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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Benneth Onoh: It’s Time To Revisit The Indivisibility Of Nigeria Debate

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by Benneth Onoh

Anytime I hear this baseless argument of the indivisibility of Nigeria, I used to ask the simple question “Why”? The answer I receive from the pros ranges from; we are made to be one, by who they don’t care to know. They themselves were never present at the negotiation table where Nigeria was made an indivisible Nation neither were their Fathers or Grandfathers. Another flimsy excuse usually says there are lots of inter-ethnic marriages among Nigerians so we have to stay as one. No nation is born based on marriages. Some Americans, Germans, Japanese etc. are intermarried with Nigerians, and that has not made these nations one with Nigeria.

But the most worrisome and frustrating and probably the core of the whole problem is the answer that we are stronger as one nation. This has been the capture of all rhetoric of successive Nigerian governments starting from the time of Gowon, with the capture (to make Nigeria one is a task that must be done) using it to justify the atrocities going on during the Biafran civil war. This was after him and his complots had arrogantly and recklessly discarded the Aburi accord which could have paved the way to non-violent, all-inclusive and amicable solution to the conflict. They deemed it bestowed on them to force `One Nigeria` on everybody.

Even if I personally do not necessarily advocate outright division of Nigeria, I see no reason why the same clique that have consistently mismanaged Nigeria should prioritize on the indivisibility of Nigeria above National or any form of Human Development, other than the fact that it encourages the status quo (Mismanagement, underdevelopment, abuse of power and office, wanton disrespect of the rights of fellow citizenry, Mediocrity if not outright illiteracy etc.). The same clique goes on brandishing themselves as the best of patriots of the Nigerian Nation. My question to them has always been who is really the Patriots of Nigeria?

Is it the clique that has successively mismanaged Nigeria’s resources, who have robbed and stashed the nation’s wealth in different foreign countries, or the youths of this country who they have consistently denied the chance of actualization of their potentials, the same youths who many of them out of frustration left the country looking for other places to actualize their dreams. The same youths who despite the challenges they are facing in their different places of sojourn, still make every effort to repatriate whatever they can in support of their relatives and little projects in Nigeria, with the result that the same Nigerian government  who frustrated them out of Nigeria in the first place has to acknowledge that the nation’s foreign exchange earnings through repatriations has become second to oil revenue  since they have never bothered to establish any other export oriented industry. What an irony.

If we are a little honest to ourselves, there is no gain-saying that Nigeria has in reality never been a nation not to talk of a strong nation. Ethnicity has always been in the forefront of every national issue. Otherwise the outcry over having a Hausa or an Ibo or a Yoruba president would not have been there in the first place. But the fact that there has never been a system in place not to talk of common program, successive administrations I have witnessed till date (Gowon, Murtala, Obasanjo, Shagari, Buhari and Idiagbon , Babangida, Abacha, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and the present  Buhari’s administrations) always turned the country into their personal property once they are in power.

Each preceding president or head of state ends up lamenting that the reason for the nation’s underdevelopment is that his successor abandoned the program he put in place which he sees as the best for the country (not the common national program which doesn’t exist in any case).

Definitely Nigeria had acquired quite some wealth which if well utilized could have guaranteed strength. One of the key players in Nigeria’s governance, former president Obasanjo who single handedly has steered the affairs of the nation as head of state or president for one fifth of Nigeria’s whole 55 years of existence after independence , and by the way, the greatest beneficiary of the Nigeria’s status quo, in trying to convince Nigerians of the hard times ahead due to the downfall of the oil price acknowledged this when he said: “We have made some money, we squandered it, and we must now know, if we are sensible at all, there must be an end to squandering – squandermania. That is the first thing by everybody”. In this statement, the first “We”, seems very clear to me to mean Nigerians but the second “We”, I hope does not refer to Nigerians, because Obasanjo and his predecessors and successors in government did not squander the nation’s acquired wealth building hospitals, roads, modern cities, schools, diversifying Nigeria’s economy, making life worth living for fellow citizens etc. but rather on themselves.

Perhaps the most glaring sign of the sickness of the Nigerian nation is the situation we have found ourselves today in governance. Every employer I know usually request for the curriculum vitae of potential employee and his or her qualification, scrutinizing it very well before even calling him or her for an interview talkless of offering the job to him or her. Because, it is only from somebody’s past experience and performance that one can reasonably project his or her future performance.

But under our very eyes, blinded with the notion of fielding in a northern president or rather maintaining the status quo, the political class could go so far to ignore every other thing including academic qualifications, past records, etc. in choosing a president for the Nigerian nation, resulting that the most populous African nation has basically an illiterate to lead its economy in this 21st century, just to maintain the status quo. The after effect of this decision we are all seeing and do not need further elaboration.

The indivisibility of Nigeria can just not be prioritised above the human development and well-being of its citizenry. Nothing is non-negotiable under the sun. Even the presence or absence of “God”, and in whatever form of existence, is not finally resolved among the different religious interests. It is on this ground that there is freedom of worship.

Dr. Benneth Onoh writes from Germany. He can be reached by email HERE

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

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