By Evangelist Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko
We had the population, the manpower and the zeal to build a great country in 1960. We still have the population and all we need to excel, even today.
What went wrong?
The policy of assimilation applied studiously by France, left our Francophone neighbours with a heavy sociocultural hangover, we didn’t suffer from.
Belgium’s King Leopold’s vicious and mindless rape of the Congo, the CIA’s murder of Patrice Lumumba and the enthroning of clueless Mobutu Seseseko , inspired a rudderless future for that nation. We were luckier. So, why are we still floundering?
The Caucasian colonial overlords didn’t fall in love enough with our climate conditions, therefore, we didn’t go through the brutal suppression and repression some of our brethren, like Kenya, (the Mau Mau uprising), Zimbabwe (reluctance to grant them independence, because of their beautiful weather), South Africa (where they fell in love with the land and refused to leave).
The excitement over the lowering of the Union Jack and the raising up of our Green White Green, evaporated just a few years later. Why?
The inter-tribal struggle for central power that led to a brutal internecine fratricide, didn’t seem to have taught any useful lessons.
The post-Civil war era, unfortunately turned into an inglorious period of profligacy, mismanagement and bad governance. Regrettably, we seem reluctant to accept the truth and seek for solutions.
Sad point is, there hasn’t been a frank attempt at soul searching, a sincere effort at ascertaining the problems hindering our growth and courageously desiring the convening of a genuine truth and reconciliation commission that would answer the questions of how we got here.
How do we rebuild and rejuvenate our nation? And the most important of all: How do we live together?
The social, economic and political problems ravaging our country today are all intertwined, interwoven, intermingled and inseparable from the intra ethnic struggle for dominance that reared its head immediately after independence and weakened the cohesion that was badly needed to build a new nation.
Bitter struggle for control of central power inspired regional politics built on religious and ethnic affinity.
The patriotic nationalism that grew the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) and the agitation for self-Government and independence, slowly transformed into regional movements immediately after the demise of the venerable Herbert Macaulay in 1946.
The emergence of the very colourful and cerebral Nnamdi Azikiwe, as the successor to Herbert Macaulay, as leader of the strongest, bigger and better known political party at the time, the NCNC, definitely didn’t go down well with everyone.
It is reasonable to imagine that the formation of the Action Group (AG) three years later, in 1949, wouldn’t have taken the life and tempo it did, had a Yoruba man succeeded Macaulay at his death. It is also safe to assume that the birth of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) in 1949, probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the support it had all over the North, had a Northerner replaced Macaulay as the leader of the well-known NCNC in 1946.
The emergence of political parties with regional identities, three years after the demise of Macaulay in 1946, signposted politics of regional struggle for central power.
The Ibadan cross-carpet episode six years later, in 1952, confirmed the new template of party politics in the emerging nation.
The unchecked bitter rivalry, amongst the regions, each controlled by a different political party, the fallout between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his deputy Chief Ladoke Akintola, the trial and imprisonment of Awolowo and the brutal suppression of the Tiv rioters, all inspired the crisis that led to the first coup d’état.
And of course, the attendant pogrom and the counter coup, led to the very bloody war. 51 years after that war, our leaders have continued to resist every attempt to resolve the structural problems and deficiencies that feed almost all our problems as a people.
Certain influential and powerful forces in the land committedly refuse and ignore suggestions for a reconstruction of the inadequate and unhelpful unitary structure that is largely responsible for our problems as a country.
The deliberate pretence that our challenges are unconnected with the unitary structure upon which the country is being run, is unhelpful.
The deceptive narrative that the fallouts and symptoms of the resultant pressure and inadequacies of our unitary format, are the big issues, is misleading.
Global challenges, such as, corruption, poverty, unemployment, bad leadership, weak institutions, infrastructural deficiency and insecurity, which are more prevalent in poorer and vulnerable countries, are enlarged and made difficult to manage, by our structural deficiencies.
Our ever-growing population, our cultural and ethnic diversity and the economic and political realities of today, simply make it difficult for us to survive as a nation on the current 1999 unitary constitution.
Our mono-source economy would inevitably suffer a massive blow in a decade or so, as the world’s dependence on fossil fuel wanes and oil prices dip.
There would be no money to share amongst the three tiers of Government anymore.
Our reluctance to restructure and diversify will hit us real hard. Our indolent attitude to production of wealth, will negatively impact on our future.
Regularly regaling ourselves with all Government has been doing over the years addressing the symptoms of the disease, whilst obstinately refusing to address the root cause of our ailments, is unhelpful.
All the diseases afflicting our land today, can be traced to the suffocating unitary system that enabled the political culture that threw up all our problems.
Nepotism, impunity, inability of the ill-prepared centralized police force to stem the frightening insecurity that has crippled the country, the gross unemployment that feeds the rising crime rate, the oppression and dichotomy that drives the loss of faith, which in turn, inspire the agitation all over the land, the poverty ravaging the land and all other issues, such as corruption, hunger and infrastructural deficits, all are enabled by the unhelpful unitary structure.
The over-excitement of the oil boom years, especially the poor leadership and bad governance of the military era, inspired the Nigerian cultural identity that paints us variously as a big-for-nothing black hope, a failed project and a huge disappointment to the African people.
The costly mistakes of yesterday, the reluctance to admit those errors and the refusal to seek the path of truth, bring us to the place of introspection. A dashed dream at 61!
Unless we accept our folly, resolve to depart from it, commit to building a better tomorrow, accept the harsh realities and endeavour to strive collectively, making sacrifices, as one big family in order to succeed as a unit, we may still wallow directionless for a little while more.
Worse still we may arrogantly and unwittingly slip off the edge. God forbid!
All the issues that trouble our souls today, are all manifestations of expected signs and fallouts of a deeper malaise. – Symptoms of a disease if you will.
The vicious impunity of the herdsmen, the brigandage of the armed bandits, the ferocious insanity of the Islamic insurgency, the economic downturn (the dollar selling at 582 Naira for the very first time), the free reign of kidnappers and armed robbers, high cost of staple foods, collapsed roads, rising electricity and fuel prices etc, are all tied to and closely related to the structural challenge of our unitary constitution.
The paranoia expressed by certain folks over the desirability for a reconstruction of the polity, has continued to hinder the inevitable restructuring of the polity, thereby inflicting pain and hardship on the nation for years now.
The years the locusts consumed, and the enviable progress made by nations we were at par with, even ahead of in every indices of development at independence, should be enough to make us repent as a nation and make penance and search for a pathway to a better future.
The error of ethnic and regional politics collapsed the first Republic, the post-civil war error of “too much cash”, than we know what to do with, and mindless expenditure, set the tone for profligacy and crass corruption that defined our character as a nation. Sad.
The military hangover and the desire to eternally dominate others, inspired the unitary constitution that is slowly suffocating the country today.
Hubris and sectional fears won’t let us courageously rise up and heal the land.
Our unitary system cannot carry us much farther.
Weak institutions, poor and uninspiring electoral process, sacred cow syndrome, nepotism, porous borders, corrupted civil service, agitations for secession, poor infrastructure et al, are all by product of the unkind and unhelpful unitary structure.
Recounting all our problems as a nation, beginning from corruption to agitation to break the country, all are connected directly or indirectly to the unitary constitution, powered by the military, who desired a central control of the levers of power over 200 million citizens spread over two hundred ethnic nationalities.
Addressing the symptoms of a disease while obstinately refusing to address the root causes of the infection, will not produce the desired results.
Our dreams of greatness will remain dashed until we find the courage to address our problem from the root.
A new people’s constitution anchored on true federalism and devolution of power affirmed at a referendum will help us find our way back to greatness away from the sad reality of our condition: a dashed dream at 61
It is heart rending that at 61, weak, poor, unstable and barely wobbling along with an uninspiring image as a troubled nation incapable of running her affairs well, all some people are still interested in, is the region the next President will come from and the political influence and patronage his friends and acolytes will benefit therefrom.
It is sad that the political class and the elite seem only interested in the lucrative business of partisan politics rather than the serious issue of salvaging the country.
The very disturbing issue concerning the stability, survival and progress of the country seems to mean little to the “leaders”.
That Boko Haram, banditry and secessionist agitation have driven away foreign investors, crippled the economy and painted a terrible image of our country, is understatement.
Herdsmen brigandage, abduction of school children, attacks on military formations, have all succeeded in finally establishing our country as the fourth most terrorized nations in the world.
Dashed dreams at 61 and our leaders are only interested in which section produces the next President.
The faulty foundation, the structural defects, the general indolence, the long tolerated crass corruption that governs the system, the nepotism and sectionalism that drives agitations and the poverty and frustration in the land that grows insecurity, are not as important as zoning of the office of the President, as far as politicos are concerned. Sad.
For 61 years, we fought each other as we struggled to dominate the other sections, this regional struggle altered our destiny.
Yet, we refuse to learn.
This ethnic rivalry, heated up the polity in the mid-1960s and brought the military, inspired a bloody civil war and weakened our nation.
The fallouts included, naive and inexperienced leaders who mismanaged our commonwealth, introduced mediocrity and foisted a wrong constitution on the nation.
After blocking the streets in Lagos every other night, dancing to Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey, during the oil boom years, we turn now to blame the frustrated youngsters for our miseries.
After junketing the world, throwing around cash and mindlessly announcing that we don’t know what to do with “too much cash”, we are still busy recriminating everybody else but ourselves. Unfortunate.
As South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda etc, continue to do a better job of managing their diversity, we are fixated with forcing down cattle routes and cow settlements in the South. Unbelievable.
As the economic and political truth of the inevitable restructuring of the polity stares us in the face, the two options available remain: continue to pretend that Nigeria can survive without reconstruction of the unitary structure, until something snaps or an early convening of a constitutional conference that will draft a new people’s constitution that unite and rejuvenate the country. Time doesn’t seem to be on our side.
Evangelist Ugochukwu-Uko is the Founder, Igbo Youth Movement (IYM) and Secretary, Eastern Consultative Assembly (ECA)