In another four years time it would be sixty (60) glorious years since Nigeria secured the status of a sovereign independent State from our colonial masters. Some may argue that those years were nowhere anything to be called glorious, but let me say right away that those years represented divinely provided opportunities for us to advance in growth and development. If we did not, the years are not to be blamed; the blame, rather, must lie with and upon us.
Over those past years, Nigeria has gone through various shades of experiences, which ought to have brought along increasing maturity. From all indications, however, it does appear that no lessons have been learnt, and instead the very same mistakes made back in the 60s are being made again, in magnified status, in 2016. Looked at objectively, one would conclude that the collective negligence typified by these past years amount to brazen assaults on our collective intelligence as a people.
Something fundamentally wrong has happened to the psyche of the average Nigerian. He or she has accepted the fate that project Nigeria is a difficult project, and that it must require enduring severe hardships for success to be achieved. He has also accepted that this period of hardship shall be for the lowly placed Nigerians, and not for others who are highly placed ones, most of whom have assumed offices and positions through the goodwill gestures of the lowly placed Nigerians. Recall that the electoral process has been deliberately made tortuous so that most middle level Nigerians would rather avoid participating. Unlike in some advanced climes where ‘early voting’ and electronic voting systems have been put in place, in Nigeria you must set aside the whole day, amidst threats of violence, kidnapping and death, in order to cast your vote. Most times, those votes do not count. Sincerely speaking, we cannot say that we have held one credible election in Nigeria. We have merely ‘accepted’ the results for peace to reign.
But let us go straight to the subject matter of this essay. It is the citizenship question. Before our very own eyes all the efforts being put in place by the political class seem directed at making every Nigerian withdraw to his or her ethnic enclave. In truth, we do not have ‘Nigerians’; rather we have Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, Ijaws, Nupes, Fulanis, etc, of Nigeria. For this to still be the state of affairs almost sixty years after independence is rather unfortunate. A President Buhari government is seen as the ‘time for the North’, and other sections of the country are anxiously lobbying and waiting for ‘their turn’. This is too clannish and backward to be our current experience in Nigeria.
It is not that we do not know what to do, rather it is that those who ought to do ‘something’ are reaping the unholy benefits arising from this anomaly.
How do we get out of this? Very simple. Let us amend our Constitution to state that every Nigerian is a citizen of any State where he lives; and shall not be denied any privileges and rights accruing to other persons from the area. Then let us follow up by banishing the practice of asking applicants to offices to indicate their ‘State of Origin’. So in effect, if an Hausa man lives in Owerri, Imo State, he should enjoy all the privileges accorded every other indigene of Owerri, Imo State. For example, he should not be asked to go back to Sokoto to get a letter from his Local Government Chairman in order to register his child in school or enjoy any government scheme.
Also, the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency allow the whittling down of the concentration of power at the center, so that the federating states may develop faster and attract people to the states, instead of the current rat race where everyone targets to be at the federal level.
For now, there is too much ethnic bitterness and hatred among Nigerians and the dark currents generated from the negative power centers of hatred will not permit harmonious development of the country. Love must be enthroned in the land to smooth the path towards the even and harmonious development of Nigeria. I have said my own mind. What do you think?
(Short Essay Series by IkeChukwu U. Unegbe, Esq-Email:ikeunegbe@yahoo.com)
