Introduction
It is conventional wisdom for
peoples whose origins and home is coterminous to the geography and territory
called Nigeria to struggle & hope for better outcomes therein. Given the
fact that the concept of ‘independent’ Nigeria is very young including the fact
that its current experience were already in place prior to its emergence as ‘independent’,
it is difficult for an average individual to accept that the road to normalcy
will take very long. It is therefore the
case of this article to re-emphasise that positive expectations will take very
long to emerge.
So it was
The last many weeks has brought
concentrated attention to Nigeria as a result of the abduction of school girls
from Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram. As awful as this crime is, the manner
of its presentation apparently suggested that all has been well with Nigeria
since its ‘independence’ which is a big lie. One should reconnect this incident
with numerous instances of injustice and impunity perpetrated by both the state
and non-state actors even as Boko Haram blazes her ugly trail. In any case Boko
Haram is not the epicentre of Nigeria’s problems but just one of the many
manifestations of a failing state. The history of the current was drafted in
the past and was known & accentuated to evolve into the current state. The only
disagreement was the margin of error.
Evil History
One of the many illusions of
being a citizen is that of assumed principal actor or consultant on public issues
that matter. The plain truth which is analogous to real politics is that
citizens and ordinary people do not really matter in decisions tied to
realpolitik. Information on the public
domain is not different from the tip of iceberg showing the usual 1%. In the
modern descriptive statistical parlance, 99% of the population or citizens are
burdened with 1% of public information which most of them believe in like lifeline.
In an age of awareness of secrets it
makes sense to confront what the role of a citizen means in Nigeria at
different geographical contexts.
Stupid Intelligentsia &
Abuse of Geography
If a non-Nigerian confront
Nigeria the first time, only wonderment hits his/her mind on the mismatch
between observed resources and minute actual positive outcomes. One of the main trends of observation will be
the intellectual veracity or acumen of normal Nigerian who seem to know
everything about possible solutions. The missing link is that Nigerian may know
little about himself/herself. Rather he/she
will shift gears into the beauty of various ideological and theoretical perspectives
expressing the said beauty is ruined by poor implementation or benign neglect.
One area of bizarre concentration
is geography. Many years after ‘independence’ you will think that pre-colonial
metaphors of time and space have given way in an inter-generational shift of enlightenment.
No, you rather confront a dogmatic entrenchment of identity of signpost of the
4 cardinal points; East West, North and South. Individuals and ethnic nations are pasted to
these directions. You find individuals and young people accept and pump up the
saddlement with colonial spatial symbol disconnected from their present
realities. These relics of ‘colonialism in one country’ continue to reverberate
with savvy inducement from some quarters for its re-classification as geopolitical
zones. The print and electronic media
seem to be genetically attached to these recognitions with their irrepressible attention
to colonial zones from which any interlocutor hailed from.
As this flies in the face of
basic logic of course exposing the farce and stupidity of their purveyors, one
wonders what the current geographical subdivisions are for. If you meander away from debates on
federalism, the idea behind internal balkanisation into 36 states at the 2nd
level and 774 local governments at the 3rd level cutting down both
nations and directions should have been workable of course in principle.
Despite the fact these
subdivisions are equipped with timely supply of monetary resources; most of
them over time have failed and become failed states. They have become reference
point for ethnic nationalists & power elite & local champions’ accumulation
and consolidation only to revert to mischievous harping of marginalisation and
discrimination. These power elite &
local champions are part of another nation, the national of global power elite,
the part of global 1% who accumulate assets and capitals by any means
necessary, making huge profits without any production and whose space of
expression is the globe.
The citizens whose right it is to
question spending and unfulfilled promises quickly abandons the offending local
government HQ and guilty state capital
to collate grievances of certain ethnic nations and Federal government
on incompetence. So the nested metageopolitical and metageographical
constructions become architectures of malfeasance and inter-generational
corruption. The poor men/women fill it! This sensibility to injustice and misappropriation
of finger pointing & deliberate non-recognition of the guilty party is a troubling mismatch.
Sadly the Nigeria members of the
global elite are shoe shiners and only submit on the altar of profiteering scrapheap
to sacrifice their peoples, their strategic interest, state assets, their
origins and their future generations. Watch the video below! Of course for them what
matters is appreciation or even positive mention by the top global elite or
their underlings. Geopolitical forces
extend their influence through their sell-out without positive returns for the peoples.
They are one
The narrative of abuse of
national failure is always allocated to the other. How ‘they’ hurt ‘us’!
Really? Majority of Nigerians regardless of their geographical and ethnic
origins are collectively in a big mess. They are pawns in the high stake games
played by the power elite across the country who hail from all the ethnic
nations. These are the descendants of
the so-called ‘independence’ harbingers who saw it fit that power is
concentrated in few hands and around few spaces over time. For nearly 2 generations they have subjected
the common peoples to fight against one another for the power elite as
strategic distraction. Limbo of fear! Some ethnic nations have suffered more
than others at times directly from the Nigeria state. Even as these texts are
gushing out of the keyboard, one mindless mind will let loose about ‘our’
leader, the ‘northern’ or ‘south-south’ bonkers. Nice one!
At last
In the finally analysis, Nigeria’s
problem is very deep and hope of positive outcome is not unusual nevertheless
the structural genealogy of these problems make it difficult to have a good
administration. When you have a state
set up without input of real people, an artificial space without the peoples’
contribution except their blood & modification/projection without positive
results, then state’s existence remains unviable. Its existence will only
favour a few feeding on hegemonic interest frenzy while majority live suffering and smiling. Not because of the people or their places or
their view and religions; a structure of weakness can be suffocating and
dominant to overcome the least effort for positive change in a short time. The only
investment required is adoption of clear awareness, real knowledge, positive
network and time. Few more generations will pass before the fruit of real
labour will transform the land and her peoples, may be at the time the concept
of Nigeria as it is currently known have changed.
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