What presents a problem is not that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic multi-cultural multi-religious country; what presents a problem is that these cultures and religions and ethnic groups bear a sharp incongruity and disagreement that cannot, in good faith, be ignored. I have begun to understand the use and need for a thorough National Conference in Nigeria. Among the common peoples reigns a palpable distrust and misunderstanding of one another. Group prejudice informs the polity here. (I was shocked to hear in a bus in Awka that Buhari and all the Northern rulers of Nigeria were truly from Nigér, just massively gold-digging in Nigeria.) As unfortunate as this is, it represents genuine sentiments borne, and sentiments are really the fuel that enrages the fire in Nigeria. Among the elite, personal interests inform the polity. Power is the goal, and money is the chief means. When the elite fight and quarrel, it is usually more about them than about the people they purport to represent. The saviours of Nigeria can be found more plentifully within the middle class, yet the middle class is bogged down by some of the parochial wars that inflict the other two classes. Just take a look at the muddy fights by informed and average Nigerians on social media. I am not one of those who love "Nigeria" more than they love the people of Nigeria. As far as I am concerned, Nigeria is a political fiction that serves some good, but the people of Nigeria are what really matter. If the people of Nigeria are not well within Nigeria, then it is time to examine and perhaps alter the structure of Nigeria. A cardinal right of a people is the right to self-determination. No state is perfect, and no fragmented country-state out of Nigeria will be perfect, but it seems that a loose confederation with a free trade system and equity of trans-naturalisation is what we need at the moment. Maybe that is where to begin to cure the sickness that presently engulfs Nigeria.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 01:43:30 +0000