Nigeria yesterday, today and tomorrow

TILL now, I haven’t lost my early hope that wisdom is to be found in a book as easily as a fish can be found in a sea. I desire wisdom as keenly as Solomon did, but it must be as infectious as my mother’s tears. However, I have neither the time nor the strenuous quest for philosophy. I wish the philosopher performs the search for wisdom and feed me with the fruit of his labour, just as I get drugs from chemists and yams from farmers, but could this wish be bought for little naira in our latest Nigeria? I guess I’m taken back to 1960. My peeling heart could feel the heat, the dust and the shout of joy at the Tafawa Balewa square (TBS) in lagos state on October 1, 1960 in response to the independence granted by the United kingdom to Nigeria as a sovereign state. After the official handling of power from Sir James Robertson (The british colonial master) to sir Tafawa Balewa (The first prime minister in Nigeria), a critical part of Balewa’sfirst speech, “…We are better-equipped for the task of nation-building,”remains till today a rhetorical question that pretends to be a statement of affirmation. Perhaps, the Jamboree had disallowed our fathers to perceive that the prime minister’s statement, in real sense, meant “Are we ready for the task of nation-building?”

“The name Nigeria is a geographical expression and not a single country”, said Chief Obafemi Awolowo. This paradoxical statement made by Chief Awolowo is so deep that it calls for the analysis of how Nigeria as a nation was formed. Prior to 1914, Nigeria was made up of three territories, the Lagos Colony, Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate. In 1906, the British colonial master, Walter Egerton, merged Lagos Colony with the Southern Protectorate, reducing the colonies to two (Northern and southern). However, the need for convenient administration of Nigeria as a whole, as well as the desire to make full exploitation of Nigeria’s economy spurred Lord Luggard to submit a proposal to the British government for the amalgamation of the two protectorates in May 9, 1913–An autocratic decision taken without the consent of the two parties. His proposal was granted on Jan 1, 1914 and endorsed by the speech of the british secretary, Lord Harcourt, “…May the union be fruitful and the couple be constant”–Some words of blessing on a “forced marriage”.

The blessing turned out to be a curse in disguise when the Nigerian civil war broke out in July 6, 1967(an omen that marked the beginning of a call for “divorce”). “Nigeria is a group of individuals pretending to be a people”, according to Odumegwu Ojukwu. As far as six decades ago,the true problem that has been affecting the development of Nigeria is the antagonistic beliefs held by its different groupse, what could be summed up as the shibboleth called “dichotomy”. One hundred and six years after amalgamation, sixty years after independence and yet the problem remains unchanged as the British envisioned it. Lord Lugard amalgamated Northern and Southern territories and not their people. Today, almost everything we see in Nigeria bears the stigma of dichotomy. Among other things, there exist the Muslim/Christian dichotomy, North/South dichotomy, Majority/Minority dichotomy, Capitalism/Socialism dichotomy and democracy/autocracy dichotomy. This is a realisation of long term vision envisaged by british administrators who created Nigeria in such a way that the South is made to subject to the North.

From the beginning, the British had hypocritically turned the heart of northerners against southerners by making Southern Nigeria which provides the major economic resources subject to Northern Nigeria. The first general election held in 1959 was manipulated to favour the North. National council of Nigeria citizens (NCNC) had 74 per cent of the total votes, Action group (AG) had 26.1 per cent while Northern people’s congress (NPC) had 26 per cent of the legal vote counts, yet James Robertson allotted 148 seats to the NPC, whereas NCNC and AG coalitions got 89 and 75 seats respectively. In Nigeria today, this preference still holds. The Northerners are treated as the “Senior citizens”. Not only the northern people but also ridiculously the Northern cattle are prioritized over citizens from other parts of the country. I guess my poem titled “Senior citizen of Nigeria” depicts the current state of Nigeria today. S-eeing everyday the blood of the saint- s/ E-ndless pains on my nation’s Fac- e/N -othing done to alleviate the pai- n

/I-nstead “give them land” is what “Baba” Sa- i/ O-thers opinions? he said N- o/“R-ear the cattle and kill the farme- r”/C-attle’s grass valued above Rice Sa-c/I-n the name of Bororos’ graffit-i/T-elling other tribes they have no righ-t/I-nfact they must just obey what “Baba” sa-i/Z-ealous men lost their glit-z/E-ven the Kings cannot Sorosok-e/N-ever again should this happen agai-n/ O-lowolayemo is crying for Ow-o/F-eranjesu is crying for Bee-f/ N-ation sinking in a worst conditio-n/I-n the name of harvest oh help us inar-i/G-un is licenced to the c-attle’s gan-g/ E-ven a right for them above the Polic-e/R-ight to freedom of speech deba-r/ I-nfact when Baba sa-i we have nothing to sa-i/A-ba father we need your Mann-a!

To me, the way we can have a better tomorrow in Nigeria is by solving the problem of dichotomy and embracing unity. We have to unite our hearts as “a people” and not “a territory”. All citizens should be treated equally and fundamental human rights be restored. With these, Nigeria will rise from the current state of being a “gi-ANT” of Africa to being the true “GIANT” of Africa in the nearest future.