Resolving The Crises Of Nigeria As A Nation State

By Felix N. C. Oragwu

Nigeria’s Post-Colonial Crises and the Civil War of 1967-1970 taught the Nation State of Nigeria the following, namely:

*That progress in socio-economic growth, progress, security and prosperity of nations are driven not necessarily by natural resources endowment but more importantly by the developments in modern science and technology (S&T);

*That a Nation State needs real unity and real peace to develop its economy and to make real economic progress; and

To actualise the foregoing, a nation must have (a) Political Stability (b) Selfless Leadership Elite with vision for modern economic development (c) National Political cohesion and (d) Nationalism, Patriotism, Pride and Love of the Citizens for the Nation.

Most of the above attributes seem to be in short supply in the nation-state of Nigeria, particularly, since the end of the Civil War of 1967-1970.

What conclusions can we as a nation draw from the Civil War and the current endemic  political travails of Nigeria to enable us (Nigerians) build a united nation state? :

These, I believe include the following, namely:

*Understanding that in 1914, Nigeria became a nation state, albeit, by forced amalgamation or cobbling together of various independent and disparate ethnic nationalities and entities (Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Fulani, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, Edo, Nupe, Ijaw, Uhrobo, etc.) numbering well over 200 (some with large, some with small populations) but with different cultures, religions, languages, and in specific geographical areas around the River Niger, by the virtue of British Imperial Power and Colonial diplomacy,

*The Colonial Authorities obviously and deliberately did not develop S&T as domestic instrument for modern economic growth and development, prosperity and security of the Nigerian State, possibly to avoid hurting the British home industry and economy or making Nigeria a prosperous modern competitive industrial and politically united nation, which would have compromised the British main objectives of Nigeria’s colonization;

*From 1914-1960, therefore, Nigeria was sustained as a nation state by virtue of British imperial power and colonial diplomacy but remained in fact a poorly structured and an unstable nation state “on paper, a geographical expression and or an artificial creation” whose political unity and economy was sustained by imported foreign developed (mostly British) industrial, scientific, engineering and technological infrastructure and security apparatus;

Buhari, Nigeria’s Breakup Is Possible

By Sina Adedipe

This comes in reaction to the statements credited to President Muhammadu Buhari in the Nigerian Tribune of last week Friday in a story on Page 8 with the headline: Nigeria’s Break-Up Not Possible, Unthinkable. It was the report of the meeting he had the previous day with members of the Council of South-East Traditional Rulers at the State House, Abuja. But, sad to say, the President never said anything that could stop Igbo people from wanting to break away to establish their own country.

*Buhari 

Earlier in the year, political leaders from the South-East were at Aso Villa to discuss the problems of their people and zone with the President. Like the Yoruba of the South-West and the ethnic groups in the South-South such as the Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio, Itsekiri, Urhobo and others, what the Igbo of the South-East want is the restructuring of the country. To this end, they are demanding for the number of states in the country to be reduced into six or eight regions or a return to the 12-state structure of 1967-1976 and changing from the presidential to the parliamentary system of the First Republic, so that, instead of a strong and overbearing central government, the regions or states would be largely autonomous and in charge of their economic resources, and only paying agreed taxes to the Federal Government, which will take care of matters like currency, postal services, security and foreign affairs.

For their part, the Igbo also want another state created in the South-East to make them have six as has been the case since 1996 with the South-West, South-South, North-Central and North-East. The North-West, to which Buhari belongs, has seven states. From the report in the Tribune, the President did not address any of these issues as all he told the Igbo monarchs was that he would extend the new railway system his government is planning to construct to their zone and that he had shown interest in the Igbo by appointing four of their people as ministers of five of the most important ministries, but which he did not identify.

For me, it is wrong for President Buhari to believe that God brought the ethnic groups in Nigeria together in 1914 for a purpose and that because of that the country cannot break up. Nigeria was not created by the Lord, but by the British government of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, the 24th in office who served from 1908 to 1916. The people brought together by God and who cannot break away are those in each tribe in the country, the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Fulani, etc., who have the same ancestors, were placed in the same area, speak the same language and have the same culture.