Essays in Nation Building – an open Letter to Professor Adigun Agbaje

Nigeria is today a nation broken. Broken along ethnic, religious, political and economic lines which makes it virtually impossible to build a robust consensus that could lead to productive cohesion. It is being buffeted from all corners by factors stemming from the above and further compounded by visionless leadership.

Today, we are worse off than when we secured Independence which some have argued is the root cause of all that has gone wrong in our system. Nigeria seats at the bottom pile in almost all indices of socio economic development. Poverty is more apparent spilling into very terrible healthcare delivery and an educational system that is laughable.

All these have led for a call to balkanise the union with, very recently, the Igbos of the South East flying on the mantra of marginalization which shook the nation with their spirted campaign for separation and it took almost the full force of the Federal Government to stem that ‘rebellion’. The Boko Haram in the North East and other ethnic militia have also contributed to this wanton desolateness that we face. Much more recently the Fulani herdsmen have unleashed on the nation some of the vilest violence on the innocent in their attempt to secure edible passage for their much cherished livestock.

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The fault lines along the Benue –Plateau that was earlier identified by the international intelligence community as the core that would cause the eruption leading to the final dissolution of the federation has not been left out with its collage of friction. It’s either the Christians or Muslims goring each other or the herdsmen applying their unique kind of policy execution and the Boko Haram sect not wanting to be left out joining in the mix. The government apart from some niggling propaganda mired with internal strain owing to the weird collaborations that brought it into power seems to be lost as to finding lasting and effective solution

The coming of the elections in 2019 have more than exacerbated the situation. Lines of attrition are being drawn and redrawn firmly, guided by the very shallow prisms of ethnicity, corruption and rent. Nigeria is on its tethers about to burst open by its sims into a myriad of mass suffering if careful repositioning along true and honest democratic principles which should herald economic prosperity is ignored.

This, some of us believe, would be the only panacea to the demagogic revelations that bedevil this once proud heritage of the black man.

This brings me squarely into why I am writing you this afternoon. Some of us still believe very much in the ideals that led to the amalgamation of 1914. Some of us still see this so called weird construct as the only true hope for Africa in a fast evolving global environment. The huge resources, our sheer population, the Nigerian spirit have continued to pull us back from the precipice. No nation will go through all that we are going through without erupting into a carnival of violence and massacre. We remain true to our unity in diversity.

It is for this reason that I am pushing to contribute to the many body of works encouraging and pushing forcefully for the enthronement of a veritable platform that would once again put us back on the road to building a viable nation.

It is for this reason that I once again seek to tap from your deep pool of knowledge as we seek to build an intellectual bulwark that would fuel an engaging spirit. A spirit we expect to partner with the resurging economic renaissance in building a Nigeria of our dreams. A Nigeria we would bequeath to the next generation just before we bow out.

We owe this generation no less my Lord and we need you at this point Sir.

 

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