BURNING POT BY DR. PRINCE
CHARLES DICKSON
Twitter, Pencil, Kilishi and
Secession in Nigeria
pcdbooks@yahoo.com
So, last week I was a guest at a federal parastatal, the Federal
Inland Revenue, the Jos MST Office, I hope I got the initials right.
For a nation that her citizens demand much and are not conversant
with the tax regimes, and how they work. It was a really learning
curve. Loads of parastatals, MDAs are sorry sights both in structure
and customer service, but a cursory study into the work ethos of the
staff of the Jos office, these dudes are the best, indeed not just
jolly good fellows but hardworking Nigerians, irrespective of faith
and creed.
From the desk officer, a gentleman who received documents and the
damsel who gave forms out, the admin, the whole guys at the tax end,
and my personal persons Mrs. Obed, Musty, Taiye, Paul, Salihu, the
entire staff of the office even the security guards were not left
out.
At least I now know a Nigerian office that resumes by 8:00am and
closes shop by 5:00pm. Whether it’s because of the money involved I
don’t know but kudos to the FIRS team in Jos, Plateau and
nationwide.
However after all the praise above, there’s always this urge for
Nigeria, her leaders and citizens to just get it wrong, and at the
heart of another soon to be forgotten ‘misshot’ was the banning or
suspension in Nigeria was suspect ala Lai Mohammed.
Why we are a nation of knee jerk reactors one will never know, why
we are bent on remaining behind only our ancestors can speak to why.
The reason we have an attorney general who is prone to much cerebral
misspoke in a nation of blessed minds is one one mystery only
village people can be held liable for.
And June 12 came, whether the protests were successful or not, at
least the sanctity of life was respected as no life was lost, that
in itself was the breaking news, despite the anti-reactionary
elements in the police that rather than take their teargas to Niger,
Zamfara, Kebbi, and other such places, they were bent on testing
them on peaceful protesters. Like it is said in local parlance
“e dey our body’, may these uprising not bring out the
beasts in us.
Again, kudos to the youths, though lazy, but a large population of
them are the true brides to a new nation in the making, risking
martyrdom, they came out, they spoke, and many of us elders say
‘Amen, Amin Ise, and Ase’ to their good prayers and wish
for a better nation, which is actually what all of us demand of
government and leadership.
However how do we get a better nation when the authorities target
Twitter without recourse to the young Nigerians who make a
livelihood through the platform, how can we move forward when the
closest we have come to Twitter is the production of Kilishi by a
government parastatal saddled with the responsibility of taking us
to the Eldorado of technological breakthroughs.
How can we move when one government arm like FIRS is doing all it
can to generate resources, and by the way they have a largely
effective computerized efficient system, and then another whole
ministry promised us that we will produce pencils, and yes we are
methinks, but again sadly from old newspapers that are products of
imported newsprints. And yet, all the pencils at the popular
‘Rwang Pam’ stationary village are imported. Abeg who
do us?
My question then is how do we secede, with these crop of minds, let
me be pedestrian, how do we divide, has Nigeria become a failed
state, is it a failing state, is there hope, as Nigeria stands the
power of violence is in the hands of non state actors, who really is
in charge, everyone is a leader, every section is following her
dictates, the nation is bleeding from all points, Nigeria is on red
alert, has been on that alert for too long, and our big
‘ishes’ are Twitter, pencils and kilishi.
Is the current administration not dictatorial and nepotistic,
lacking in leadership, lacking in structure, why are afraid to hear
different voices and articulate, and what we have now is it okay for
all, did we collectively agree to be how we are…our fears, are they
not happening already, is Lagos same as Borno, or is Borno not even
better in development wise than Katsina despite the BH boys,
with time the ‘rice on top and for bottom of pot all go done’.
What hisbah is to Kano, Amotekun is to the south west, doesn’t the
federal government know it has too much on her plate, that every
state if allowed can generate and distribute her electricity? That
FIRS is better run, than most government agencies that start with
letter ‘N’.
Is it not common sense that the expansive explosive list is no
longer feasible, that there is a citizenship, indigineship question,
that crude use of population needs to be re-examined. That it is not
a Biafran question, but that of the federating units that are tired
and not content, with IBB, Abdulsalam and co, see ‘men wey
sabi’ taking over local communities in Niger state and
obtaining these communities. That Katsina state is not better
despite the Buhari presidency is irrefutable truth. There is an
elite structure that removes the ordinary man away, that structure
controls the power and position whether North or South, it’s not
about just ethnicity and faith, those are only drivers magnified by
poverty of the mind and pocket.
FIRS is trying to embrace best practices, let Nigeria embrace the
best practices of federalism, let’s not be afraid to talk about the
ongoing restructuring, let us negotiate, I hear we are talking with
Twitter, if we agree to do that then we should move beyond Kilishi
and pencils, we should stop threatening ourselves with onions. Allow
Nigerians from Onitsha to Sokoto to see the value of tax paying,
let’s allow for competitive federalism, we are dragging unevenly.
In my interaction with the FIRS I saw a model, a structure, it’s a
work in progress, I saw young Nigerians not afraid to start afresh,
I know they don’t want to secede. They love the work they do, real
Nigerians love Nigeria, and want only better, and I sure know
inherently we are capable of better.
We need to look beyond infinitesimal things like rotational
presidency, Igbo presidency and address the leadership deficit where
people are first leaders of their clan, hamlet, village and
communities, because truth is that most of the secessionists have
not addressed the microsome of the larger Nigerian malaise, like for
example the tripod of greed called WAZOBIA which leaves out the
Berom, Nupe, Efik, itsekiri and some 300 other ethnic nationalities
amongst many other such schisms.
We cannot pretend that all is well, there are no counter narratives,
we have been through too many conferences, yet have done little to
harness a strong spirit to work with respect, justice, equity and
fairness for one and all, how long will we be in this tide—only time
will tell.
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