Sociology expert, Prof Mark Anikpo, says the current ethnic tension, killings and crisis now witnessed across Nigeria were the result of faulty British decision that has left the nation worse than it was before.
Prof. Anikpo a former Director of Centre, for Ethnic and Conflict Studies at the University of Port Harcourt in an exclusive interview with The Tide last weekend, said it was wrong for the British colonial authorities to have merged the North and South based on expediency rather than on realities on ground.
“Though they had their reasons which was to maximise profits, the groups that came under one Nigeria are seriously diverse,” Anikpo declared.
Besides, he observed that the kind of leadership that came after independence further deepened the ethnic differences, as they pursued ethnic agenda rather than national interest.
In addition, he asserted that the 1966 coup reinforced the suspicious feeling that further led to the current challenge the country is facing.
In the words of Anikpo: “whatever we do in this country is being done from the ethnic prism and so its difficult to eliminate it.”
As to whether government policies and programmes are not helping to reduce the problem, the sociology expert said over the years such strategy has failed because some parts dominate other side and so many of those programmes and policies are lopsided.
He stressed that even the federal character commission that was established by government to check the problem has over the years failed to enforce equity in the polity.
On the way forward, Prof. Anikpo suggested “constitutional reforms. Even in a federal system we can still amend the constitution to address the problem,”he said.
Also, he recommended a confederate system that should be implemented through the geo- political zones formula.
“There is nothing wrong with confederation system. We should grant the various groups autonomy.
“The way things are going, it is better to temporarily separate and then come back again to seek ways to unite, “Anikpo emphasized.
The university don urged President Buhari to ensure that his policies and programmes are not lopsided but should be fair to all groups in the country.