Regarding the tendency to cast blames on our nationalists, my point is that it is we, who have TV, Radio, Blackberry, Internet, hundreds of newspapers and magazines, GSM, Facebook, Skype, Twitter and so on, and who have been able to see the examples of ‘SOCIAL MISMANAGEMENT, PAROCHIALISM, TRIBALISM AND DISCRIMINATION’, in countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Cote D’Ivoire, Liberia, Angola, Namibia, Congo (Brazaville and Kinshasa), Uganda, Sierra Leone, Algeria, Sudan, Chad, Niger, and just about every country in Africa that purportedly obtained ‘independence’ from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and whoever else; it is we who should have reversed the ‘errors’ of our founding fathers, if any. But we live in a generation where people expect complex problems to be solved in the twinkle of an eye and everybody ends up merely passing the buck.
The truth is that our problems are so deep and complex now, that the only way they can ever be solved is if we start solving every aspect ALL AT THE SAME TIME, EACH PERSON CHIPPING IN HIS BEST. THE ONLY WAY TO SOLVE NIGERIA’S PROBLEMS IS TO IGNORE OUR WOUNDS, BE SINCERE IN OUR APPROACHES, COMMENCE IMMEDIATELY AND FOR EVERYBODY TO JUST DO THEIR JOBS AS PERFECTLY AS POSSIBLE. I think we must fix energy, AND finance, AND politics, AND society, AND culture, AND every other aspect of our existence, IMMEDIATELY and we all must commence now. Say, How do you fix energy sector, if you don’t fix corruption? How do you fix corruption if you don’t fix aspects of our culture? The salvation of Nigeria, and by extension the hope of the black race, is in the hands of all of us.
The mismanagement of our union had commenced much earlier than we thought. I read an article written by Fazil Ope-Agbe (Vanguard August 7, 2003), in which he averred that as at independence, the major tribes of southern Nigeria were the ones who were really thinking of ‘dominating’ the union. Another writer, Babajide, mentions that the problem between Akintola and Awolowo happened then because the former was trying to convince Awolowo to join forces with the north, ‘in order to avoid domination by easterners’. It is understandable, if at that time, the easterners had the urge to ‘dominate’ the Nigerian union. The easterners were used to a culture of more freedom and self-expression, and were naturally more aggressive and daring, than the rest. They still are and this has led to the Igbos becoming the most financially successful tribe in Nigeria. But that comes with its own problems too.
On one of those occasions, SLA Akintola made jest of Igbo names – like Ikejiani – portending that they always want money. Ikejiani, translated in Yoruba, (the language through which Akintola thought), means ‘the second person will also have/own/be rich’. Akintola then joked that Igbos bear names like ‘Ikiniani’ – the first one will have, ‘Ikejiani’ – the second one will have, ‘Iketaani’ – the third one will have, and he then asked ‘when will our own (Yoruba) children also have?’ That was then. Today is our reality, and we will be judged by how we can correct the misconceptions, the misdemeanours, the inexactitudes, the wrong assumptions, the prejudices, the errors, of our forebears, not to deepen and exacerbate the wounds as we are presently doing.
Professor Tam David West, in a recent article in The Sun newspapers, mentioned some indiscretions uttered by some of the nationalist Nigerians in the days of yore. Mr C. D. Onyeama, an Igbo man, and a judge of the Supreme Court, had stated in early 1960 that ‘the domination of Nigeria by the Ibos was only a question of time’. David-West also said the ‘Ibo National Caucus’ projected 1964, and later 1969, for ‘our (Ibo) perpetual rule of the Federation’. It would therefore seem that each of Nigeria’s major tribes, had at one time or the other, nursed the idea of ‘total domination’.
Once again, the situation that existed then, was understandable. Those leaders lived in an imperial era, in an age when cities captured cities, just like the Brits captured almost the whole world. So the anger about ‘domination’ that we hear today, is usually from the losing tribe, whom if they had their ways will have done worse than those they accuse. It is instructive that the weakest link, in terms of ‘western civilisation’, viz the north of Nigeria (where according to Balarabe Musa’s interview no secondary schools existed until the 1950s), became the major beneficiary of the power that the south sought so fervently. Today, many southerners complain bitterly about misuse of power, especially in the public service, by core northerners. And some remind us about a certain ambition ‘to dip the Holy Qur’an in the Atlantic Ocean’, by the Sultanate (I’m sure that since the Atlantic is open to all either at Bar Beach or Eleko etc, this will no longer be a big deal, but it’s still an anchor for fear and hatred in the largely christian south).
It is true that some core northerners may be fatalistic in the way they use their positions, but I also know a great number of decent northerners who are not tribalistic by any means! And for those whom we see as ‘oppressors’, the only viable approach is to engage them intellectually and gradually point out the folly of their current approach. We must urgently shift our thinking away from ‘tribal domination’ or even ‘tribal supremacy’. We cannot replace oppression with another brand of oppression.
On Friday November 12, 2010, almost 60% of the pages of Thisday newspaper was devoted to the 40th birthday celebrations of a guy named Scott Tommey. He is from Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region. He is reputed to be a multi-billionaire and a contractor with NDDC. That region, including the current president, complains about how they have been oppressed. But it is becoming obvious that governments over the years, have tried to right the wrongs and that the efforts of government have only led to tremendous personal benefits for a few in the Delta region. If all the NDDC contractors had done their jobs conscientiously, that region will not still be what it is today. If the many rich people from that region spent a little of their wealth for their people, perhaps there will be more hospitals, schools and so on, in that region.
But no. Scott went ahead as reported by Thisday on Saturday, November 13, 2010, to throw the biggest party that brought Dubai to its knees. Hundreds of Nigerian ‘big boys’ travelled first class to Dubai and stayed at the utterly outrageous Atlantis hotel, where the largest suite (where many of them stayed), goes for 129,000Dirhams (N5.4million) A NIGHT! I know the place. Yet the Deltans complain about deprivation. The leaders there should also try to look inwards. Government can never ensure that anybody born in that ‘lucky’ region, would become as rich as Scott, so that they can go round the world, spending money to break the record of Oil Sheiks! But that is exactly what the guys want. And that will never happen. So the basis for their sense of entitlement, which breeds the quest for revenge, is totally unwarranted. I stand to be corrected!
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