By Nwokedi Nworisara
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”- George
Santayana
In 1914 there were two Nigerias. The North and the Southern Nigeria
managed by Lord Luggard the then British Governor General . He thought it
would make sense for the British to amalgamate the two since there were no
more scramble going on by competing Powers. Amalgamation could produce an
economy of scale and enable each side to benefit from the others
advantages while integrating into a giant provider of British raw
materials.
Earlier the methods of administration of the two had differed greatly. The
North was ruled indirectly allowing the feudal system to remain
unperturbed by modern advances and it produced great courageous
infantrymen to defend the whole. The south was ruled directly through
democratic means and the people were assimilated to the western education
as basis for their proper participation and ownership of democratic
culture. Earlier they were organized in hostile city states and did not
care much about integration or nationhood except it was bound by force of
arm. So the South developed faster in this new way of organizing in the
public realm shedding their much of their cultures to accommodate the ways
if the white missionary. On the other hand the North was already conquered
by the jihadist Arab from the North who introduced their Islamic religion
to calm down the earlier existing city States and established the Fulani
Emirates to rule over the people. They were highly successful in utilizing
the political cleavages of religion in organizing society something that
the colonial British admired and wished to retain because it was also
productive and effective.
It was an uphill task getting to amalgamate the two disparate world views
but the British had the machinery to instill law and order. Remember that
left on its own the two sides cannot gravitate towards integration or
nationhood. So the presence of some prerequisites in the British style
made it possible to hold the two together. The first requisite is force
,ie a good law and enforcement with a disciplined army. The other is
productivity. The whole thing hinges on economy of scale. The British was
able to keep the two sides separate while uniting them at the point of
their output at the Federal levels. So the federal system was complemented
by the Parliamentary structure of governance. There was nothing unitary.
What it means is that a law consistent with international standards and
expectations contained in a constitution and backed by a strong
disciplined army also rooted in international standards was needed to keep
Nigeria Amalgamated. It was needed to keep Nigeria productive and secure
but she must be governed by a balanced federal structure with delivery
mechanism being a parliamentary system of government because of its
educative ,accountable and responsible characters. It took the British 50
years of trial and error to achieve this balance and when Nigeria became
independent in 1960,this system was handed over to the new Government.
Unfortunately those whom the British saw as worthy enough to continue this
legacy did not seem to understand it. Neither did they have much chance to
operate it before they began to remove the very pillars that kept the
system stable in the first place. The first pillar to be removed was
British authority or guidance. The last Governor General of Nigeria who
became the first President Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was to provide that necessary
link as Queens Consul. Much of Nigeria’s exports still went to Britain.
The economy was structured to serve British industries even the Railway
lines ran to the sea. The first bad move was making Dr Azikiwe a
ceremonial President. Then followed the rush to declare a Republic in
1963. As soon as the Republican status came,Britain had its hands tied
even though it still retained the lever! Earlier the new leaders were
already working ignorantly to destabilize the army. The Northern Premier
wanted quota recruitment of Northern Youths into the Army. Then followed
attempts to alter the tripod structure bringing about instant instability
in the polity . The Creation of Mid West Region sent wrong signals to the
North that the South was trying to put them In disadvantage . The centre
could no longer hold! All these were distractions to productivity and the
groundnut pyramids,cocoa and oil Palm exports began to show signs of
decline!
The consequences of the above events happening before 1964 was that the
army was disabled,the parliamentary system and the Regional Federalism was
now in doubt in just 4years what was put together in 50 years came
crumbling down. There was no need to continue this analysis until the
physical effects became form in 1966 coup. The discovery of oil in the
Niger Delta came as a structural defect instead of blessing. It emboldened
those who thought that the Army could play a stabilizing role with or
without the other prerequisites such as a good law and enforcement with
international backing. Those who did not understand the great need for
Federalism and Regional autonomy in the Nigerian equation, those new
experimenters who believe that he who controls force which later
translated to the economy can enforce National unity and integration!
From 1966 the Nigerian constitution was suspended,the FEDERAL structure
disbanded,the army became unprofessional as quota soldiers had their way.
Since the constitution was no more law and order took a nosedive and the
rest is history. Attempts to create states to replace the Regions to give
semblance of unity multiplied governance units until it was no longer
controllable and units became unviable eating deep into crude oil federal
coffers establishing a new reason de entrée for this new concept of the
Nigerian State to sharing instead of productivity. Later on attempts were
made to put these unviable states into eight geopolitical zones and after
many years of running at seemingly stable democratic rule from 1999 till
date after the earlier republics proved abortive,the imbalance in
structure remains and great poverty besets the land in the midst of
plenty. The people are no longer the centre piece of the new democracy
rooted in a common wealth of sharing of oil funds. Money had assumed a
surfer age if its own and can buy votes or positions. The Military rulers
since 1886 were experimenting in Diarchy and have converted to the new
civilian helmsmen but they still feel that unitary control of everything
from the centre will retain their control of this experimental brand of
Nigeria! So constitutional conferences are open but not entirely free to
discuss the major issues capable of returning power to the people once
again or returning Nigeria to its true nature.
So here we are today grappling with the effects of the perpetual conflict
between the two Nigerias and the people are all but ignorant of what is
happening to them! Although they perceive the conflict some mislabel it
and therefore for narrow political expediency deceive their people into
wild goose chases year after year. They would tell you it is a conflict
between the North and the South,Muslims and Christains,Arab and
West,politicians and the people,and other vague phrases arising out of
pseudo knowledge or ignorance. Most people cannot decide it because they
have arisen from it and cannot detach themselves from it or overlook it as
to know the big picture! From here you can see that the conflict you see
today manifested in Boko Haram,Sharia,coups etc was made in Nigeria! It
was as a result of the rush to rule Nigeria when you do not even know what
Nigeria is all about. Now what is happening is that the attempt to change
the old British prescription for a stable Nigeria has failed disastrously
and the new Nigeria which is just a return to the old is rising! It has no
geographical boundaries so it is not the North or South,Moslems or
Christains but the will of God!