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By adminadmin on November 21, 2015



The alarm bells rung by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum as to their inability to sustain the current wage structure in spite of the recent assistance rendered by the Federal Government raises the specter of Nigeria becoming an economic basket case relying on extractive commodity sales for sustenance more so when the state and central bureaucracies, along with the political structures take up a chunk of the proceeds. A Nation-State predicated upon this type of structure cannot become competitive in the global economy and therefore cannot thrive since the “source” of money, as capital, is not based on any productive force. Thus, when the Government is talking about reducing the cost of governance via wage cuts, it is not even scratching the surface. The success of desegregation in the United States was a function of its economic impossibility ably demonstrated through the famous Brown vs Board of Education lawsuit, influencing, politically, the rise of the civil rights movement heralding both the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, while the same was also true of the abolition of Trans-Atlantic slavery, where its continuation became more and more unprofitable due in large part to less reliance on slave labor for industrialization, resulting in a more formal political control of former slave territories; yet continuation of such control became economically unprofitable hence a “new form” was found in granting a largely “flag” independence while maintaining close marking of the economies of the newly independent countries. Nigeria itself was the manifestation of a political structure built on an economic enterprise; first as protectorates and later as an amalgamated entity, hence it cannot afford to spite history, where the continued retention of the economic basis of the present structure, a negation of the independence economic paradigm, is not sustainable and which should make this the time for the Central Government to begin moves to boldly address these issues, which among others, would lead to a fundamental shift of the structures of governance. It is in this context that “ooduapathfinder” adopts in totality and here presents, unedited, Chief Anthony Enahoro’s 2002 Lecture on The National Question at the Yoruba Tennis Club as its Editorial for this week. We believe that the thematic underpinnings and prescriptions enunciated in this Lecture will serve as a very good Working Document for the economic and political Reformation of Nigeria. (Editors)


PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo was reported in the media to have stated that he is not opposed to a National Conference provided it is constructive and contributes to national solidarity. Our organization, the Movement for National Reformation (MNR), reacted by publicly welcoming the president’s statement as a positive contribution to the national debate on the expediency of a national conference in favor of which popular public demand has refused to go away or to abate, in spite of all efforts to misinterpret and undermine it.

Our discussion this afternoon can be reduced to a simple question: what do we expect a National Conference to produce? Before endeavoring to answer the question, I ask your indulgence to quote at some length from an address, which I gave seven months ago to the Steering Committee of the MNR, because it is at the very heart of our subject today.
I said them: “I invite you to reflect on the fact, which I suggest is abundantly clear, that one of the most challenging determinants of the crises on the international scene as well as on the domestic scene today, is ethnic diversity. The challenge of ethnic diversity – in some cases even strong sub-ethnic diversity within an integral ethnic group – is a major ingredient in crises in Africa and abroad today. Unfortunately, it is vigorously at work in Nigeria, hence we must recognize that stability, progress and the prospects of democracy and equitocracy in our country – indeed the very survival of Nigeria depends on positive resolution of our ethnic differences. “I suggest that the solution to our crisis cannot be to ignore it or to pretend that the diversity does not exist or to expect it to disappear without attention and purposeful treatment. We must boldly acknowledge the existence of our diversity and seek equitocratic togetherness from it. How may we describe, or what may we call, this positive approach to our common existence? I would call it “constructive diversity.” If our undoubted diversity can, by dialogue and common action, be made creative, positive and constructive instead of barren, negative and destructive, and if our nationalities can freely contribute their individual quota to our common treasure house of creativity, imagine our collective potential as one country. We could abolish poverty among our people and we could chart a course for the democratization and modernization of Nigeria.
“This is the challenge which the 21st Century imposes on us and on Nigeria’s leaders. And this is the fundamental purpose of the National Conference, which we have urged for many years and which has now caught the imagination of the populace (and, we are delighted to note, the President himself). The cardinal rationale of a national conference, as I see it, would be to enable us come to terms with our diversity and turn it to our collective advantage. I repeat that this is what I would call “constructive diversity”.
“I firmly believe that the diversity among the nationalities of Nigeria can be reconciled to realize our dream of a voluntary Federal Union of Indigenous Peoples to build the greatest country in Africa and to promote perhaps the greatest internationality enterprise of the Black Race. This is our positive rationale for a national conference.”
Where are we to begin this historic, awesome and inspiring task? The first undertaking, the take-off point, must be to produce a peoples’ constitution through a national conference and a national referendum. And what should the new constitution espouse and contain? I invite you: let us apply our minds to some key issues and considerations in the new constitution – making enterprise.
The foundation of civil society is the compact or constitution made by the people as to the basis on which they agree to live together. It really does not matter much whether the compact is written as in the USA or unwritten as in the UK; what matters is that a compact should exist. A constitution necessarily reflects the experience, anxieties and aspirations of its makers, and the durability of a constitution is a function of the extent to which the people have been involved in its making.
Since independence on October 1st, 1960, we have had no fewer than six constitutional reviews and there is another in progress in respect of the 1999 constitution, which you will recall was a ghost constitution when it came into effect. Our constitutions have not, to date, endured not only because they were successively abrogated by military regimes but also because, among other reasons, they were not the handiwork of the people. The mechanical preamble of “we the people” cannot disguise the true identity of the originators of these constitutions. The constitutions have merely been the expression of the fears and aspirations of the authors and promoters, whether these were the colonial rulers, military dictators or ruling cliques. Our movement insists that Nigeria needs a constitution that will endure, one that will reflect the aggregate aspirations and experiences of all the Nigerian people. We are of the view that such a constitution cannot be produced without the involvement of the people, hence the MNR has always stressed that this should be accomplished through the instrumentality of a National Conference composed of representatives of the peoples of Nigeria freely chosen by the people themselves for the purpose. Happily, the question today is no longer whether or if a National Conference will be held, but when, and what are the issues to which the conference should address itself? We may not know when, but I can at least take the opportunity of today’s occasion to outline our views on some of the key issues and considerations for an enduring constitution for the country, which we suggest should now be called the “Union of Nigeria”, at least to signify a break from the past.
THE NATIONALITIES
The failure of Nigeria so far may be attributed in great part to the perennial tensions and conflicts among its nationalities, resulting from mutual insecurity, poverty, jealousies and fears. Rather than manage primordial identities, which are our nationalities, positively, successive constitutions have studiously and dismissively ignored them. But as disillusionment with the Nigeria project has grown, it is to these very celebrated identities that the people have begun to look for refuge. Thus the nationalities that the colonial invaders thought they had buried have forced themselves back into our collective consciousness. No amount of blank repetitions of hollow appeals to unity can change those realities. The latest confirmation - and I suggest it is compelling evidence – of the validity of these postulations is the current vigorous campaigns by diverse ethnic groups that they should produce the successor to General Obasanjo as President of Nigeria. You must surely have noted that the issues in these campaigns is not the quality or competence or performance record or beliefs of General Obasanjo or his successor, but quite simply the place of origin of the successor. Arewa, the Middle Belt, Ndigbo, the South amalgam and others each wants General Obasanjo’s successor or rival to come from their own ethnic group or areas whether or not he or she is the best available candidate for the post. It is thus obvious that whether or not the force of nationality identities within Nigeria can be contained, it can no longer be ignored. We in the MNR are of the view that unless a meaningful role for our nationalities is defined within the Nigerian body politic, the nationalities will define a role for themselves, and the dimensions of that role may not be readily predictable or containable.
The MNR proposal is that any new constitution for Nigeria must recognize the nationalities that preceded the formation of Nigeria by British imperialists as the true partners and stakeholders in the Union of Nigeria. The present artificial, arbitrary and predominantly unviable states are a poor substitute for the natural, historic and established nationalities as a basis and base on which to build a strong and dynamic Nigerian federation.
The MNR position, which is informed by the experience of successful multi-nationality states like the United Kingdom and increasingly the European Union, as against unsuccessful ones like Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, is that the ancient identities that are God-given cannot, need not and should not be destroyed or wished away simply because we have acquired additional identities as “Nigerians” or “Africans.” The two identities can and should live together and prosper together.
CONSTRUCTIVE DIVERSITY
Our quest for national unity has been conducted thus far at the expense of our diversity. This need not and indeed should not continue to be so. It is not necessary, nor is it sensible, that we should abandon our God-given millennial identities and heritage in order to be considered patriotic Nigerians. The new Constitution for Nigeria should therefore make it clear that citizenship of the Union of Nigeria is additional to membership of its component nationalities and not a replacement for those natural allegiances. In this way, we would fall into line with countries like the United Kingdom, where a man is not less British and loyal to Britain by reason of being English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish.
To symbolize the new approach of managing rather than suppressing our diversity, the MNR recommends that a new Constitution for Nigeria should allow the Region to have its own flag in addition to the Union Flag. Again we can point to the example of the nations of Britain with her distinct and distinctive English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish flags, but who can also enthusiastically fly the Union Jack, which in fact combines the other flags. Similarly, the nations of Europe fly their national flags as Britons, French, Germans, Italians etc. alongside the distinctive European flag. We all know that in the USA, each state has its flag and the union has the famous Stars and Stripes. In Nigeria, all we need do is to provide that regional flags should also bear a common union emblem, to reinforce the message of our “unity in diversity.”
LANGUAGES
The nearest that previous constitutions have come to recognition of our diversity is to provide for Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba to be companion official languages alongside English. This discrimination between nationalities on the sole basis of population is not acceptable to the rest of Nigeria and is not in the long term defensible other than by force of arms.
Some 12 years ago, in a speech at the University of Benin, I said: “All the languages of Nigeria have equal validity or if you please equal lack of validity, before the law and under the constitution. No linguistic group has the right – the moral or constitutional right – to impose its language on any other linguistic group in the country. One might even go further to say that no collection of linguistic groups have the collective right to impose their separate languages on the other linguistic groups in the country. Any attempt to impose any particular tribal languages or languages on the country is fraught with grave danger for the peaceful development of the Federation. Government should not confer on some Nigerian languages the potentiality of instruments of domination over other Nigerian groups. Over one billion people speak Chinese and nearly one billion people speak Hindi, yet it has never been suggested that these two mass languages should therefore be imposed on the rest of world or that UNESCO should promote them as world languages in preference to English or Arabic.” I have had no cause to change these views.
Consistent with the principle of equity between the nationalities, the MNR recommends that a new constitution should provide for English, as a neutral language, to be retained as the principal official language of Union institutions and the constitution should require all Union Government publications to be made in the English language and translated into indigenous languages. While at the union level, it can be fairly held that language is no more than a means of communication between the diverse nationalities, so that any language will do, it must be realized that at the level of the nationalities, language is a way of life in the long run and we cannot develop ourselves or earn the respect of others by building our life on another country’s language.
In fact, we question whether meaningful in-depth development can take place in the long term other than on the basis of our own languages. Up till, now, education conducted in the English language has remained the privilege of the few rather than the right of the many. While English, French, German, Japanese and Korean children receive their education in the language that they speak and learn almost from the womb, our children are obliged to become linguists first before they can even begin the learning process. Our home grown literary industry is virtually still born, as few of our writers can attain the level of proficiency in the English language to effectively compete with those for whom English is their mother tongue.
Towards the revival and development of our indigenous languages, the MNR recommends that a new constitution for Nigeria should provide that at the level of the Regions, the indigenous languages should be used as the official language and for all government publications to be made basically in the indigenous languages, with the addition of English to facilitate countrywide and broader understanding.(TO BE CONTINUED)