{"id":2793,"date":"2023-03-20T13:56:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T13:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youthaction.ng\/dosomething\/?p=2793"},"modified":"2023-03-20T13:56:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T13:56:17","slug":"the-future-of-nigeria-renegotiating-our-unity-federalism-restructuring-arewa-biafra-oduduwa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youthaction.ng\/dosomething\/the-future-of-nigeria-renegotiating-our-unity-federalism-restructuring-arewa-biafra-oduduwa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Nigeria: Renegotiating Our Unity: Federalism, Restructuring, AREWA\/BIAFRA\/ODUDUWA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Davidson Nwaonu<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable.\u201d As a Nigerian, you may be familiar with this statement. For \u00a0those that listen to the yearly Independence Day broadcasts, your ears may have gotten weary hearing \u00a0this repetitive cliche that has remained a resounding mantra in those long, verbose speeches made by \u00a0politicians spanning from the military era to the present day 23-year-old Nigerian democracy. Whether \u00a0unity is a bond that should be negotiated or not, may be insignificant in this context but the fact that the \u00a0unity of our country is being questioned is a strong indicator that there is a fundamental problem that realistically puts our unity up for negotiation. Like an Igbo adage queries \u201cwho knows how water got \u00a0into the stalk of the pumpkin?\u201d Let\u2019s take a little walk down the somewhat nostalgic political history of \u00a0Nigeria, Africa\u2019s most populous nation.<\/p>\n

In January 1914, then British Colonial Governor, Fredrick Lugard led the amalgamation of the largely\u00a0 heterogeneous Southern and Northern Protectorates to create a new unified colonial entity called Nigeria. Forty-six (46) years later, on October 1, 1960, Nigeria would become an independent country.\u00a0 On October 1st, 2022, Nigeria marked her sixty-two (62) years of independence from colonial rule. This\u00a0 year also makes it one hundred and eight (108) years since the unification of the country. Indeed, it has\u00a0 been such a long ride.<\/p>\n

After 62 years of independence, Nigeria continues to grapple with the challenges of mutual coexistence\u00a0 of the various groups that Lugard joined in a non consensual political matrimony. Efforts by successive\u00a0 governments to unite the country have not gone unnoticed. While tangible successes have artificially\u00a0 remained plausible, it has proven utterly difficult to seal the debate for secession. Although schemes like\u00a0 the Federal Character Commission and the NYSC were introduced to guarantee equitable representation, intermarry cultural values, foster ethnic relationships, solidify unity and hasten\u00a0 community development, other schemes like the quota based systems retrogressively widened cultural\u00a0 and ethnic inequality, sowed the seeds for the emancipation of agitations and watered the grounds for\u00a0 objective and subjective questioning of the legality of Lugard\u2019s merger.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is a very diverse nation with over 250 ethnic groups, a few religious affiliations, and well over 500 indigenous languages. Despite living together for over a century, the different ethnic groups seem\u00a0 not to be at peace with one another. There seems to be some elements of mistrust among tribes. This\u00a0 may have been worsened by the effects of the civil war of 1967, the annulled June 12 elections of 1993, claims of nepotistic political appointments, and various other cases of political and religious\u00a0 misunderstandings in the country.<\/p>\n

Recently, there have been fresh calls for a breakup of the country with threats of secession from the\u00a0 Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB in the South-East. In the South-west, the Yoruba Liberation\u00a0 Command, O\u2019odua Nationalist Coalition, Illana Omo Oodua, and several other separatist groups beat\u00a0 loud drums for secession. Similar cries have been heard from the creeks in the Niger Delta where the\u00a0 Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have rained down threats of secession from the Nigerian union to form the Niger Delta Republic. The North is also not exempt. On several occasions, the\u00a0 AREWA forum has threatened possible breakaway from other regions in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Even though the country operates a federal policing system, regional governments have charted their\u00a0 paths to partial security independence. In the West, a regional police security outfit, Amotekun has been\u00a0 created to protect the interests of the Yorubas. This was perceived as a threat to national unity by the\u00a0 Northern region, which went ahead to create Shege Ka Fasa, their own version of Amotekun, an\u00a0 initiative spearheaded by the Coalition of Northern Groups, CNG. In a reactionary fashion, the five\u00a0 governors of South-Eastern extraction responded by forming the Ebubeagu Security Network to serve as\u00a0 a regional armed security outfit for the South-Eastern region. In the Middle Belt, ethnic minorities\u00a0 constantly lament political and economic marginalization. All these are pointers to a nation which might\u00a0 be on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n

However, despite these clamors for division, some Nigerians insist on a united country which can\u00a0 leverage on its huge population and ethnic diversity to foster growth and development.\u00a0 These contrasting opinions have divided many Nigerians into different schools of thought and the\u00a0 subject of Nigeria\u2019s unity has been a major topic of debate in private and public spaces including\u00a0 government offices, universities, car parks, newspaper stands, media houses and even public transits. In\u00a0 all these discussions, successive governments have maintained their mantra of \u201cNigeria\u2019s unity is non negotiable\u201d and have constantly shied away from this sacrosanct debate. Such audacity! But then, for\u00a0 how long can we continually shy away from the cancer that eats up the core of our existence? If only we\u00a0 can arise as compatriots, to serve our fatherland, and negotiate with half the boldness of our heroes\u00a0 past, the ones we sing about every day in the National Anthem, and commit to only a quarter of their\u00a0 exemplary labors, the ones we pray, never to be in vain, then maybe, just maybe, we can be on a\u00a0 realistic path to defining the future of our beloved fatherland. The options before us as a nation are not\u00a0 unclear. We can choose to harmoniously end Lugard\u2019s forced relationship and disintegrate into different\u00a0 independent countries or nations within a united kingdom. How many nations? Well that will be up to\u00a0 us to negotiate and agree on. We can also choose to restructure our existing country. What type of\u00a0 restructuring? Again, it will be up to us to negotiate and agree – Devolution of powers with resource\u00a0 control to the 36 states of the federation? Devolution of powers with resource control to the 6 geo political zones? Devolution of powers with resource control to the original old 3 regions? We decide! We also definitely have the choice to continue licking our sores and patching our leaking pipes and as they\u00a0 say, until we get to the permanent site; but of course, with hopes that they do not burst before we\u00a0 attain El dorado.<\/p>\n

Whatever option we settle for, one thing is certain: the unity of Nigeria is absolutely negotiable, and we \u00a0can choose to negotiate for even a stronger and more united country. The choice is ours and may \u00a0Nigeria prevail!<\/p>\n

This article is an Excerpt from the report ” A Nigeria For The Many And Not The Few”<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Davidson Nwaonu is a realistic optimist of a better global society that can develop sustainable systems\u00a0 to nurture talents and support the socio-economic and political emancipation of young people. He is a graduate researcher at the Centre for Experimental and Applied Economics, University of Delaware,\u00a0 United States. He worked as the Programs Manager at The Centre for Social Awareness, Advocacy and\u00a0 Ethics (CSAAE), where he implemented interventions to raise the consciousness of young people to the\u00a0 importance of good governance, ethics, anti corruption, rule of law and respect for human rights. Connect with Davidson on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com\/in\/davidsonnwaonu Facebook:\u00a0 www.facebook.com\/nwaonudavidson and Twitter: @davidsonnwaonu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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