On May 20, 1960, ahead of her historical Independence of October 1, 1960, Nigeria adopted a coat of arms, with the motto: Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress. The coat of arms itself is an emblem of nationalism, a pointer to what the Fathers of Independent Nigeria desired for the nation. It consists of a black shield sitting on a colourful wreath denoting the diversity of the fertile vast land, a wavy white Y-shaped pattern representing the Rivers Niger and Benue intersecting in the confluence city of Lokoja. The two white horses on either side of the black shield signifies dignity. Elegantly perching over the black shield on a green and white convex base is a red Eagle which symbolises strength.
So, just from the concept of the coat of arms, Independent Nigeria was conceived to be a strong, united, fertile, peaceful and prosperous nation of diverse people. But the question lingers: is Nigeria united? Do Nigerians have faith in Nigeria? Is there peace and progress? These were some of the issues Delta Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, a medical doctor-turned politician, tried to untangle recently.
It was a homily, more like an allocution on Nigeria. And it was also fitting, coming barely two months to the 61st birthday of Nigeria as an independent nation. The event was the 2021 Annual Lecture and Symposium organized by Ripples Centre for Data and Investigative Journalism (RCDIJ) with the theme: Rebuilding Trust in a Divided Nigeria: Advancing the Conversation.
The Delta Governor broached the vexed topic by advancing a potpourri of imperatives for Nigeria’s unity. It’s obvious from the theme that organisers of the lecture assumed that trust once existed in Nigeria, was broken, and that now is the time to rebuild it. Even this assumption is debatable. Historically, the birth of Nigeria in 1914 via an amalgamation was premised on a distinct South coming together with a distinct North. Both entities had their peculiar traits, philosophies, ideologies, cultural morphologies and even religion. It was, therefore, a marriage between two strange fellows, lacking in socio-cultural affinities.
In a natural marriage between a man and a woman, both with varying behavioural chemistry and socio-cultural background, things are worked out when both parties, or at least one of the parties, make conscious effort to make the marriage work. Same applies to countries with multifaceted ethnic, religious and cultural configurations. The people must of necessity at a time forge a cohesion that binds them together; that creates a national vortex which pulls all to the super-structure called nationalism. Switzerland, after years of struggling to stay together in unity, had to adopt a collegiate system of presidential government just to balance all the centripetal and centrifugal forces shaking the foundation of its existence. This deliberateness to live together has made all the Swiss, irrespective of their origin, to see themselves chiefly as Swiss, and not necessarily as German, French, Italian or Romansch; their respective origins. An average American sees himself as an American with full allegiance to the spirit and creed of America. Back home in Africa, a new lease of nationalistic allegiance is evolving in Rwanda, a nation rebuilt and reconstructed from the ruins of an atrocious ethnic war. The Rwandese are forging a refreshing allegiance to the nation as against the old order of manifest division between the Hutus and the Tutsis.
And this is the challenge before Nigeria: how to break away from the vice grip of ethno-religious sentiments to owe full allegiance to the nation state. Okowa in his homily traced the foundational strictures that challenge the people’s avowal and loyalty to the nation from pre-Independence era. The insidious spread of hate and mistrust among the people happened because the leadership at various times rather than come to terms with the reality of the schisms that exist among the people pretended not to notice, or were overwhelmed by the torrents of social discontents. Issues of secession, self-determination and fear of ethnic domination were gravely evident even before Independence. The colonial overlords of Britain saw through it and this informed the constitution of the Henry Willink Commission of 1957 by the UK government to address the fears of the Nigerian minorities who at that time were sufficiently certain that the Nigerian minorities would be treated as serfs of servitude in the imminent Independent Nigeria. That fear, unfortunately, is even now more profound.
Okowa chronicled the litany of secession attempts by different groups within the Nigerian union. The first threat of secession was in 1950 at the Ibadan Constitutional Conference where the ratio of representation was fixed at 44:33:33 for the North, West and East respectively. The North flatly rejected it, insisting on 50 percent of the seats or they will secede.
In February, 1964, Isaac Shaahu, a member of the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) in the Northern House of Assembly, declared that the Tiv people could no longer bear the injustice of that time hence would wish to exit both the North and the federation. Next was the turn of Eastern Nigeria, led by its Premier, Dr. Michael Okpara. In December 1964, they threatened to secede over a censored census and the 1964 general election.
Untreated like a festering sore, the sound of secession assumed a dangerous dimension. On February 23, 1966, Isaac Adaka Boro rallied his people to pull out of Nigeria ruled by General Aguiyi Ironsi, an Igbo. Boro declared the independence of the Niger Delta Peoples Republic. The following year, precisely in May, 1967, Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu declared the Republic of Biafra.
Okowa rightly argued that the underlying catalyst for these threats of secession is a people’s sense of zero trust that Nigeria could offer them security, justice and welfare. There had been efforts at forging national cohesion. Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi’s Unification Decree No 34 of 1966; introduction of Unity Schools, the Federal Character principle and Quota System, enshrined in the Constitution since 1979, and the National Youth Service Corps Scheme, are all geared to engender national unity and a central ideology for the citizens. Yet, the centre still cannot hold, even as the various ethno-religious components continue to fall apart.
The way out, according to Okowa, is a deliberate and conscious effort by the leadership to shun narrow-minded partisanship and offer selfless good governance that engenders inclusion, equity, fairness and justice for all. He cites the example of his Delta where he has not only offered good governance that brought development to every part of the state; but where his party has adopted a tripodal arrangement that rotates governorship among the three senatorial zones.
He believes that the 2023 election offers Nigerians the auspicious opportunity to right every wrong by electing “a selfless, sacrificial, sincere, broadminded, and capable president that will be a unifying force for all Nigerians; a leader who values merit over mediocrity, competence over cronyism, while upholding the fundamental principles of fairness, equity and justice.”
If Paul Kagame (in spite of his autocratic traits) can build trust among the Rwandese, if the Swiss can build trust in their nation despite their diversity, then Nigerians can. The challenge is to recruit the right leaders so that “unity and faith, peace and progress” will find real essence in a new Nigeria.