By Michael Owhoko PRAYING for Nigeria’s redemption from its current woes is like asking God to prevent a building with defective f...
By Michael Owhoko
PRAYING for Nigeria’s redemption from its current woes is
like asking God to prevent a building with defective foundation located in the
Lekki area of Lagos from collapse.
Even intercessions by best of prayer warriors cannot save
such a building. As long as Nigeria continues with its current inept political
structure, its descent to self-destruct is definite.
The ominous signs are there for any discerning mind to see
except those with impaired vision and beneficiaries of the prejudicial system.
If indeed Nigeria is a product of amalgamation of two
separate “countries”, comprising Northern and Southern protectorates up till
1914, it infers there should be a balance between the two regions in the
distribution and management of the country’s resources. This was the intention
of the 1963 Constitution.
The 1963 Constitution was painstakingly negotiated and
tailored to address the country’s heterogeneous and multi-ethnic peculiarities
for equity purposes, encouraging representatives of the regions to transfer
part of their sovereignty to federal or centre at the time.
Abrogation and replacement of the 1963 Constitution with a
unitary system (Decree No. 34 of 1966) was, therefore, a very costly political
mistake made by General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi.
Rather than reverse this anomaly, the counter-coup by
Northern elements in the army that brought General Yakubu Gowon to power
sustained this same inappropriate structure that was partly responsible for
their vengeance. This is the genesis of Nigeria’s unending woes and steady
free-fall into abyss and self-destruct.
No matter the inherent flaws of the 1963 Constitution, the
features of federalism in the constitution guaranteed equity and would have
been left to evolve.
By now, Nigeria would have been a more stable country,
offering leadership to the rest of Africa and enjoying global respect outside
the continent. To have retained this unitary system till date through the
current 1999 Constitution is dishonesty and unhelpful to the country’s unity.
This constitution which was indolently generated from the
1979 Constitution and foisted on Nigerians, was predetermined, draped in
pseudo-federalism and inimical to a plural society like Nigeria.
Indeed, the 1999 Constitution is not a product of serious
negotiation as it was deliberately framed to put the Northern region at
advantage over the South.
It gives the North more opportunities in federal bureaucracy
than the South through the application of quota system or federal character
principle, a policy meant to hold down the South for the North to catch up.
If this special
waiver (quota system) deliberately imposed by this constitution was put in
place to correct the educational and employment imbalance, among others,
between the North and the South in public sector, for how long will this system
be sustained?
Is it in perpetuity? It has been in place even before 1960,
and was given legal and official cover by the 1979 Constitution, and later the
1999 Constitution.
For equity purposes, why was the quota system not applied to
the Igbo at the end of the civil war to facilitate their reintegration into
society, under the 3Rs of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation?
The Igbo were left to fight their way into economic, social
and political relevance to catch up with the rest of the country. The North has
obviously caught up with the South, and it is time the country got the federal
character principle reviewed, discarded and done away with.
A system where Southerners with higher marks cannot get
admission into federal schools, while those with lower scores from the North
are admitted cannot be a fair system; neither the recruitment of Northerners
with lower qualification into public service while Southerners with higher
qualification are ineligible on grounds of the quota system, is impartial.
Besides the disparity in favour of the North, the 1999
Constitution is the root cause of corruption in the country.
It concentrates power and resources in the hands of one man,
promotes nepotism and encourages leaders to take total control of governmental
instrument to pursue ethnic and sectional agenda.
This explains the attendant desperation by the various
ethnic groups or regions to capture power at all cost at the centre, making it
practically impossible, for example, to conduct accurate census and free and
fair elections, as they are incidental to power and resources.
The unitary system is an aberration and provokes discontent
within the polity resulting in national and diplomatic deficit.
One of the consequences is Nigeria’s dwindling respect,
influence and honour within and around the world. The country has been on a
descent from its hitherto enviable height, indicative of system anomaly,
institutional mismatch and structural failure.
Even African countries which used to be Nigeria’s sphere of
influence in foreign policy matters, now see Nigeria as a weakling and
underdog.
This was not the dream of Nigerians at independence when the
structure and system of government-guaranteed national equity with each region
having the autonomy to grow at its pace through unique local administration
that was suitable to the needs and aspirations of the respective ethnic groups
and regions.
It is the unitary nature of the 1999 Constitution that has
given impetus for the entire organs of government, namely: the Executive,
Legislature and the Judiciary to be headed by Northerners, besides service
chiefs and heads of strategic ministries, departments and agencies of
government that are also dominated by Northerners.
Even for a blind man, this is obviously an unfair system
that leaves the other partner, the South, disadvantaged. Allowing the North to
get away with this power-sharing disparity suggests the North is the superior
partner, and the South, the inferior of the union.
Implicitly, while political and economic opportunities are
shrinking in the South, the North is experiencing increase.
This is manifest in recruitment pattern in ministries,
departments and agencies of the Federal Government, among others.
Thus, in response to dwindling prospects, Southerners now
flee and migrate to other countries to take up demeaning jobs for survival, and
sometimes, resort to all kinds of vices at home and abroad, including internet
fraud and prostitution.
Southerners prefer to be strangers in foreign land with
sense of liberty than remaining in a country where dreams cannot be fulfilled
through decent and legitimate process of hard work and honesty. Identifying
oneself as a Nigerian has become a burden because of the negative public
perception, particularly in transnational circles. Nigeria’s miseries are
further compounded by prevailing political uncertainty and leadership vacuum
fueled by the eccentric 1999 Constitution.
Any country that is destined for greatness is known by the
demeanour of those charged to manage its affairs. How far such a country can go
in meeting the aspirations of its citizenry is determined by the quality of
leadership thought process.
When those thoughts are driven by narrow and selfish motives
other than national interest, what you get is futility. Leadership from the
bottom rung of the ladder to the top have veered the country from the course of
greatness with no hope of attaining unity of aspiration.
Who will the youths look up to as reference group when all
you hear, see, feel and experience from those at the helms of affairs is theft,
nepotism, insincerity and lies as encapsulated in corruption?
Nigeria has become a metaphor for corruption and a country
without direction. Citizens no longer believe in the country, as the texture of
atmosphere in Nigeria reflects direct opposite of the country’s national motto of
“Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress.”
Nigeria is currently disunited, faithless, tumultuous and
regressive, and this also accounts for the unrestrained massive corruption
going on in the country.
Obviously, the 1999 Constitution does not encourage Nigeria
to fulfil purpose of a united country devoid of prejudice aimed at transforming
its human and natural resources into advantage for the collective good of
citizens.
Rather, opportunistic ideology holds sway. Get to power,
screw policies in favour of your ethnic interest, particularly with projects
and appointments, grab or steal as much wealth as you can, and get out.
Leaders see Nigeria as a project with an expiry lifespan
because of skepticism over its continuity as a country. This is why
distribution of resources are flagrantly allocated inequitably to serve
primordial, narrow, sectional and selfish interest.
Rather than strengthen institutions to fulfill national
aspiration and purpose, institutions are deliberately weakened in preference
for strong personalities and personalised leadership to enable them control and
distribute the country’s resources at whims.
Today, insincerity has been elevated into a creed. There is
no governmental agencies that functions transparently because of personal and
sectional hidden agenda. In fact, there is complete system failure in all
aspects of the country’s life.
This has also left in its trail bottled up anger and tension
in the land that is gradually snowballing into a dangerous proportion capable
of consuming the country.
There is no hope the country will ever recover or know true
peace except the polity is rescued and restructured within the framework of the
1963 Constitution, otherwise, eventual disintegration is inevitable.
Owhoko, a journalist, publisher, and PR consultant, wrote
from Lagos
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