National Dialogue or Just Another Talk Shop? Four weeks ago, writing on President Jonathan’s travails within PDP, I suggested that one option he might adopt, to resolve the issue of his much speculated plans for 2015 was to convene a national conference. This, he has now done, with the setting up of a committee to agree on the modalities, structure and perhaps, timeframe for a national dialogue. However, as most Nigerians know, we don’t have a successful history of national conferences. The last attempt in 2005 – the NPRC was so limited in scope as to almost nullify its qualification as a national conference. If we could not discuss the presidential system, federalism, our multi religion reality, federal character etc, then in the words of Professor Chikweindu Ukaegbu – failing to address these fundamental existential issues would define Nigeria as a “geo-ethno polity of anti progress”. Nevertheless, a national dialogue can be useful in reaching a consensus on the political and institutional future of our country. For many political players, there is the suspicion, that the planned national dialogue is a decoy by President Jonathan to draw attention away from his political travails. And so, news of the planned dialogue has been received with mixed reactions. It nevertheless presents an opportunity to re-visit our political and institutional challenges, in order for us to re-shape them in a dialogue that involves politicians and civil society participants. The challenge we must surmount at this forthcoming dialogue is that of redefining our nationhood, based on shared ideals that build on our existing diversity. If we stay wedded to the strongholds of our current reality, we run the risk of simply entrenching further our religious and ethnic divisions. We have suffered enough from our current retrogressive leveraging of these divisions for selfish economic and political considerations that weaken, rather than strengthen us. This is where civil society groups must inject the discourse shaping our nation in the 21st century with a fresh perspective not rooted in ethnic and religious divisions. It is time we exorcised the demons tormenting our nationhood based on the unnaturalness of our coming into being as a nation. It is to mind, clearly too late for us to undo Lord Lugard’s amalgamation nearly 100 years later. We can at least disprove his summation of us as a people lacking in the ability to think and plan for our future. Nigeria’s future therefore does not lie with ethnic and religious jingoists seeking to perpetuate an unsustainable patronage system. Rather, it lies with those who see that the future depends on building inclusive and collaborative systems of wealth creation and political participation. Inclusive systems that do away with the unnecessary and backward distinction between settlers and indigenes, such that a Yoruba or Igbo man who has spent the better part of his life living and working in Port Harcourt for instance, should be able to aspire for and hold office in Rivers State because he is a Nigerian. Inclusive ideas that define the presidency, based on competence and stewardship and not birthright for a segment of our country. It lies with those who would honestly and courageously address the challenge of religious extremism such that perpetrators of heinous crimes in the name of religion are apprehended and punished and providing healing and succour not only for those directly affected but to the psyche of our nation that is traumatised by the scourge of religious bigotry and extremism. This dialogue cannot afford to limit the areas of debate, as was the practice in the past. Our fundamental existential challenges cannot be swept under the carpet. They must be addressed and redressed in order for us to build a viable and sustainable nation. The strength of every nation is deeply rooted in the ideas of nationhood to which all the citizens subscribe. Whilst we have for the sake of expediency accepted the fiction that the Nigerian constitution was a product of the will of Nigerians, in view of the circumstances of the transition programme in 1998/99 – this dialogue for instance allows us an opportunity to address questions related to restructuring our federation to devolve more power especially to local governments and making provision for independent candidates for elective office. Clearly, a lot of issues can be addressed at this dialogue – even the vexed question of resource control, which was overshadowed in 2005 by former President Obasanjo’s alleged third term bid. Much support may not come however, from other sections of the country given Jonathan’s presidency, the perceived below par performance of federal agencies such as the Ministry of the Niger Delta and the NDDC and State governments in the Niger Delta region. It would take some deft negotiating to garner support for an upward review of the derivation based sharing formula, as the recurring question would be – what has been done so far with huge allocations to federal government agencies and the Niger Delta States? All said, the big question remains, which is, with less than 2 years to 2015, and all the politicking that would soon ensue in that regard, is there sufficient time for this dialogue to arrive at far reaching implementable decisions? It would be unfair given the expectations of Nigerians for a more inclusive and collaborative polity that this exercise simply ends up on a negative note of “there we go again”. The apathy and distrust that currently prevails need to change for the better. The power to lift this apathy lies squarely with President Jonathan. President Jonathan has the unique challenge to ensure his presidency is not defined by a provincial South-south agenda in a large and complex Nigeria, in which the South-South is a minority. Whilst the pull towards this kind of provincialism is understandable, given the historical injustice the South-south has suffered, it is not sustainable in the long run because sympathy itself amongst Nigerians towards injustice has a limited lifespan, especially now that Jonathan is president.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 00:27:26 +0000
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