Let's discuss and agree on our co-existence now
By
‘DEJA VU’ How else does one start? It appears as though we are destined, first, to get there before retracing our steps to face our ineluctable realities. Déjà vu! My plea is unambiguous: we must urgently take steps to evade avoidable dangers.
Witness this scenario. I was at this programme. An important personality rose to speak. He called himself an alumnus of the University. The University, the only University. "Hear, hear", he was applauded by members of the audience who knew what he was talking about (probably members of his alumni association). He went on: "It produced great Lions." At this point we knew what he was about. "And we have to restore its glory." "Hear, hear", echoed his contemporaries at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). I looked around the hall. There were others of the audience who had also graduated from the UNN, or were still students there, much younger folk. Not one person in these categories was cheering. Some of them supported their chins with their hands. Others simply yawned.
Their lack of enthusiasm is easy to explain. At the time our VIP was an Nsukka undergraduate, things were starkly different. For lunch, he demolished a roast chicken alone. Or shared with one other student. Fresh cow milk (from Nigeria) was occasionally supplied. There was no problem then with water supply. He drank straight from the tap; for a bath, the shower poured in torrents. In terms of accommodation, there were two students in a room, thirty or less per class. The lecturer, or even the Dean of Faculty, supervised tutorials. It was the era of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN), if you remember. There was uninterrupted supply of power. As for the library, this was adequately stocked with up-to-date books and periodicals. The Nigerian undergraduate of that era was in the same league with the best elsewhere in the world.
This is not the experience of the UNN students who did not cheer our VIP of the Lions’ fame. He shares a room with, at least, 19 others students. Of this large number, about five "buy" sleeping time for some two hours or so before others students returned from lectures to oust them in the sleeping relay. Water supply is zero, raising critical questions relating to hygiene. Power outages are the norm. There is no transport system to talk about. Food? The formula is interchangeable but basically the same: 1-0-0 or 0-1-0 or 0-0-1. Even at this rate of one meal a day, you chose a N50 meal with a piece of meat, or a N40 variety with no meat at all. There are over a hundred undergraduates per class, with more of them hanging from window ledges and around corridors than sitting inside classrooms. With such outsized classes, the students cannot hear the lecturer, though this hardly matters. In the last analysis, what matters is the handout. If you bought this all-important document from the lecturer, you passed your examination. Otherwise, you failed. What glory is there to restore to the student whose sole experience is the bleakness in this paragraph?
On page 8 of the Sunday Vanguard of January 14, 2001, Prince Tony Momoh wrote an article on the UNN which he entitled Our Land of Hope. "We had everything we needed in those days…We lacked nothing…What of the academic staff? They had their conditions of service that were as good as any other’s. The libraries were stocked with the latest periodicals from all over the world. They had on-going exchange programmes which exposed them to the best in their fields elsewhere in the world." (Dear Prince, in case you are reading this, Dean Ernest Nnorom Ukpabi, whom you mentioned, was my uncle. He was the veritable ‘Pilgrim’ of Ovim, of Isuikwuato, of UNN, of Eastern Nigeria, indeed of Nigeria. Again, Mr. Moemeke is one of those of us who saw a country worth having faith in, worth redeeming.) There was a time those Nigerians who proceeded abroad for further studies came mainly from the number unable to gain admissions to Nigerian universities. And today? "Thy days of glory" would be a mirage if the bees that have known no honeycombs for years, but only honey-barren hives, take charge of the beehive.
Let us use the foregoing to extrapolate on Nigeria. Nationals of this country that were between five and 10 years in 1980 are now in the age range of 25 to 30. In 1987, this broad category of people were between 12 and 17 years of age – the age bracket in which you began to really appreciate, analyse, and understand your environment, as well as conjecture on the future. From this crucial year of 1987, thanks to the "Evil Genius" (so he claimed) and the Great Annuler (so he did), it became a direct drive downhill for Nigeria as a country imbued with the Nigerian spirit. Key point: Those toddlers and children of 1980 never saw the glory days of Nigeria which needs to be restored. Not long ago, I told the story to one of my daughters of how I ordered a "Double-Two" Taffeta shirt from London by sending a Postal Order to cover the cost, and the shirt was delivered through the post to the Ovim Postal Agency in Isuikwuato Local government of former Eastern Nigeria. She asked me to stop the ‘joke’. But was it a joke?
Give another ten years or so and people of my generation will cross the threshold between our autumn and winter years. We saw the glory that was Nigeria. We know that this glory needs to be revived, to be resuscitated. But in another decade or so those that will be in charge will come from the 1980 to 1987 lot, people exposed only to the ‘glory’ of decadence which every right thinking person will want jettisoned. These are people in whose range of experience is nothing worthy of revival and resuscitation. Sometime ago, I observed that if my generation fiddled until the broken spirit of this country is cemented, another generation would come up, even as separate nationalities, to sit and agree terms and conditions of coexistence that we could discuss and agree now.
Have we not had in this country forums where discussions had taken place, some teleguided to suit "hidden agendas", others to sustain a clearly unsustainable status quo? We had Constituent Assemblies, the Political Bureau, seminars and Abacha’s National Conferences bereft of the "full constituent powers" which the General had promised. On page 66 of the proceedings of the Second Armed Forces Seminar which took place between April 11-15, 1988, Alhaji Ali Ciroma has this to say:
"So the fact of the Nigerian state is a non-negotiable reality. If there are inhibiting factors, they must be thoroughly debated. We should come together like this and discuss what problems there are, why it is only certain people doing certain things and other people not doing it. We must discuss these things properly and find a common plan on which we can go ahead with this country." (Italics mine.) That was in 1988.
What Alhaji Ciroma should have said is that the geographic reality of what is Nigeria is "non-negotiable". Not one millimetre of the land mass of this country can be removed and carried elsewhere. Whether or not we remain one political entity, the geographic contiguity of the lands of the peoples of Nigeria will remain the same. In other words, the fact of secession, or the act of dismembering Nigeria along ethnic lines would not obliterate the fact that these ethnic groups will remain neighbours. The important and operative words in the quotation from Alhaji Ali Ciroma are the ones I italicised.
There is this book Running For Dear Life [Moremi Foundation, 2000] by ex-Senator and ex-Governor Cornelius Adebayo. I like to quote in extenso from Adebayo’s book:
"General Olusegun Obasanjo, in spite of a misplaced faith in Abacha – the faith that led him to ignore suggestions to remain abroad before walking into Abacha’s ambush, said: ‘With the atomisation of Nigeria by means of state creation almost to the point of rendering the constituent units prostrate, I find the concept of zones as the basis of our federation worth examining. At this stage of our development we cannot abandon the federal system but perhaps the federating units should be zones rather than the existing states. Each zone should be large enough to be viable, and be made up of local governments. We may be able to save some costs and administration for development. The time has also come when as a mark of true federalism, revenue resources and the responsibility of each constituent component should determine wages and salary scales of each constituent unit."
"General Obasanjo then concluded:
"The forum for dealing with this matter, as I see it, is a National Conference. A Constitutional Conference can deal with a number of relevant issues, but it will remain somewhat limited."
"The flamboyant Dr. Chuba Okadigbo insisted that the decision of a Sovereign National Conference should:
"Not (be) subjected to change, alteration or manipulation of any group or government now or in the future. We must draw attention to two conditionalties. First, a Sovereign National Conference, because it is people-based and people-willed, distinguishes itself from a National Constitutional Conference which is government-based and government-directed. In the language of the Romans: Salus populi suprema lex (The will of the people is the supreme law). Therefore, let us all press for a Sovereign National Conference and let us all kick down the contraption, which goes by the title of National Constitutional Conference.
"Okadigbo’s closing remarks were that:
"The people shall have the right to REVOLT and should REVOLT, if any decision adopted at the Sovereign National Constitutional Conference is in any way or manner altered, amended or rejected.
"Professor Anya O. Anya also fully supported self-determination. According to him, "The new Nigerian Federation should be a responsive and functional federation of nationalities rather than of the current patchwork of unviable and dependent states. A close examination of the distribution of the peoples of Nigeria shows that Nigeria can be zoned such that there can be six zones - three for each of the ethnic majors and three for ethnic minorities. I am aware of course that at the periphery of or within these zones there will be ethnic groups too small to stand on their own. Following the principle of self-determination, such peoples will constitute special and autonomous districts within a contiguous zone of their own choosing. This scheme should result in viable, balanced and truly federating units in which the ethnic majors and minors can be guaranteed their rights in an atmosphere of healthy competition and responsible sharing.
"Dr. Patrick Dele Cole had no doubt that the survival of Nigeria would depend on self-determination through a Sovereign National Conference. He asserted:
"People calling for Sovereign National Conference are calling for a restitution. Nigeria is already gone. It has already disintegrated or it is disintegrating. We have no economy. The political system has collapsed, national confidence had been eroded. Social infrastructure is no longer there. So all we are saying about Sovereign National Conference is that all these problems will be put down and discussed and common solutions will be found.
"While Mallam Lawan Danbazzau, the respected old nationalist from Zaria, asked that we ‘reduce the Federal Government to a tier that handles only matters like defence, external affairs, finance, national planning and so on, Cyprian Ekwensi thought that the Sovereign National Conference should settle once and for all the need and the basis for our continued existence as one nation."
Earlier, the following had been reported in the Adebayo book:
"A colleague of Dr. Kumo, Dr. Mahmud Tukur, after a very cynical interpretation of what he saw as the wolf cry over Fulani domination, came close to others in his conclusions:
Perhaps instead of concentrating on the disintegration of Nigeria and solving the boundary drawing disputes and the assets division wars, the national conference can tackle the substantial issues of the National Question which include the following:
Working for a proper federation in which only defense, external affairs, commerce, currency, banking, energy, immigration and transport belong to the centre and the rest of the powers devoted to the regions and or states.
A restructured armed forces, the membership of which would reflect regional population profiles and a federation which has regional security services.
A federal public service based on the regional or state representation or quota.
A judiciary essentially based on the regions with Supreme Court dealing only with constitutional issues and mattes between states and state institutions.
A titular or honorific President supplied by regions in rotation.
A revenue and resources allocation formula which is equitable and pays attention to derivation and responsibility i.e. formula which recognizes both that petroleum is mined from the land of the Ikwerre while he (the Ikwerre) is entitled to full citizenship rights when he makes a home in Yola"
"Late Ken Saro-Wiwa in a characteristically frank submission asserted:
"It has to be admitted that the problem of Nigeria today has been the abandonment of federalism by the Military for the force and violence of unitarism. It is most annoying that while they professed to be running a federation, they imposed a unitary state by fiat."
"Saro-Wiwa’s view which some may find extreme is that the Nigerian Constitution: should provide that any ethnic group can have a separate state if it so wishes at any time, and that it can secede from the federation if it so wishes. Each state whether it consists of one or several ethnic groups must have a written constitution. The federating units shall not be obligated to have similar administrative or political structures. Each shall be free to govern itself according to its political genius and the wishes of its people. Local government shall be the responsibility of each unit of the federations."
The above quotations are not brought out for any ascription of volte-face, or about turn. For General Obasanjo, now President, it is understandable that he has to be saying (or even pursuing) what he has been saying (or doing or not doing). As for Senator (Dr.) Chuba Okadigbo of the "idle talk" headline, I have only recently read the full quotation of what he said in that regard. Of holding a Conference, he says yes; but for a sovereign conference – meaning the existence of two sovereignties, he calls it "idle talk". Of course no one is talking of a ‘governing’ Conference, where some persons interpret sovereign to mean ‘government’. Sovereignty separately belongs to the peoples, repeat peoples (not people) of Nigeria. Incidentally, too, it has been mentioned that "We have a constitution we swore to uphold and defend." The British had a constitution for Nigeria; so did the Great Annuler, Babangida; so did the Goggled Transformer, and "Gidanbaba", Abacha. Rest assured that if Abacha had not died the way and at the time he did, the sovereign will and rights of the people will still have prevailed - however long or short it took. For Dr. Dele Cole, it is obvious that nothing has changed, anything since his statement.
What have we not tried? Budgets of Hope, of Consolidation, of Unity; Rolling and folding Plans, Constituent Assemblies, Constitutional Committees (past and present), Visions of Visions, MAMSER, UPE, OFN, Green Revolution, wheat growing, SAP, PAP, Better Life, FSP, WRAPA, Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation, Ethnical Revolution, WAI, WAIC, DFFRI, National Orientation Agency, UBE, National Reformation, Anti-Corruption something, et cetera. What we have not done is to retrace our steps. To appreciate the fact that it is beyond us that "tribe and tongue" do differ, but that if we stand on the discussed and agreed kind of brotherhood which Nigeria deserves, we shall have a country we can all feel for and be committed to.
Those who advised Abacha (unless, of course, he was his own sole adviser) to jettison the "full constituent powers" he promised of his Constitutional Conference did the greatest disservice - to Abacha and to the Nigerian polity. It must be remembered that when the NCC was announced, people welcomed it. In fact, even the June 12 election was put in the political back burner, so to say. Various nationalities met and prepared their memoranda for the NCC Committee. Indeed, the NADECO (CUU, CP, DA MNB, CD, etc plus even elements from the core North) only came into being when it was discovered that the resolutions of the NCC, will be passed to the PRC and thence to Abacha for personal tinkering, approvals or disapprovals. The memos of the various nationalities are still around and have variously been reaffirmed by them - including the right to "resource control."
It is asked again. What have we not tried? Take corruption. "GMG" (Ghana Must Go) is corruption; so also is detailing a policeman to find his way or transportation from Apapa to a beat in Iganmu, not to talk of Ketu; so is getting oils for vehicles or planes, with no kerosene for Brass or Yola.
But the kernel of corruption, ipso facto the mainspring of our corrupt polity, is the corruption of what should and must be a federal country, to what was and has remained a unitarised polity.
J F Clarke may be right in stating that "A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation." Time is running out on this country. That was the essence of the opening narration on the UNN. Those of us of the generation that saw and experienced, however briefly, the Nigeria of hope and glory are a passing breed. If we do not discuss now, the next generation will have nothing to discuss about - and the blame will not be theirs.
I repeat that a (Sovereign) National Conference is a conference of complementarity. We were made neighbours by God. And through historical associations and assimilations, your gain, my gain, your loss and mine have become intertwined. People, private or public, who are making heavy weather on a national conference are those drawing the curtain against the future of a vibrant Nigeria, united in spirit. The Agenda for the proposed conference has only one item - how to revive a dying federal Nigeria.
The idea, indeed the need, for the Conference will not die, it is bound to take place. On the other hand, each day that passes without our having the Conference further advances the prostrate nature of a dying Nigeria. This writer would like to be proven wrong in his assessment. That is if there be some other (now unforeseen and unforeseeable) way to leads us back to a salt of Nigeria worth its savour, and to faith and hope.
Some people keep expressing and indeed nursing a self-contrived fear that a (Sovereign) National Conference will "break up" Nigeria. Only those "enjoying" the present state of Nigeria can hold this view. I have purposely highlighted and quoted the word ‘enjoyable.’ Some time ago I was doing a piece entitled "Just Who is Enjoying This" - meant for all of us, but more so Abacha and some of his surrogates and cohorts (some of whom are bestriding the corridors of governance today). As it happened, before I could finish the piece, "The Man Died"! Just what is anybody, "rich" or poor, enjoying in the way Nigeria is going today, except to wait for ‘the fire next time’? Just what?
Not long ago, a man of my acquaintance bought a brand new jeep - both as a luxury and as a "landflight" necessity. Barely four days later, invaders’ (?) "from neighouring countries(?) developed an avid taste for immaculate jeeps. The man stored away his jeep behind his compound for many weeks. When, later, he travelled home for the Sallah with the priceless jeep, he did a different style of what Americans call rubbernecking: he kept looking over his shoulder, even long after leaving Lagos, afraid of ‘follow follow’ all through the highways and even bad roads. For all he knew, every broken down vehicle, every police, FRSC, Customs, Produce checkpoint, and even the tollgates harboured potential robbery gangs. He ‘enjoyed’ the new jeep, of course, being by any standard of whopping wealth in the context of present day Nigeria and her teeming millions.
January 2002