(Chicago, USA
okechukwugregory@yahoo.com)
?We have been saying it; Nigeria is not one country. Well, yes, I know that, but I have been trying to say, since Lord Lugard in 1914 amalgamated us, and we have gone thus far, let us try to make it work, so that we can continue together. But with what happened in Jos in 2001 and the most recent one, I have my doubts that Nigeria is one. So, if we want to continue as one geographical entity, called Nigeria, then we have to change our present system of government completely. ?
We are not a nation. Nigeria is not a nation. It is a country, made up of many nations. The Yoruba is a nation. The Hausa is a nation. The Fulani is a nation. The Gwari is a nation. The Edo is a nation. The Igbo is a nation - so many nations! But when they put all of us together; we become a country, made up of many nations.?
?Bishop Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi (Sun Newspapers Tuesday, December 30, 2008)
It is confounding and often depressing that Nigeria?s unity is currently most threatened by those who have trumpeted its essence in national development for years. Realistically speaking, not a few Nigerians think that Nigeria is not a nation yet and that a whole lot needs to be in place before nationhood could reasonably be conferred on Nigeria. Nationhood is a product of nature or of shared sets of values. To understand both flares of nationhood, it is necessary to visit some definitions.
The online dictionary ?dictionary.com- defines a nation as:
?A large body of people associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.?
An alternate definition according to the same dictionary is:
?An aggregation of persons of the same ethnic family, often speaking the same language or cognate languages.?
Chambers dictionary defines a nation-state as:
?A form of political organization under which a relatively homogeneous people inhabits a sovereign state; especially: a state containing one as opposed to several nationalities?.
From both dictionaries, it is quite clear that a nation is best formed by peoples of homogenous culture, ethnicity or language. However, those requirements of nationhood could be contrived by erecting solid institutions which create, defend and sustain the spirit of unity, loyalty and fidelity to the contrived nation. The institutions so created must thus reflect, protect and advance the fair interests of component members of the new nation. The United States is one of such nations, and whenever a new citizen is being sworn in, the ceremony includes an elaborate initiation and orientation of the new citizen to the core American sets of ideals. What are those ideals? The ideals are that the United States is not a nation based on family, blood relationship or ethnic homogeneity, but one founded upon shared brotherhood ?a spirit of ?I am my brother?s keeper?. It is a nation founded on unity born out of love and care for one?s neighbor. Those values have been enshrined in the timeless institution known as the Constitution of the United States. The US Constitution has undergone many amendments as the country continuously seeks ways to make the union more perfect and in complete alignment which the intents of the founders. Note that the guiding light for the US Constitution is the shared sets of ideals and not the other way round. All laws, judgments and statutes seek to achieve those ideals. Like all things human, it is not a perfect document, but all efforts are being honestly made to align the country with the ideals of the founders.
In creating the Nigerian Constitution, the founding fathers, cognizant of the nature of our union, attempted to create an institution which insures the unity of the country. Some of the provisions constitute a set of lowest minimums for our nation. They are not intended to be the norm, but rather a last resort provision. These minimums are currently enshrined in Section 14, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution, which states:
"The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies."
Armed with those words, we can say, without any fear of contradiction, that the current Federal Government of Nigeria is not properly constituted. It should offend the sense of patriotism and decency of any Nigerian, that the current government is constituted with brazen contempt for a key provision of the constitution. All key posts and offices of the Federal Government are being manned by Nigerians from one geopolitical zone: the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Yayale Ahmed; Finance Minister, Mansur Mukhtar; Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Sanusi, Yar'Adua's Chief Economic Adviser, Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi; Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman; Minister of Petroleum Resources, Rilwanu Lukman; and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mohammed Barkindo are all Hausa/Fulanis from the Northwest Zone of the country.
The federal character provision aims to achieve a simple but sensitive objective ??promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty?. As a culturally and linguistically heterogeneous country, Nigeria can only survive by ensuring the preservation of unity and loyalty of component members of the Nigerian union.
The Nigerian Constitution aims to achieve same objective. The Constitution ?a clone and recycle of the 1979 and earlier constitutions- recognizes that a heterogeneous country can only survive by instituting a shared sense of destiny and a collective responsibility. The words ?shared sense? have been italicized for emphasis because it is important to understand that these laws are not chiseled in stones and can be occasionally relegated, provided that what is achieved in exchange commands national acclaim and support. An example is the Nigerian national football team ?the Super Eagles. Overwhelming majority of Nigerians would rather have a winning Super Eagles team, irrespective of geopolitical origins of the players, than a losing team which reflects the federal character. Moreover, as a developing country, it is sensible to occasionally relegate this provision, in order to appoint highly competent people to positions of national emergency. This relegation should be the prerogative of the executive who makes the call based on clearly identified national interest and clear competence of persons being so appointed. Another similar example is the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by the Obasanjo administration. To her and the Obasanjo administration?s credit, Nigeria emerged out of decades of debt which previous governments failed to solve. Her appointment was at a time the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor was from the same geopolitical zone, but it achieved a specific national objective ?freeing the country from shackles of foreign debt. Nigeria is today a nation with little or no foreign debt and a huge foreign exchange reserve. The federal character provision of the Nigerian Constitution is intended to be the minimum; a final guard of our unity. This means that all other avenues for fairness must necessarily be exhausted before it is used as a criterion for appointment to federal positions. In other words, the unity of the country should at all times be the overriding consideration in the conduct of the Federal Government business or the business of any entity which come under the influence of the Nigerian Constitution. The intent of the provision is supposed to work hand in gloves with the intent of whole constitution. It is a controversial law, but one which comes handy occasionally especially when the nation is under the leadership of a sectional minded person. In both examples where federal character was relegated, majority of Nigerians benefitted and our sense of unity was not threatened.
Yet another potential example ?if it ever comes to fruition- is the performance of Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State. Majority of Nigerians living in Lagos State cheer the performance of the Governor with some commentators even calling on him to run for the Presidency of the country in 2011. An opinion poll research based on Lagos State suggested that Nigerians would elect Fashola as their President in a free and fair election irrespective of the north-south rotation arrangement in the Constitution. This could happen and yet our national unity would not be threatened in any way.
Therefore, competence is the only condition under which Nigerians could forget about the federal character law; and this is because majority of Nigerian benefit and our sense of collective ownership and responsibility preserved. This preceding point then begs the following questions:
Can the Yar adua administration convince Nigerians that all the positions enumerated above are being manned by the most competent Nigerians?
What are the objectives of national emergency which trigger appointment of all key federal government positions from one geopolitical zone?
What special qualifications do these appointees possess which convince Nigerians from all zones that a sense of national unity is still preserved by their appointments?
The Yar adua administration is openly and unapologetically disregarding the spirit of national unity and this brings up the statement by Alhaji Adamu Song of the PPA. While reflecting on the attitude of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to the issues of national unity and cohesion, Song said,
"ACF is expected to unite not only the North, but also Nigeria as a whole. Because if we say we are the political elder brother in partnership, then, we should show the maturity of being the elder brother."
Alhaji Adamu Song (PPA chieftain) Nigerian Tribute August 13 2008
The statement is an admission by a northern political leader that the ACF and by extension the current northern dominated Federal Government, is not practicing political maturity with the leadership of the nation.
The Nigerian union is already being threatened by a low level insurgency in the Niger Delta. How sensible is it to further burden the conscience of the nation with these egregiously skewed and sectional federal appointments?
