The Nigerian Challenge and the Future of the Minorities

By

Leonard Karshima Shilgba, PhD

shilgba@aun.edu.ng

 

 

(Being a Paper Presented at the Basil Chianson Foundation  Annual Lecture at Benue State University—August 25, 2012)

I have been invited to this annual Lecture of the Basil Chianson Foundation to talk on the Nigerian Challenge and the Future of the Minorities. The members  of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation have  remained true to not only a friend but also to an ideal--Truth always wins, and truth shall ever attract and retain true and dependable  friends and loyal fans. I would like to thank the facilitators of this year's lecture, whose planning and organization skills have made it happen again. Thank you. To the family of our brother Basil, let me say Congratulations! When a deceased has passed away and yet his memory is held not for the wrong reasons, but for the right ones, their family members can be congratulated for being a part of the reason or reasons. I would like to acknowledge the presence of Professor Steve Ugbah. Sir, the fruit of your leadership is more important than the act itself. And may we all partake of that fruit irrespective of whatever differences partakers may have. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for your presence. I am here with my wife, Kemi and the children. And we are very happy to be here.

Today, we live in a society that celebrates money instead of morality, a society whose sense of right and wrong is warped. Our children are confused, seeing repeatedly as society honours the evidently crooked, blatantly corrupt, incorrigibly heartless, and self-confessed gangsters. But it is also people within such a society that can work to change the situation. Angels cannot come to bring about the desired change, man must. And when a man stands up to instigate such necessary change, he wears the face and personality of an angel in the sight of victims of that society's deleterious values even though the beneficiaries of the corrupting set of values may perceive differently.

Good conscience is very hard to find in the vicinities of public leadership in Nigeria today. The president, governors, local government chairmen, commissioners, ministers of the federal republic, legislators, judges, advisers and assistants in government,  Executives of government ministries, departments and agencies, ambassadors, the Nigerian security chiefs, CEOs of businesses, university administrators, and even religious and traditional leaders can hardly say, " I have lived in all good conscience in the performance of my rightful duties." And when society has lost its conscience, it has equally lost its humanity. Then injustice reigns, duplicity is celebrated as victory, and social order gets out of order. The representatives of victims of society fight back, bringing about a sense of physical insecurity, which before was heralded by moral insecurity. There are questions we must answer today. And it is my absolute hope that we arrive at answers that at least approximate the right answers, which shall guide us into the future as Nigerians and particularly, Minorities in Nigeria.

What is the Nigerian challenge? What indices determine Minority or Majority group status? Is population or popularity a conclusive index? Is the abundance of natural resources or the lack thereof a relevant factor? Could advancement in education, science or technology, evidenced by the improvement of the environment, automation of tools for work, and comfortable living, include a group of people in the Majority category?  If a group of people has the preponderance of highly educated people, appropriately skilled and economically endowed, and yet its physical population is far less than that of another group of people whose elements are pathetically poorly educated or enlightened, and Ill-equipped with relevant skills, would it be ideologically and reasonably right to make a conclusion that the former group is a minority and the latter a majority? Is Minority status a choice or by fate? Is a majority status a natural endowment that cannot be reversed or set aside irrespective of the actions or inactions of its holders? What is the present estate of Nigeria's Minorities? What is the future of those Minorities in Nigeria if nothing is done by their elements to alter the unwanted or undesired state? What should be the ideal state of those Minorites?

It is my honest hope that we shall find some answers to most of those questions, if not all of them, in today's lecture.

The Nigerian challenge is to find the requisite will to bring about the state social order mentioned in the second chapter of the 1999 military-instigated constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. In the seventeenth section of the second chapter of the constitution, it is stated as follows: “The state social order is founded on the ideals of freedom, equality and justice.” Moreover, we find in section fourteen of the second chapter of the constitution the eloquent affirmation that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Put together, we can say that the Nigerian challenge is to build a nation where freedom, equality and justice lead, and the welfare and security of citizens follow. It is hypocrisy that prays for peace while mocking justice. It is disingenuous to create circumstances that promote social inequality and economic disharmony and yet claim to govern. What then is the essence of governance if there is absence of peace and economic prosperity in spite? Every man and woman in the corridors of political power must feel a sense of shame and discomfort should the condition of living of their people worsen interminably by degrees.

Seeing that Nigerians are overly religious, let me appeal to this passion. God shall never do for us the things he has already given us the ability to do. Where the will is lacking, we should find it for the necessary task. Deep thinking about the future may help produce the required will. Who was the wealthiest man in the days of Martin Luther King Jr.? Does that person still speak today? When we are gone from the earth, it is not our wealth that shall speak for us; it is the good we did with it. When our shift in the corridors of power is done, neither our titles nor positions of power shall be the enduring trophies, but the legacy of lives improved, the monument of minds we have helped enlighten, and the testimony of children, women, and men that we made genuinely proud of their citizenship shall be the true certification of fulfilment of our destiny.

When Waziri Ibrahim of Borno Emirate indicated interest to contest the 1979 presidential election, he referred to a pact signed between Ahmadu Bello and Kashim Ibrahim (incidentally, his father-in-law) that leadership of the North would be rotated between the Sokoto Caliphate and the Borno Empire. He then argued that it was the turn of a Borno prince to rule. Historical documents show that the geographical area called Nigeria today consisted of separate real estates that were managed by the British after the 1885 Berlin conference, where Africa was shared between colonial powers such as Britain, Germany, Belgium, Portugal and France. The occupation of those “estates” was either by deceitful pacts of protection, which made them to be called Protectorates (e.g. the Niger Protectorate and Northern Protectorate), or by outright conquest (e.g. the Lagos Colony).

 The name, Nigeria, which was suggested by Flora Shaw in her London Times article of January 8, 1897, was adopted and originally applied ONLY to the Northern Protectorate. Let me quote Ms Shaw: "The name Nigeria, applying to no other part of Africa, may without offence to any neighbours be accepted as co-extensive with the territories over which the Royal Niger Company has extended British influence, and may serve to differentiate them equally from the colonies of Lagos and the Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territories of the Upper Niger.” The Lagos colony and Niger Protectorate, all in the south, were not included in the territories to be called Nigeria! Ms Shaw’s proposal was for a shorter name for the “agglomeration of pagan and Mohamedan States.” Permit me to take you through some bit of history. Some of you may be familiar with this history. But it is one thing to know about something, and quite another to recognize their effect on you and your society. Nigerians need to know important facts about their country and how negatively those have impacted on the journey towards growth and development. Our children need to know about their country and how its history has contributed to its sad story today. If Nigerians will change their country, the majority of her opinion and executive leaders must act like they feel the burden to make a nation out of the strange creation. But what can push them to?

 When the basis of any relationship is mundane materialism, such will not stand the test of time. When a lady, for instance, “falls in love” with a man only because he is wealthy, it is a matter of time before relationship tests cause severe strain on that relationship until it snaps. What does 865,000 British pounds at 1900 purchasing power value mean to you today? How would you value this amount over a century later? Suppose that your family was lent this amount of money by a bank more than a century ago on a premium, what do you think the cumulative interest would be today on the principal if it was compounded?

Sir George Tubman Goldie founded the United African Company (UAC) in 1879 to comprise British traders whose activities were along the River Niger, to protect them even as they faced aggressive competition from the French. The company signed many treaties with local chiefs and kings thereafter, and imposed their ownership of those territories. His vision was to add to the British Empire territories of the middle and lower Niger. In 1881 Sir Goldie requested British Prime Minister, Sir William Gladstone for a charter to secure protection from Royal forces, more so when the French operated at the lower Niger (By this time the UAC was renamed National African Company (NAC)). Sir Gladstone declined; but after the Berlin conference (1884-85) where Africa was partitioned among colonial powers, and the consequential acquisition of the lower Niger from French forces,  the prime minister conceded, and so in July 1886 a charter was granted, thus changing the name from NAC to the Royal Niger Company, which equally changed the leadership of the company; the governor of the Royal Niger Company became Baron Henry Austin Bruce the same year while Sir George Goldie was his deputy. After the death of Bruce in 1895 Sir George Goldie (whose grave is in Lapai, Niger state) again assumed the leadership of the company. It was during his leadership of the Royal Niger Company that Frederick Lugard was sent to sign numerous treaties with chiefs in the Borgu area (presently, part of this area is in present Nigeria in north western area, and part of it is in Benin republic. The Anglo-French convention of 1898 resolved this partition of Borgu between the French and English powers). It was about a year before 1898 that Flora Shaw (the future wife of Lugard) wrote in the London Times what I have quoted to you.

 

In 1900 the Royal Niger Company SOLD all its territories to the British Empire for the sum of 865, 000 British pounds! Considering the inflation-related fact that 100 British pounds in 1900 had the purchasing power of about 9636 British pounds in 2011 (check on www.aboutinflation.com), we can conclude that the British Empire paid to the Royal Niger Company  more than 83 billion British pounds in present pound value for more than half of present Nigeria.  It was then that the Southern Protectorate was formed, which comprised the Lower Niger Protectorate that fell to the British after the Berlin conference, and all former Royal Niger Company territories very much below the Niger (The Lagos colony was joined in 1906, and the Igbo lands after that by threat of force by Governor, Sir Walter Egerton). The Northern Protectorate (formerly, Royal Niger Company Territories) was also formed in 1900, with Frederick as its first governor, who presided until 1906 when he resigned; he was brought back six years later in 1912 as governor of both Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate, and to coordinate the amalgamation of the two protectorates, which he successfully accomplished in 1914, and became the first Governor-General of the new Nigeria in 1914 until 1919. This narrative provides a brief historical appreciation to young Nigerians and to not so young, and hopefully, it shines the light on the battle ahead.

Was Great Britain going to just give up on its more than 83 billion pound-investment (with compounded interest) without significant returns? If the answer was No, as it was, what arrangements did Britain make to recoup her investments?

Barely eight years after purchasing large territories of present Nigeria at 865,000 British pounds in 1900 from the Royal Niger Company had it become necessary for the British Empire to start the process of recouping her investments. This, she did by commissioning the British colonial petroleum to explore for oil. Thirty years later Shell D’Arcy was given license to explore for oil in any part of Nigeria. About a year after the last Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir James Robertson took office, the company’s name was changed to Shell-BP Petroleum Nigeria Limited in 1956; this coincided with the company’s discovery of oil in commercial quantities at Oloibiri. The rest is now history as this company presently controls about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s daily crude oil production, and is at the forefront of opposition against the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), whose passage shall free this natural resource (crude oil) for the full benefit of host communities, who have suffered for so long because the British feel they are yet to reap fully their 865,000 pound-investment, which today is worth more than 83 billion British pounds and counting.

According to Wikipedia, “Southern Nigeria was a British protectorate in the coastal areas of modern-day Nigeria, formed in 1900 from union of the Niger Coast Protectorate with territories chartered by the Royal Niger Company below Lokoja on the Niger River. The Lagos colony was added in 1906, and the territory was officially renamed the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. In 1914, Southern Nigeria was joined with Northern Nigeria Protectorate to form the single colony of Nigeria. The unification was done for economic reasons rather than political — Northern Nigeria Protectorate had a budget deficit; and the colonial administration sought to use the budget surpluses in Southern Nigeria to offset this deficit.”

Nigeria was not designed to become a nation; she was designed for mundane materialism. Although some efforts were made in 1963 by Nigerian nationalists to build a nation, this attempt was frustrated just three years after. Since then, Nigeria has only known persistent invasion by greedy people and corporate bodies that only exploit Nigeria for their gain. How many of the people that hold political power in Nigeria truly care about good governance? The sustained policy to corruptly appropriate and sabotage what is for public benefit is a deliberate one that cannot be overcome except through a sovereign national conference whose outcome shall be owned by all Nigerians, whose benefit shall be shared by all Nigerians, and whose liabilities shall be offset by public will.

 

The British defined the Northern Protectorate as consisting of the “pagans and Mohamedan states”. The Mohamedan states in reference were the Sokoto and Borno Empires. The British referred to non-Muslims in the Northern Protectorate as “Pagans”, whom they subjugated to the Mohamedans (Muslims). According to Omo Omoniyi, the British never conceived of a situation whereby the “beautiful dancers of the pagans” (mainly, the Middle Belt people) would aspire to equal social status with the Mohamedan states. The amalgamation of 1914 was a forced marriage between the “well behaved youth of the North and the Southern lady of means.” The marriage was for the economic benefit and survival of the North (Original Nigerians)

Those facts of history reveal that the unilateral amalgamation of Northern Protectorate (Nigeria) and the Southern Protectorate, which Northern emirs had foreknowledge of, was subjugation of the people of the south to Nigeria. The southerners are adopted Nigerians whose livelihood should be at the mercy and generosity of the true Nigerians. Since the amalgamation was for economic reasons, in favour of the Northern Protectorate, any economic arrangement that seeks to place the resources of the southern Nigerians under their control is and shall be vehemently resisted by the Northerners. To them, whether openly confessed or not, the basis of oneness of Nigeria is vitiated by such arrangements. Accordingly, the unity of Nigeria to a northerner means continued injustice through control of other people’s resources. This attitude frustrates Nigeria’s evolvement into a nation.

The Middle Belt people were supposed to be the slaves of the Mohamedan states (the British-created custodians of political power; and when you have political power, you also wrest economic power). So, although Middle Belters are original Nigerians, in the view of the British, we are nonetheless second-class Nigerians. And the Southern lady of means must service the greed and pleasure of the Master of Nigeria (The princes and princesses of Sokoto and Borno empires). The princes and princesses of the North can settle and claim any place they choose in the presently recognized Nigeria (their gift from the British), and can even create their emirates in those places; neither the Middle Belters nor the Southerners can afford to do same.

The matter becomes a bit confusing to those who do not understand the four major divisions in the North—The Royal North (princes and princesses of the Sokoto Caliphate and Bornu empire, their adopted in-laws, and some who have migrated widely. My father, a historian, wrote his college thesis on Katsina-Ala in Benue state, which was founded by a prince who left Katsina in the North to settle on the banks of River Katsina-Ala); the Talakawas (commoners), who were direct subjects of the princes of the North in their Mohamedan states before the British came (and the British did not tamper with this arrangement); the “beautiful dancers of the pagans” (The Middle Belt people who had successfully resisted the Islamic jihadists); and the present Muslim-Christian divide.

Those opposed to convocation of a sovereign national conference to resolve issues about Nigeria shall avoidably bring doom on the country. Probably, this will be a blessing for the Southern lady of means, who shall then take back control of her resources.  But the Royal North shall come out in a terribly bad shape. We must talk; we must discuss Nigeria at a sovereign national conference. Those who claim that the national assembly can resolve contradictions about Nigeria, some of which have been revealed so far, are either unaware of the dangerous situation about Nigeria or are simply disingenuous. The national assembly has not been able to resolve the injustice in local government creation with its attendant fiscal implication for states in Nigeria, talk less of more fundamental issues such as fiscal federalism and elimination of wastes in our finances. Can the national assembly scrap the senate, for instance? Can the national assembly reduce the number of states and make legislation that shall remove all the clogs imposed by the exclusive legislative list in the constitution in order to encourage financial autonomy for the states?  Sovereign national conference in a democracy is not a strange phenomenon as some have alleged. Those who are making strange noises against it and calling advocates of the conference mischief makers are only jittery, knowing that the unjust oppression of the majority shall come to an end thereby.

By population, there are two main minority groups in Nigeria—the South-south people and the Middle belt people. The Middle Belt is a thick band between the South and North of Nigeria. By population, the Middle Belt is the largest single group in the North. It is the most educated group in the north.  But the Middle belt, unlike the South-south, remains politically attached to the Royal North, with no tangible economic or political benefits accruing from this alliance. The South-south is attached neither to the Igbo nation nor the Yoruba nation—the two majority groups in the south. The South-south Governors forum charts economic agendas for their peoples together. They have carved an identity for themselves. There is massive infrastructural development going on in the south-south. Why are governors of the Middle belt so afraid of leading their peoples out of the subjugating shackles of the past? The south-south have strong mouthpieces in the news media—the AIT, Guardian and This day newspapers, to name a few. The Middle belt cannot boast of something similar. The south-south has industries that can be identified with that region; they have captains of industry that are influential in Nigeria and beyond; the Middle belt has nothing. What then is the gain to the Middle belt people of this obsequious relationship to the North that has lasted for more than a century? It is time for a new kind of leadership in the Middle belt. I challenge Governor Suswam and Governor Jang to initiate a Middle Belt Governors forum; we the technocrats shall support them. It seems to me that Nassarawa state is being primed as a launch base for the Royal north in the event of the unimagined. Abuja is worth more than 400 billion dollars, and it falls within the Middle belt territory. The cordoning off of Abuja from Kaduna to Madalla; Suleija to Lokoja, and Okene to Nassarawa state by unofficial agents of the North appears to go unnoticed by not a few.

 There are certain interests that are surreptitiously being guarded by different nation groups in Nigeria. Of all those groups, the Middle belt is the only one that appears to be sleeping. The North would like to see the dredging of the River Niger completed. But it seems there is a deliberate policy by the present Nigerian leadership to delay this or it is just not its priority yet. The River Niger, and by extension, the River Benue are very important in defining ethno-Nigerian relations. The politics of the Niger-Benue divide appears to go unnoticed by many Nigerian scholars. It is in the economic interest of the Middle belt to have the River Benue equally dredged up to Lagdo dam in Cameroon. The national assembly lacks the determination and requisite selflessness required to build a new nation through a just constitution-making process (not amendment of a “constitution”).  The on-going constitution-amendment exercise of the national assembly is one in futility. A sovereign national conference is an inevitable national assignment if Nigeria must survive many of you here today.

While the nationalists in Southern Nigeria were eager to see off the colonial leadership, their counterparts in the North were not that eager, fearing what would happen to them with the exit of their protectors and benefactors. Any talk of resource control or convocation of a sovereign national conference in Nigeria sends fear down the spine of nationalists in Northern Nigeria, who sense a position of disadvantage. The fear becomes highly exaggerated when they feel or assume the loss of political power. I believe that failure to hold a sovereign national conference to frankly talk among ourselves and undo the fears induced by Frederick Lugard and his successors and the injustices imposed by post-1966 socio-political arrangements of military decrees, falsely called Constitutions, shall inflict further debilitating blights on our social estate.

I have no doubt that the “Southern lady of means” favours convocation of a sovereign national conference. But I am also aware that some of her children, because of their unfair benefit from the status quo, are against such contemplation. But what I know is that continued denial of the Nigerian presidency shall compel the North to give in to convocation of a sovereign national conference. I think the North shall have a hard time taking the presidency of Nigeria by 2015. This shall willy-nilly force a meeting of nationalities in Nigeria. Some mockers say that if such a conference should hold, it should be on the basis of States. This is baloney! You cannot recognize what you seek to vitiate as a basis of dialogue. We shall meet on the basis of nationalities. For instance, I may attend the conference as a Tiv citizen and not as a delegate from Benue state. The Tiv people have their age-long processes of selecting their representatives. No one should worry about how delegates for a sovereign national conference shall emerge. Each nation in Nigeria should attend to that.

 We the Tivs would not accept the continued raid on our lands by Fulani herdsmen. We shall no longer permit the extraction of our huge limestone deposits, with consequential pollution of our environment without derivation benefits accruing to our relevant communities; we would like to have control of our natural resources and lands. Only a man who cannot see the future will proudly call advocates of a sovereign national conference, mischief makers. I think if asking for justice makes me a mischief maker in Nigeria, I boldly accept that title. But I say unreservedly, that Nigerian rulers today are troublers of Nigeria. 

I heard about a proposed bill that would create grazing areas for the Fulani cattle all over Nigeria, under a Grazing Commission. This bill was sponsored by Hon. Albert Tsokwa from Taraba (a Middle belt state). The bill has passed second reading in both chambers of the national assembly. This bill, if passed, would lead to the take-over of lands in the Middle belt (through the Land use decree) for grazing of cattle, with no economic benefit to the land owners, but only losses. What is the response of our senators and representatives in Abuja? I must say to my senator, Gemade, that my people would not accept this. The Middle belt leaders have gone to sleep; wake up! In this modern era, the Fulani cattle owners should be able to set up cattle ranches in their lands and adopt modern ways of raising cattle. I warn that the proposed bill shall stoke more violence in Nigeria.

The relevance of population in defining majority or minority status is only traditional, but it is definitely not absolute. The quality of a population such as the level of its empowerment through strategic education, and thereby the weight of its influence in the various productive sectors of the economy, is more important than the bare numbers of people in that population. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Jewish population in 2012 stood at 5,931,000. In world and American politics, the Jews cannot be regarded as a minority. Jewish influence is felt both in the Arab world in particular, and the world in general. According to Wikipedia, the population of the Tiv nation is more than 6 million; and that the Tiv nation is the fourth largest in Nigeria, making up 3.5 percent of Nigeria’s population of 170 million by July this year. Comparing the Tiv influence on world’s politics with the influence of the Jews, where does the Tiv nation stand? Coming closer home, what is the influence of the Tiv nation within Nigeria? The Tiv nation is fast becoming a minority even within Benue state. The presence of natural resources can make a nation to gain a majority status provided it controls the productive and marketing processes. Strategic education is the key for such control; and this kind of education is urgently needed today by minorities in Nigeria. The Rivers state government is aggressively educating her people in top-quality universities both in Nigeria and abroad. About 10 years after, that state shall produce highly skilled manpower needed in high-tech industries in Nigeria, with consequential improvement in its influence level in Nigeria’s productive sectors.

Any nation group in Nigeria can change its status. The Yorubas had a visionary leader in Obafemi Awolowo, who gave them quality education by which the Yorubas dominate the productive sectors today. It is not the mere numbers of Yorubas that confer it with such aura of dignity; rather it is the education they have attained. The South-south states are working to improve the quality of education of their people; they organize economic summits and invite their exposed sons and daughters to contribute. Moreover, they have oil money coming in to fund their ambitious economic and educational projects. The Middle belt states remain either trapped in primitive politics of violence and death or in subservient disposition to the Royal north, which has yielded for them nothing better than pogrom in their homelands. The potential of the Middle belt states in agriculture and agriculture-based industrialization is obvious but obviously ignored by her leaders.

The Tiv nation is in a unique position to lead the Middle belt peoples out of their state of subjugation. But this nation has no leader, and therefore, the Middle belt has no leader. We have allowed petty political differences to divide us. I call on Governor Suswam, senators Akume and Gemade to come together. I call on Tor Tiv to become a father of all again. We cannot pretend, and frankly, I don’t know how to pretend. There is division in the land because of politics. Neither the PDP nor ACN shall develop our land and raise the standard of living of our people. But our brothers and sisters with political power can, irrespective of political affiliation. I request for a summit of the Middle belt peoples, which must be preceded by similar summits of individual nations or groups of nations within the region. These summits must examine what our genuine interests are, what our disadvantages are, what are our strengths, and the alliances we must build to achieve our potential. Governors of the Middle belt should sponsor those summits; two or three of governors of the Middle belt can lead the way. We cannot continue to be slaves on our lands. We refuse to die of fear.  Let justice rain down, and let the people bath in it. Let internal strength overcome hate. For the sake of our future, predicted by our collective repentance, let us tear down all barriers that have for too long been raised against the hopeful reality that we know is possible. Thank you!