Being a lecture presented by the director of Centre for Trans-Saharan Studies, University of Maiduguri, Prof. Nur Alkali, CON, FHSN, FIMC at the annual conference of Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) held at University of Ilorin, Kwara State on April 26, 2012
Introduction
I have chosen this topic to allay our esteemed Chairman’s fears or worries that being a historian I may end up telling the history of Nigeria or even that of my speciality “the Sayfawa Mais of Kanem Borno”. I am very conscious of the fact that the Academy of Letters has the duty to actively participate in the ongoing debate on how to move our dear Nation Nigeria forward. But let me pause a little here to defend my discipline of history by stating that Nigeria is a product of its history and one of the current challenges we face to-day in this and many other developing nations of the world is the abandonment or absence of their history, culture and tradition. The failure to teach history in our primary and secondary schools has only succeeded in bringing up generation of Nigerians without sense of history, respect, love and pride in their past and their roots – all these probably in the name of modernization. Modernization is synonymous with westernization and abandonment of our indigenous core values and culture in preference for the behaviour and actions of foreigners.
We have come a long way as a nation to our present position in the 21st millennium seeking to be among the 20 most developed nations of the world. We came a long way bound by our history as one people even at a time when Europe was just a conglomeration of scattered tribes and clans at war with each other. Our various kingdoms, nation states and chiefdoms dated back to the 7th and 8th Centuries, and in some cases even further back to time immemorial. We were bound by the same factors of nature; geography, climate and culture which dictated and influenced our modes of production trade and commerce, war and peace, success and failures even before the Portuguese and Spanish set foot on Africa, and divided the entire World into two in the first European Imperialist move – the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1486 and other subsequent similar activities leading to the Scramble for Africa and eventual colonization of Nigeria. The recent discovery and excavation of the 8000 years Ndufune canoe under the auspices of the CTSS, University of Maiduguri has taken our history and culture that far back.
The Kanuri, the Hausa, the Ndigbo, the Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Yoruba, the Fulbe, the Nupe, the Tiv and many others whatever be their tradition of origin are to-day all Nigerians. They lived all this while together, until we were all physically attacked and conquered by the Imperialist forces of the Western World. We lived and suffered under them for over a century. But together we came along through nationalist struggle and forced them out of this country. But politics belongs to the West wisdom belongs to the East courage and endurance belong to us Africans still alive, kicking and full of hopes.
We all suffered the post independence set back but struggled hard together to keep Nigeria one even with a Civil War which led to a national re-integration. We fought to live together and no foreign super power succeeded in messing us up. When we were under the Colonial rule we had lost our sovereignty, our rights and resources. We had no claim over a single piece of land. But with the nationalist struggle we all fought together collectively to re-claim our rights and resources, built our nation with great difficulties but courageously and with a sense of mission. No single tribe, ethnic group, clan or individual did it or could have done it without the other. Power and resources belong to us all collectively and no one should claim ownership of any part of this nation or its resources whatsoever, alone or in the future.
Yes, the World has changed and is changing daily and the challenges are increasing by the hour daily. We hear of the “new international economic order”, globalization, and liberalization. Historical realities are forgotten and the developing worlds such as the one we belong seem to have accepted that modernization is the answer to the challenges facing us to-day. Yet modernization appears to be synonymous with westernization.
Be that as it may, we can neither reverse the trend of modernization or changes that are going on in the world to-day nor is it necessary to do so in the light of the magnitude and complexity of the challenges before us in all sectors of development. What we can do in reality is that, while we accept that such challenges exist we must approach them within the context of our achievements as a nation so far and our core values as a society with great culture of endurance and self pride in our unity and diversity.
From this point we take our bearing towards the direction that will move us forward. There has to be some tough choices we should make if our nation has to be transformed into a fully developed nation state, with a citizenry that is patriotic, courageous and with true sense of nationhood. When I said Nigeria is a “nation misjudged by her citizens” in my first topic I also mean that we have under rated our country, our gains, successes and the difficulties we have gone through including some bitter experiences of the past and modern day Nigeria. When people speak of breaking up of Nigeria into different political entities, it is the same thing as the doctor deciding to kill his patient instead of curing him or making the diagnosis and treatment of his illness.
When recently in a lecture I delivered in the University of Abuja to mark the 50th Anniversary of our independence, I said Nigeria’s 50 years of independence was a success story, many people appeared lost and even confused. This loss and confusion is a tragedy that befell our elite groups who out of greed fell into a state of self pity and despair. I will come back to this later but for now let me clear some misconception and what makes us feel the way we do in rating our nation low. First, let me appeal to our elite groups in whatever sector of the economy they may be to stop thinking that our problems were created by the Colonial Masters, the British. Fifty years after independence it makes no sense at all to continue to hold such beliefs.
To say that, Nigeria is a creation of the Colonial power, the British even after half a Century of their departure is an expression of failure despair and self pity. Similarly to blame the Nigerian Military for the crises we are facing after decade or so of their departure is not only unfair but unhelpful under the circumstances. But let me be clear at this point – that both the British and the military have contributed to some extent to some of the negative trends we are witnessing to-day.
It makes no sense today to say such indefensible view as Nigeria is the creation of its Colonial master – or Nigeria is an accident of history; or such ridiculous view as “Nigeria is a mere geographical expression”. It makes better sense to say that Nigeria, like many other nations of the world is a product of its history. To say otherwise is to accept what we were made to believe that “Mungo Park discovered the River Niger” when the River had been there for time immemorial.
The fact that such misconceptions are still held by some Nigerians lead us to the wrong frame of mind and doubts about existence as one united nation and often talk about the “national question”, the “national conference” or “sovereign national conference” whatever these mean. Someone who tried to explain what they meant simply said, “These are euphemisms” for the breaking up of Nigeria. How can you break up Nigeria when the entire nation rose up to fight the secessionist threat of Biafra? What is a “Sovereign Conference” when the nation is more sovereign than anyone seeking to break the country? It is often argued that the consent of the various communities were not sought when the British created Nigeria. Ambiguity about what constitutes a community in Nigeria keeps rising each time the matter is brought up for discussion.
Some people said we are a total of 250 communities, or linguistics unit, tribes, ethnic entities, and even clans. No serious scientific study has been done to the best of my knowledge, by anyone to ascertain these claims about ethnic entities, nationalities or communities. So, we are saddled with distortions of facts, and certain issues very basic in the theories and realities of state formation. What nonsense is an “ethnic nationality” and who defines what is this form of nationality in current global context?
Nowhere was this matter so aptly captured than the views expressed by Bala and Al-Kasum in their “misrepresentation of Nigeria”.
“Those who are advocating for the restructuring of the Nigerian federation into a Federation of nationalities and ethnic groups have failed to grasp the substance of the historical process which has produced our ethnic groups and the Nigerian polity… they seem oblivions of the impossibility of demarcating the boundary between most of the ethnic groups of contemporary Nigeria and their neighbours. These nationalities have actually no boundaries as they intersect into one another at the level of language, culture, identity and territory… there is no basis for these boundaries at the ethnic level given the mosaic nature of the ethnic and cultural geography of Nigeria and most of Africa” (Bala and Al Kasum – MISREPRESENTATION CEDDERT, 2005 p. 11).
As for conferences, we had too many of them and none ever came to the conclusion that Nigeria should cease to exist as a Sovereign nation State. Even the most recent one convened by the former president Obasanjo at the end of his tenure in office seeking to have a third term – the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) of 2005 ended up proclaiming unanimously that Nigeria should remain “indissoluble and indivisible nation state” Obasanjo’s misadventure was a serious error and misjudgment of Nigeria. This is because, while those of us at the Conference all knew about the motive, being tenure elongation the President attempted to blindfold the nation by saying in his opening address;
“We are once again at the threshold of history. History has presented us with the opportunity to reassess, refocus, redefine and redesign our political landscape in a direction that would strengthen the bonds of unity, enhance the process of democratic consolidation, strengthen the structures so as to solidify those values that promote democracy, good governance and good neighbourliness and open boundless opportunities for all Nigerians to be, and to feel that they are part of the evolving political process and socio-economic advancement”. (Obasanjo NPRC Opening address 2005).
Unfortunately President Obasanjo attempted to do opposite of what he said and woefully failed. All this rhetoric sounded like a praise singer’s words amounting to a grand deception and pretence to achieve an objective which would abort the Democratic process Nigeria was going through. In misjudging the quality and caliber of the participants the President’s speech writers and some of the foot soldiers planted in the Conference fought “tooth and nail” to divert attention away from true nationhood. Then suddenly there was a mysterious draft constitution found to be in circulation within the conference hall. Alarm was raised and its source was traced to those foot soldiers of the Presidency planted in the conference.
When the President made references to Nigeria entering a new “threshold of history” many of us at the Conference expected that he would remind us of the fact that “in the 1999 Presidential election which brought him to power Nigeria was well on the course of nationhood. He was not elected into office by his own ethnic group or even supported him. In the six predominantly Yoruba States of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Oyo he got only 1.09million votes, less than the 1.29million he got in Kaduna state alone and barely 0.9million he got in Katsina State”. He forgot to tell the audience that “he lost his deposit by scoring below 25% in five of these six states getting as low as 12% of the votes in Lagos and 16.6% in Ondo” (Bala and Al Kasum – CEDDERT, 2005)
This was a major shift towards Nigerian nationalism and a big departure from enthnicism and tribal politics in Nigeria. He would have advised the Conference delegates to bear in mind such historical facts in the task of transforming Nigeria and consolidating her political gains. Unfortunately he missed such a great opportunity of being a great statesman and drifted into the hands of a handful of some unpatriotic Nigerians who encouraged him to extend his tenure by modifying the Nigerian constitution through the Conference. He again misjudged or even misunderstood Nigeria. So also were all those who had the same thinking like him. But we need not condemn the President’s attitude to governance in its entirety. The Conference voted almost 90% to reject the tenure elongation and the item on “resource control” which was slotted in to confuse the Conference delegates suffered the same fate. At the end, the Conference produced, what in my view, one of the beautiful reports making 186 recommendations to transform and sanitize the Nigerian landscape in almost all the sectors of the polity. Unfortunately, this valuable document like many others before it was taken to the National Assembly and dumped there. I am not sure if we can to-day find any traces of that report. The Vision 2010 produced under the Chairmanship of the great patriot and statesman Chief Ernest Shonekan was thrown away for political reasons. Such is in tragedy that befell our leaders and various elite groups in this country.
Before I leave this subject let me say one point which I was privileged to make at the plenary of the NPRC which drew an overwhelming support from the delegates, including the Chairman – Hon. Justice Niki Tobi – that courageous and giant of a man who conducted a most difficult assignment of our times. That point was that Nigerian problems are probably not in our Constitutions or laws but in our attitudes. How can we be honest to ourselves, our people and our nation? How can we change our attitudes considering that Nigeria’s problems are largely caused by the elite groups of our society? When will these foot soldiers, cabals, and opportunists disappear from our landscape to give way to patriots and real men and women of Letters of our nation to take the centre stage in moving our nation forward?
HAS NIGERIA DEVELOPED?
Let me now return to the issue of whether Nigeria has developed in the last fifty years or so of her attaining independence. This is not an easy question though, but we must raise the issues at stake. The word development means different thing to different people but there is the consensus that “development” is about the people – the common man on the farmland, in the market place, traders, fishermen, weavers and all those related to these. Some call them the “ordinary citizens” or the “masses” and the common man. It makes little or no sense to say that this sector of our nation has developed simply because, as someone said, “the common man to-day sleeps in a house built of cement blocks, roofed with zinc sheets or Asbestos, and can ride a bus to and fro his village into the city, can eat baked bread, drink a bottle of Coca-Cola, and cast a vote to elect his leader or representative who speaks for him in the Parliament (views of a former governor’s image maker in one of the states (not in my state)). I concede that these are not parameters for determining the development of our people or the nation. We cannot pretend what the ordinary Nigerian needs to-day – those basic essentials of life – education, food, water and means of livelihood.
What we seem to have to-day is the neglect of the real sector of the economy; the informal sector and the lack of economic empowerment of the common man. Unfortunately there is a criminal neglect of the common man, total abandonment of his rights and entitlements by those whose duty it is to provide them. These are the elite class of our society in the position of leadership. There is absolute poverty of leadership in Nigeria – leadership that moves along with the followership. The fact that we have failed to achieve this even after the entrenchment of civil democratic rule a decade or so ago was a major set back for our country. Again, some of our elite groups believe that the common man has changed for the better from what he has been during the Colonial era since he can ride a bus, even a luxury bus to travel to his village for a week-end holiday and return to his work in “good time”. Some of them return to the towns and cities with one or two of their relations including even a new wife for whom they have found some jobs – as security guards, newspaper vendors, or selling recharge cards and petrol in the streets. These we consider serious error of judgment which must not be condoned for too long as signifying “parameters of development”.
The recent crises we have gone through on the withdrawal of petroleum subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan is a clear manifestation of the insensitivity of our leaders to the issues so critical to the welfare and security of the ordinary Nigerian. The President’s action also falls within the ambit of our attitudinal problem. I do not believe all that was said about the subsidy by government and so were those who were directly affected – the citizenry who poured into the streets in protest expressing their anger. The whole episode leaves a big scar and ugly stain on our nation. But the most disappointing aspect of all this crisis is the claim by a small group of elite or power brokers around the President that the crises was stage managed and an incitement of the public against the person of the President having come from a particular ethnic group or region of Nigeria. According to E. K. Clark,
“The current protest against the removal of fuel subsidy is a smokescreen to perfect the ploy to make the country ungovernable for Mr. President… (Being)… a promise made publicly by some politicians who lost out during the last presidential election”.
The whole matter lacks logic because Clark quickly made his usual U turn to his familiar subject when “he urged the Federal Government to start considering the ideas of convening a national Conference which … would offer the component units of the country an opportunity to discuss solution to the fragile unity of Nigeria”. (E. K. Clark in the meeting of the S. East, S. South leaders, Jan. 13). If we advance the argument further, does it also mean that the “unilateral declaration of the subsidy withdrawal” by the President a stepping stone for dismemberment of the country by the President”? Does E. K. Clark think that if Nigeria breaks up he will be an Emperor of the oil rich component of Nigeria? This is yet another misjudgment of the Nigerian nation state. To the best of my knowledge none of the protesting groups called for the breaking up of Nigeria including even those from his own section of the country as a solution to the problem of poverty and insecurity which was central to the cause of the protests.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN
With the strike and protests hopefully over for now let us hope that sanity will prevail and Nigeria will move forward to glory. In spite of all that has happened Nigeria has achieved some degree of unity as one indivisible and indissoluble nation state. What Nigeria lacks now and probably for some time to come is political and social stability. Our 50 or so years of independence must be considered as a success story even in the face of a Civil War. Generals and commanders in the forefront of that war were Yakubu Gowon, a great statesman from the Plateau region of Nigeria, Muhammad Shuwa from Borno a courageous and fearless General, General Badamasi Babangida an intelligent and disciplined army officer from Central Nigerian city of Minna, General Olusegun Obasanjo, Adekunle the black scorpion, Akinrinade from Western Nigeria, Murtala Mohammed and Abacha great patriots from the ancient city of Kano, Muhammadu Buhari a man of integrity from Daura General John Shagaya, Domkat Bali and David Mark just to mention but a few to show the spread of military leaders who fought to protect and preserve the territorial integrity of Nigeria. The list is endless and they faced the challenge to unite Nigeria.
Even from the rebel held area great patriots like Ukpabi Asika, the Administrator of the East Central State were committed to the cause of Nigerian unity. To date we have a unified military command many of whom have served in other parts of the World on Peace Keeping missions. Unity in diversity is one major stepping stone towards the attainment of nationhood.
Secondly and perhaps the most significant aspect of Nigerian success story is in the educational sector. Looking at the cream of personalities in this Conference, the great men and women of Letters there is no disputing the fact that our nation has made giant strides in the fields of education and scholarship. Education more than any other sector has contributed to Nigeria’s development immensely and beyond imagination since 1960. With the phenomenal expansion in the University system (from the University College Ibadan) to over 100 full fledged Universities, Nigeria produces about 150, 000 graduates every year.
We should take self pride and satisfaction in the number of Scientists, Engineers, Medical Doctors, Historians, Lawyers, Political Scientists, Linguists, and Economists who are found in all sectors of the economy within and outside our nation competing favourably with their counterparts in other parts of the world. Many of them have broken major grounds in their fields of speciality and have won international awards. Many are to be found in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the rest of the Euro zone occupying leading positions. The list is endless.
On our education, even in the advantaged Southern Nigeria Lord Lugard, in 1914 stated that “with some notable exceptions education seems to have produced discontent, impatience of any control and an unjustified assumption of self importance in the individual” (Lugard Amalgamation 1912-1919 report p. 60). From a colonialists misconception about the early educated elite we now have independent minded well educated Nigerians.
In the health sector, we shall put on record the number of Primary and Tertiary Health Centres, Hospitals Medical Centres, Health Clinics both public and Private managed by Nigerians. True we have both the performing and the non performing ones but we did not have them at the time of the attainment of independence. Today, we have a number of medical schools, teaching hospitals managed by world class physicians and other medical personnel trained within and outside Nigeria. Some of the major breakthrough in the field of medicine and surgery such as “skin-graft” were discovered by Nigerians. There are indeed some areas of weaknesses and short comings mostly relating to policy formulation and lack of political will which stand on the way of progress and development. But these are some of the typical features of the developing World and Nigeria is no exception. They will obviously not be the permanent features of our lives and the answer lies in the reversal of the trend and the realization of their impact on our national life.
We have seen the ugly side of our mental attitude of preference of everything foreign even in the area of health care delivery. But the clamour for medical treatment abroad has opened our eyes to some major discoveries – that in many of these foreign hospitals and medical centres, a sizeable number of the experts and specialists are Nigerians. Except for those who have made such places their natural habitats, many of them are on their way back home to serve their nation and their people. Some policy actions to create an enabling and a conducive environment will no doubt open the gates for them to return en masse.
On the transport sector we have moved away from the Colonial concept of building roads and rails for the exploitation of commodities and cheap labour to the development of road networks in all parts of this country. It took some of the Colonial time merchants nearly seven days to travel from the North-East of Nigeria to the South-east and the South West with great uncertainties. To-day, it is possible to travel in one day from Maiduguri, to the Nation’s Capital Abuja and Lagos to transact business and proceed to Port-Harcourt or Calabar to spend the night. Of course our failure to develop the standard gauge rail network system is yet another major setback and policy failures in many respects. But the movement of people and commodities across and along geopolitical zones of this country has remarkably improved to the extent that they have become major unifying factors.
We have missed one good opportunity to develop our rural areas by abandoning one major programme – the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rurual Infrastructure (DFFRI), in a policy document designed by our good friend and colleague Lanre Konyan during the Babangida era. Unfortunately again, this was one example of having good policies on the ground but abandoned due to the lack of political will and low educational capacity among executors of policy. The large sums of money budgeted for DFFRI went down the drains and the document was thrown away. One may cite many other examples of this nature which are still relevant and needed in moving our nation forward.
Add to all these the Federal Capital Territory Abuja which is to-day the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria – a modern city of international standard which we did not have at the time of the attainment of independence. The cities of Lagos, Ibadan, Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Kaduna, Kano and Jos have taken a new outlook and centres of attraction to investors and merchants from different parts of the world. Although the unfortunate phenomenon of the rural-urban drift continues, the situation would have been worse without these urban Centres being Centres of attraction and markets for the rural dwellers. Indeed, it only requires a reverse formula of urban-rural movement established under a sound economic reconstruction effort and leadership with a good foresight.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE NATION
Structurally, this nation is probably the only Country in the World that has undergone major and far reaching changes in its geo-political setting in order to consolidate its unity. From the so called amalgamation of Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914 under Colonial rule we began with three regions – the Northern Region, the Eastern Region and the Western Region each headed by a Premier. We adopted the parliamentary system of Democracy which did not stand the test of time even though it gave us a good take off point. The military coup of 1966 terminated this regional arrangement and we entered the era of State creation in order to accommodate each other.
It is not within the scope of this paper to discuss in details how Nigeria came to be 36 States and 774 Local Governments. Suffice it here to say that the first reason for the breaking up of the Regions into States was the fear by some sections of the country of the size and “dominance” of the Northern Region. In fact it was the major reason for the military coup of 1966 and the assassination of the leaders of the North – both political and military. The second reason was that such an arrangement should bring the “government closer to the people” (whatever that meant). But as time went on the motive for State Creation gradually began to change – factors such as ethnicity, religion, mistrust among Communities, crave for the share of the national “cake”, and many more crept in. The Northern Region to which this policy largely directed never challenged the “trimming down” of its size to the present 19 States but in fact wanted to have even more States and Local Governments. On the whole States and Local Government creations have become a major factor for stability and reinforcement of our Federal system.
This was certainly a major hurdle crossed in the search for our nationhood and General Yakubu Gowon who presided over the first exercise in creation of States succeeded with courage and determination to keep together the unity of the nation even at the expense of a Civil War. Subsequently military regimes succeeded in creating more States and Local Governments until now when a new dimension of “geo-political” zones crept into our so called national political structure. Unfortunately in between the lines there was greed and insensitivity, lust for power by the political class who wanted to carve out mini “kingdoms” and “empires” for themselves and their so called “kith and kin”. The trend continued without the threat of disunity and collapse of the entire polity.
?????????? Nigerians, generally cherish their unity in diversity even though the call for state creations, local government creations, district, wards etc. continue in their agitation. This is due largely to the lack of good governance, from top to bottom where little or no resources reach the common man and the poor. Indeed, even in the Niger-Delta region where about N3.74 trillion was allocated between 1998 and 2010 (as against a little over N3 trillion for the 19 Northern States) alone there has been continuous outcry of mismanagement of funds which went largely into private pockets. Neither the Ompadec, NDDC nor the new Ministry for Niger-Delta Affairs have any genuine policy plans for development in favour of the ordinary citizens of that region – hence the governments and other smaller units. This is surely the major reason for some of the restlessness and discontent expressed in violence even in the oil rich Niger Delta States. Poverty, deprivation, and lack of gainful employment have cut across the entire nation. That explains why there was unity against and support for the “oil subsidy” crises from all parts of Nigeria without exception. Christians and Muslims came together burying their differences and agitated against oil subsidy removal. Indeed, one good thing that came out of all this was that, it united Nigerians along a common course. Furthermore, for those who have followed the Senate probe into controversial N2 trillion fuel subsidy the revelations are frightening and a great shame on the managers of our oil industry and the leadership of our nation. According to some of the revelations;
1. “Inability to control the operatives in that industry, who come up with several tricks to deceive anyone trying to check the figures e.g. Increasing the temperature of liquid goods so that they can swell such that when they are measured in that state the metre will record that the product is far more than it is” (Sunday Trust February 5, 2012).
2. “As it pertains to Nigeria, oil marketers are said to many times load refined products from Port Harcourt sail into the seas for about 50 kilometres and turn round to come and berth at Apapa port claiming to be coming from Rotterdam etc.” (Sunday Trust February 5, 2012).
There is hardly any end to the level of corruption in the oil industry and government appears to have limited capacity to check these criminal activities. The withdrawal of subsidy further re-empowers the criminal acts of these marketers and dealers in oil while it leaves the ordinary citizens even poorer.
Some of the beneficiaries of this monumental corruption continued to call for the re-structuring of the polity only to have the oil producing areas entirely under their control. But re-structuring of the polity to remove imbalances, marginalization and deprivation certainly has its merits. According to Sam Ndaisaiah in his column in Leadership of February 20, 2012 restructuring of the polity should have a more legitimate meaning and purpose rather than breaking up the country.
“I am at one with those who have suggested that all resources on land or in any state should be owned exploited and appropriated by the States and Local governments through a new revenue sharing formula between the two. They should only pay taxes to the Federal Government on such revenues……… in the same vein, a state like Niger, for instance, can enter into joint partnership arrangement with mining multinationals for the exploration and exploitation of its huge gold, gemstones marble, graphite feldspar and glass sand resources……… with good leadership which hopefully would be easier to achieve with a restructured polity solid mineral rich Nigeria could actually compete with a rich country like South Africa in the production of various precious stones in no time……… there are many states in Nigeria especially in the North that could compete with Thailand and other South east Asian countries in rice production……… with restructuring also, Nigeria can actually overtake Sudan in the production of gum Arabic, the magic cash crop that the United States does not seem to get enough of ……… Borno, Jigawa, and Kebbi have produced some of the best known gum Arabic” (Sam Ndaisaiah, Leadership February 20, 2012)
The foregoing are just few examples of areas which need to be considered in a programme of re-structuring the polity. They require good, purposeful and dynamic leadership and the political will to transform Nigeria and reverse the negative image of our nation. We must also look at seriously some of our national economic landmarks which we have abandoned or ignored because of the so called oil wealth. The Ajaokuta Steel project rehabilitation of refineries, river basin development projects including the Kainji Dam, West African Highway, trans-Saharan gas pipeline and highways, the recharging of the Lake Chad, our cement factories and sugar production projects to achieve exports level, livestock development and marketing strategies, Power generation plants and potentials. Until and unless these are done Nigeria will continue to be in the doldrums without much hope for a speedy forward movement. To be sincere a great deal of studies have been made by our Universities, research institutes which are left in the shelves of our libraries and in the ministries and parastatals. Governments come and go; one after another, never looking inwards to see what such studies contain. They often deliberately ignore what these studies contain and instead begin their own afresh and end up with negative results and heavy expenditure on foreign consultants and advisers. A clear example of this is the abandonment of the Vision 2010 report of Chief Ernest Shonekan under General Abacha and going for a Vision 20:2020 or NEEDS and MDGs etc. The Vision 2010 is a formidable report and without going back to its substance to know where we missed the road we may hardly achieve the goals of the new Vision. On NEEDS, Bala Usuman’s open letter to the then President challenging that the document contains nothing about Economic Empowerment, Development or Strategy raises key questions about the credibility and the intentions for the production or “formulation of the policy”. For all this reason nobody talks about NEEDS any more with any degree of seriousness.
SECURITY CHALLENGES
I have deliberately downplayed the issue of Security in this lecture not only because of its monotony – being an over-flogged matter in this country but also the answers to our security challenges have been implied in most of the views I have expressed in the forgoing analysis. I am not very competent to speak on physical security of our nation beyond the fact that a situation where a police work is handed over to the military in a Civil Democratic setting is a show of a dismal failure on our governments. Furthermore, the situation is aggravated by the widespread discontent against such arrangements by people whose rights are infringed upon and denied justice. Today, the most topical subject in Nigeria is the activities of sectarian militants and youth restiveness in what one would call “the battle without a front”. Bandits, armed robbers, assassins, and murderers have taken over our towns, cities and highways and we hardly know who they are. We hardly have advanced superior reasoning to counter the challenges beyond meeting “force with force” out of desperation. Call for dialogue, amnesty, disarmament fall on deaf ears while the situation continues to escalate. This is because all these acts of insecurity are symptoms of bigger disease which we have failed or refused to diagnose. I hope that some of the foregoing issue I have raised in this lecture will set the pace for the actual solution to the problems of security challenges. The only advice one would offer is for those in the forefront of managing the conflict to stop buck passing, inflammatory statements, falsehoods, arrogance and ignorance of the real situation on the ground.
CAN WE DRAW CONCLUSION?
1.??????? It is difficult to draw conclusion on such complex subjects like nationhood and nationalism because the discussion and debates are still ongoing and are universal in nature. There are as many theories and opinions on this matter as the number of scholars, politicians, statesmen, and students. So confusing is the subject that Chief Pius Okigbo of blessed memory in one of his lectures he delivered in NIPSS Kuru he referred to the numerous commentators on nationhood and nationalism as sorcerers, soothsayers and astrologers. To avoid the risk of falling into any of these categories, I would rather categorically say “The debate continues”.
2.??????? What I have attempted to show in this lecture is that by whatever standard we may wish to consider our country Nigeria, she has reached the status of nationhood. The Nigerian nation state is a united, strong and viable polity that is seeking to achieve political and economic stability with many challenges ahead of it. So also are many other nations of the world including even the super powers such as the United States of America which is battling to control the crises of racism, social security, terrorism, and economic stability.
3.??????? Nigeria is a product of its history, culture, diversity, successes and failures which are all deeply engraved in her body politic. Each generation of Nigerians must have their taste of these realities and challenges in different form, nature and dimension. It is left for us to make the tough choices of how to manage the affairs of this nation and discover the way out and the way forward. Others have done it before us, and have brought the nation this far. We salute them all! We must not fail.
4.??????? To be sincere the challenges are many and they vary from one sector of development to the other; but they are not insurmountable. We have fought a Civil War but ended up with “no victors and no vanquished”. We committed enormous resources to the three Rs –“Reconstruction, Reconciliation, and Rehabilitation”. To-day the Civil War is rarely remembered, except in a recent warning by a former President and War veteran that “if there should be any attempt to break up Nigeria we are prepared to go to war “wearing new uniforms” (emphasis mine) and God forbid that. (IBB – The Annual Trust Lectures 2012).
5.??????? So many issues are being raised as the problems or challenges Nigeria is facing on her road to nationhood. Corruption is being considered as the greatest evil involving the entire strata of our society – Presidents, Governors, Legislators, and Judiciary, Civil Service, the Military, the Police, the Academics, business class and all kinds of professionals have been guilty. Even anti corruption agencies and outfits are accused of this evil called corruption. Other vices are crime in their various forms, poverty, un-employment, electoral crime and malpractices – the list is endless. Now the theft is in trillions of Naira and billions of dollars as reported daily in media or prosecuted in courts. To be frank these negative traits in our body politic exist and we cannot deny them. When I did not receive my salary for two months in my University I simply said the country is broke and the treasury is empty.
6.??????? I have always considered that these major catastrophic developments are symptoms of a much bigger disease rather than the disease themselves. We must get to the roots of the cancerous disease and remove it completely in order to move forward faster as a nation. First, I believe that the system of Democratic governance we have adopted is both faulty and crude with almost nothing of our core values of justice, good governance, probity and accountability. To be frank we do not even understand the basics of it let alone the fundamental objectives that should carry us through the correct bearing on the road to nationhood.
7.??????? The greater percentage of Nigerians are not sufficiently educated enough or enlightened to understand this “monster” called American Presidential Democratic System of governance – a system which is still a subject of debate among political scientists and other scholars of the World including the Americans themselves. As if these are not enough we went ahead with unjustified cost of managing the system. Nowhere was this so clearly brought out than the recent revelation by the CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. There are also hardly any clear drawing lines and limits of authority among and within the three Arms of Government – the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
The incapacitation of the legislature and overbearing powers of the President in this system are best illustrated in the abortive attempt to impeach former President Obasanjo on allegedly over 100 impeachable offences. According to Sam Ndaisaiah.
“I took serious exception to a statement made by Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba during a conference on ‘Resource Control and Social Justice in Nigeria’ on Jan. 24th 2002. In the statement he declared that even though President Olusegun Obasanjo had committed over 100 impeachable offences since assuming power on May 29th 1999 for which the National Assembly could have initiated impeachment proceedings against him the house was restrained from doing so because it did not want to ‘destabilize the political dispensation …’ furthermore “the impeachment clause is one of the effective tools of the constitution assigned for the stability of democratic system the world over. It is usually inserted to check the tyrannical propensities and excesses of elected leaders. When appropriately and properly applied the system becomes stronger and better for it”. (Sam Ndaisaiah, full disclosure 1999, FP P. 148-9)
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8.??????? As we have all seen the failure or refusal to apply such tools for checks and balances, the stage was opened for looting of the national wealth by not only the President and governors but also “power brokers”. Known popularly as the Cabal, foot soldiers, errand boys, and sycophants planted in strategic outlets of the public sector and other sectors of the economy. The so called Civil Democratic rule we have adopted is failing as almost every clause in our constitution has been breached to give way to some interest groups the opportunity to strip the country naked. One former Governor recently on a television interview simply said what Nigeria has to-day is a Civilian rule and not a Democratic.
9.??????? Today, there has been so much talk about how best to tackle the problems of our nation and entrench social justice and good governance. There is a heated debate on every aspect of our national life ranging from Local Government management, to poverty of leadership, lack of capacity sharing the wealth of the nation and determining our way forward. From the normal historian’s viewpoint we may simply apply Ibn Khaldun’s theory in the evolution of nationhood that Nigeria has entered the “age of inquisition” and will emerge clean and stronger, a well refined and reformed nation. But the page of inquisition should be properly understood and misused.
10.????? For sometime now there appears to have been some muscle flexing, war of words, threats and counter threats on the state of the nation. But this is happening more among the educated elites living in the comfort of their homes and offices rather than from the ordinary citizenry living in Ikoyi, Ajegunle, Sabon Garin Kano, Tudun Wadan Kaduna, Malan Fatori Lake Chad or Nyanya and Marraraba. This is not a healthy development and must be controlled by the leadership and our governments at all levels.
11.????? Nigerians are highly enterprising people if given the opportunity to apply their skills, talent and profession. You will find a Nigerian in almost every country of the world or every plane flying from one continent to the other. So much valuable time, energy and resources are wasted due to the lack of guidance, leadership and the political will. Let me say what I always say on the unlimited opportunities that abound in various sectors of our economy. First it is a reality that Nigeria is not a rich nation simply by virtue of its oil wealth. It is Agriculture and the informal sector that sustain the economy. Consider the fast food multi national company McDonald that earns $40bn U. S. Dollars per-annum with nearly 70,000 outlets world wide. What is so special about meat-pie and Do-nuts which Nanet, Tantalizers and Shangalinku cannot provide. There maybe no end to these vast opportunities both within and outside Nigeria for our people.
12.????? What Nigeria needs to-day is regional integration and not disintegration. The latter can neither succeed nor feasible. It is an elite agenda and the common citizenry will resist it because it is not in their interest nor is there a national consensus on the matter. Along the line of regional integration some re-structuring of the polity in our political and economic systems must be done. The leadership both the Executive and Legislature should take the centre stage and make this possible. No one has given them or any other group of Nigerians the mandate to promote the agenda for the breaking up of the great nation of ours. We have gone too far on the road to nationhood to begin to look backward. The concept of unity has a divine injunction. At the entrance gate of the United Nations Headquarters in New York there has been this verse from the Qur’an as Allah has said
“MANKIND! WE CREATED YOU FROM a single (pair) of a male and female and made you into Nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise Each other)” Chpt. Hujurat: Inner Apartments Q. 44:13
CONCLUSION
I believe it is time now to stop having said or not said what our distinguished men and women of LETTERS may have expected me to say. In this discourse you will forgive me if I have raised more questions than answers – but if they are good questions they lead to good answers. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Long live the NIGERIAN ACADEMY OF LETTERS (NAL), long live UNI ILORIN.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.??????? Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna, My life an Autobiography Cambridge 1962
2.??????? Ajayi and Crowder eds. history of West Africa Vol. 1 and 2
3.??????? Akinyemi, Bolaji: Foreign policy and Federalism (Ibadan 1974)
4.??????? Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria and Administration, 1912 – 1919 – A report by Sir, F. D. Lugard
5.??????? Awolowo Obafemi – (Cambridge University Presss, 1970)
6.??????? Azikwe Nnamdi – My Odyssey (London C. Hurst and Co. 1970)
7.??????? Bala Usman and Al-Kassum ?Abba, The Misrepresentation of Nigeria: CEDDERT, 2005
8.??????? Bell, Sir Gawain – An Imperial Twilight (London 1989)
9.??????? Blitz I Franklin, ed. The Politics and Administration of Nigeria’s Government – London 1965
10.????? Clark Trevor – A Right Honourable Gentleman – The Life and times of Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa: Hudahuda Publishing Company, Zaria 1991
11.????? Coleman, James S. Nigeria, Background to Nationalism (Berkeley University of Califonia, Press 1979 ed
12.????? Elaigwu J. Isawa: Gowon (Ibadan 1986)
13.????? Ezera Kalu: Constitutional Development in Nigeria (Cambridge 1964)
14.????? Gowon, Major General Yakubu: Faith and Unity (Lagos 1970)
15.????? Hargreaves J. D. Decolonization in Africa (London 1988)
16.????? Howe, Russell Warren, Black Africa Part 4 Votes and Votaries: The Age of Decolonization (London 1967).
17.????? Nigerian dailies
a.??????? Leadership
b.??????? The Guardian
c.??????? Daily Trust
d.??????? Tribune
e.??????? The Nation
f.??????? Blue Print
g.??????? (and periodicals)
18.????? Osuntokun, Akinjide – Chief S. L. Akintola His Life and Times (London 1984)
19.????? Paden John N. Ahmadu Bello Sardauna of Sokoto – Values and Leadership in Nigeria (Zaria 1986)
20.????? Panel on Nigeria since Independence: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Ltd 11 Vols.
21.????? Wilmot, F. P. – In search of Nationhood, Lantern Books, 1979 ed
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