The Imperative of Restructuring
Nigeria turned 57 on October 1. It was indeed a great cause for celebration. Amidst all the aplomb and celebration lay a very important question: is the unity of Nigeria really non-negotiable? Let us examine the hypothesis surrounding Nigeria’s “sacred unity”. On October 1, 1960, Nigeria gained her independence amidst celebration and fanfare. I was not born then but I have heard and also read about how Nigerians were filled with so much hope and promise of a better future, a future which people like me still dream about till this day. As for the question posed above, I am contending that the “Nigerian Unity” our leaders have sworn to protect is incomprehensible and indeed a disaster for our nation.
As the popular saying goes, “only a foolish man tries the same thing several times expecting different results”. Is Nigeria this foolish man? For 57 years, we have been “united” and what benefits has this brought? We have had 57 chaotic years of poor leadership, a civil war and our people by the hour sink into moral delinquency. Whenever people bring the argument that “our unity is sacred”, I ask: “How many countries have the same level of diversity as we have in Nigeria”? Nigeria has over 300 tribes and languages. All these tribes and languages have been merged into a strange contraption called Nigeria.
I am of the opinion that the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates in January 1914 was a grave mistake that we have yet to recover from. It took Malaysia and India far less time to rectify similar mistakes. They recognised their differences early with the former splitting into Malaysia and Singapore while Pakistan and Bangladesh were created from India. However, the mistake called Nigeria has been made and it’s far too late to correct it now. The only solution is to minimise the effects of that mistake. The only way to achieve this now is by restructuring the country while abiding by the true rules of federalism, in a similar model as provided for in the constitution used in the period from 1960 to 1966.
The period from 1960 to 1966, otherwise called First Republic, was arguably Nigeria’s golden age. Power was effectively shared between the centre and the various regions. This gave autonomy to each region, basically enabling us to function as “three autonomous regions in one nation”. In those six years, Nigeria had visionary leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and the less talked about Chief Michael Okpara. Nigeria was at its closest to achieving its promise and delivering on the hope which Nigerians were beaming with at independence on October 1, 1960. However, the ill-fated coup of 1966 came and since then we haven’t had such quality leaders. These leaders focused more on their regions and paid little or no attention to “One Nigeria”. They were silent big achievers unlike the loud ones we have as leaders today. The fact still remains that the period from 1960 to 1966 under a regional system of government was our golden age. If it has worked once, we can try again. Our representatives in the National Assembly should indeed hear the pleas of advocates of restructuring as the current system of “unitary federalism” has left our country in a coma for a little too long. It is worthy of note to mention that I lend no credence to the thuggery of separatist groups like IPOB but the only away to allay such fears and to prevent a re-emergence of such groups is to restructure this country in a way that will accommodate all our differences. The unity might be non-negotiable but the structure of the country is definitely very negotiable and in fact must be changed. There is need for devolution of powers instead of concentration of powers at the centre. We must re-ignite healthy competition between the regions.
Cost of governance must be reduced to free resources for development. Our system must be tough on corruption. Source of revenue for the state must be diversified. We must allow component units to discover their strength and exploit it for development purposes.
Oladapo Olaniyonu, Bwari, Abuja