For the purpose of our reflection, there are those who might be
tempted to argue that Nigeria
But, as I have said elsewhere, the real
challenge in addressing this question is to understand and accept
that differences in tribe and tongue are not the reason for our
monumental failure to build consensus around development, common citizenship
and fairness. There are, however, many reasons for this failure, to which we
shall now turn.
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| *Kukah |
I have argued that, in the words of Frost, one
of our greatest tragedies lies in the consequences of ‘road not taken’. We
inherited a regional arrangement that had its pitfalls but if we had the
patience we could have finally worked out a system to accommodate us all.
Undoubtedly we can still do that. However, a combination of factors took us
continuously back to the bottom of the hill where we have remained like frogs
in a bucket, unable to either climb out individually or collectively. The
greatest tragedy of the nation is that we have not been able to create a common
vision of an egalitarian society. In almost every department, the
infrastructure that the British created has since fallen into absolute and
total decay. A few examples will do:
