In any case, our checkered history leaves us
with absolutely irrefutable evidence that the harmonious coexistence of
Nigerian nationalities will not be erected on the foundation of a coercive,
centralist structure that discountenances our diversity.
Moreover, contemporary events in many parts of
the world clearly reveal that the issue of nationality is not one to be
buried under the carpet of mere pretense and coerced relationship.
Ask the people of Bosnia and of Yugoslavia. Ask
the people of our former colonial masters, the so-called �United Kingdom� of
Great Britain where the Scottish, Welsh and Irish now assert their
nationalities after centuries of rigmarole.
Recently, I read a brilliant and most evocative
article entitled �Stop the bus� by Orok Edem. Edem likened Nigeria to a bus
that perennially travels in the wrong direction. He opined that Nigerian
Minority ethnic groups will be better by getting off the Nigerian bus.
One wishes that the Nigerian experiment will
succeed and the Nigerian bus will commence traveling in the right direction.
Without question, a big size confers some
advantages to a nation. But if our size and heterogeneity remain a hindrance
to our prosperity, all of us will be better served by getting off the
Nigerian bus.
The legacies of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in
Western Nigeria bear witness that even without oil resources, the Yorubas
will be far better off the Nigerian bus. Awolowo demonstrated that with
Spartan discipline and judicious husbandry of limited resources, quantum
leaps of progress are possible even if a people have no oil.
Likewise, the Hausa-Fulani would be better off
the Nigerian bus where they can resume the tremendous multi-faceted
development that took place under the leadership of the Sardauna of Sokoto,
Sir Ahmadu Bello.
Needless to say, the legacies of Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara resoundingly prove that the Igbos would have
been far better off had they not been forced back into the Nigerian bus.
Needless to say, the Nigerian Minorities such
as those in the Delta region or the Middlebelt would have done far better on
their own. What is the logic or morality of this fixation on unity? Let us
stay united if and only if being �united� will foster peace, liberty and
prosperity for our people. Otherwise, let us convoke around a mahogany table
and discuss the terms of our parting of ways.
What we call unity today is nothing but coerced
co-existence in which all of us are equal opportunity victims of distrust
and concomitant marginalization.
Our part of Nigeria is marginalized
In traveling across Nigeria, one commonly
encounters the fallacy of the greener grass. �Those in the other parts of
Nigeria are doing much better than �we� are; �they� have better schools,
hospitals, roads etc.� Quite commonly, southerners portray the north as a
region flowing with milk and honey; easterners think the westerners are
doing swell; the westerners think that life is more abundant in northern and
eastern Nigeria!
This myth is echoed daily across Nigeria. In
sad reality, Nigeria has been reduced to a fragment of hell, from Port
Harcourt to Kaura Namoda and from Lagos to Nguru.
Today, a Yoruba is the President in Nigeria.
But how has that preferentially benefited the workers of Osun State whose
salaries are rarely paid on time? We must not discountenance the
ethnocentric undercurrents of Nigerian politics. But we must not allow
corrupt leaders to exploit the concern about marginalization for their
self-serving purposes.
In any case, when a Nigerian politician decries
the marginalization of his people, his primary concern is often for himself
not the people; he is craving more opportunities for graft and embezzlement.
If a Yoruba Stealator enriches himself by
inflating the cost of procuring computers, does that make Yorubas less
marginalized than their Ibiobio compatriots? Our elite, regardless of ethnic
origin, are plundering Nigeria�s treasury while sentencing the masses of all
ethnic groups to marginal existence.
How many of our senators or ministers are
concerned that after 30 years of service, the total gratuity of a professor,
engineer, lawyer, surveyor, teacher or civil servant is less than the
furniture allowance of a senator or minister? What is needed is a united
front by the marginalized masses of Nigeria against adventurers in power and
career opportunists who have turned public service into looting service.
Nigeria is a rich and great country
It is true that God has bequeathed Nigeria with
abundant natural resources that can make us a rich and great nation.
However, the truth is that nations do not become rich or great simply
because they have natural resources. The Soviet Union, a nation with a
surfeit of natural resources, languished in economic stagnation and
eventually imploded under the crushing weight of its own internal
contradictions.
Their experience and ours epitomize the great
gulf between greatness and potential greatness. Those who enjoy the thrill
of watching a buffoon making a fool of himself may deceptively call us the
�Giant of Africa� but we must not be hoodwinked by such frivolity.
Of course, the antics of a buffoon in the
market square is a comic relief but those who enjoy and laugh at such antics
never wish to have a buffoon for a child.
The whole world has become a global village in
which being �the giant of Africa� while remaining a �dwarf of the world� is
nothing to sing about.
The pandemics of grinding poverty, preventable
diseases, ridiculous superstitions cloaked as religion, environmental
degradation and technological backwardness, all sprawling across Nigeria are
not indicators of greatness.
Do we talk of greatness about a country where
educational institutions have broken down, transportation services are
backward, physical infrastructures are decrepit, and agricultural technology
is primitive?
Can we describe as great a nation where medical
services are extremely poor, water supply is episodic, and power supply is
epileptic? These variegated but all-too-familiar woes inflict economic
asphyxiation and physical debilitation on our people. Yet, we talk about
greatness!
Likewise, how can we say that Nigeria is rich
when there is more wealth in this city, Dallas Texas, than the entire
country of Nigeria? Sure, Nigeria has the potential to be rich. As we speak,
there are many individuals in this room today who have the potential to be
rich.
But unless they develop that potential, they
will never be rich. Likewise, the wealth of nations is not created by
wishful thinking or bloated ego.
Rather, it is created and sustained by the
concerted application of human ingenuity and discipline in the exploitation
of natural resources.
It is clear by now that I have not come here to
paint for you a rosy picture about Nigeria�s future. I have long
disqualified myself from the membership of OFN (Operation Fool the Nation).
Problems are not solved when we shy away from them.
The perennial recurrence of our woes is
sufficient proof that problems do not disappear just by being neglected. The
Nigerian bus is badly damaged. Together, we can repair it. Every bus needs
headlights. Nigeria will not prosper until we embrace a collective vision of
justice for all.
If unity is our goal, justice must be our
guiding light. When a nation sows the seed of injustice, it inevitably reaps
disunity. Together, we must fight injustice in every part of our land. Every
bus needs a roof, windscreens and a protective frame.
For the Nigerian bus, the Rule of Law together
with an unflagging adherence to universal human rights must be our roof and
windscreen.
Nigeria will not prosper until the winds of
tyranny and the disregard for due process are structurally disabled from
ever assaulting our human rights and civic liberties. These liberties are
our God-given unalienable rights.
Any government attempting to infringe upon
these liberties must be resisted by any means necessary.
Every bus needs a steering wheel. For the
Nigerian bus, the steering wheel must be discipline. And by discipline, I
speak not of the regimentation of our lives by military or civilian
autocrats. Rather, national discipline is the singular focus on noble goals
and the rational process for achieving them. It is not about morbid
centralism; it is about the resolute choices of a free people in moral
pursuit of progress.
Every bus needs brakes, and seatbelts. For the
Nigerian bus, our brakes and seatbelts must be constitutional checks and
balances that safeguard our nation against governmental excesses. Of course,
every bus needs an engine, a battery, tires, wheels accelerators etc.
I have no doubt that together, we can provide
the Nigerian bus needs. However, Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue is not what
we can do together; it is what we shall do together.
First, we may leave the bus unattended and
continue our journey of harrowing woes. Needless to say, it is suicidal for
anyone to knowingly travel in a bus that is in a state of disrepair. Sooner
or later, such a bus will crash. Ask the Soviet Union, India, Pakistan,
Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia all of whom imploded under the weight of
internal stress. We must reject this option.
Second, we may repair the bus and take a ride
to peace and prosperity. Examples abound in history about nations that
rebuilt from disrepair.
Third, we may disembark the bus and let the
passengers get unto new ones according to their sovereign and free wishes.
That was what happened when Denmark peacefully
broke into Sweden and Denmark; Sweden later peacefully broke into Norway and
Sweden. That was what happened when Czechoslovakia peacefully broke into
Czech and Slovakia.
Quite frankly, I am completely comfortable
either with joining to repair the Nigerian bus or helping to peacefully
dismantle it so that we all can be spared the agonizing but inescapable
destiny of riding a damaged bus to our collective perdition.
And so, to that infinite Source of vision,
wisdom, courage and grace, the Supreme One we call Allah, Chineke, Obong,
Oghene, Olodumare, Ooundu, Osalobua etc., I say: So Help us God to either
repair soon or peacefully and quickly dismantle our hapless bus!
Adeyeye is Secretary-General of the United
Democratic Front of Nigeria (UDFN).
