Negotiating Nigeria`s Unity

After more than fifty-five years as an independent nation, the lie that is the Federal Republic of Nigeria continues to mock us all as some Nigerians are deluding themselves that the national project is working and on course. Recently while celebrating one year of APC governance at the federal level, the president, Muhammadu Buhari maintained that `the corporate existence of Nigeria is non-negotiable`.

The nation`s helmsman also observed with imperial arrogance that the 2014 National Confab that cost the nation about N9 billion was only good enough for the archives. These sentiments of the president and those of similar mindset are clear indications that they are very far away from the vibrations of the people and that vast majority of Nigerians are questioning the present perverted form of federalism.

In a world where old economic and military alliances are tumbling down, new nations springing from old ones, to pretend that everything is okay with Nigeria is to be a slave of delusion and by the time, the scales of delusion fall from our eyes, it might be too late. That is why the APC government must come down from the high horse and listen to what the vast majority of Nigerians want. Nobody is pushing for the balkanization of the nation but the argument is that the federal structure of the government should serve the interest of all Nigerians. That the unfortunate division between subjects and citizens must stop if all of us are to reap the benefits of a nation abundantly blessed by nature but beggared by uncaring and indifferent political class.

As if to reply the stance of the president, a former vice president and a chieftain of the APC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar called for surgical overhaul of the nation politically and economically so that the best interest and welfare of all Nigerians are served. Listen to the political formulation of Atiku Abubakar: `Our current structure and the practices it has encouraged have been a major impediment to the economic and political development of our country. In short, it has not served Nigeria well and at the risk of reproach, it has not served my part of the country, the North well. The call for restructuring is even more relevant today in light of governance and the economic challenges facing us. And the rising tide of agitations, some militant and violent, require a reset in our relationship as a united nation`. Nothing could be more apt than that. And those who believe that the call for the restructuring of the nation is more of a southern affair must have a different mindset now. The former vice president spoke the minds of millions of Nigerians who are despondent about the turn of events that has painfully transformed a potential great nation into a beggar one.

The agitations are many and varied, some silent, others loud and violent. The Niger Delta militants are destroying oil installations because they believe that the crude oil found in the creeks and mangrove of their region has not really benefited them.

The Biafra separatist groups are still smarting from the civil war mentality in which about two millions Nigerians died and that the Buhari administration has not treated them fairly in distribution of political appointments. The Odua People’s Congress and some Yoruba elites are seething with anger and bitterness that the other parts of the nation are pulling them down from achieving their full potentials. There is the menace of the Fulani herdsmen spreading death and destruction under the veneer of cattle rearing with indifferent federal government.

The Boko Haram insurgency built on a toxic Islamic theology is also choking the nation. There is also the unjust revenue allocation where the centre takes 52.6 per cent and the rest given to the states and local government councils. It is also the outlandish stripe of federalism that local councils get monthly allocations from the centre and the money are hijacked by states that treat the local councils as departments. Then you come to realise that those advocating for negotiating the unity of the nation are not off the mark.

Even more annoying is that VAT money on alcohol that is given to states that forbid the sale of alcohol in their territories. When you add the religious mix to it in a secular nation that about twelve states are practising Sharia law whereas the constitution maintains that `the government of the federation or a state shall not adopt any religion as a state religion`, galloping nation mocks you.

The 2014 National Confab may not be the be all and end all of our national problems, but we can draw some useful lessons from the recommendation. The extreme position of Olu Falae, a former secretary to the federal government and one time presidential candidate that, `no confab report, no Nigeria` may not be the way forward. But it is also equally unwise to discard the entire report with a wave of hand.

The Buhari administration should apply a fraction of energy and drive given to fighting corruption to address the many political and economic problems plaguing the nation. We have to negotiate the basis of our existence and how Nigerians can happily live together as one.

This loveless marriage is not just working and if you stretch the logic further, a political divorce is certainly not the solution. All Nigerians must work hard so that the unity of the country is sustained in a true federal system. It does not make sense for all states to go to Abuja with bowels and collect monthly rations. This is breeding economic laziness and giving the state governors and some politicians the opportunity to steal our common patrimony.

The national legislators who are supposed to address the unworkable and grotesque federal structure are more concerned with giving immunity to principal officers of the national assembly and even proposing pensions for such people. Yet our national legislators have the unique but dubious distinction as the highest paid legislators in the world. In fact, there is no flash of legislative competence and strategic leadership thinking on the part of our legislators.

That is the more reason that Buhari with his integrity credentials and the support of the people should initiate steps that should lead to restructuring of the nation. If we are practising federalism, it should be in deed and in truth and not only in name. With well thought political and economic restructuring, the pockets of agitation shall disappear the way butter melt under sun. Time is really running out for the unity and corporate existence of the nation.

Julius Oweh, a journalist, Asaba, Delta State. 08037768392