• Nigerians yet to benefit from FG’s economic policies
One of the conveners of the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance (NINAS), Professor Yusuf Turaki has said that the Middle Belt Region is opposed to a regional autonomy that includes the Hausa and Kanuri.
According to the university don, Nigeria lacks a national ethic that can drive national integration, national building and national development and transformation, noting that Nigeria’s national psyche has built internal latent hostilities and suspicions between and among these diverse groupings, which has made national cohesion, unity, peaceful and harmonious co-existence a big challenge.
While bemoaning the level of corruption in the country, Prof Turaki in this interview with VINCENT KALU, described corruption, as an octopus with many hands that holds a nation or a people hostage, and destroys reason, justice, honesty, integrity, accountability and probity.
How can you describe the state of the nation?
Nigeria lacks national ethic, national values, and just and sustainable structures and institutions. Nigerians simply work and walk at cross-values because of their diverse backgrounds of ethnicity, religions, regions, histories and cultures. These diverse primal and fundamental social factors have not been integrated with the goal of developing common-ground social values and common ground social structures and institutions that can foster peaceful co-existence, harmony and national unity. Nigeria lacks a national ethic that can drive national integration, nation building and national development and transformation. The historic Nigeria’s ethical structure constructed by the British Colonial administration and the subsequent constitutions and national political values and structures have not harmonised the diverse ethnic, regional, religious and historical and cultural groupings in Nigeria. Rather, Nigeria’s national psyche has built internal latent hostilities and suspicions between and among these diverse groupings. For this reason, national cohesion, unity, peaceful and harmonious co-existence, nationalism and patriotism could not evolve, but the nagging divisiveness and the emergence of negative social values and social formations that have led to the state of pervasive and prevalent endemic corruption and insecurity.
The non-state actors have successfully captured the Nigerian social environment by destroying and enslaving its populace, on the one hand, and have successfully weakened and made the Nigerian state ineffective and powerless in subduing and taming the menace and the power of the non-state actors, on the other hand. Nigerians currently live under the pervasive and prevalent forms and shades of insecurity. The many security agencies have not been able to rid the country of such because of serious internal compromises of sabotage, betrayals and general collusions of Nigeria’s negative ethnic, religious and regional forces of disunity and violence.
More political theories and inputs, more economic theories and inputs, all of these have not solved the Nigerian problem. The more of these theories and inputs, the worse Nigeria becomes. Nigeria has besetting primal social factors that are the main obstacles to its development and transformation. Unless they are addressed, Nigeria has no viable solutions, except the drift towards disorder and ruination. Nigeria is currently being ruled by chaotic and divisive social values and institutions. Nothing is normative, but disorder and violence.
Where corruption, moral and spiritual decadence and indiscipline abound, there can be no development and transformation. Corruption is like an octopus with many hands that hold a nation or a people hostage. It destroys reason, justice, right-action, honesty, integrity, accountability and probity, but it also breeds moral and spiritual decadence and indiscipline, bad leadership and bad governance, and institutional decay. Where corruption abounds, certainly, there would be no national vision, no standard norms, ethics, values and goals, as the trio of self-centeredness and pride; greed and lust; and fear and anxiety of the competing ethnic, religious and regional groups breed underdevelopment, social crises, human conflicts, poverty, unproductivity and unhealthy environment.
Nigerian political culture is deeply rooted in ethnicity, regionalism and religion. Our politicians and soldiers, who have ruled Nigeria, have been groomed and nurtured in the arts of ethnocentrism, primordialism, regionalism and religion. We do see the elected politicians or the soldiers who ruled Nigeria, and who in most cases were under the strong influence of ethnocentrism, primordialism, regionalism and religious and cultural bigotry.
Nigerians are very good at identifying problems and issues, and then lament over them. They only deal with symptoms, but not finding the root causes. What are the causes of the Nigerian state of affairs? This is what we should be pursuing and not depending only on the classification of symptoms.
Tribal, regional and religious forces have a stranglehold on Nigeria. Their primary desire is to impose their values and structures upon Nigerians. They have captured the political, social, religious and economic soul of Nigeria. With radical militancy and fanatical ideology, divisive and negative forces at hand, they want to convert Nigeria into their image and likeness.
Government says Nigerians should make sacrifices and tighten their belts while the leaders continue with their flamboyant lifestyles. What is your opinion?
The answer to this phenomenon is rooted in the corruption inherent in all human beings. It is only a matter of degree. It is all about personal morality and personal ethics. A human being is influenced or controlled by both external and internal forces in the formation of his/her attitudes, behaviours or social practices. Solutions to our challenges and problems as a nation must be addressed at these two levels: the level of external social influences, that is, social values and structures and institutions; and the level of internal personal influences, that is, personal moral character. Our problems emanate from society and social values and structures and institutions, which is the social order, on the one hand; and from the internal nature of a human being, the personal moral order and character on the other hand.
Human inherent desire for possessions, acquisition and accumulation of things beyond what is normal or moderate, are powerful personal driving forces and motivations.
Lust on the other hand is rooted in an insatiable and inordinate desire and quest for mental pleasure and enjoyment of the glory and pomp of things.
Nigeria’s social, political and economic forces and powers have of recent thrown the Nigeria’s political class into schizophrenic frenzy of great anxieties and fears. Why Niger Delta militancy? Why Boko Haram, Jihadist Movements? Why 2011 riots? Why OPC? Why Bakassi Boys? Why MASSOB? Why ACF? Why MBF? Why IPOB? Why Fulani militias? These social forces and idols of ethnic nationality, religion and region have tested Nigerian Armed Forces and the governments of federal and states and they have been found wanting. They lacked the moral will and the discipline to confront these social gods and idols.
The Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerians told President Tinubu the urgent need to jettison the present 1999 constitution and put in motion the process of getting a new people’s constitution. What is your take on this?
The Nigeria 1999 Constitution is the major contemporary legal and social problem of Nigeria. Both the motif and the bias were construed to serve the needs and interests of a particular ssection of Nigeria. Two contradictory and incompatible ideologies were miscrafted into the Nigeria 1999 Constitution: Liberal democracy and Islamic theocracy. It institutionalises a perpetual political, religious, ethnic and regional conflicts and divisiveness.
The divisive and unresolved issues of the Nigeria 1999 Constitution were addressed by the resolutions and reports of the 2014 National Conference of President Goodluck Jonathan. There is no need to re-invent the wheel. I was a member of the 2014 National Conference representing Kaduna State. The only groups of Nigerians who rejected the outcomes of the 2014 National Conference were the people of Hausa land and Kanuri land. After about six months, Northern delegates of the 2014 Confab met in Abuja to convey the so-called northern rejection of the Report of the 2014 National Conference. The majority of the delegates from the Middle Belt Region took exception to the rejection and the bias of the majority of the delegates from Hausa land and Kanuri land towards the Confab Report.
The report was duly submitted to the Government. Nigeria now awaits the government to act on it.
The Ohanaeze, Afenifere, some Arewa groups and others are pushing for regional autonomy. What is your opinion on this?
Regional Autonomy may serve the needs of three regions, South West, South East and South South, but not the entire North. In the geographical North, those who advocate regional autonomy are people from Hausa land and Kanuri land. The overwhelming majority of the people of the Middle Belt are opposed to regional autonomy that includes the people of Hausa land and Kanuri land. The Southern regions are homogeneous, but not the segmented and heterogeneous geographical North. The ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt Region have historically advocated their own region that does not include Hausa land and Kanuri land. Given the fact that the people of Hausa land and Kanuri land have turned the geographical Northern into a state of killings, crises, conflicts, bandits, kidnappers, jihadist, and all forms of violence and militancy, the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt Region will never again be subjected to the political, economic, social and religious dominance of the Hausa-Fulani-Kanuri. Regional autonomy that merges the Middle Belt Region with Hausa land and Kanuri land is vehemently rejected by the ethnic nationalities that are non-Hausa-Fulani-Kanuri, in view of their historical institutionalised inferior status and socio-political role within the hierarchical structure of the Northern Region during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial Nigeria. The ethnic nationalities of Northern Nigeria that are non-Hausa-Fulani-Kanuri were treated during the Anglo-Muslim Rule of the Northern Region , as second-class citizens, and as well as Kuffar and Dhimmis.
Historically, just prior to independence, the minorities of Western Region of Nigeria, Eastern Region of Nigeria and Northern Region demanded from the British the creation of their own separate regions, but the British refused to do that. After independence, the Nigerian Parliament created Mid-West Region in 1963, thus separating the Western minority from Yoruba dominance. In 1967, the Military Government under General Yakubu Gowon created a region out of the old Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers from Eastern Region, thus separating the Eastern minorities from Igbo dominance.
In 1996, Abacha created the non-constitutional six geo-political zones. South West, South East, South South (merged the Old Mid-West Region with the Old Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers Region), but General Abacha balkanised the Middle Belt Region and divided into three Northern geo-political zones: North East, North-West and North Central. What the inhabitants of Hausa land and Kanuri land have done historically and are still continuing to do with the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt Region cannot be erased historically. And now they have created the following warfronts mainly against the survival and welfare of the people of the Middle Belt. These current warfronts are: Boko Haram, ISWAP, Fulani militias and Jihadic groups, bandits and kidnappers. The focus of their atrocities is to occupy the ancestral lands and dominate the Middle Belt Region.
The current killings, violence, land grabbing and genocide in the Middle Belt Region are not done by Southerners, the Yoruba or the Igbo, but are exclusively done by the violent groups and warfronts created from Hausa and Kanuri. The enemies of the Middle Belters are not from Southern Nigeria, but from Hausa land and Kanuri land. The best and viable political solution to the status and the plight of the Middle Belt Region is the Act of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The created states, local governments and electoral wards, legislative representation in states and federal, the Nigeria 1999 Constitution, and the six geo-political zones, are all structures of injustice that have structurally rigged out the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt Region from any meaningful representation and participation in national political, economic and social life. Iron and clay can never mix.
The Nigerian government should not sanction the injustices of the yesteryears by subordinating again, the ethnic nationalities of the Middle Belt Region to the dominance of the people from Hausa land and Kanuri land. As far as the true spirit of the peoples of the Middle Belt is rooted ethnically, historically, culturally and geographically, the concept of North or Arewa has no bearing, relevance, or meaning to them, except conjuring the evil memories of slave raids, slavery and servitude.
Nigerians should believe in the Act of Government. The British Colonial Government created the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria on January 1, 1900. By 1903, the British Colonial Act defeated and abolished the Sokoto Caliphate and the Sultanate of Kanem-Bornu. Again, the British Colonial Act amalgamated the Southern and Northern Protectorates of Nigeria on January 1, 1914. Further, the British Colonial Act granted political independence to Nigeria on October 1, 1960. By the Act of Government, Mid-West was created out of Western Region of Nigeria in 1963. By the Act of the Government of General Aguiyi Ironsi, the three regions of Nigeria were abolished and a Unitary Nigeria as a group of provinces in January 1966 was created. By the Act of the Government of General Yakubu Gowon, Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers were created as a region out of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, and again, General Gowon created 12 states out of the four regions of Nigeria in 1967. By the Act of Government, the subsequent military regimes created progressively until Nigeria now has 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Again, by the Act of Government under General Sani Abacha, Nigeria was re-grouped into six-geo-political zones: North East, North West, North Central, South East, South West and South South. The people of the Middle Belt Region are still waiting for the legitimate Act of Government to create the Middle Belt Region, and also as an Act of historical and social justice.
The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, said that the government has saved about $20 billion from fuel subsidy, and at the same time the government is going to borrow $2.2. What do you say to this?
The economic language of fuel subsidy and how a government borrows money and their implications, I am not a professional in these areas. What I know, is that when one borrows in order to spend and not for investment, is economic recklessness and foolishness.
What is your position on local government autonomy?
Native authorities were phased out and replaced by the local governments. Native authorities were the third tier of government: Federal, Regional and the Native Authorities. They were full-flagged and independent government. When local government were created in the mid-1970s under the chairmanship of Ibrahim Dasuki, to replace the Native Authorities, they were autonomous units, but within the regions and states. There was a gradual take-over of the finances of the local governments by the state governments. This financial take-over with its supervisory role by the states crippled the financial autonomy of the local governments. Put sentiments and abstract postulations of the governmental pundits aside, the grassroots people of Nigeria need the full implementation of the local government autonomy. The wastage of funds belonging to the local governments by the states government has robbed meaningful development and transformation at the grassroots.
What is your stand on this Tinubu tax reforms?
Minus the sentiments and biases of the opposition, regional and party politicians, the false views and opinions of the ignorant and professional people, the unfounded fears of some people, and the selfishness of some people and the fiat rejection of the tax reforms, in spite of it all, the overall benefits of the Tinubu tax reforms outweigh the assumed and drummed-up charges as drawbacks. Those who advocate total withdrawal or rejection only display their unpatriotic negative spirit and vendetta.
What is your assessment of Tinubu’s government in the last 19 months?
Generally, Nigerians are mainly foreign economic consumers and not indigenous producers. We do not have goods to sell, except to buy. With the removal of subsidies, and severe economic hardships, Nigerians have become economic wailers. Nigerians are yet to see the relief, even if the government is doing something. The unanswered question is, ‘How long will it take for Nigerians to see positive changes in the economy?’
The second issue is the state of insecurity. It is as if evil forces have been unleashed. Despite the efforts of the security agencies, the magnitude of insecurity seems overwhelming. ‘How long will it take to overcome the menace of insecurity?’ These two issues, call for ‘Let’s wait patiently and hopefully, we may see the hope of our salvation.’
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says 614,937 people were killed nationwide, while 2,235,954 Nigerians were kidnapped and a total of ₦2.2 trillion was paid in ransom in the last one year. What do you say to this?
Kidnapping for ransom is not a new thing in our historical experience. Prior to the coming of the British Colonial Rule of Nigeria, human beings were being traded through the Trans Sahara Slave Trade to the North and Middle East, and also through the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade to the South and the Americas. In Islamic jihadic practice which took place historically in Central Sudan (now Northern Nigeria), the mujahedeen (jihadists) had the practice of killing their victims, or letting them go freely, or exacting ransom money, or enslaving their victims.
In the North, ransom taking has very strong Islamic practice. Since this religious and social practice has economic value, this obnoxious practice could spread to other greedy people in contemporary Nigeria.
The groups of people who suffer most from obnoxious evil practice are the ordinary Hausa (Talakawa and non-Muslims) and the peoples of the Middle Belt, whether Christians or Muslims. Ransom taking is indeed an economic warfare, which impoverishes the people generally. As ransom taking is a brisk business, both the low and high people are involved.
What is your position on the establishment of state police?
The complexity of the conflicting social values and institutions of the Nigerian people and society makes them debate issues that are not worth debating, whenever compared to other nations and societies. The views are that state politicians will misuse the State police. The Federal Police are ineffective and corrupt. Historically, the native authorities and regional governments had their own police. Reason should prevail over sentiments as the benefits outweigh the weaknesses.
The government says that the Tinubu’s reforms are bearing fruits. Do you agree with them?
When reforms reach a critical mass, one needs no guide to see it.
What will be your advice for the government in 2025?
The government should tackle insecurity with creative and innovative strategies. The monumental and endemic corruption needs to be seriously addressed.
The Northern society should be made a subject of government concern. Nigerians should create a new political philosophy, culture and practice that transcend the besetting pillars of ethnicity, religion and region. Empower politicians that are nationalists and eschew the bigots of ethnicity, religion and region.