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Nigeria: Tears Of My People
By Chief Charles O. Okereke
In recent times, the pendulum powered by ethnic,
political and religious rival engines has
been swinging and beating the drums of instability,
uncertainty and chaos in Nigeria. Ethnic militias
and activists are making one demand or another, from
true federalism that would allow for resource
control to complete break-up of the country. This is
not surprising considering the fact that Nigeria has
operated on the aggregate, an unjust and oppressive
system since its existence as a Nation.
Nigerian federal system though designed after the
U.S. structure is flawed as it failed to adopt the
major ingredients that made the U.S. a success which
include resource control and residency. Control of
natural resources by the federal government has
negated an economy of comparative advantage where
states would have been producing products and
commodities they have competitiveness in. The
prevailing arrangement in the country makes the
states unproductive as they depend on the federal
government for handouts from the oil money. Resource
control would encourage non-oil producing states to
generate new revenue generating capacity in
agriculture, tourism, information technology and
solid minerals. Oil presently accounts for 80
percent of Nigeria’s gross national product (GNP).
The omission of residency provision by states to
settlers and residency by birth in the constitution
has produced states and communities with ethnic
rather than national identity.
The people suffer, middle class in Nigeria has been
completely eroded. The nation seems ‘oiled to
poverty’. In the midst of natural resource abundance
Nigeria remains a low income nation with a per
capita income of $390.00. From better to worse,
Nigeria’s per capita income is below
the 1960 level, the year she attained independence
and below the average for sub-Saharan Africa
according to World Bank records. Things got worst
over the years. Upon independence up to the
mid-1980s Nigeria ranked a middle-income nation.
Some may argue the partition of
Africa and/or amalgamation of Nigeria gave birth to
an artificial country named Nigeria that was bound
to fail. Nigerian leaders are to be blamed with the
regression of the country since they failed to work
on the composition or restructure of the country
after independence. Your roommates can be imposed by
a superior power, but you do not have to live with
each other or abide by the rules after such power is
gone. Options that were available upon independence
and are still available to Nigeria are to either
break-up into several nations according to culture,
number and tribe or remain one under a chosen
structure best for the relationship amongst the
different groups. The best means of weighing such
options before military interruption of the first
republic was at the house of parliament, but now it
is best done through Sovereign National
Conference (SNC). This is because with allegations of
election rigging as rampant as they are now, the
National Assembly might not reflect the peoples’
choices. Sovereign National Conference would include
natural and acceptable leaders of each group or
tribe, that would push for the best interest of
their people within the confines of the polity.
Nigerian leaders have failed to accept the fact that
Nigeria is a nation of nations. This is obvious
from the political, sectional, religious and
cultural polarity amongst the different constituent
groups. People are always talking of presidency from
their tribe or section and marginalization by the
center. Nigeria is best described a unitary system
than Federal, even though it goes by the name
“Federal Republic of Nigeria”. True federalism would
have saved the country from its present state of
instability, economic chaos and uncertainty.
Military incursion into Nigerian politics buried
democracy and ushered untold hardship, poverty and
uncertainty in the country. The bulk of Nigerian
wealth is in the hands of retired generals and their
associates who use it to manipulate the system.
Sovereign National Conference remains the
only way out of the woods for Nigeria. The people
have long suffered and waited.
Over 1 million civilian lives were lost through
starvation during the Nigerian civil war.
People suffered in the East. Nigerian troops were
used to bombard and raze Odi and surrounding
communities of Rivers State in 1999. People suffered
in Niger Delta. In 2001 Zaki-Biam
in Benue State was razed by the Nigerian Army, many
lost their lives. People suffered in the
Middle-Belt. In 2000, 250 people were killed in
Ajegunle, Lagos from ethnic fighting between the
Yoruba and Hausa. In 2002 over 70 lost their lives
in Idi-Araba, Lagos in another Yoruba/Hausa clash.
The same year hundreds of civilians, many of them
women and children lost their lives in Lagos when an
army munitions dump exploded. Thousands were
traumatized from the incident. People suffered in
the West. The North has witnessed several ethnic
riots involving many lives and billions of naira
worth of property. These ethnic riots are usually
dressed up as religious riots by politicians who use
them to exert control on the people. Many have lost
their lives and hard earned properties from these
conflicts. People suffered in the North.
Open the news pages of Nigerian dailies or world
news about Nigeria, only very few things would make
one smile. Beautiful and handsome but sad faces roam
the streets. Unemployment rate may run as high as 70
percent and very high inflation rate makes the case
worse.
There are conflicting reports on the value of income
accruing to the nation that was stashed away in
foreign banks by Nigerian leaders. President
Obasanjo was quoted in 2002 as putting the total
amount of money stolen by African leaders at $104
billion ( BBC Online of 6/13/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2043403.stm
). In an article published by BusinessDay, written
by Wale Haastrup the total amount looted by Nigerian
leaders was put at $20 trillion( refer to http://www.businessdayonline.com/?c=45&a=8569
and
http://www.africamasterweb.com/AdSense/NigerianLeadersStole20Trillion.html ). The chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu was quoted by BBC as
putting the loot by Nigerian leaders since
independence at over $380 billion( BBC Online of
10/20/06
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6069230.stm
). It is not certain the value of Nigerian leaders’
loot, but one thing that is obvious is that it is
enormous.
High number of elected and government officials seem
to be misappropriating and siphoning money. Alhaji
Ibrahim Hassan, the Accountant- General of Nigeria
at the National 5th Seminar on Economic and
Financial Crimes spoke on how public servants loot
the treasury( refer to
http://www.efccnigeria.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1002&Itemid=2).
Widespread poverty accounts for the bourgeoning rate
of crime in the country, which is being exported
overseas through Internet or mail scams, popularly
known as 419. Desperate
Nigerians are finding their way abroad where they
are engaged in criminal or illegal activities such
as prostitution, fraud, drug and human trafficking.
The Mercury( a South African daily ) November 30,
2006 online issue, carried tears-causing article
titled “Italian streets offer no joy, hope for
Nigerian women”. The article dealt on the
sympathetic plight of Nigerian prostitutes in Italy,
who face crushing debt, insults, rape, robbery, and
battery. They are reportedly shivery and cold,
soliciting customers under extremely cold
temperatures and constitute over half the Italian
prostitute population( refer to
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3569168
).
Most of Nigeria’s earnings are salted away to
foreign lands and the people suffer and cry but are
held down under one Nigeria. There is nothing wrong
with one Nigeria provided it is based on equity,
fair play and progress, above all, the design and
endorsement of the people. A country is owned by the
people and any system that does not cater to their
well-being and security is undemocratic and a
dictatorship. The people design the system through
participation in the drafting of the constitution
and amend it through their representatives and
referendums. Systems that do not involve democratic
participation of the masses result to corrupt and
inept government that eventually lead to failed
state. Lasting nationhood is not achieved by force
through the barrel of the gun, but through willing
participation of all groups involved. Defunct
Yugoslavia Federation and Soviet Union are good
examples for Nigeria to learn from, at least they
are the most recent balkanization in history. The
ball is in the court of Nigerian leaders to be
truthful to themselves in salvaging one Nigeria or
facing violent balkanization or break-up of the
country. When the masses are poor and crying for
redemption, a good leadership would listen and try
to redraw the rules. There is ample evidence of
massive unemployment, inflation, neglect of
infrastructure, and corruption in Nigeria. Decades
of misrule by past leaders negate any progress by
the present administration which itself does not
have a clean slate.
Clamp down of militant, ethnic or self-determination
groups in a situation such as Nigeria without
addressing issues resulting to their emergence is
detrimental to the nation. Such tactics would fail
in the long run, judging from history. Dialogue
through SNC is the solution for a nation that has
been misruled for her greater life leading to untold
hardship of constituent groups that possess the
necessary qualities in forming their own states.
Expediency and justice call for peaceful dissolution
of a state be it marriage or association, or
renegotiation in the midst of mistrust, rivalry and
hostility. Only the uninformed would wait for a
violent break-up and its consequences. On this note
Nigeria is called upon to release all detained
leaders of self-determination groups facing charges
of treason. These leaders when freed would be able
to exercise their civic rights of voting during the
next elections. Sovereign National Conference could
be shifted to the next administration since the
forthcoming elections would interfere with it’s
organization. SNC remains an imperative in Nigeria
as soon as possible.
Who feels it knows it. I, the author of this article
is a good example of the decay, injustice and
ineptitude of Nigeria. I was lucky to be able to
leave the shores of Nigeria quite unlike millions of
talented and qualified unemployed graduates. I was
discharged from my scholarship/employment bond with
the Imo State Government, Nigeria in 1984 after the
Buhari/Idiagbon coup, even though the State
sponsored my graduate studies in Agriculture. I
obtained my M.S. in Agriculture in 1981 in the U.S.
after which the Imo State government wrote me to
return to serve my bond with her. The government
paid for my return ticket to Nigeria in 1982, but
required me to complete my National Youth Service
before commencing my employment bond with the state.
The army struck overthrowing the civilian government
before I could finish my service and wrote me
terminating my bond with the state. I was thrown
into the unemployment pool for ten months after my
service before securing employment in the private
sector. My employment was interrupted by a second
coup in 1985 that ushered in Structural Adjustment
Program (SAP). SAP devalued the naira (local currency)
and banned the importation of grains, including
maize that was vital to our farm’s livestock unit.
Businesses, including farms struggled to make profit
and pay salaries. Eventually I was forced to return
to the United States in 1987.
It is noteworthy the fact that even though I
graduated in 1981, I did not get half of my
scholarship fees until 1982. The other half (full
payment) I received in 1986, seven years later and
this enabled me to return to the United States in
1987. This meant that I pulled through school
without my scholarship fees even though my full fees
was remitted to the Nigerian Consulate in Los
Angeles, California, U.S.A. That was the practice
then for corrupt Nigerian embassy officials to
divert student funds for private use. Affected
government scholars would be denied the funds if
they dropped out of school. When I went after the
consulate for payment they asked me to tender proof
I graduated, and when I did they only acknowledged
the receipt of half of my fees.
The Public Complaints Commission, Owerri, Imo State,
wrote over ten letters to the Nigerian U.S. mission
between 1983 to 1986 regarding payment of my
outstanding scholarship fees without a single reply
from the mission. Payment was only possible in 1986
after the then Imo State governor, Navy Captain
Allison Madueke intervened with a threat to the
consulate that failure to pay me in full would
compel him to seek federal action on the matter. My
special thanks to Allison Madueke. Nigeria needs
more leaders like him. My gratitude remains forever
to University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, U.S.A. that
on learning of my financial difficulties that were
about to force me out of school, secured me
employment in the physical plant department of the
school.
Nigerian leaders have turned deaf ears to several
warnings on addressing the ills of the country and
the impending break-up of the polity if nothing is
done. The following publications are some of the
warnings (some with recommendations) pointing towards
the possible break-up of the country:-
1. Nigeria’s Faltering Federal Experience – In the
document The International Crisis
Group (Crisis Group), an independent, non-profit,
non-governmental analytical and
advocacy organization in the prevention and
resolution of deadly conflicts reported
the Nigerian federal system and politics as being
flawed. It stated the imperfections
contributed to the rising violence that was
threatening destabilization of the country.
It recommended solutions in stabilizing the polity.
URL of Article:-
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4464&l=1
2. U.S. Intelligence: Nigeria ‘ll fail in 15 years –
In this article it was reported the U.S.
National Intelligence Council in a document entitled
“Mapping Sub-Saharan Africa’s
Future” predicted “outright collapse of Nigeria” as
a nation-state within 15 years.
URL of Article:-
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=18299
3. In Nigeria, things fall apart – In this article
The New York Times warned that Nigeria
was deteriorating from third term bid by President
Obasanjo which was enflaming
political tensions among Nigeria’s polarized ethnic
groups, particularly the Muslims in
the north and Christians in the south.
URL of Article:-
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/26/opinion/ednigeria.php
4. Civil war still possible – In this article Nobel
literature laureate, Professor Wole
Soyinka warned that the continued agitations of
power shift by a section of the
country could lead to another civil war.
URL of Article:-
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=57707
5. Nigeria ’ll break up if… Gowon, Adebayo cry out –
In this article Nigeria’s former
head of state General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) warned that
Nigeria was on the brink of
disintegration because his successors failed to
build on the national unity and similar
values achieved through the civil war. Ex-military
governor of Old Western State,
Major-General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd) agreed with
Gowon that much of the gains of
the past had been overlooked.
URL of Article:-
http://www.independentng.com/news/nnnov110402.htm
6. Nigeria ‘on the brink of disaster’ – In this
article Nobel literature laureate, Professor
Wole Soyinka warned that Nigeria was heading towards
a violent implosion that would
dwarf the crisis in Darfur with the wave of mass
killings in the country.
URL of Article:-
http://www.themercury.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=284&fArticleId=2149288
Recently, 65 Nobel laureates comprising the
Commission of Nobel Laureates on Peace, Equity and
Development in the Niger Delta of Nigeria proposed
measures in reducing the likelihood of conflict
escalation in the region. The Commission was
established to address injustice, mitigate
suffering, and prevent conflicts in Niger Delta from
escalating and spilling across Nigerian borders.
Recommendations of the laureates included unfettered
2007 election, comprehensive
fight on corruption, environmental clean-up,
investment and employment opportunities in oil
producing communities( refer to
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/headline/f102122006.html
). This is yet another opportunity for Nigeria in
solving the ills shaking and rattling her cooperate
existence.
Can Nigeria be saved? This is a question that can be
answered through SNC and this should have been done
before voter registration in the 2007 elections. The
polity is heating up from ethnic and sectional
tensions as the elections draw nearer. A mere
statement by President Obasanjo that he sees the
need now for a Sovereign National Conference, but
owing to time limitation would support one after
handover in 2007, would help cool the air.
A Sovereign National Conference when conveyed would
address issues that are presently holding the
country hostage and trying to tear her apart. The
conference would produce documents that would be
used in the drafting of a suitable constitution for
the people. This is the only solution in saving
Nigeria either as a Union, Confederacy or peacefully
balkanized region. No action may lead to a violent
break-up.
Chief Charles O. Okereke is a prolific writer and
news contributor to several online publications,
composer of God Bless
Africa (
http://www.africamasterweb.com/godblessaflyrics.html
) - an African Union award winning anthem.
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