Nigeria
is faced with myriad of problems, which has stunted its growth and progress,
and impoverished bulk of the people living in it. This is a point every
“Nigeria” have accepted to be fact. Despite unfounded hopes, championed by
corrupt government officials, suggesting a better future, there is no shred of
evidence supporting that meaningful progress would be made if Nigeria continues
to function the way it currently does. A quick review of Nigeria’s recent and
past will clearly show that the country has continued to slide into the abyss
with time, with corruption skyrocketing and the masses getting impoverished by
the day.
Nigeria
is imbued with inherent problem that has continued to militate against is
existence. At the root of the fundamental problems of Nigeria is the fact that
it was based on illegality. Illegality that has been sustained by the ruling
class as it serves the purposes on stupendously enriching. Disparate ethnic
nationalities were forcefully brought together by the British colonialists for
their economic and political benefits. No consideration was given whatsoever to
the interests of the people or to the willingness of the people to cohabit. The
British forcefully held the nationalities together and the bind collapsed as
soon as the British left, because oil and water cannot mix. It was illegal for
an outsider to change the way of life of people who have already existed under
different and well grounded identity and political systems. It was illegal for
Europeans to redraw the map of Africa, and force people with different cultural
backgrounds to live in one country, while Europe itself is split along well
defined cultural and ethnic lines.
It
is however very foolish for Africans to accept such European-imposed
definitions such as those of the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885,
which robbed them of their identity and
nationalities. The realisation of this core fact is the beginning of wisdom.
The
foundations of Nigeria are based on lies that have been perpetuated with additional
lies. The deliberate “failure” of the British to recognise the differences in
the various ethnic nationalities making up the geographic expression called
Nigeria laid the foundations of the current problems facing Nigerians. It was
the height of wickedness to lump people who speak differently, eat differently,
view issues differently and worship God differently into one country. The
ethnic nationalities had differing political, economic, religious and legal
systems that were functioning very well, before colonialist came to impose
systems very alien to them. Expectation of a better Nigeria under this present
arrangement as propagated by corrupt Nigerian officials is thoroughly foolish.
Various
efforts to integrate the disparate ethnic nationalities, such as the National
Youth Service Corps, or those aimed at accommodating the varying interests of
the nationalities such as the federal character system, operation of two legal
systems, etc have at best failed to achieve their goals but mostly exacerbated
the multiplicity of Nigeria. The poor state of Nigeria today shows that every
effort made to integrate “Nigerians” have failed to achieve its goal, because it
is based on falsehood. The differences are rather widening even among the
youths who are the leaders of tomorrow. The efforts failed woefully to achieve
the intended goals because they were cosmetic solutions tackling superficial
problems, which resulted from the fundamental problems that people are too
scared to touch.
This
has made Nigeria a false country based on deceit and as a result, the people
are not patriotic. This is clearly demonstrated among the ruling class, who
only see Nigeria as a vehicle for the acquisition of wealth. The main positive
argument going for the continuation of Nigeria as a country are based on the
following: (i) large country and vast
population makes Nigeria a marketing hotspot, and (ii) resources from various
parts of the country could be used to power the rest of the country.
However
these points are fundamentally flawed as due to the high level of
impoverishment, many Nigerians are not financially empowered to sustain a
vibrant marketing environment. Secondly, the culture of sharing proceeds from
crude oil have turned Nigerian leaders into lazy and moronic administrators,
whose sole survival depends on oil. This is clearly demonstrated by the
inability of governors to create other means of generating revenue for the
states, and whenever there is a drop in oil revenue, the governors will begin
to cry wolf. The share-the-money-principle is the oil that fuels the Nigeria
political vehicle.
At
the national level, Nigeria is a no man’s land and anything goes. Agreed every
section of the country has got its fair share of corrupt individuals at
positions of authority, the inability of the people to overcome their
differences (which is understandable as the differences are enormous), have
resulted in their not coming together to uproot the corrupt leaders out of
office. Every issue in Nigeria is first viewed through the ethnicity lens and
then scrutinised through the religious microscope. Therefore, an average Yoruba
man will never come together with an Igbo man or Hausa man to fight for the
removal of a corrupt Yoruba politician, because he believes, his ‘brother’ is
being persecuted because of his ethnicity and vice versa.
To
solve Nigeria’s problems, a bottom-up approach must be adopted, whereby the
country would be broken down into the various ethnic nationalities and each
would take care of its problems. It is very much easier for an Igbo to criticise
and go against another corrupt Igbo man, than for same to go after a corrupt
Hausa-Fulani corrupt official. Agreed that not every ethnic nationality may be
able to stand firmly on its own as a country, but of course there is nothing
stopping such nationalities to enter into fresh arrangements with other ethnic
nationalities sharing same interest with it to map out their future.
Advocates
of continuation of Nigeria as it is currently run could be likened to a chemist
mixing the same reagents (say chlorine and sodium) and expecting bromine
chloride, despite the fact that the reagents continue to produce sodium
chloride. Any truthful “Nigeria” should have come to the conclusion that it is
time to break up the Nigeria colossus.
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