The Challange We Face

At the Nations Development Seminar in 2005 in Monrovia, Liberia, President of Congress WBN, Dr. Noel Woodroffe said that "Sharp conflicts have always indicated transformation points to the consciousness of the world and provide pivots to a new design of human action". Dr. Woodroffe was speaking against the backdrop of the historical origin of most West African nations (both indigenous existence, repatriation, colonization) which had in the past crippled their capacity to dream, to envision, to create a new future. Moving forward he added required peoples in the West African region to abandon the position that explains non-productivity and lack of responsibility for their destiny on the residual impact of their past experience and to evolve new nations. Put in very plain terms, Dr. Woodroffe was in essence saying that most nations in West African including Nigeria were defined by their past experiences rather than being pulled forward by a vision of what they want to evolve into or become. This more than any other reason explains the preponderance of conflicts not just in Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Voire, Burkinafaso, Liberia, Togo but also across Africa as we have witnessed in Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan to mention a few. The latest round of violence in Nigeria that followed the declaration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as winner of the April 16, 2011 Presidential Election can also be traced to this residual principle which in our case is based on colonialism. One hundred years after the British colonial government amalgamated Northern and Southern Nigeria, and 50 years after that amalgam was granted independence the response to the outcome of the April 16 election was defined by our past. We witnessed some people in some eight states in the former North resort to violence to protest the outcome of the April 16 election which had favored a candidate from the former South against another candidate who was perceived to be flying the flag of the former North. We witnessed these people lashing their venom on other Nigerians perceived to be from states in the former South especially targeting members of the National Youth Service Scheme who are supposed to be symbols of national unity. We witnessed voting patterns for both main presidential candidates that almost seem to follow the 1914 divide between North and South of Nigeria before the amalgamation, but for the role played by voters in the Middle Belt region. We witnessed presidential party primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party that were fought along the divide of the former North and South as if we were in 1914 and Lord Lugard was still the Governor-General of Nigeria, with the losers pitching tent with another candidate from the former North. Since the return to democratic rule in May 1999, we have witnessed the dominance of the Peoples Democratic Party in the governance of Nigeria simply because of its recognition of a zoning arrangement that rotates political power between candidates from the former South and North. We have witnessed the Jos crises in Plateau State where generational settlers and indigenous peoples are slugging it out in what is fast becoming a full scale war as the resort to sophisticated weapons and bombs that are used in places of worships, markets, schools, villages now attest. We have witnessed the Ezalla and Ezillo crises in Ebonyi State that is a type of guerrilla warfare between settlers and indigenous people over land rights that have become political which has not spared travelers journeying through the two communities. We have witnessed where a Nigerian residing outside his or her state of origin is technically regarded as a settler but who cannot aspire to political rights and in many instances is discriminated against in obtaining education, health and other benefits such as land ownership. These are the issues that generate sharp conflicts that have over the years resulted in the loss of millions of human lives, maiming of millions of people, destruction of properties worth trillions of Naira, displacement and dislocation of millions from lives and environments they have grown accustomed to. Since the recent crises that occurred after April 16, some have again called for Nigeria to be divided as these conflicts are indicative of Nigeria being a union of strange bed fellows or better put a 'mere geographical expression', to borrow the words of one of our late sage. By division they do not tell us if that means dividing Nigeria along the lines of its 250 ethnic groups or an arrangement that leaves these ethnic groups under the control of those they claim are the major tribes in Nigeria? Sanusi Lamido, the Central Bank Governor aptly described the problem we face when in 2009 he said the following at a book launch in Lagos: “My grandfather was a Northerner, I am a Nigerian. The problem with this country is that in 2009, we speak in the language of 1953. Sir Olaniwun can be forgiven for the way he spoke, but I cannot forgive people of my generation speaking in that language. “Let us go into this issue because there are so many myths that are being bandied around. Before colonialism, there was nothing like Northern Nigeria, Before the Sokoto Jihad, there was nothing like the Sokoto caliphate. The man from Kano regard himself as bakane. The man from Zaria was bazazzage. The man from Katsina was bakatsine. The kingdoms were at war with each other. They were Hausas, they were Muslims, they were killing each other. “The Yoruba were Ijebu, Owo, Ijesha, Akoko, Egba. When did they become one? When did the North become one? You have the Sokoto Caliphate that brought every person from Adamawa to Sokoto and said it is one kingdom. They now said it was a Muslim North. “The Colonialists came, put that together and said it is now called the Northern Nigeria. Do you know what happened? Our grand fathers were able to transform to being Northerners. We have not been able to transform to being Nigerians. The fault is ours". The challenge is how do we evolve a new nation or transform to being Nigerians