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ANNIVERSARY NOTES: The Nigerian Project – Wither our nation?

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Buhari paid N450bn fuel subsidy —Senator Marafa

I will break away from the general skepticism most people usually have on the Nigerian project. To the average analyst or watcher of the Nigerian system, our nation is a wobbly contraption that must and should be dismantled. They believe very strongly that the ‘arrangement’ is not working and cannot work because, amongst others, its very faulty foundation as laid by the colonial fathers in conjunction with narrow minded founding fathers who were nothing but ethnic jingoist.

The issues of ethnicity, shallow minded pursuit of narrow sectional goals and bare- faced corruption which has been part of our nationhood pushed the skeptics towards the quest for a balkanization of the country.

The civil war broke out as a result of this narrow prisms and was fought along those lines with the major ethnic powers taking sides, building alliances along their selfish ethnic motivations in executing the war. The war was not fought along any principle of nationhood but along the need for control of collective resources by certain ethnic powers for the good of their people. This stark reality of our nationhood guided ethnic positions in choosing which side to fight on and the phyric declaration by Yakubu Gowon that we are brothers and that there is no victor no vanquished, only served to smear a very temporary soothing balm on the wounded people on both sides.

So the question is do we forget about the collective Nigerian statehood because of our primordial tendency to look at things from ethnic and tribal leanings. Do we balkanize and forget about the greatness that would come with our continuous unity and break into fractional but very tiny ethnic chiefdoms who would be barely able to defend or feed themselves. The answer is a resounding No because we still are far better together than apart.

One Nigeria has been the mantra despite all the ills of ethnicity and tribalism which has berth the cancer that is corruption. The one Nigeria project remains infallible as it contains in it the seed of greatness as a nation. We have more to gain as one people than as separate contending nations. So how do we blunt these deep crevices, how do we weld the various nationalities that make up this great nation into one united power house? The answer is very simple.

Education. In my view, education is the solution to all our problems in this country. Education blunts narrow thinking, opens up the mind towards greater vision and allows us soar far and above the terrible dislocations that come with ethnicity and tribalism which remain the bane of our nationhood.

The educated man leading us will not see himself as the champion of any ethnic group, he will make appointments based on merit and would jettison the federal character principle which I hear is enshrined in our constitution.

Let me even talk about this federal character principle. To me, this is the official recognition that we have given tribalism and ethnicity. It recognizes the fact that we are different people and as such we must practice what Bode George has called ‘turn by turn’ which in its essence sacrifices merit. This in itself leads to the kind of leadership we have been saddled with since independence.

Read also: ANNIVERSARY NOTES: Flip-flop in Buhari’s economic policies calls for no celebration

Serious and robust education and enlightenment would make the need for the federal character principle to be abolished. The last two presidential candidates in the United States both came out of the New York area. The need to balance it or get a counter foil from another part of the country was not an issue and the debate was strictly on policy and principles. This is as a result of an advanced and sophisticated level of political education.

With education, both civic and basic, our people will start to see things differently. The issue of zoning will be thrown out of the window and policies and appointments would begin to be made for the greater good of the people. Those fighting for Biafra, for example, do this because within the context of the presumed and agreed federal character principle they feel cheated. So when you hear people say things like, ‘the Igbo man has been marginalized’ you begin to ask yourself why. It is simple. It is just that going by the agreed ‘turn by turn’ the Igbo man has not been given his turn.

Recently, the Bayelsa governor came out to lament about the opportunity given the Ijaw and floundered by their leaders. His hot tears can be understood from the fact that he does not know when it will be their turn again. In fact, he can be very sure that it will not rotate back to his ethnic group not only in his life time but also in the lifetime of his grandchildren.

We fail to realize that we have ethnic-bigoted leaders who use their ethnicity as initial platform to lobby and get power. They promote selfish agenda and pursue phantom arguments. So, we represent the south-south and it is our turn. No, we the south-west have not ruled for sometime, it is our turn. Babangida was not from the core north, so you won’t count that as our turn. Those are the arguments you hear in their quest for power. Nothing about capacity, policies and initiatives for the greater good.

Nigeria, although a contraption is one of the greatest conglomerations of people in the world with a highly resourceful population inching towards the 200million mark and natural resources that continue to astound the world. Most countries cannot withstand the level of kleptocracy we have witnessed since independence. The figures are staggering but we still continue to trudge along not smoothly but still moving forward.

The economy is another reason we would not wake up from the dream of one Nigeria. Although going through a recession, you can still feel it struggling to evolve. The largest economy in Africa boasting of the most lucrative markets on the back of its virile population, we remain a retail market paradise and a wonder to the foreign experts who do not understand why we are still a nation.

What we need to weld all these wonderful resources together after getting it right on the education aspect, is leadership. Purposeful leadership and not one built on sloganeering. We need leaders who understand our power as a united nation and using this same power to forcefully unleash a penetrative developmental structure, that would touch every nook and cranny of the country, muting the ethnic and tribalistic character of our leaders while entrenching far reaching support for the building of a true and economically viable one Nigeria.

By Joseph Edgar….

 

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0 Comments

  1. Anita Kingsley

    May 31, 2017 at 8:50 am

    The question here is, does our system of government permits education? If yes, is it promoting education the way it should? Nigeria’s education is bad because our government imply do not care about education and its importance in improving the state of the country

  2. Animashaun Ayodeji

    May 31, 2017 at 8:55 am

    This writer has spoken well, especially the civil war part. To me, that’s where corruption started from, those who fought did so for their selfish and tribal interest, not for the general interest of Nigerians. Since the war finished, we still carried on with that useless tribal mentality that is now causing more problems to us as a nation

  3. Abeni Adebisi

    May 31, 2017 at 9:18 am

    The fact that or current leaders are educated, Nigeria is still suffering because they are very selfish and not ready to see Nigeria as a Nation that belongs to everyone. Education is key, but having good heart to serve the people is more important

    • yanju omotodun

      May 31, 2017 at 9:59 am

      Education is no way a veritable tool in governance except the mind and goodwill to serve. Goodluck Jonathan was a PhD holder and with that corruption flourished well in his regime, so let’s forget it.

  4. seyi jelili

    May 31, 2017 at 10:36 am

    I think there should be a law which should be enforced immediately that for a person to rule this country, he must have attain the status of a professor and thereby, Prof. Osinbajo is declared as our president now

    • JOHNSON PETER

      May 31, 2017 at 11:02 am

      You are just a complete nuisance and nitwit, so you have not seen a professor with empty brain before, a primary school certificate holder can rule this country if he is determined

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