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The title of this piece may look harsh but to the discerning it is one truth we must tell ourselves if we are to take advantage of what God has blessed us with. Nigeria we should admit by now was no product of consensus, it was the outcome of forced amalgamation by the colonial master Britain who in the bid to maximize benefits few years to the end of colonialism came up with the fusion of very distinct peoples and very independent political entities into what they perceived could finally become one country.
The size of the space in terms of land mass and population made the idea exciting and very attractive to many within and beyond particularly the black world who saw in the union the black hope. It was envisaged the emergent Nigeria would be the Blackman›s answer to sophisticated developments found in countries like France, Germany United Kingdom and the United States of America. Economists had taught that among factors of development are population and land, so it wasn›t a surprise they added Nigeria to the list of countries to watch.
Truly the fusion held out hopes even though basic steps that should help build a country weren›t taken. The native successors of the departing colonial administrators took some vital qualities from the colonial officers, they were disciplined, very austere, visionary and very dynamic. They were very patriotic that we can’t take away from them, they had this high level of commitment and fascinating belief that indeed some measure of modern civilization could come from the black people and from Nigeria in particular.
Not long after the world began to see signs that confirmed that as good as zeal is, it is of no value of it is not accompanied by requisite knowledge and sincerity of purpose. Those leaders needed to know countries don›t just emerge from coupling groups together and putting a government over the people and territory, they didn›t know. Truth is countries are built, countries are the outcome of deliberate efforts of well meaning people in the society. It is a product of sacrifice and hard work. Also very important to establing a great country is sincerity of purpose, leaders do know know they must sit down to review the makeup of the constuent parts, identify the peculiarities, strength and weaknesses, assets and liabilities and on those discoveries create pillars that carry all the structures .
Our founding did a bit of the above but hadn›t the patience to take it to a logical conclusion hence convolutions that were to follow. Bad foundation birthed mistrust and suspicion on huge scale. It caused our founding fathers to work at cross purposes. It robbed us the chance to sit down and fashion out the much needed ideology that would have streamlined our developmental efforts.
The worse was we couldn›t create the ideal Nigerian. Not many of us citizens are «built». Truth is to have a great country there must be a design of the kind of people to inhabit it. O yes! When the foundation is faulty, threats of imminent collapse stokes that edifice perpetually and this has been the bane of Nigeria since independence in the 1960. Till now the pains of dislocations emanating from poor foundation dots nearly every aspect of national life.
We take only recent examples. Not very long ago a northern Christian, a female student by name Deborah was killed in Sokoto by a mob on alleged crime blasphemy. She was stoned until she died and then burnt up. This was one of so many of such barbaric acts, the important thing to know is that such barbarism became possible because there is no sense of bonding, people of divergent origins in what is supposed to be a union don›t think they have cause to see themselves as one people equal on on all aspects of civil rights.
Federalism is one thing we agreed before independence but the military who shut their way into power, who claimed to be messiahs but ended up running on ethnic agenda abolished the provision and gave us in its place a unitary system. The albatross of this option is found in its central command approach. Centralized power is not suitable for a heterogeneous society. What made our version monstrous would be the fact the military didn›t see the need to prepare the citizens for one value process. Military of course doesn›t have the training, capacity and patience for such high level societal re-engineering. The omission left us with far reaching negative consequences.
Today and more than sixty years after nationhood Nigerians who should see and regard themselves as brothers and sisters, fellow country and women view themselves as strangers, they take their bearing from the prism of their ethnicity. Patriotism is alien. We fight more for our tribes and religion than we do to keep the country up and running. We have a constitution made by the military for what ought to be a federal Republic which carries inside it huge anomalies. Our constitution still recognizes «indigeneship»as against citizenship and attendant rights. It is ironic to claim to working for peace when the grand law prescribes political representation based on ethnic origin. This how we create challenges and still pretend we are solving problems.
In all parts of what should be a country bona-fide citizens rightly chose to live and do business in areas outside areregarded as «strangers elements «. How we can have peace when citizens can›t see themselves as one is something very difficult for many of to comprehend. Already, we can all see the consequences with us. During the presidential and Governorship polls held February 11and March 18 none Yorubas residing in Lagos came under various attacks. Their offense was resolve to exercise their civil right of voting political parties and candidates of their choice. A universal right. They will hunted like animals, many of them got threats eviction from their landlords.
On actual voting days thugs became more feared than state security personnel. People were hit with objects, stabbed and killed with state security personnel just watching the horror scenes. it was very harrowing to observe that very knowledgeable persons who should ordinarily be the light of our country chose to act at variance. They became vanguards of hate and purveyors of discrimination. A nationally acclaimed journalist Bayo Onanuga put out a press statement warning Igbos to stay off politics of Lagos State or face force evictions from Lagos State or have themselves to blame. We saw those who spearheaded this mess yet no arrest was made. Our President elect is incharge of affairs in Lagos he never saw need to give a word until after his protégés have gained from the acts of brigandage
The development should worry all of us for reasons that are very clear to all of us. Hate actions provoke tense reactions that task social relationships between groups. It leads to conflict and bloody wars. It is very difficult to build a country in an atmosphere where the constituents can›t see themselves as one people under one nation with a common destiny. It was hate actions that brought the civil war. No tribe should tell another to leave their area it shouldn›t be muted let alone heard in public.
We must be worried about the attitude of our leaders to hate actions. Our leaders instigate these nefarious acts to harvest political advantages. This shouldn›t be tolerated at all. In fact people should arrested and made to face the rigors of the law. Where they are not behind the development their keeping mum when it happens confirms tacit approval or better still raw abdication of cardinal state responsibility. Building a country is a constitutional conferred responsibility when they fail to discharge it ought to very clear it could amount to criminal offense.
It is time we begin to make administrative failures justiceable. Finally, those fanning embers of ethnic hate should retrace their steps immediately, they do nobody any good. Those who harassed others in Lagos should be very ashamed of themselves. They have a black conscience that would hunt them for life. We have a responsibility to take our country and put the pillars that would enable us but a country the world would be proud of.
