The restructuring we can’t escape

If Nigeria’s journey before and after independence in 1960 and recent political events in the country are anything to go by, it’s evident that the lingering question of restructuring the polity cannot be swept under the carpet.

Indeed, as with most issues controversial, opinions are divided on the need for Nigeria’s restructuring.  There are those who believe we will continue moving round and round in the circles of slow progress, ethnic tensions and underdevelopment if we fail to do the needful without further delay. And there are those who insist that Nigeria needs no restructuring at all and that what we really need is a brilliant leadership that is sincere, patriotic and truly committed to doing the utmost good for the people irrespective of the current structure.

I have also been thinking about this matter for some time now. And what do I think?

I believe a key reason why Nigeria today is still seeking to achieve nationhood is because of the different nationalities, cultures, religions, languages, tribes among other divergent ways of life and these have led to great mistrust, antagonism and unnecessary suspicion after almost 60 years of independence and over 100 years of amalgamation.

At independence in 1960, we had a weak centre and strong regions. The first military coup of 1966 aborted this. Successive military governments also ensured that Abuja became a strong centre and till date, this has continued to undermine and prevent any serious attempt at progress in the country as it made the acquisition of power at the centre become a do-or-die affair. Today, they are those who feel it is their eternal destiny to rule and lord themselves over others in the country. There are those who feel they are being marginalised by the current system.  And there are those who feel ‘their resources’ are being exploited to their own detriment and this injustice can no longer continue.

Unfortunately, people who have no peace make no progress. And this is why we fight Boko Haram today, contend with IPOB/MASSOB on Biafra tomorrow, and Niger Delta militants the day after, and keep wondering what the OPC is all about. If we will tell ourselves the honest truth, the diversity of Nigeria requires some space for all the constituent parts to function effectively and reduce unnecessary tensions.

For instance, people who live in face-me-I-face-you apartments arguably tend to fight and contend more than people who live in their respective flats in a building. If Nigeria is restructured today, we will no longer be living in ‘face-me-I-face-you’ but transiting to living in different flats even though we continue to live in the same building and we are still the same Nigerians!

Moreover, when I wake up, I have my peace and make decisions I believe best suits my plans and interests. I’m no longer unnecessarily provoked by my neighbour who is a drunkard; or the one who believes he knows all and is always right; or the one who at the slightest opportunity, will bring out his dagger or knife and stab someone to death; or the one who is fetish; or even that one who wouldn’t mind betraying his mother for a pot of porridge!

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s case isn’t a peculiar one. In the United Kingdom for instance where the Queen just celebrated her 90^th birthday, there used to be a lot of resentment among the Welsh, Scottish and Irish against the English. For a long time, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought a war of independence for Northern Ireland mainly because the people from Northern Ireland felt they should be united with their brothers in Southern Ireland which is the Republic of Ireland.

In fact, the English had so dominated to the point that the Prince of Wales became the representative of the King of England in Wales because the King of England had slaughtered the King of Wales several centuries back, causing a lot of resentment and bitterness between them. But realising that this cannot continue forever, they found a way to manage things. With decades of war fought by the IRA and Sinn Fein, Tony Blair would later devolve power to the regions to have peace. Thus, an Act of Parliament was passed by which power was devolved to Scotland. Scotland got a Prime Minister called the First Minister; Wales also got a Prime Minister called First Minister even as Northern Ireland got a Secretary of State.

We need to go back to our first love. We need to fine-tune what we had in the 60s. We will keep going round and round in circles if we continue with the centralised way of doing things. There is something of value every one of the six-geopolitical zones, whether the South South, South East, South West, North Central, North East or North West, has to offer. Each one must tap into these.

Before oil was discovered in the country, Nigeria was surviving with agriculture. Of course, the West had cocoa, the North, groundnut and the East, Oil Palm. Aside this, the healthy competitions in the regions helped greatly.

When Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) declared free education in the West for instance, Nnamdi Azikiwe, realising that the East didn’t have an economic powerhouse like Lagos to achieve what the West did, and that it would cost his region about 50 per cent of the budget to fund the free education initiative and this would dwarf all other aspects of development aspirations, eventually told his people free education won’t work.

However, as a way out, Zik reached back to the self-help traditional system rooted among the Igbos and brought up the “every family, bring out a graduate” concept. If a family successfully produces a graduate, it was expected that that graduate would also train another graduate. This was why by 1955 for instance, the East had more or less caught up with the West in education until the Civil War set them back.

Like it was back then, serious devotion to agriculture can do wonders in the country’s efforts to diversify from oil today. But despite the braggadocio in this regard, I believe we still haven’t taken it seriously. If we really know what we are doing, a tuber of yam which sells for N500 and more today can be sold for N50, or at most N100. Food can be so cheap in the country that sufficiency, availability and affordability no longer remain issues.

But most importantly, the 2014 National Conference put together by the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency was bold in addressing Nigeria’s issues from amalgamation in 1914 and how to make the country become better and greater as we move on. Despite its composition, Nigerians from all professions, age, and class, representing various ethnic nationalities, groups and interests including elder statesmen from across the country gathered to talk, discuss, argue, and disagree before finally agreeing on their final resolutions and recommendations.

No one can dispute the fact that the recommendations were agreed on by representatives of Nigerians by consensus. The report is a useful guide for our country’s future and its implementation, even if done in phases, would go a long way in promoting peace, and laying a solid foundation for the accelerated development of each of the regions.

That is why I strongly believe President Muhammadu Buhari mustn’t continue to live in denial and think he can use the military to keep a dysfunctional country together with his shocking and embarrassing disclosure that he has not even bothered to read the report or asked for a briefing on it as it would remain in the archives because, to him, that’s where it belongs. There are lessons he must learn from the former Soviet Union which collapsed without a single shot being fired with all its military might. He needs to act on the report.

When the current six geo-political zones become regions, so that the powers exercised at the national level move to them, and the centre only has control of Justice, Defence, Foreign Policy, national currency, and other common denominators, all the units will have the freedom that will make them grow, and cooperatively help Nigeria grow.

As a people, we can continue arguing about the merits or demerits of restructuring Nigeria, and the workability or non-workability of it like we often love to do. Even the federal government can keep playing the ostrich and continue refusing to confront this challenge. But I can’t see how we won’t face it in the long run. Fellow Nigerians, the restructuring of our country is a reality we can’t escape. This is the truth. Unfortunately, our current leaders at various levels know the right thing to do but fail for whatever reasons and interests to do them, and doing them on time before things get out of hand.

However, the earlier we get it started, the better for us. Otherwise, in years to come, we will still be grappling with and lamenting on the challenges holding us back, and that is even if we’re lucky to still have a united country. But that can be preventable if we do what is clearly inevitable now. It is only then we will be able to testify that, in our lifetimes, our country, our Nigeria, is finally on the right course to nationhood, true development, economic prosperity, generational greatness, and a great African pride where citizens dream big and their dreams come true.

Kolawole is an award-winning Nigerian journalist and author based in Lagos. You can reach him via ofemikolawole@gmail.com. SMS Only: 08033983499. Twitter: @ofemigan