A NATION IN SEARCH FOR DIRECTION: NIGERIA AT THE CROSS ROAD

by

Ritchie Ejiofor Esq.

Nigerians have not been bold enough to accept the obvious existence of defects in its present structure nearly after forty years as an independent nation. A honest and tacit admittance of the honest truth would open a floodgate of practical solutions to its present aimless march to Canaan a.k.a. the biblical Promised Land that flows with milk and honey. Its goals, directions towards achieving this goals and philosophy if they do exist is still shrouded in misconception, controversies and influenced by ethnic myopia and at best remains elusive till date.

At the core of this current clamor for one nation, one destiny, is the draconian ever-present powerful emergence of strong ethnic identity and an unusual sense of ethnic patriotism, parochialism, loyalty and a fragile compromised national interest and unity at stake. The collective accumulation of all these prompted so many people to write Nigeria off as a mere geographical expression, devoid of genuine interest to build a strong nation. An assertion that has been dismissed too quickly but recent events have shown the truism thereof.

So many Nigerians have proffered reasons for elevating the nation to the desired pedestal level But strangely nothing seems to work in proper direction in Nigeria even if such theories where propounded by Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton or Adam, religious differences, domination, ethnic rivalry etc have become a daily obsession for aspiring politicians to capitalize to lunch them to national limelight. But remains to be accepted by all however is what is honestly needed to be done to move the entire nation ahead instead of narrowing their focus to a microscopic ethnic interest to be derived thereof from agreeing to or disagreeing to co-operate in efforts to move the nation ahead. Closely linked with our situation, seem to be socio-political competition and rivalry for economic opportunities. But to all this must be added the fact the fact that there appears to be missing the salient points.

Chinua Achebe aptly summarizes this Nigerians penchant for coining words and for shielding obvious truth. Instead of admitting tribalism as an official policy, the government goes further to coin it federal character, catchment, zoning system which in truth reinforces nepotism, tribalism by whatever name it is called. Nigerians are quick to compares it with the American affirmative action policies. Whilst the affirmative policies was applied in educational institutions with a view to encouraging less opportune minority students into Ivy league school. The Federal government in Washington D.C monitors its’ enforcement without regards to party affiliation or ethnicity. Even though, Ivy League colleges are not owned or operated by the federal government in the US, its application has been praised in almost all quarters. The same cannot be said of federal character, zoning etc which transcend to employment, appointment, etc. Affirmative action didn’t compromise merit as does its "supposedly counterpart " practiced in Nigeria, nor does it enthrone mediocrity as being witnessed in Nigeria. Just recently, it was reported that the Nigeria police force rejected efforts to use quota or zoning for promotion. Similarly, when the composition of the highest ruling military junta AFRC during the ill fated Babangida and Abacha era showed a disproportionate disparity in higher northern origin officers vis-à-vis the other regions, the government then explanation was that in military hierarchy, consideration is not given to quota, or zoning, but when to all these it is added the fact that how therefore does the higher percent of police commissioners, Assistant- and deputy inspector general of police as well as three to four star armed forces generals both serving and retired are largely from the north region of the country. Perhaps the only plausible explanation maybe that, it is only those from the north region who love to enlist into the forces or those from the other regions are too dumb and fickle minded to aspired to these all elusive north bound positions. I know for sure that in admission into the Nigeria defense academy, each states is given equal quota, perhaps the same standard may apply to the police academy and colleges, so what perhaps could have been responsible for this lopsidedness. Our leaders prefer to act ignorant on these issues.

Being aware of the role ethnicity plays in Nigerian politics, any attempt that would suggest unequal standards or traces of ethnic domination is bound to produces disastrous consequences of further encouraging the centripetal tendency and options. The various leadership structure’s approach to solving these lingering problem approximates and translate to foot dragging on the various divisive issues itself in an aimless direction, which at best is exemplified as an attempt equivalent to leveling a rocky mountain with a nail file.

It is still not clear from the present structure if Nigeria could be classified as a federalist or confederalist type nation or a clever generic contraption of an indigenous prototype system designed to keep the country apart or both. Even though, we blindly and with deceit proclaim ourselves to be federal republic, but the ingredient necessary for operating a federalist government is clearly lacking. Conversely, it cannot no be said to be a confederation by its simple understanding of our divergent and distinct history, cultures, settlement and origins of the various ethnic nationalities that make up the country.

Like I espoused above, it could not pass the acid test for a federalist government because, it has no shared ideals, philosophy, aspiration for wanting to federate, other than those bequeathed by colonial legacy. The recent hullabaloo about the need to convene the sovereign national conference to discuss the issues in the national question centers on this most singular factor, the need to provide a definition for Nigeria and to correct the wrong structure, and a framework objectives for building a united country based on the spirit of federalism. One sure means to achieve this rest squarely on honesty on the volatile issue of revenue allocation and resource distribution that has made power struggle at the center to become a do or die affair

The underlying theory with the system is that he who control power at the center controls the distribution and allocation of resources which the federal government through the antics of the various military government arbitrarily cornered control on the federal government, consequently, it is not uncommon for even local government chairman to go hand in cup to Abuja to seek fund to pay primary school teachers salaries regardless of their rich mineral resource base or even exploring their untapped tax base..

The World Bank in its recent report indicted Nigeria as a country with out any focus or policies for the future. This can be understood unfortunately with regards to Nigerian’s imbibed national philosophy "every one for himself, Nigeria for us all syndrome", where there is an unseen rush to get a bite of the national cake, where issues are interpreted from ethnic coloration or regional religious bias and prejudices. This trend can be discerned from divergent opinions in the on going call for restructuring cum convening the S.N.C. There is an unimaginable fierce opposition to and threat of seccession if derivation formula is ever contemplated, some opinion even drew allusion to how weakened the federal government would be if derivation presently canvassed by southern governors sails through, much plausible is the argument that the country should pay the northern region 30 years reparation for its cash crop wealth splash on the country prior to discovery of crude oil. Herein lies the crux of the matter why the present unwholesome generic structure confers disadvantage to the hen that lays the golden egg.

It does appears from the interpretation of views expressed from the foregoing analysis that, what keeps the country together is not the love of wanting to remain together as one country on shared ideals, but on what each unit presently enjoys from the present composition .It offends common sensibilities for anyone to argue against policies that would make Nigeria better and work like other nations. There is need for direct approach to our problems. Deceit or coercion cannot achieve unity and federating together. Unity must be negotiated, all fears must be allayed, our various history of origin, migration and settlement are in itself divisive trait, so any further attempt to promote any inclination towards domination is bound to re-echo that fear and suspicion of domination, inequalities and would be a nagging threat to national unity.

For purposes of emphasis, federation promotes healthy competition and growth among each component unit at their own pace. It does not need the central government to police and determine their growth. The constitution must clearly delineate the areas of autonomy between all sphere of government. Derivation formula would encourage the federal, states and local government to seek and improve on and devise it own income generating mechanism, and tighten its own tax laws to generate income. The Niger-Delta region cannot be an island on itself simply because it has more or all of the oil earnings, it still must pay taxes to the federal government, the state would be paid taxes by the local government areas where these oil are refined and consequently incline to engage in inter-state commerce, leading each state to use to its benefit the development of comparative cost advantage. In developing it own potentials

So many times the term "for national interest" is common used, yet no body has provided for what constitute that interest and whose interest it is! If it is for Nigerian interest, then abandoned property issue should have been returned or total reparation paid nearly after three and a quarter decade ago, yet we hear national interest, the same interest that was justified in June 12 annulment.

Fellow Nigerians, it is time to speak out and remove the log of ethnic blindfold, religious bigotry and adopt an open mind for making our country a beautiful place to bequest to our future generations. Let us not think of what Nigeria would do for us, rather how best we can do something for Nigeria to get better.