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Rethinking Nigeria By Chido Onumah
On October 1, 2008, the Nigerian State will roll out drums to celebrate the country’s 48th independence anniversary. For the ruling class, there are enough reasons to celebrate. Very few countries have suffered the rape and destruction Nigeria has had to endure from those who have run it since independence and survived. But for millions of ordinary Nigerians these are not cheery times. What is there to celebrate for millions who do not have jobs or access to basic medical care? There is nothing to celebrate for millions who would never benefit from oil blocs even though oil pipelines have destroyed their sources of livelihood.
Yet, in the midst of this national catastrophe, declining life expectancy, insecurity of life and property, grinding poverty, destitution and hopelessness, our leaders continue to act as if things were normal; as if Nigeria will remain “one indivisible nation” whether we like it or not. Created in 1914 at the behest of British colonialists and granted independence 46 years later, the patchwork that is Nigeria has managed to survive for so long, but time is running out. The more our rulers prevaricate, the closer the country inches to implosion.
Of course, it is easy to demonize those who question the current socio-political situation in the country, but it is important to understand that nations are built and nurtured; they do not survive by mere wishful thinking. From the crisis in the energy, aviation, and indeed, every sector of the economy, to the situation in the Niger Delta, it has been one debacle after another. And the response of successive governments has been tardy as it has been lacking in foresight. Take the creation of a ministry for the Niger Delta, for example. I shall return to this.
If Nigerians appear impatient with President Yar’Adua, it is because the nation is in dire straits. It is also because, in a way, Nigerians trust the president, even if his rise to power came through an extremely skewed political process. Many Nigerians don’t see President Yar’Adua in the mold of former rulers like Babangida, Abacha and Obasanjo. Unfortunately, the president has not risen to the challenge. He has yet to reciprocate the confidence reposed in him or the goodwill Nigerians have shown him since he assumed office almost a year and half ago. This lack of commitment is evident in the snail speed with which his government is pursuing the urgent business of national reconstruction; it is visible in the people that run his government as ministers, and heads of agencies; people whose record make them unqualified candidates for the task of cleaning the Augean stable.
President Yar’Adua stands on the threshold of history. Barring any unforeseen circumstance, he will see Nigeria through its 50th independence anniversary. In two years we will look back and not much would have changed. You wonder if our rulers really understand the enormity of the problems confronting the Nigerian nation. All we hear is glib talk about how Nigeria will be among the twenty top economies by 2020. There are many fundamental questions that we need to deal with as a country before we can talk of competing on the world stage. It is illusory to talk about Nigeria being a contender on the global stage when to all intent and purposes Nigeria is a phantom.
Who really is a Nigerian? This question may appear hackneyed, but it is one we need to ask ourselves every now and then. Do you need to belong to a particular ethnic group to be a Nigerian? What if you decide not to wear any ethnic garb, does that disqualify you? Does being a Nigerian confer the right to live and work in any State in Nigeria without being molested and discriminated against? Does it confer the right to aspire to the highest office in the country no matter where you come from?
Decades after the scrapping of regions, the country is still divided into north and south, not for the benefit of harnessing resources and developing the country but because it is in the interest of a few power mongers to create this imaginary line. Even though the country has thirty six States, the political thinking is still along the old regional setting. Almost five decades after independence, people from certain parts of Nigeria are still deemed “not acceptable” to rule the country. After almost a decade of democratic experiment some people pretend not to know, or refuse to accept, what the Constitution says about a simple issue as what happens if the president resigns, dies, is impeached or incapacitated.
We see a lot of ad hoc measures when it comes to addressing the many fundamental questions confronting the country. The recent creation of a ministry for the Niger Delta is one of such quick fixes that the country can ill afford. The government hopes the new ministry will put an end to the agitation in the region and bring about development. There are many arguments against this impractical response to the demands of the Niger Delta, but it is enough to say it is simplistic and utterly condescending. In a country where ministries, from health to education to transportation, have failed woefully, it is inane to think another ministry will address a critical issue as the crisis in the Niger Delta, an issue that touches the very core of the Nigerian federation. Expectedly, “stakeholders” have started squabbling over the location of the ministry and who should be appointed minister.
The government’s response to the Niger Delta crisis is, of course, emblematic of problem solving in Nigeria. Rather than doing what will move the country forward, we are too often mired in anachronistic responses that serve little or no purpose. Recently, some governors under the auspices of Northern Governors Forum – perhaps, in response to the harebrained claim that the “North” is parasitic and can only survive on the oil from the Niger Delta -- convened the first Northern Agriculture Summit to talk about developing agriculture and other resources in the “North”. Talk about addressing the symptoms of our disease rather than the disease. The fundamental issue here is that Nigeria is a federation of 36 States and what we should be talking about is enforcing fiscal federalism and for constituent States to have greater control of their resources and greater responsibility in managing their affairs.
This sentiment was best captured in a report credited to eminent former Justice of the Supreme Court, Adolphus Karibe-Whyte. In a report in the Guardian of August 17, 2008, under the title “Stop Ganging Up, Karibe-Whyte Warns North”, Justice Karibe-Whyte made one of the most profound political statements to come out of Nigeria in recent times. According to the Guardian, “Karibe-Whyte spoke against the background of the lopsided nature of the Nigerian federation and the lack of political will and patriotism to effect fundamental changes that would make it a truly federal system”.
“The North is still behaving as if there are no States. They keep on having the northern States gathering for meetings. If the southern States also do the same thing, then it will be the North and the South that we will be talking about. You will not be talking about States again, when, in fact, the Constitution is talking about States,” Justice Karibe-Whyte was quoted as saying. That is the heart of the matter. We need our States to exercise their constitutional powers. And we need to go a step further to empower our States to set up institutions, including law enforcement, that work for them.
The Nigerian project requires honest leaders who love and believe in the country and are willing to roll their sleeves every morning to build a nation that is not a breeding ground for inequality and injustice. As Nigeria celebrates 48 years of flag independence, it behooves on true patriots across the country, particularly the generation whose sense of Nigerian history is not limited to cell phones and SMS, to rise to the occasion!
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