By Anthony Akinola*
One legacy of disunity
bequeathed in Nigeria by the British colonialists is the unequal educational
development of the North and the South. The assumption of the
iniquitous Boko Haram ideology, “western education is evil” has its genesis in
the once hostile attitude of the northern traditional rulers to that
subject. A building with a faulty foundation would always be a
dangerous one, the sad story of Nigeria.
The comparative superior
position the South of Nigeria holds in Western education was not because the
colonialists favored the region over and above the North; on the contrary, the
colonialists’ bias was towards the North.
The disparity between the
two regions emanated from the fact that the activities of Christian
missionaries, de facto pioneers of education in the colony,
were restricted to the South and the pagan areas of the North. The
hostilities of the Emirs and Islamic clerics of the North to Western education
were appreciated by Lord Frederick Lugard (first Governor General) and his
successors.
Neither were enrollments
into the comparatively few government schools encouraged in the North as they
were in the South, not least because of the need to preserve the prestige and
authority of the Emirs. The colonialists acquiesced in sustaining
the fear the people had for traditional authority in order to ensure the
success of the indirect rule system, a rule through the chiefs. The
system was a great success in the North, compared with the South but the basis
for that success has become the problem of today.
It must, however, be
acknowledged that the British did not seek to create a nation that would, in
the long run, be more important than theirs. They were, first and
foremost, motivated by the economic prosperity of their own
people. To this extent, there is a limit to which the British should
be blamed for Nigeria’s woes. The blame rests with a leadership that
has been unable to redirect the course of history.
Most of Nigeria’s political
leaders since independence from Britain in 1960 have come from the
North. Were they to have been visionary, they would have appreciated
the need to redress the historic imbalance in education between the regions of
the Nigerian federation. It is not that they do not know that
education is important. In fact, their own children receive
education in the best schools and universities Europe and America can
offer. That they seem comfortable with the poverty and servitude
that surround them is amazing.
The Nigerian political
leaders, be they from the South or the North, have been either corrupt or
condoned corruption. The story of the nation’s oil wealth has
been about their huge overseas bank accounts, big mansions, private jets and
conspicuous consumptions.
They and their surrogates
invite foreign artistes to perform at the weddings of their sons and daughters,
while beggars converge around their premises for crumbs. The economic terrorism
of a tiny minority ensures Nigeria remains poor and underdeveloped despite
abundant material resources. It would require a new generation of
leaders, who are less corrupt, to re-write what has been a disturbing history.
Education and jobs are
essential for tolerance in any society. The Boko Haram insurgency
Nigeria has been confronted with is a complex mix, a phenomenon that defies a
singular explanation. There are elements of religion as well as poverty;
the latter helps in the recruitment of desperate individuals by the
principal ideologues.
The sophistication of the
Boko Haram operations, outsmarting the military in the manner in which they
have been doing, suggests the outfit benefits from the collaboration of
experienced international terrorist groups.
It is hard to know the
extent to which Boko Haram is being supported or encouraged by politicians;
President Goodluck Jonathan once said there were members of Boko Haram in his
“government”. In a nation of contrasting and conflicting sentiments,
it would not be inconceivable that there could also be Boko Haram sympathizers
within the military itself.
Suffice to say that leading
politicians have been pointing accusing fingers at each other, making all sorts
of insinuations. A possible intervention by the international community could
unmask the sponsors and masqueraders of the “faceless” Boko Haram. The
sect’s abduction of more than 200 school girls from their dormitories may have
alerted the civilized world to the evil that is ravaging Nigeria.
*Akinola wrote from Oxford, UK.
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