stating legitimate views before the committee on
the proposed National Conference. That, to me, is a dangerous
pointer to the possible outcome of a conference where primordial sentiments and
emotions could freely rage.There might be those wishing to go to the conference
hall armed with pistols and hand grenades. We could have a national
conference; hopefully, it will not be one that further complicates areas of
disagreement – or, even worse, lead to what could be a “Tower of Babel”
*Anthony Akinola is writer based in
Oxford, UK.
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