www.ooduapathfinder.com
adminadmin on May 23, 2015



Historically, May 29 is very significant for both the Northern and the Western parts of Nigeria. For the North, it was the day the Caliphate was established ; while for the West, it was what Awo described as the “twilight of democracy” following the illegal and unconstitutional declaration of a State of Emergency in the Western Region of Nigeria by the NPC/NCNC coalition Government. It was thus curious that the post-military civilian administration set aside the day as its “Democracy day” when it formally transferred power back to the civilians.
During colonial rule, the Nigerian Army had seen itself as the embodiment of the Nigerian ethos, Nigerian nationhood, even as the political governance was weighted heavily in favor of the North through a population census that gave it a parliamentary majority sustained by its alliance with the East, to the detriment of the West.
APC’s recent defeat of the PDP, despite the PDP’s over-pampering by the military in the last four years, constituted an ironic historical twist. Regardless of whatever causes are identified by pundits and party fanatics for the defeat, the fact of the matter is that the PDP as a political party as well as the brainchild of the military appears to have run its historical course. Thus, its replacement, the APC, as the agent of this historical change, must not only create and maintain the change momentum, it must go to the root of the issues that have hobbled Nigeria’s development since independence.
Since 1960, Nigeria has experimented with three forms of government: Parliamentary, Military and Presidential, with the last two being a combined negation of the first, in place since 1970. Thus, the two systems, roughly evenly divided over 45 years of post-Independence governance between them, have revolved around the same formulae, designed apparently to make the civilian administrations administer a parasitic non-productive economy and corrupt polity that eventually spawned more corruption, dwindling revenue, insecurity and complete underdevelopment that appeared to have brought the country to a standstill before the 2015 presidential election.
The APC cannot but take a different course if it is to tackle these issues. It cannot afford to merely strengthen its resolve to tackle corruption and insecurity without re-forming the State itself. The foundation of the Nigerian State is corrupt—from the census manipulation at Independence up till the last census to the usurpation of political power by the military to the imposition of a Constitutional order on the country in the name of the people who were not consulted before the launching of the 1999 Constitution after the election that brought General Olusegun Obasanjo to power at the end of the transition to civil rule under the management of General Abdusalaam Abubakar.
Even if we are to limit the solution to all of Nigeria’s problems to curtailing or reducing the 70% of the budget being spent on recurrent expenditure as a corrective measure, the Constitution of Nigeria must be changed or amended; for these issues are Constitutionally-mandated, one way or the other. Unless we want to remain perpetually on the same spot while hoping to be in a movement, the issue of Corruption and Insecurity cannot be decently tackled without querying the underlying suppositions embedded in the country’s foundational laws. From all of these, it is very clear that the major missing factor is the People. The Peoples of Nigeria were not responsible for this missing link as, in essence, they were not complicit even as they may be regarded as acquiescing.
This is why it becomes imperative for the Peoples to become active participants in the change represented by the APC which has no choice but to request, indeed demand such participation to such an extent that the Peoples must manifest this even if there were competing tendencies within APC capable of making the party complacent in its electoral victory.
Just as a change of course is being advocated as far as APC is concerned, so it is for the “self-determination groups” to prepare for change. So, how does this become an essential part of political reality, especially in Yorubaland/South West? Because the Change Nigeria needs is so fundamental, every interest group is promoting its solutions. So does the incoming Government has its own projected solutions, which, may not be effective as long as such solutions get imprisoned within the fundamental laws that created the problems in the first instance. So, while some of the laws can be addressed and changed, others cannot be easily and effectively changed, without addressing the country’s grundnorm. And that is the main task ahead, at this point. It is no longer enough to simply advocate for Restructuring/Self-Determination/Autonomy. It is now time to situate these within the context of the new politics of change. It thus becomes a matter of practical necessity for the SW/Yorubaland to determine its own form of Change within the overall context of Nigeria.
Economic development cannot manifest outside the production of knowledge. Thus, for Yorubaland/SW our educational establishments must be based on Yoruba language as the language of instruction from the primary up to undergraduate levels; 50% at the graduate levels, gradually increasing up till it reaches 100%. Not only would this approach prevent the collapse of a historical language, it will also tackle some of the issues left over by decolonization where the Yoruba outside Nigeria are also under the yoke of a “foreign” language and, by extension, culture. Of course, this effort alone, would become an economic powerhouse in terms of job creation and maintenance.
Supervision of our educational institutions would be under local control with the State/Region only providing advisory/supervisory roles. Consequently, what we now have as “SUBEB” would be replaced with local boards, directly within the communities they operate in, in order to create opportunities for accountability and transparency as well as develop the innate ability of residents to become active participants in the the present and future.
Furthermore, the atomization of our education, especially tertiary institutions, must be completely overhauled and replaced with a Regional University system, with some campuses specifically dedicated to producing teachers, studies and research in Yoruba Language while foreigners or non-Yoruba speakers wishing to study in Yorubaland must pass proficiency tests in the Language.
The resuscitation of National Bank or creating a new Regional Development Bank, as an economic imperative, coupled with the restructuring of Oodua Investments into a private sector driven entity, where those chosen to represent the owner- states will be subject to confirmation through an indirect process by the residents of the states and in an open and transparent manner so that its political excesses can minimized.
These and many more are the basic issues which the self-determination groups must saddle themselves with, as their contribution to the process of change. The political implication of all of these would mean the non-interference of the Nigerian center in our political processes, such that our electoral processes are not dependent on a central organization but wholly on our own needs.
Thus, as Nigeria has passed through various political stages, we can comfortably decide on which we have experienced as being the most beneficial, which, in spite of its flaws, was the Parliamentary System.
The Political and Economic imperatives of Change, therefore, must be based on addressing the Re-Formation of the Nigerian State, as a matter of necessity. This does not depend on any new “national” Conference. Not only have we had several of such conferences with nothing to show for them but the incoming Government has also set up different committees to develop its own Change agenda. As the Peoples are out of this loop, what is necessary is for the Peoples to develop their own paradigms. Thus, for Yorubaland and the SW, the momentum should now be how to ensure such needs are placed before the right quarters for action, on the basis that these are the demands of the People. That is the minimum imperative. The matter of how to contribute ideas to the type of federalism that the Yoruba want cannot be left to just a few thinkers. It must be subjected to approval of the people of each region calling for re-federalization of the country

An empty date kept by an empty group of people.