The term Nation Building evokes the sense of a delicate activity spanning an indefinite period; meaning it never stops: an activity not to be neglected and one which helps to foster national consciousness. Nigeria’s failure to do this has led to a plethora of problems, chief among which is the issue of secession threat. Secession threat remains one of the problems being faced by the current Nigerian government, yet its origins are to be traced to an earlier period.
The year, 1960, has been hailed as Nigeria’s year ofIndependence; to many, it’s a year of freedom, while to others, the beginning of intractable woes. Britain, Nigeria’s colonial overlord, handed over the mantle of political leadership to the natives of Nigeria. What was, however, handed was an artificial state, created on the foundation of profit motives as witnessed by the 1914 amalgamation, which saw the joining of hitherto separate peoples into an existence which was neither requested for nor created based on approval. The resultant effect was that there was never laid, the groundwork for creating unity among the Nigerian people.
while political restructuring is being called for, there should also be attempts at mental restructuring
While this was a blunder on the part of our colonial overlords, it remains a bigger blunder on the part of our founding fathers who failed to weld the various peoples of Nigeria into a single existence. Thus, what existed in1960 was not a country but rather, a territorial entity comprising peoples such as the Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, among others, who had existed longer than infant Nigeria at that time.
All this could have been remedied by political leaders at that period, when the euphoria of independence was still strongly felt by Nigerians. This would have provided a temporal sense of oneness; but as subsequent events such as the 1963/1964 political crisis of 1964, and the civil war of 1967 proved, early leaders at that time took unity as an afterthought.
Fast-track to contemporary Nigeria and it becomes evident that the country’s current problems are simply old wine in new skin. The issue of secession, no matter how dynamic it might look, is still tied to the country’s failure at its nation-building project.
Fifty-seven years down the road, one wonders why there still exist, cries for secession among peoples within the country. The answer is to be found in the initial paragraphs of this write-up: failure to build a national
Consciousness, leading to sections of people within the country feeling neglected, unwanted and-when not overstating matters-betrayed by a country that should be theirs. Therefore, the call for withdrawal from the cooperate existence known as Nigeria is not to be labelled as a call by disillusioned persons, but rather, as the manifestation of the failures of leading statesmen in
Nigeria, from its years of independence till the present time.
A part of the country, this year, was treated to a viral quit notice from the northern area of the country, with its youths issuing an ultimatum to the Igbo within the north to evacuate or face whatever was meted out to them.
There exist freedom of movement and residency within Nigeria for all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe, at least as written in the Nigerian Constitution.
The Northern Proclamation, or rather, the Kaduna Declaration, made in the month of June, this year, was a direct infringement on the natural privileges enjoyed by Nigerians. And while words will be quick to blame the Northerners, thoughts should also fly as to why such a proclamation was made. And your guess is definitely as good as mine.
The designation, ‘Nigerians’, does not really exist. Peoples within the country still view themselves as different from one another, and since there exists no bigger framework for peoples to affiliate themselves, tribal affiliations remain viable
alternatives.
Nation building is thus a deliberate and conscious effort aimed at providing structures which build oneness within a nation and helps create the idea of a common good within citizens. The idea of oneness within Nigeria is a non-existent factor, hence the country exists only on territorial principles with its cultural spirit in absence and in reality, non-existent.
A state is regarded on account of territorial sovereignty. A nation-state, however, goes further than this and involves the concept of a cultural spirit; one without the other results in a barrage of problems witnessed in present-day
Nigeria.
Not too long after the northern proclamation came, the agitators from the Niger Delta region also issued their own quit notice to the northerners. All this conveniently playing out and underscoring a potent threat to our corporate existence.
Thus, while the nation struggles with its problem, which may be territorial, political, economic or social, it has also had to struggle with a threat as old as itself, while calmly avoiding a solution as plain as ‘black and white’.
Restructuring is therefore, widely clamoured for by sects of the Nigerian population as the solution to its erstwhile problem, and it is this writer’s view that, while political restructuring is being called for, there should also be attempts at mental restructuring. Balancing the ties citizens have to their ancient origins and those owed to their nation, should be a matter of focus, as it is impossible to do away with one’s tribe and also impossible to neglect the duties to be paid to one’s country.
The present tribal loyalty should not be seen as personal issues; rather, they should be looked at by the government as matters of federal importance, which cannot be solved by half-baked measures such as the federal quota system, which is no more than mere palliative.
Mr. Kelikwuma, a graduate of History, lives in Lagos.
