Lets be honest, The Nigerian nation is on the brink of collapse and like a badly broken edifice, she would be better served by first deconstructing the wreckage and then reconstructing it.
While everyone seems aware of her precarious status. Some have ignored it, preferring to supplicate to a higher being for intervention. Others have called for a restructuring of the engagement model while retaining the amalgamation. Others yet have called for outright division of the rubble in order to create new independent entities.
Each approach has its merits and demerits but the most viable one seems to. be the third option.
There are many reasons why Nigeria would benefit from this option. Perhaps the most poignant one would be the opportunity to end the unrelenting, barbaric hegemony of nothern Nigeria. The north, characterized by its Fulani jihadist tendency has had a negative impact on the welfare of the nation since independence. The northern/Fulani cabal wants everything for themselves. Power, position, land, resources and everything else they can possibly grab. They are like the proverbial house mate who feels entitled to consume nine out of the ten pieces of meat in the communal pot. In the meantime he’s also watching your wife and kids with rape and sodomy in mind even as he hatches plans to take over your space, leaving you destitute or dead.
Such is the inglorious character of northern Nigeria which also happens to represent the least viable academic, spiritual or social commune in the enclave. In spite of this, they seem to hold the believe that the only rightful owners of everything in sight is them. Over the years, they have systematically usurped political power and eroded every territory and worthy position within the nation. They are present in unjustifiable ratios everywhere one looks.. They dominate the army, police, customs, judiciary, and all instuments of state including the presidency. They don’t seem to subscribe to the notion of fair coexistence. They have deep rooted ideologies and agendas which are self serving and inimical to the welfare of the whole against which they’ve refused to be persuaded.
It is this unrelenting pursuit of their nefarious agenda that makes further cohabitation with the north both undesirable and harmful.
Another reason why Nigeria must be dissolved and rebuilt is the deplorable status of her present system of governance. It bears the logo of democracy but that’s the one thing it isnt.
Democracy subsists upon the synergistic collaboration of its three primary pillars. The executive, the judiciary and the legislative, none of which is functional in the Nigerian scenario.. Because democracy is always compromised whenever any of its pillars is dysfunctional, whatever governance model Nigeria claims to uphold is a farce. Not only is there no longer a country called Nigeria, there is no viable government in control.
The country we call Nigeria is an assembly of confused and desperate people scrambling to loot as much of their common heritage as they can access without any consideration for its impact on the common good.
For the past 60 years, Nigerian citizens have collectively eroded the meaning of democracy, first by subverting every organ of state and then making sabotage an integral part of the culture. The ruling powers set off the cascade many moons ago. Back then, they stole with concealed efforts but soon became emboldened by our collective somnolence until they began to steal with impunity. In due course, the citizens followed suit and now, the entire enclave has become a den of thieves.
The fact that the contract upon which the Nigerian nation was premised has expired especially makes a fresh beginning very sensible and apropriate at this time.
If the Nigeran nation were to be divided and rebuilt, certain poignant issues would need to be addressed ab initio.
1. How would the separation process be conducted?
2. What would be the composition of the new amalgamations that may be formed?
3.. What type of governance would the new nations adopt. – Would it be democracy, sharia or something new and unique?
4. What would the criteria be for choosing our leaders and how would we measure them against these criteria?
5. Where can good leaders be found and how will they be harnessed?
6. Revamping process. – How do we unlearn old habits. and install new empowering ones into the psyche of the people?
7. What would be the role of the diaspora in building the new nations?
8. What would our Food, land and Security strategies be?
9. What would be the role and relevance of our traditional rulers?
10. Should each of the new nations have their own national Lingua franca?
11. What would the long and short term goals of the new countries be and how would they engage with one another going forward ?
” *_The life span of a nation is not the same as that of its inhabitants. Citizens come and go but nations endure…. “*
The process of building the new independent nations must not be rushed, neither must it compromise critical values as has been the case in the past.
In the past, instead of building mansions, we’ve elected to build shacks because we were too hurried to build worthy monuments. Yet on the other side of the globe, our neighbours who were not in haste, who understood the value of long term planning, invested good time and great effort into carving deep foundations upon which they erected beautiful skyscrapers to which we all scamper in mindless dismissal of our self constructed slums.
As far as humans are concerned, the life span of a nation may very well be infinite, which makes one wonder why we often treat state affairs with so much haste and mediocrity.
Affairs of state should not be hurried. Rather, they must be premised upon long term values and benefits that endure.
If new nations were to be carved out of the rubble of present day Nigeria, the outcomes must be worthy of praise otherwise the value of our past errors would not have been properly. harnessed.-
Dr. Wale Sodade.
