This house need not fall
In the beginning Peter Enahoro (a.k.a. Peter Pan), an erudite Nigerian journalist of the 1960s, wrote ‘How to be a Nigerian’, a hilarious book that offered a sneak preview of the then emerging character and persona of the Nigerian in his newly independent sociopolitical and economic environment. Among other subjects, the narrative included graphic descriptions of the modes of transportation, the inherent boisterous and sometimes almost gung-ho nature of the Nigerian, as well as his penchant for expressing himself in loud decibels. I first stumbled on the book during my early secondary school years and was thoroughly entertained and educated by it.
Then in the year 2000, just one year into our present democratic experience, Karl Maier, an American journalist and Africa correspondent for the Independent newspaper, who lived in Nigeria from 1986 to 1996, published an ominously titled x-ray on Nigeria entitled This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis. Most Nigerians are probably not aware of the existence of this wellresearched and well-packaged matter-of-fact treatise on their fatherland. The Louisville, Kentucky native, despite the title of the book, appears to be genuinely concerned about the apparent inability of Nigeria to get it right in many areas especially when it mattered most. The author could be described as a friend of Nigeria.
Prof. Chinua Achebe’s pessimistic comment on the book is instructive: “This is an example of a country that has fallen down; it has collapsed. This house has fallen,” he wrote. Of course, Achebe’s pessimism about the country’s future was further demonstrated in his 2012 book There Was a Country, which generated quite a debate among certain individuals and groups in Nigeria. His strong feelings about what he perceived as the perpetual crippling of Nigeria by a succession of ruling elite obviously led the renowned man of letters to twice reject proposals to confer him with national honours.
About a decade ago, predictions emerged from official circles in a powerful Western country to the effect that the territorial integrity of Nigeria might not survive beyond 2015. While some patriotic Nigerians derided the predictions as plain mischief, others nervously eyed the “terminal date”, as it were, which coincided with the then approaching general elections, and concluded that the prophecy stood a fair chance of being fulfilled, given our inglorious history of “door-die” elections.
Allusion was often made to the burning militancy in the Niger Delta, the spate of violent crimes such as kidnapping and armed robbery, as well as the nagging insurgency in the North-East as signs that the country was edging toward a failed-state status. Other challenges to the nation’s corporate survival, according to some analysts, include the perceived jettisoning of the rule of law and consequent enthronement of impunity in favour of the elite, as well as the gradual erosion of the influence of integrative institutions and symbols such as the National Youth Service Corps and the unity schools.
While some of these concerns cannot be lightly dismissed, there are at least three identifiable basic facilities that must function efficiently and be just a phone call or the click of a button away from the citizenry of any modern stable society - and none of them is sufficiently functional in Nigeria.
First is the issue of crime prevention/ detection and law enforcement. It may require a whole book to examine and discuss this issue adequately and, in the end, the country was always going to score way below average. Second is the question of fire-fighting. The institution has been so long neglected that it is a fire department in name only. But the personnel are not to blame. The joke that the institution has been turned into over the years is a glaring example of the prevalent cavalier attitude in public policy development and implementation.
Finally, the ambulance services, except perhaps for tentative steps taken in Lagos State, is another area in which, inexplicably, hardly any progress has been made in 57 years of independence.
The current state of affairs has undoubtedly contributed significantly to the country’s woeful performance in the human development indices, with a low life expectancy and a health-care system that has almost justified pervasive medical tourism abroad by the wealthy.
Given all its besetting problems, can Nigeria ever realize its full potential? It certainly could and why not? We are not the only multi-ethnic country in the world - nor the only one that was put together without the express will of “we the people”. For instance, going by the sheer number of ethnic groups, a population about seven times that of Nigeria, a cultural behemoth, and the existence of several contending religions, India should experience a bigger challenge in respect of national integration. Yet it is recognized as the world’s largest democracy with almost flawless elections each time, and where the military has never interfered in governance since independence in 1947. Spain, the U.K. and France, among others, despite separatist noises from Catalonia, Scotland and the Basque region respectively, have all fared fairly well as multi-ethnic nations. Of course, the United States stands out as the ethnocultural melting pot of the globe.
Yes, it is true that Lord Frederick Lugard in 1914 put together this mosaic of nationalities now known as Nigeria principally for the administrative convenience of his principals in London. But it is also true that the nation has since moved beyond the status of “a mere geographical expression”. Over the decades, inter-ethnic marriages, common institutions such as the National Youth Service Corps scheme, shared dreams, hopes and frustrations, and even a traumatic civil war that did not succeed in disintegrating the nation, have all welded the diverse peoples of this country into an almost indivisible entity.
Till date, pre- and post-colonial period, at least eight constitutional arrangements have been developed and implemented in Nigeria. There is no reason why lessons learnt over the decades cannot form a reliable framework to fashion out a mutually-beneficial arrangement for co-existence among the ethnic and religious groups in the country.
All that is required is for the ruling elite to develop the political will and institute policies and programmes designed to carry the masses along in the journey of nation building. By whatsoever nomenclature called, such a blueprint needs to be put in place urgently to ensure that this “house” stands, and stands on a firm foundation.
Belolisa wrote this piece from Abuja.