As usual, the Nigerian government and its propaganda machinery are using every available means at their disposal to convince foreign investors and a disillusioned citizenry that every thing in the country is ‘’normal’’, despite the plethora of damning problems which beseech the nation.
As usual, the Nigerian government and its propaganda machinery are using every available means at their disposal to convince foreign investors and a disillusioned citizenry that every thing in the country is ‘’normal’’, despite the plethora of damning problems which beseech the nation.
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On the surface it appears, there are too many problems which ordinarily seem to be surmountable; but, beneath that surface, is in fact a time bomb which has the capacity to dismember the nation. Nigeria’s present logjam is the result of its turbulent and unstable past.
Shortly after the amalgamation, The Times of Nigeria in one of its editorial stated that ‘’Unification was synonymous with a sell out of the South’’. In the same vein, the Chronicle wrote in its own editorial that ‘’the South was not Muslim and that the principle of Northern administration was anathema to Southerners.’’
In response to the mutual mistrust, accusation and counter accusation which was the hallmark of the pre-independence Nigeria’s press, it is reported that in 1943 the editor of the first newspaper in the North, gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, had refused to join Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and other southern journalists to London for a meeting saying: ‘’We despise each other....We call each other ignorant; the south is proud of western knowledge and culture; we are proud of eastern culture. To tell you the plain truth, the people of the North put more confidence in the white man than in their black southern brothers.’’
The colonial administrators were the principal culprits responsible for most of Nigeria’s crisis. Sir Arthur Richard, a former colonial governor said in 1948 that....’’ it is only the accident of British suzerainty which has made Nigeria one country. It is still far from being one country or one nation socially or even economically....socially and politically there are deep differences between the major tribal groups. They do not speak the same language and they have highly divergent customs and ways of life and they represent different stages of culture. Even his predecessor who presided over the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern provinces, Lord Fredrick Lugard had a misgiving about the British government action when in 1914 he said, ‘’the northern protectorate of Nigeria can be described as the poor husband whilst the southern protectorate of Nigeria can be described as the rich wife. Today we marry the two and our prayer is that this union lasts forever.’’
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More worrisome is the revelation that even our founding fathers, most of whom we revere and hold as idols were, to my chagrin, not very enthusiastic about the creation of Nigeria as a single entity. For instance, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had said in 1947 that, ‘’Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘’Nigerians’’ in the same sense as there are ‘’English’’ or ‘’Welsh’’ or ‘’French’’. The word Nigeria is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do no not.’’ In the same year, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the gentle man who became the country’s Prime minister at independence declared that ‘’since amalgamation of southern and Northern provinces in 1914, Nigeria existed as one country only on paper. It is far from being united. Nigerian unity is only a British intention for the country.’’
The late premier of the defunct northern region described amalgamation as ‘’a misalliance of people, who are although of the same racial stock, but with different language, historical background, and in fact distinct territory and distinct cultural and political identity. ‘’
It is very sad to note that our country is an artificial creation built on a weak and shaky foundation. Our current problem has its root from the no love lost relationship of our founding fathers. The first generation of our leaders are complicit in the current political quagmire. Three years to the centenary of the amalgamation of Nigeria-is it safe to say Nigeria is now more united than it was in 1914 or at independence?
Now more than ever before, people of different ethnic backgrounds kill each other with impunity. Christians and Muslims are threatened by each other. Supporters of different political parties take up arms against each other. Today, there is hardly any part of the country that is totally immune to a simmering or violent conflict situation.
In terms of integration and peaceful coexistence, the bitter truth is that Nigeria is not faring better now than it was in 1914 or at independence in 1960. We are in fact more divided today than at any time in the past.
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