By Sani Sa’idu Baba
Earlier in the week, I noticed on our various social media platforms that the most trending event was the euphoria that surrounded the call to camp of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). This was as most of those directly or remotely concerned posted theirs or their protege’s pictures wearing the much admired and very attractive green and white khaki uniform, which symbolized our national unity, albeit very fragile unity as events in recent times seem to prove, the scheme and its central theme notwithstanding.
The situation gave me a relapse into the present goings-on in our dear country, increasing the curiosity of my perception, especially when critically viewed at the fact that many of these youths are either actively deviant or passively at risk, to the extent that I asked myself what the status of Nigeria’s unity is, and more importantly, what the future holds for its citizens. Is the prosperity of the nation a myth or reality? This week, and with all sense of neutrality, I want to share my own perspective with my dear country men and women, hoping it will create a channel to re-evaluate our most critical issues as key to achieving a united nation irrespective of our so-called diversity. I will dwell on this in a jiffy.
National unity, which is a key ingredient to attaining every nation’s development, can be seen as a feeling of being united as a country especially in times of trouble, and synergy in fighting common enemies. In other words, it is the processes of coming together to fight against anything that can retard human development of a particular group of people. The most important aspect of the development of any country is indisputably the development of human personality and the moral development of the citizens. This means that, the development of a country is primarily the development of human dimension, which is the development of human person. National unity have included national cohesion, national integration, nation building and social solidarity as a process of unifying a society which tends to make it harmonious city.
However, based on my understanding which reflects that of discerning minds, the lack of Unity in Nigeria generally known, was born out of the interest of the colonial masters whose interest is not geared towards Unity promotion in Nigeria as a nation but their hidden agenda for maximal exploitation. The Richard constitution has affected the Nigeria democratic purpose which divided Nigeria into three regions namely the Northern, the Eastern and the Western regions. With the attainment of political independence and the first democratic government Sworn in 1960, it was hoped that the attainment of meaningful democratic as well as the national development as seen in other parts of the world would be easily achieved. That is to say Nigeria wished to witness an equal distribution of the national resources in order to raise the general standard of people lives. Of course progress has been made but that has not been fully achieved.
Soon after independence, the citizens’ expectations of witnessing serious national development through democratic ideals and practice were crashed, due to the political elites only manipulating the democratic process to pave way for the emergency of another exploitative class, this time around, not the white colonial masters but the Nigeria political elites group who become dubious and corrupt propagating tribalism, regionalism and religious sentiment to settle personal cases and to perpetrate them in power. Hence the first nodal of tension that set this country to deeply rooted unrest and backwardness till today. Probably that was the reason why many knowledgeable Nigeria elders and clergy men did not believe President Buhari is a messiah that could liberate us just like many believe that he is not the problem of this country because ethno-religious intolerance has for long been in existence.
More often than not, religion has always been used as a vehicle to create tension amongst people of different faith, especially in our blessed country. This move is what the late Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman tagged as the ‘manipulation of religion’, which is always promoted by those in power, the clergy and more importantly, the owners of the means of production. This is more elaborate in Marx’s philosophy of religion as the opium of the masses. Through this process, the vast population of this country is made to wallow aimlessly in the ocean of abject poverty and squalor. It should be noted that tolerance is not only related to religious issue as it cut across the ethnic, and the political.
Established historical, sociological and anthropological researches have proven the fact that a society with little knowledge, civilization and inter-group ties are prone to developing intolerance in its truest sense across all the facets mentioned. The question of intolerance is not a new phenomenon in the Nigerian history. For instance, during the 1940s and 1950s, the presence of a serious confrontational politics in the Yoruba land supported by their politicians led to familial and communal killings and hatred. The Northern part of the country as well, is not an exception as the supporters of Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) often took up arms to defend themselves from the aristocratic Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC). This may be identified a political intolerance. Similarly, religious intolerance between the Christian and Muslim Nigerians paved way to many bloody encounters, which ended up destroying not only the infrastructure, but also the cordial relations that once existed between many communities. Classic examples of such feuds and chaotic incidences in the timeline of this country are that of Kano in the 1990s and early 2000s, Zangon Kataf in Kano, Jos, Benue, Wukari in Taraba State to mention, a few.
The constitution of Nigeria has guaranteed every citizen the right to live or to conduct his or her business anywhere in Nigeria. This has been indirectly aiming at achieving tolerance and unity among Nigerians. However, the past couple of years had witnessed a very unfortunate and sad episodes whereby nepotism committed by some state governors due to parochialism became the order of the day in Nigeria. For instance, Governor Chinwoke Mbadinuju of Anambra State asked threatened Northerners living in Anambra, and around same time in 2002, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano sacked some non-indigines working with Kano State Government. Another episode is about former Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State who under the programme tagged “Know Your Neibour” declared that Northerners should move along with identity cards in the state in 2014, after which the Husa community and Miyetti ALLAH reacted. As for me, that was akin to asking a citizen Northerner to apply for a Visa before entering the South at the same time when our Southern brothers in the North enjoys equal freedom. These classic examples of intolerance are to my understanding enough to create tension and disunity in Nigeria.
Heretofore, religio-political, cultural and economic tolerance create a purely serene environment where people of different cultures, norms and values come together under one umbrella. Not a situation whereby for example the Northerners will look at the EnsSars protest as purely a Southern issue or the Southerners will look at Banditry as a Northern issue. That has for long been the central point of Chief Dr Dele Momodu’s advocacy to our leaders towards a united Nigeria, and his consistent warning against the impending civil war if care is not taken. There is no way one will read his weekly column popularly known as PENDULUM or watch his interviews without finding him addressing issues on Nigeria’s peace and Unity in one way or the other, directly or indirectly, effort that had earned him respect and unconditional love. Peace is the building block of a successful nation where national development and economic growth are possible. For instance, despite the diversity of the Americans in terms of demography, language, faith, philosophy and race, they live peacefully and every one of them strives to make not his ends meet but that of the United States. This concept and unwavering belief is justified in their famous slogan of pluribus unun (from many are one). To develop our great and the only nation we have, tolerance in all respect must be promoted. Measures must also be put in place to bring those promoting division, nepotism, ethnicity, violence and the breakdown of law to book.
Looking at what happened in Nigeria before and after independence, the government has not given serious attention to achieving national unity, it must be acknowledge that there were no serious shift forward attainment of unity in diversity which will lead to the achieving a sustainable democracy in Nigeria. The post-colonial government inherited the approach of regionalism and tribalism which are ingredient of disunity. It is based on the above stand point that our leaders are hugely accused of promoting class interest, social injustice, inequality of citizens, poverty, disease and backwardness associated with corruption of the political classes, which if national unity is achieve, the democratic processes in Nigeria will be a factor for the attainment and promoting the status and position of Nigeria in terms of development socially, economically, and democratically.
Having pinpointed the aforementioned problems as the root cause of disunity in Nigeria, I intend to add in this piece of writing a fundamental problem bedeviling the situation, and that is the question of triple identity. Are they Northerners, Muslims or Hausa/Fulani? Are they Southerners, Christians or Yoruba? Are they Southerners, Christians or Igbo? Whatever that means, I don’t need to go further but it is obvious the catastrophizing effect had culminated into a calamity beyond Boko Haram, Banditry and Kidnapping combined.
In line with the above, unity cannot happen in Nigeria until a consensual agreement is reached by all Nigerians on the future of the country. And this lies in embracing tolerance to bridge the missing gap that left us divided. The job of making Nigeria a united country is beyond the NYSC. Even the participating Youth are largely after the monthly peanut not the main essence of the scheme. Our leaders must in all honesty continue to advocate for the indivisibility of the country, and to respect the wishes of the Nigeria people and that sovereignty lies in and with the people. For the country to fore stall a repeat of the Arab spring in the country, the authorities must begin to listen to the people and take steps to remedy years of wrongs and injustices. May GOD help and guide our leaders to the right path.
Baba writes from Kano, and can be reached via drssbaba@yahoo.com
