Colonial Masters Structured Nigeria to Disintegrate

Tafawa Balewa and Nnamdi Azikiwe

Nigerians are very resilient people, because we have remained united against all odds. The structures that provided the foundation under which the country is operating are not working. Democracy as practiced in Nigeria, is not working, the Nigerian constitution is obsolete and dysfunctional. The federal system of government is not working and even the political structures such as the electoral system and primaries, which are supposed to produce a consensus and credible candidates, have been ‘high-jacked,’ by political demagogues. All the structures of governance have failed the Nigerian public, and nothing good has come out of these systems since their introduction.

The poor results are evident in the heightened agitations by all regional groupings for restructuring of the country. Nigerians cannot remain as one entity, if the present structures continue. The government of all the past administrations have failed the Nigeria people. Every fiscal year, the Senate approves budgets amounting to trillions of Naira, and most of it ends us as cost of running government. A large chunk also goes to defense, security votes, and constituency projects. Education, health, energy receives a paltry amount, which never gets to be used for the purposes they were meant.

Accountability by government itself is dismal, creating an environment where State governors, heads of parastatals and government agencies have access to billions of Naira, which are supposed to be for development projects, but are misappropriated and ending up in their personal accounts, without detection and this goes on continually for years. Both the Federal and State Auditor General offices are mere redundant portfolios and a waste of Nigeria taxpayer’s money.

The paradox of ‘one indivisible Nigeria’ that has become a rythorics and a mere dream of the elites who are exploiting the porous systems to their selfish gain. The way the country is been governed so far, has not produced the expected results over many decades. Successive governments have neglected the Nigerian people, who have endured perpetual hardship caused by inflation such as unemployment, terrible energy crisis, bad intra-city and interstate roads, non-existent medical infrastructure, poor public education that have left parents at the caprice of private school owners. Sadly, after such travail by parents, who spend enormous amounts of money to train their children, who end up without a job after graduation.

The insensitivity of government is embarrassing, as they do not in the slightest form show any consideration to the plight of the Nigerian children by providing a little solace, and supporting parents by making provisions for at least, affordable Medicare and schools. The present burden on parents is overwhelming as they still sacrifice part of their meager monthly income as tax to the same government that cannot account for the revenues they have generated from mineral resources for the past five decades or more.

Nigeria is a country of 180 million people, endowed with many natural mineral resources including many rich oil fields. The country has a large intellectual community in almost every field of human endeavour. Its rich cultural diversity is quite enviable. A country that fought and won a struggle for independence from the British colonial masters, with great hope for prosperity. The new Nigeria gave us hope and every young child had a dream that one day soon, he or she will become leaders of this great country. Today, the Nigerian child is in a slumber with their dreams turned into nightmares.

When did it started going wrong, if I may ask? This whole problem is traceable to 1960 when the colonial masters declared Nigeria an independence State. They handed over a country with under a unitary system of government that was in the hands of a few feudalist oligarchy, who saw the country as their domain and ruled the people with reckless abandon, usurping power and running the government from their dynasties. The political elites became power drunk and that led to the Agu Ironsi coup, which brought about the fall of the first republic.

Our leaders never learnt their lessons from the sad experiences of the fall of the first republic, and went on with the same elitist tendencies, which led to the collapse of the second republic in a coup plot that saw Yakubu Gowon became the Head of State at the age of twenty-five years. It was at this period that it now dawned on the government that the representation structure was loop-sided and that certain sections of the society were left out or under-represented, whose agitations led to the creation of twelve States in the country. Therefore, effectively jettisoned the regional structure that resulted in the collapse of the first republic.

This period also coincided with the discovery of oil in Oloibiri in then Rivers States and present Bayelsa State, by Shell Petroleum and the exploration of crude oil, which led to the boom in the early 70s. The regionalization of the country that has cost the country two successive republics, continued to rear its ugly head again even in the current democratic dispensation, as the ruling class continued to practice regionalism.

Most of Nigeria’s problems are a result of the regionalism tendencies of the ruling class, and there are existing structures even in the Nigeria constitution that still promotes such a system that is a recipe for chaos. What is the meaning of terms such as majority tribes, quota system, and rotational presidency? What is the role of Arewa Consultative Forum, Ohaneze, Afenifere, Ijaw Youths Council, Ipob and all other sectional and regional associations in the administration of the country?

These organizations are all bi-polar bodies promoting sectionalism and regional dichotomy. They usurp the role of government by presenting themselves as the voice and protector of their various tribesmen, and defend their regional interest. If this is their role, what then is the role of government? These are clear indications of division and evidence of the fact that the center is not strong enough to provide protection for the people, and are incapable of running the country.

The signs showing that the government has failed the Nigeria people are more visible today, than it has ever been, and such are the lack of accountability, inability to hold heads of departments and federal agencies accountable for misappropriation of funds and non-execution of projects. Also lack of capacity to prosecute criminal offenders against the State and lack of determination, of both the executive and legislature, to pass bills that will impact the lives of the citizens positively, are attestation of the this fact.

The elites who are beneficiaries of regionalization are the only ones who blinded by their greed, have failed to realize that the country is heading to yet another violent change. The tense situation in the country at present is very worrisome, because all the telltale signs that brought the downfall of the first and second republics are happening again, and the elites, in their usual manner, are saying everything is under control, even when they are not lifting a finger. That is what they always say, until the country boils over.

This is not the time for hesitation or self-centeredness, neither is it a time to call for national conference or setting up panels, because we have held several national conventions both public and in the national assembly that had proposed remediation propositions. We also setup several panels in the past that have made recommendations and produced white papers that ended up in the dusty archives rotting away.

Now is the time to prove that we love Nigeria. It is a time to jettison regionalism tendencies and act as one to overcome the present challenges that are threatening the peace and stability of the country. It is a time for all, especially the ruling class, to keep religion, tribal and partisan interest aside and come together as one, to support the government and encourage the national assembly to expedite a constitutional review process that will introduce new laws that will strengthen the weak aspects of our statutory books and the constitution.

To avert what appears to be an eminent disruption of the polity, the agitation by various socio-cultural organizations for a sovereign State of their own, should urgently considered by the National Assembly. The immediate review of the Treason law must include declaration of any sort by any regional or religious body for the secession of any part of the country or any declaration inciting the exit of a section of the citizens of Nigeria that is capable of disrupting public peace and causing violence should be culpable of treason.