Through SaharaTV, I enjoy a unique opportunity of each week talking to Nigerians of every hue. Such encounters are learning experience for me because knowledge, as well as ignorance, is shared.
Through SaharaTV, I enjoy a unique opportunity of each week talking to Nigerians of every hue. Such encounters are learning experience for me because knowledge, as well as ignorance, is shared.
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Last week on SaharaTV, I had a heated encounter with Dr. Sule Bello of the History Department of the Ahmadu Bello University. He was passionate about how people in the South misinterpret events in the North especially when southerners blame ordinary northerners for the activities of a few actors in the North. Never mind that it was the North that set the precedence when it attributed the action of a few soldiers on January 15, 1966 to all Igbo and labeled it a conspiracy of Igbo people to take over Nigeria. And they did not just say it, they backed it up with action by killing tens of thousands of Easterners in the North.
I asked the historian, Dr. Bello, the same question that I have asked every so-called Boko Haram expert I have met and that is: Is there a country anywhere in the world with similar ethnic and religious composition as Nigeria that has peace with the introduction of Sharia law? In his answer, he mentioned India, China and the United States as examples.
Though India has a large Muslim population (138 million), relative to the size of the country, India’s Muslims are only about 14% of the country. It is nothing like the near 50% Muslim-Christian divide in Nigeria. Also I know that Muslims in India are still agitating for the implementation of the Sharia Law. China and the United States have Muslim population of 2% and less than 1% respectively. Those are by far less than the percentage we have in Nigeria. Even with such small percentage, there is tension between America and its Muslim population. And in China, there is almost a state of war with Muslims. So essentially, Dr. Bello was looking at the wrong places to provide his answer. He did not want to look at the right places – like Sudan and Lebanon.
On Boko Haram, Dr. Bello thinks that negotiation is the answer. When Northern National Security Advisers were guiding President Obasanjo as he ordered the military to destroy the towns of Odi and Zaki Biam, Dr. Sule Bello did not stand up to say that it was wrong. Now he thinks that President Jonathan has wrong advisers because the table has flipped and the president is not actively negotiating with Boko Haram terrorists.
On their part, regular Nigerians I speak to seemed to have arrived at an almighty conclusion on the Nigerian problem. “The problem with Nigeria is simply corruption,” they chorus. The leaders, they argue, come from all the ethnic and religious hues. They just use religion and ethnicity to divide the people while they share the wealth of the nation amongst themselves.
On the surface, this answer by regular Nigerians seems to be a masterstroke. But upon closer examination, it falls flat. The answer oversimplifies the problem, absolves regular Nigerians of any blame or responsibility.
What feeds corruption? Why couldn’t Anambra people do anything to Gov. Chinwoke Mbadinuju who refused to pay teachers for a year and closed schools? Why couldn’t Ibadan people deal with the thug Mr. Lamidi Adedibu who tainted the political arena for his personal gains? Why couldn’t the people of Niger state question Ibrahim Babangida as to why their lives remained miserable after he ruled Nigeria for 8years?
The reason is that these rogues derived their power from the center. With the strong backing of the center there is nothing that local people can do to these renegades. The structure of the nation has power concentrated at the center. The periphery defers to the center. It is so lopsided that the center essentially emasculates the periphery. That’s at the core of the Nigerian problem.
The people look towards the center for power, protection and popcorn. They see the center as the place where the national cake is shared. They do not care where the cake is baked. And because they do not feel that they have anything to do with the making of the cake, the dominant cultural trend is to grab what they can from the center. That is the mindset of the people as well as the mindset of those who represent the people at the center.
This Nigerian structure has programmed the people to protect their own crooks. Even though they wallow in poverty, they see their crooks as people who grabbed their own share from the center. It does not matter that none of it gets to the people. That is why despite the fact that Mr. James Ibori pleaded guilty to corruption, some of his people are still defending him.
Those who believe that the problem is simply corruption believe that a stringent punishment for corruption will solve it. The question then is why is that not happening? Is it that the leaders do not have the willpower to punish their corrupt colleagues? Or is it that everyone at the top is so tainted by corruption that nobody has the integrity to push against it?
How did we become so corrupt so fast? The answer is simple. We dethroned merit overnight and replaced it with patronage. Those who advocated the dethronement of merit argued that merit marginalized their people. They overlooked the other side of merit which is that it inspires excellence. Patronage on the other hand enthrones mediocrity. And together they form the bedrock of corruption.
The other factor crippling Nigeria is its long history of injustice and unfairness. It nips any feeling of patriotism in the bud. Injustice exacerbates all our ills because it creates citizens who are indifferent to the plight of the nation. We often close our eyes when the so-called ‘other’ Nigerians are at the receiving end of injustice. But when it comes to our turn, we want everyone to line up and defend our rights.
All these are reasons to stop this dance into the abyss and summon a National Conference. But the predominant narrative is the one that says that if we pretend long enough that there are no differences between us, our differences will disappear - which is pure self deceit.
In light of the wasted years, I maintain, therefore, that when looking at Nigeria, all the options must be on the table- including breaking it apart. That possibility should make those running Nigeria to sit up. There is nothing wrong with the option of letting different parts of Nigeria take a chance to stand on their own. Chances are that one or two may stand firm. Whatever good reasons there are for Nigeria to stay together (big market, diversity, intermarriage), the people of the former Yugoslavia knew them. Yet Yugoslavia broke apart and they are better off today. There is no Nobel Prize given to people who sink together as against those who sink alone.
Nigeria is at a crossroad. It could go the way of Brazil or it could go the way of Sudan. While the optimists are busy accusing the pessimists of not seeing the light and the pessimists are busy accusing the optimists of not seeing the dark, the realists are busy plundering the field. Majority of Nigerians sit on their butts and hope it goes the way of Brazil. Amongst those who get involved, majority are working directly and indirectly to turn Nigeria into Sudan.
The question is; are we going to stop over at Kigali before we reach Khartoum? Despite our fantasies about a great Nigeria, if we fail to do something to make it happen, the opposite will occur.
Here is a very plausible scenario. A certain president comes into power. And a certain group within a certain region goes berserk. In a conflict with the federal government, the president unleashes military might. The international community declares the president illegitimate for killing its own people. He is indicted for crime against humanity. In a negotiation that will follow, the president is forced to accept a referendum on the future of that region in Nigeria where certain group revolted. Five years after, a referendum takes place. Gbowam! Sudan.
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