1.0 INTRODUCTION: “Nigeria”, for
people who reside or who have lived within this geographical, enclave and
independent political entity, this appellation rings a bell, and raises different notional reservations, a broad
phenomenological descriptive analysis of its issues would see coming to the
fore several unnerving characterizations that has left it perpetually effete
and almost moribund, that one hardly sees any light at the tunnel that beckons
or elicits any hope for survival within a naïve expectant patriot (if there are
still any left). These issues are painted in a picture of structural violence
that ranges from ethnic-religious-ideological antagonism, economic
dilapidation, cultural struggle (shock), education crisis, infrastructural
decay, social unrest, political anomalies amongst others.
For
some, it seems that the root of these problems find their basis in the last on
the above enumerated list or at least its correction is the first step in our
salvific mission towards the restoration of national peace, normalcy,
equilibrium, serenity, and conviviality that is conducive for development.
The
talk of political anomalies that have bedevilled the country has for
generations been recurrent in national debates, indeed it is one of the most
over flogged issues, and for some, the greatest disturbing issue. The menace
has manifested itself in different guises. It is seen in political conflicts,
electoral malversations, post-truth politics, neo-political terrorism, (a
systematic use of terror, force, and fear inducement mechanics in politics to
acquire power), political apathy, political manipulation of the polity, and all
these culminating in bad governance which forecloses national development.
How
these political anomalies can be resolved is the issue this presentation seeks
to address. To do justice to this issue, this presentation shall first help us understand
some unsuspecting key concepts like Anomaly or Anomalous and Politics,
that ordinarily taken for granted, their meaning may be assumed.
However, a proper contextual exposition will help us appreciate more the
perspective in this issue and so narrow down the meanings and applications in
context.
It
shall try to uncover the foundational cause(s) to the national political crisis
in Nigeria from where it shall see how a dysfunctional political system and
structure hamper the basic building of institutions that would run the political
lifeline of the state. This presentation shall show how the loss of national and
political identity has rid the people of their national spirit (patriotism)
which is the key to political consciousness and functionality. These issues
exposed will now enable us to see how they make people to misconstrue politics
and the adverse effects it has on the country’s development, having done this
it shall now proffer a tentative solution to these issues raised.
Since
this is an academic paper presentation and considering the issue being addressed,
this presentation shall adopt an analytic-descriptive-prescriptive approach.
Considering the approach to be employed, there are basically two ways of
approaching Nigeria’s myriad of problems namely:
·
The proximal approach,
and
·
Original/foundational approach.
The
proximal approach looks at the proximate or immediate causes of the country’s
problems like the economic recession, weak political institutions, terrorism,
fiscal corruption, incompetent governance etc. the original/foundational
approach is however, more basic and thorough in its methodology as it goes to
the origin of the country to seek out the primary and foundational causes of the
country’s problems which are located at the root and formative stages of the
country’s development. The later approach is what this write-up shall adopt.
2.0 Elucidation of
Concepts
The
two concepts in review are Politics and Anomaly. First, it is
pertinent to begin with politics
The
word/term politics is a derivative of two Greek words polis – city or state and techne
– art, both giving us a common meaning; the art or science of the state. Here
the state is seen as a maze of intricately woven system of diverse structures,
institutions, bodies, agencies and persons which requires the expertise and
ingenuity of an adroit technocrat through whose intellectual dexterity and
acquaintance with state theatrics can deftly and tactfully manage the matrix
involved in the state. A politician therefore as Plato would say, is one who
knows the web of the art of the state. Politics therefore involves the complex
life of the people in the state, the activities, programmes etc.
Considering
the second concept in review which is anomaly
or anomalous the origin of this word
could be traced to the Greek anomalos,
literally translated as ‘uneven’ from a – homalos
which means ‘even’, from homas – same
(not same). It also has an origin in latin anomalus
meaning uneven, not same, irregular, unusual. These concepts point to the fact the
term anomaly simply refers to a deviation from the common rule. Something anomalous
is something different from the normal, abnormal, not easily classified, an
aberration, oddity, an inconsistent procedure or deviation from the usual.
These expositions would help us to capture the emphasis of this write-up,
namely that politics is that which requires artful management, which however,
unfortunately in Nigeria’s scenario has turned anomalous and thus become
dysfunctional because of its aberrant organization and management. The
contention becomes the way forward.
3.0 The Foundational
Background to Nigeria’s Political Problem
Nigeria
is a country or political enclave, bordering Benin in the west, Chad and
Cameroon in the east and Niger on the north with its coast in the south the
lying on the calf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The modern – day Nigeria has been the site
of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia. The modern state Nigeria is a politically
independent territory that was arbitrarily drawn up by the British, during the
British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, by the merging
of the Southern Nigeria protectorate and Northern Nigeria protectorate in 1914.
The British set up administrative and legal structures whilst practicing
indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms. Nigeria formally became an
independent federation in 1960. The
country is viewed as the Giant of Africa owing to its large population and
economy with approximately 184 million inhabitants. Nigeria is the most
populous country in Africa and 7th most populous in the world. It is
viewed as a multinational state; as it is made up by over 500 ethnic
nationalities.
Prior
to the British colonial rule, these different nations that formed Nigeria
existed independently, without any political interference, they developed
politically, socially, culturally and economically in their natural pace but
with the advent of the British rule, they arbitrarily drew up artificial
territories forcing people/nations that are ideologically, culturally,
religiously, historically and even more unfortunately identically apart and incompatible
forcing an unsolicited and unceremonious marriage between people of dissenting
views and wills. In his bid to describe this anomaly the American historian
Martin Meredith exposes the views the prominent founding fathers of Nigeria, he
writes
“A prominent Northern Nigerian,
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who was destined to become the first federal prime
minister, remarked in 1984: ‘since 1914 the British Government has been trying
to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people themselves are
historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and
customs and do not show themselves signs of willingness to unite…Nigerian unity
is only a British invention”. In a book published in 1947, the Yoruba leader,
Obafemi Awolowo, who dominated Western Nigerian politics for more than thirty
years, wrote.”Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression.
There are no “Nigerians” in the same sense as there are “English”, Welsh”, or
“French”. The word “Nigerian” is merely a distinctive appellation to
distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do
not”.
This
however, goes to show that the country Nigeria is not only an abrupt British
creation but also that even its founding fathers and fore-most occupants lacked
faith in it. And this was the genesis of the political apocalypse that was to
engulf the country. With the unexpected and unhappy end of the British colonial
in Nigeria the British, left sowing a political seed of discord in Nigeria’s formative
political system. A seed that encouraged and deluded the North into seeing
themselves as predestined and divinely ordained hegemonic rightful rulers of
the enclave while conceiving the south, especially the south east as their
slaves and opportunist manipulators that should not be given a breathing space
to decide the political fate of the nation. The south saw their selves as short-changed
in the political arrangement of the country and the north as unworthy usurpers
of the country’s leadership and politics. This early rancour and feud formed as
it where the political foundation of the country and so one could clearly
observe that the founding values and vision of Nigeria were erroneous, and
ill-motived there was no sense of direction for the country, no national
purpose and that it was a British tool of economic amassment and display of
British political power and strength in the world politics.
This
lack of national purpose and political vision turned the country into a
playground for political jobbers and a wonder land for thieves. Thus political
conflict was at the background of the Nigerian – Biafran War and this political
and ideological acrimony was the vicious vice that cemented and crusted the
country’s political foundation. Falsehood and lies were used to decorate its
foundation. It is however true that no country or nation that is built on
falsehood and acrimony will ever hope for genuine development characterised by
a stable, upright and responsible political system.
4.0 The Political
Systemisation and Structurisation in Nigeria.
A
system is basically understood to mean a set of interacting or independent
component parts forming a complex or intricate whole. It is also understood to
be a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an
organized scheme or method. It is associated with such synonyms as
organization, network, arrangement, methodology, procedure, technique, process,
framework, modus operandi etc.
Every
system is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and
influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose and
expressed in its functioning, systems underline every phenomenon and all are
part of a larger system. A system is usually organized and purposeful and so is
equally understood to be an organized, purposeful structure that consists of
interrelated and interdependent elements/components, entities, factors,
members, parts. These elements
continually influence one another directly or indirectly to maintain their
activity and the existence of the system in order to achieve the goal of the
system. Systems can either be closed or opened. In closed systems components do
not interact with the outer environment while in opened systems i.e. real world
systems allow exchange of energy, material and information. This is where the
political system locates itself. In politics a system is a prevailing political
or social order.
Systems
are more basic than structures, structures actually explain systems. A
structure is the arrangement of, and relation between parts or elements of
something complex. It is synonymous to construction, formation, constitution,
shape and make-up. It is the way something is built, arranged or organized, the
object or system so organized. It is a complex system considered from the point
of view of the whole rather than a single part, e.g. the structure of a
political system.
Structures
have defined boundaries within which (1) each element is physically or
functionally connected to the other elements, (2) and the elements themselves
and their interrelationships are taken to be either fixed (permanent) or
changing only occasionally.
The
political crisis bedevilling Nigeria’s democracy and national development is
actually rooted in the systemic-structuring of the country’s politics and
governance. By systemic-structure, I mean that the political crisis or
anomalies are found in the framework of those country’s componential—elements,
the factors, elements and general network of structures that make-up the
country’s political practices is basically faulty from the onset. The vision,
values, principles, procedures, processes, methods, techniques and goals that
underpinned the systemic formation of the country’s general political framework
were displaced and ill-formed. It was built on falsehood, misplaced values,
selfishness, unpatriotic spirit, national distrust. This was solely based on
the reason that the political amalgam called Nigeria was not freely, choicely
and collectively created, unlike the United States where the founding fathers,
based on shared values and purpose, decide to form a free nation of their own,
Nigeria is a British construct, with values, goals and principles created and induced
by the British and so the so called founding fathers or better put independence
strugglers merely adopted an already made British product which they knew
little or nothing about and so they individually and collectively never
perceived it as their own rather each ethnic group sought to secure its
interest within the national construct, following this the adopted a political systemic-structure
that was incompatible with their diverse natures and this has kept the country
politically redundant and moth-eaten.
When
a political structure is faulty it can be easily fixed as far as the system is
well formed but when the system is malformed, irrespective of how the body is
structured the contraption would remain anomalous. During the first and second republic of the
country’s democracy, following the political distrust that was at the base of
the independence, the different key political actors in the then political set
up formed parties along ethnic–religious lines, this was the beginning of the
country’s political failure.
Again,
the present federal democratic system being practiced in the country since
after the civil war has been its greatest undoing, for a country made up of
people, ideologically, culturally, ethnically, religiously and identically
apart who do not share a common purpose, vision, interest and value achieving a
collective national development is clearly unattainable, and unrealizable. Practising
a system of government where power is overwhelmingly concentrated in the centre
with one region clinging to the power for like ever, does not guarantee
political safety, freedom and conviviality. An economic system that does not
allow individual states or regions to harness their natural economic potentials
but rather encumbers them with the restrictive and stifling laws of the
hegemonic federal might. Nigeria cannot develop in this current systemically
structured state. If it is to see a glimpse of genuine development the power
has to be decentralised so that the constituting regions can grow and develop
at their own pace and along their respective ideological lines and values. Only
then can the people develop a sense of belonging and ownership for their nation
or state.
The
political system in Nigeria which determines the structure of the institutions,
agencies, parties and general government (all of these being anomalous) can
only be redressed and corrected only when the people that make up the
contraption called Nigeria come to negotiation table to renegotiate their co-existence
as a political state, only then can they begin to talk about the correction of
their anomalous political system and practices.
5.0 National and
Political Identity: The Missing Link: Hegel in his politics talks
about national spirit as the main driver of national development, where this is
absent, it is very hard to garner the collective will of a people to present a
formidable front. This national spirit as evidenced in the collective will of
the people is what drives national development, it is what stands behind the
people as the face any national challenge with one heart, spirit and faith, it
drives individual sacrifice for the nation as it equally motivates national
sacrifice for an individual, it is the mother of patriotism, it is the faith an
individual has in his nation, an unflinching love for one’s nation. When these
values are infixed in majority of the citizens, they proudly identify with
their nation, this forms one national identity and with this identity, they
people form a political identity. This identity bears their cherished national
values that give birth to their political values and this could be manifested
in such values as love and respect for democratic ideals like free, fair and
credible elections, accountability in governance, political honesty, value
based politics etc. This is what is referred to as national and political
identity. When a people share a common national and political identity,
political anomalies will be easily detected and eschewed from their political
system.
In
Nigeria this is basically missing, it is the missing link in the political
system. It is the missing link that has destroyed the nation’s politics. It is
at the background of the misconceptions we have about politics in Nigeria. In
Nigeria the spirit of patriotism is missing right from the leadership to the
fellowship as no one has the minutest faith in the country, each person is at
best ethnically inclined to his clan and so in politics it becomes a do or die
affair; it becomes a question of who have defend his ethnic and religious
identity better and who can amass the greatest wealth for himself and his
people. The National stage becomes the battle ground for ethnic struggle and
the national interest (if at all there is one) becomes a-nobody’s-business, at
best citizens been a-political. This is
the basic cause of the political anomalies in Nigeria.
6.0 Misconceptions of
Politics in Nigeria and their Effects.
At
this point in our political discussion, it is pertinent to highlight some of the
major misconceptions people have about politics in Nigeria which are all about
consequences of the lack of a national identity and a malformed systemic-structure.
They can be outlined thus:
(1) Politics as a source of wealth creation
and amassment
(2) Ethnic-religious based politics
(3) Politics as a dirty game
(4) Politics of resource control
(5) Politics of fame and name: (against
common good)
(6) Neo-political terrorism
(7) Power – based politics: (Machivellian
Politics)
(8) Identity Politics: (Particularism)
These
misconceptions are at the heart of the political practice in Nigeria and as
such form the immediate causes of the political wrangling and conflict in the
country and so they give rise to several problematic effects which are outlined
here as follows:
·
Political
conflict/violence
·
Social
conflict
·
Unaccountability
in government
·
Hegemonic
perpetual leadership (Power Grip)
·
Unequal
political representations in governance
·
Political
marginalization of a section of the country
·
Sectarian
political domination
·
Lack
of national development
·
Political
immaturity
·
Political
apathy
The
solution to these problematic effects is what this presentation presents as a
way forward.
7.0 A Way Forward
In
considering, a way forward by means of a solution, many things come into play.
First the diversity and intricate nature of a problem also determines the
assortment and method of answers that would form the solution proffered. In the
introductory part of this presentation, I had outlined two approaches to the
political anomaly in Nigeria namely the Proximal and original/foundational
approach. In tendering a solution as a way forward both approaches would have
to be employed, but with the later coming first. Which means, that we have to
first solve the underlying issues in the country’s political construction
before looking at the present issues bedevilling it which are but in my opinion
natural inevitable aftermaths of the foundational issues.
Secondly,
another question that has to be asked is: what best methods or procedures
should be hired in solving it or what best way can these anomalies be solved? Do
we need political solution, a spiritual solution, a psychological/rational
solution, economic solution, or identity solution? It would not be out of place, overambitious
or unrealizable to say all of the above. This is because the problem of Nigeria
cuts across all these areas or aspects.
Nigeria
has got a political problem, as it is evidenced in our political practice we
cannot seem to get anything in our political practice right. From mere election
to the intricacies of governance it appears a very difficult job to do.
Psychologically most Nigerians are not quite stable, a recent report this year
has it that more than 68% percent of Nigerians are psychologically unstable and
this is evidenced in our public behaviour, people find it hard to patiently
queue up in a line to receive a public service, people rush and drag taxis,
customer service in and businesses is abysmally annoying, noise pollution is
outrageous, the streets are filled with dirt and squalor as people dispose
trash unhealthily and construct buildings indiscriminately without plans, politicians
and public office holders loot and embezzle funds irrationally to the tune of
unnecessary billions that are way too much for a few individuals to consume.
These are evident instances that point to the fact that we need psychological
help. Nigeria equally needs an economic solution, even I for nothing, its still
grappling with an economic recession. And for an identity solution that is
basically needed if we are to regain our national purpose and spirit. How best
can we advice this then I think two approaches can easily nip the political
anomalies in Nigeria on the board and these are the systemic structure approach
and the identity approach.
In
the systemic structure approach what is need is to reconstruct, resystemise and
restructure our political framework. In
a country of diverse culture, ethnicity religion and ideologies fostering a
common vision would be unattainable if the different nations are not allowed to
individually decide their fate, and progress in their natural pace and
according to their God given values. The center is too powerful and is reining
on the individual regions that have the capacity to develop and harness themselves,
some parts are short-changed and others are limited by federal might. The respective
regions should be left alone to practice their politics in the way they know
best. And just to be clear on thus I cannot calling for a fiscal federalism,
but for a confederate (state, it is only within such political
framework/systemic structure) can the individual regions that make up the
entity Nigeria genuinely witness development. If this fails to happen then
regional secession is inevitable, it is only a matter of time and mass
political consciousness which is speedily growing among some of the region.
Another,
approach is the identity solution, which had already been pointed at when I
mentioned National and political identity. Winning back a national identity
that would instill a genuine national spirit and consciousness in the citizens
is pivotal to solving the political anomalies in the country anomalies
political misconceptions like ethane-religious based politics, politics of
wealth amassment and wealth creation, Neo-political terrorism etc. can be solved if the people of Nigeria share a
common purpose, vision, values and identity. These shared values are what well
help us see the country Nigeria as our own and view the polities as a rational
game through which it is organized and made better. But this dream will
continue to be a far cry until the different people come together in a true
negotiating table devoid of pre-conditions and intimidation to reconsider their
terms of co-existence, recreate a country of their own a which they can cal by
their name, a name that reflects their common purpose and ownership. Without
theses windows of solutions I have proffered, in any opinion, am afraid the
present British invention called Nigeria is only a potentially defunct state.
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