Ethnicity And Nigeria’s Democracy (II)

This is the concluding part of the article first published on Friday, January 18, 2013.

Ethnic colouration has undoubtedly remained the hallmark of Nigerian Politics, a system that dates back to the Parliamentary system of Government bequeathed by the British at the attainment of self rule in 1966.

Political parties in the country were formed based on ethnic consideration as platforms for political bargaining. The regional governments were controlled by parties of strong ethnic affiliations that dictated the fortunes and level of economic development within the respective regions.

Also cognisance of the sensitivity in ethnicity as a key component of national cohesion, policies are institutionalised to balance the equation of power among the various segments of the country. The Federal Character Commission is a fundamental agency created to carry out such obligation. But the workability of the agency has also come under intense criticisms. Analysts have often criticised the policy on the ground that the Federal Character Commission does not truly reflect the collective interest of all strata of the country, but is skewed and mostly beneficial to the majority ethnic groups.

According to such critics, criteria such as population, need and faulty revenue allocation formula are used as excuses to allocate sumptuous portion of national resources to the majority ethnic groups at the expense of the numerically disadvantaged groups.

The inequality in the country’s political order was perfected by the military which split the northern part of the country into multiplicity of states for greater accessibility to national resources. The minority ethnic groups that produce the national resources, have over the years remained at the receiving end of the quixotic experiment.

Such imbalances have been the basis of agitations in the country, such as the clamour for resource control, the Sovereign National Conference and state creation.

The lumping of unwilling people together in a large political entity called Nigeria by the British left no alternative than the adoption of federalism if smaller and disadvantaged groups in the emerging entity were to survive in the country. But the strength of Nigerian federalism is yet to be fully domesticated because of the absence of a unifying factor in form of concerted agreement among the federating units.

Speaking at a forum organised for popular input in the constitutional review process in Port Harcourt, recently, the former president of Ijaw National Congress, Prof Atuboyedia Obienime, stated that; “Nigerian leaders have over the years trailed in the dust of the opportunity of making the country truly great because they undermined the diverse potentials among the various federating units.” Prof. Obienime added that; “except the country responds to the imperatives of justice by providing the enabling environment for indigenous people to strive, the dream of an egalitarian society will remain elusive.”

The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an astute politician, author, lawyer and seasoned administrator who is adjudged the best political think tank in the history of Nigeria, conceptualised federalism in terms of equality of rights among the component units which have different cultural orientations, language and belief system . Chief Awolowo opined that in a true federal state “every ethnic group irrespective of size should be given equal treatment in the sharing of the national cake.”

Equality therefore becomes a fundamental objective of  true federalism. But Nigeria’s experiment of federalism has remained cosmetic as minority groups are yoked in what pundits refer to as “indigenous colonialism.” An old oddity however, states that “justice is not voluntarily given but fought for.”

Although Chief Awolowo fore-warned that something be done to determine the essence of Nigerian federalism if the country was not to degenerate into political chaos due to the obvious disparities in the political maneuvering of his era, successive governments in the country ignored the sage’s prophetic proposal. Today the level of intolerance and impatience among the federating units has placed Nigeria on a precipice.

The emerging political class that is a sole beneficiary of the imbalances in the country has made it a point of duty to perfect injustice as a culture.

Tanko Yaukasai, late general Abacha’s henchman, and a diehard fundamentalist, once declared that; “the Niger Delta minorities are so numerically disadvantaged that their agitations can in no way strengthen the unity of the country.” Yaukasai added that if the Niger Delta agitation persists, the federal government will be left with no option than to use military might to quell such agitations.” The desecration of Odi and the Ogoni massacre were no doubt sordid testimonies of such federal inclination for perfidy.

The anachronistic dupe on the part of our emerging ruling class has left Nigeria to be a wobbly political platform, with so much poverty in a land that stands on the pinnacle of wealth.

Perhaps for Nigeria to achieve the objective of a true federal state, there must be a true political restructuring of the country in line with the recommendation, of the late political gadfly, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

But the sad reality remains that the beneficiaries of the present political system which is a preponderance of ethnic bigotry have remained adamant to a real change that will reflect the real posture of federalism.

Like Awolowo,  I believe that if every ethnic group is given a degree of autonomy to decide its economic and political destiny, then Nigeria will reclaim is rightful position in the comity of Nations. This will in turn pave the way for an egalitarian society where peace, justice and equity will replace acrimony, bitter agitations and unending political feud.

But a prelude to attaining these objectives is the creation of a platform for the federating units to decide and duly spell out the terms of their agreement as a nation.

Our leaders must also look beyond their inordinate ambitions by dropping their facile political gimmicks skillfully designed to place the country under their strangle grips. They must realise that the best legacy to bequeath is for successive generations to live and earn a living in Nigeria based on the concept of equality without recourse to seeking greener pasture outside the country. Noble deeds bear in them the sect of their own justifications.

Taneh Beemene