With the atmosphere incendiary, the issue facing the Nigerian project is unambiguous. This is how to achieve peaceful co-existence in one country. This is why as far as Ann Kio Briggs’ minority report to the national conference is concerned, we should examine the message and put aside the inconsistencies of the messenger.
For a start, it will be a waste of time as well as of N7 billion if all the conference does is to endorse the status quo with a few cosmetic changes. Papering over the cracks will come back to haunt our country. The consensus of the conference has to be in the direction of a fundamental and irreversible change of direction.
The convergence of opinion in the country is that things have broken down and have to be fixed. This is why there must be a comparative analysis of the strength of the various submissions after which they will be harmonised in a positive way.
The main thrust has to be to place the emphasis on shifting the operating formula from parasitic consumption and the culture of dependency into that based on production. Very much in the direction of what a-one time federalist Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker described as “Eating what you kill.”
This is the only way to re-invigorate a belief in the Nigeria project, for Nigeria is poor today because of the over dependence on oil. The country’s human capital remains not just untapped, but disregarded. It is nevertheless the most important factor of production, the trajectory for sustainable development.
We have to reiterate that the operating mantra of the comparatively more successful first republic worked because it had a built- in competitive mechanism which stimulated growth. We are aware, for example, that the Eastern region in the first republic had the highest level of growth of any federating unit in the British Commonwealth of nations.
This achievement was not just due to the managerial sagacity of the historically very much understated regional Premier, Michael Okpara; it also had to do with the pro-production tenor of the federalist anchored constitution of that era.
We must learn from this. The conference must therefore come up with a truly federalist constitution. It is the only way out.
