Should Nigeria Be Divided?

hello people,after a careful appraisal of ur very noble(and some ignoble) suggestions,two facts stick out very nakedly:
1. things are not right in nigeria.
2.breaking up(or otherwise) will mitigate suffering in the land and improve d lot of the citizenry.
â  â  in other to resolve the identified anomalies,the core issue we should be looking at here is leadership and not secession. however,leadership has been d bane of our overall development.this is also inextricably tied to the system of governemnt we practice. as far as the country(for thats what we are) still practices d unitary system as opposed to true federalism that we ought to,bad leadership will continue to haunt us.i say so because with unitarism,d center bcoms so powerful,attractive and enticingly butiful and d race for d 'top job' bcoms so fierce that d 'bad n ugly' who r ready to do just anything wuld ultimately rig their way in,while d 'good' is left to 'prove his case at the electoral tribunals' ! you cannot gather a termite infested firewood and expect not to host mr lizard !
let the centre be weakened and the component parts be empowered by way of resource alloaction.in this way,we'll experience the kind of competition that existed among the regions in the 1960's with the west building tv stations,oau,unilag,etc.the east opened d unn-nsukka and d palm produce plantations/boards.abu-zaria followed as d north caught d bug of competition.

forget about splitting,we r already in split units ! mental secession ! nigeria is only on paper like on:internationa passports,letter-heads,official docs. not in the mind of so-called nigerians ! we hv l-o-n-g seceeded mentally !

so restructuring of d political system,resource control by regions,and a loose centre will d our last 'joker' !

Seun, those that are living in other regions are just making the best of what is otherwise a bad situation. You have no idea how much better Nigeria could be if the nation splits up. Right now,  our politics is reduced into "what region is he from", however, if we split up, our politics would be about "what are his views on propriety rights" or "resource allocation." Comming from someone that sturdies a lot about politics in general, I can tell you what the views of the Republican, Democratic, and green party are in the United States. But, even after reading countless pages on Nigeria, I can not make a distinction between PDP, AD and ANPP. Is that not a problem? A lot of people whine about development but then take their dumbass to vote for someone based on how rich he is, or what type of smile he has. This madness/personality cult has ruined our economy and has destroyed the country.

Davidylan, excellent right up. There is a reason that most people that leave Nigeria want to see the country split up. The current state of the nation is not healthy. It has gotten so bad that people only think about getting those that are likely to steal and then split the loot with them. 

@chinani
Sorry but maybe you didnt get the point.

Splitting Nigeria wont mean that all the Yorubas should return to wherever they came from, same for the other tribal groups. Yes, there wont be a formal "its time to go": "oya, if you are not a northerner, return to your newly-created-country",or vice-versa, but the truth is that they will be forced to live, as a result of riots, commotions and public victimization. Gangs and their political mentors will use the opportunity to drive people away.

let me start with this example: If Nigeria breaks up today, as in today: All the non-Niger deltans working in Oil companies in ND areas, will loose their jobs(yes or no)? not explicitly, but by default, especially those in lower professional caders, which are the majority. YES, see, Nigeria is still one-country and foreigners are been attacked, how about when it divides, Non-deltans working there don't even now, don't have it easy. Majority of non-deltas working in ND areas have their families either back home in their village, or in Lagos or Abuja. Foreign expatriates who work with oil companies in ND areas and who brought their families to Nigeria leave them either in Lagos or Abuja. Thats the truth. By the time the non-deltans in ND areas loose their job, NDs working in Yoruba/Hausa/Igbos areas will feel the heat:retaliation = your country fired my brothers ass, you are fired. Even now, in this age of technology, tribalism is still practiced in the professional circle, in the most subtle manner. Go to some banks, (and I have solid examples) and you can find that like 8/10 staff in a particular department are from the same tribe, Check other departments within that same bank, you'll see a similar scene.

You can then calculate how many families will have their daily food ration reduced from 3times/day to 2times, is that not that where the war will start? Abuja will be claimed by the North, in fact it will even be divided, Ministries etc, will be looted, because it belongs to everybody, right? How will the resulting nations divide Abuja? tell me, how do you divide Lagos.

and Yes, Frenchmen live in Germany/UK and viceversa. The whole-world knows that:

I'm a China man myself, and its not for the money, its my birth right, but Nigeria is my birth-right too Lagos is the birth-right of too many yorubas, igbos and Hausas, and other not-so-elaborated tribes; same goes for Nigeria's major business cities. but note that till now, the African Union is not as straight forward, or as united as the European Union, so to think that all resulting-divided countries will easily adapt/ fit into one same African family(because of some existing rules? where are they) is pure crap. Even the ECOWAS still has a lot of trouble-shooting to do. Its not just about "travelling somewhere occassionally", its about living there, remaining there, counting it as home, flourishing there. If Nigeria had been divided when the Nigerian masses had little or nothing to loose, OK, fine, but not now.

Do you really think the Nigerians of today will allow this to happen?
The Nigerians of today cannot agree on a common goal as a country, is it those same Nigerians that will allow the above.

have you tried crossing the Nigerian border by foot? Even with an ECOWAS passport, its not an easy task to just march past. If you are a newcomer, the experience will be your definition of victimization. Now tell me that the next time ill be driving lagos to  PH or Abuja, ill be getting a Visa? or passing through immigration? wont that be crap?,  Till now, a lot of people live in Lagos and work in Abuja/PH and vice/versa - lets talk of blue collars. They might be going on a 4/2 sked, but the truth is they don't live where they work. By the time Nigeria divides, everybody will become a expat? example: those selling computers in the North/East, but who come to Ikeja every saturday of the year will be passing through immigration everytime? even the tomato or "adire" sellers going from one end of Nigeria to the other to buy and sell just to survive will need immigration papers / permanent residency or work permits? how about imports and exports between countries? who will be the major focal-point organizing all the nittzy-bitzzy details? Nigerians?

and please tell me that the hoodlooms will fold their hands watching.
please explain how the whole thing wont turn into a religious battle. Its because of the present one-Nigeria that Christians exist in the North and muslims feel comfy in the South.

Yes, some of us can quickly grab our passports and go dust our asses at some beach somewhere, during the resulting national chaos, awaiting the end of the ordeal, yet, do the Nigerian majority have these options? see, i could go on and on, but i think my points are clear

Peace

No thanks. We should cut our losses and hope to separately build a better tomorrow. The madness must come to an end.

It does not have to be chaotic. If there is enough desire for a particular part of the country to split it can happen peacefully. And if it means civil war, so be it.

Bolex, by countries that have divided, are you referring to Taiwan and China? or Malaysia and Indonesia? or South and North Korea?

In all those cases, at least one of the two that split are a lot better off for it.

And no, it is not a dumb idea. The British putting Nigeria together was a dumb idea.

Also, as for the chapter two of the natioinal anthem that has God in it, would that happen to be God of the foreigners?

Bolex, stick to the topic. Everything always ends up as a crusade with you. 

some interesting responses so far.

I wrote an entry in my blog in february as a result of a warning by the US government that Nigeria may break up.
http://naijaman.cfmxdeveloper.co.uk/diary/2006/02/in-news-nigeria-may-break-up-us.html

Africa's most populous nation has always been an unusual creation, what were the British thinking when they decided to unite 250 ethnic groups into one country. Any political crisis in the country has the potential to tear the nation apart.
The Ibos still smarting from their defeat by federal forces in the civil war are ready to jump ship at the first signs of war. The ever volatile Niger delta is also waiting to jump ship the minute the 3 main ethnic groups start slaughtering themselves. The middle belt doesn't really have an agenda and just wants to go with the flow. The core north will do anything to keep Nigeria as one as it ensures it is not a landlocked country like Niger republic, while the Yorubas in the west are a bit ambivalent at the moment since they now have political power, besides they have access to the sea so they can pretty much survive as the Oduduwa republic.

In light of the US comments, i've tried to imagine a scenario where the country breaks up and i can't really see it happening because the country really has no configuration it can fragment into. The 3 main regions (north, south west and south east) separated by rivers Niger and Benue is nothing but a geographical feature. Its wishful thinking on anyone's part to think Nigeria will fragment along those lines.

The reason is simple.
Lets look at the North, you have to give it to them they know they'll be one of the biggest losers if 'Project Nigeria' ends. Not just because they will lose access to the oil and the sea, but because of what will happen to the whole concept of 'the indivisible North'.
The North as we've all seen in the last few years is anything but united. Sharia and unending religious conflicts has turned this part of the country into 'Lebanon'. I can only imagine what will happen when trouble starts, the middle belt, minority ethnic christains from southern Kaduna will definitely not want to be a part of any 'Dan Fodio' kingdom that emerges. The north will pretty much have its hands full dealing with ethnic and religious divisions for a long time.
The interesting thing is, the north, compared to other parts of the country has the resources to stand on its own - its tourist potential, unlike oil, is an infinite resource.

Lets move on to my fellow brethren in the south west. The Yoruba share a common language and religious divisions don't really matter. The problem for Oduduwa republic is that the Yorubas are not really united, they only unite when they have a common goal or enemy, take that away and the Yorubas will start bickering amongst themselves. The ijebus will either be oppressing other groups or using 'jazz' (joking of course) on them while the egbas will stab each other in the back. The eguns will suddenly remember that they don't really have much in common with the others while the edos and itsekiris will definitely go their own way. And not forgetting ife and modakeke, it would be worse than the western region crises of the early sixties.

And then our good friends in the south east, unlike the other parts of the country they've had a bit of experience with nationhood, so its just a matter of bringing out those old biafran notes from under the mattress, dusting up the old flag and hey Biafra republic is reborn.
The only downside for them is they'll be landlocked as the minority groups in the delta will not join up with them. So that means Biafra republic will have to find a way to ally with one of the many groups in the delta. It won't be easy as Cameroon too will want in on some delta action.
The Niger delta can't be a country on its own and will fragment into fiefdoms, which means there's still going to be a lot of conflict in that area because of the oil. There will be continued conflict between the different groups over the limited unpolluted farmland, creeks, oil rights etc.
Then you have the larger players like Biafra and Cameroon, they will probably encourage the conflict for their own interests. You also have the oil multinationals like Shell and Chevron, they will probably finance and support any group that gives them profitable drilling rights. The conflict could go on till the last drop of oil is removed,

To cut a long story short, there won't be any winners, no part of the old country can enjoy meaningful economic development with so much conflict in the surrounding areas.
Then what happens to all the investments each part of the country has in the other parts. What happens to the power systems, transmission wires, telephone cables and other infrastructure that we all share?
Who inherits Nigeria's international commitments, foreign assets, embassies, Abuja ?

I guess all those calling for war or break-up were born after the Nigerian civil war. I understand your views. For those based outside the country, you should come back home and take part in the war that you are crying for.  pikin see juju I'm dey call am vegetable. You better SHUT UP! what ya know bout war?

I want the government to become smaller, and less significant.  Instead of giving more power to state governments, I want power to be driven into the hands of the efficiency-driven profit-seeking private sector.  (By private sector, I mean the enterprising people in this country, the entrepreneurs, and not just those few rich men who have legs in Government and give 'donations' to senators and governors regularly) 

Government should face security and enforcement of reasonable laws suported by the people.  The police, the judicial system, the prisons, are upside down, but people are calling on government to provide free food for school children, free abundant electricity, etc.  Let's give up that type of thinking, even the US government has never been that efficient.  Let the Government handle its basic tasks of law enforcement and so on.

When government is small, it becomes less important.  When government is small, fighting to control government will be like fighting to become the manager of an orphanage (nothing to chop).  Our government is too fat, which is why everyone wants to milk it dry.  Let us put more of this country into the hands of individuals in the private sector who have genuine incentives to serve their customers well.  Let our destiny be in our own hands.

One more thing: the state governments can be given a lot of independence but our armed forces should remain centrally controlled no matter what.  Or else, a repeat of Ojukwu's 1970's debacle might result.  Thanks.

Ijebuman’s post above says it all. It is excellent and clearly written. The arguments are also well presented.

Afeni, I don’t know in which country you live but I am certain you do not live in Nigeria. It appears you are on the planet Mars and truly out of touch with reality. No insults intended. Just my opinion.

Well said. Agitators of division do not understand the make up of the country called Nigeria.

Afeni, you appear to be pissed off at the North and as a result you're not seeing the big picture. You forget that the main rivers supplying the south first run through the North. What happens if they dam the hell out of the Niger and Benue rivers (to give themselves hydro power and fertile land) such that the rivers barely flow to the south? I think the process that will follow is called "Desertification".
There are many other points raised by others in this thread such as Union of West Africa etc. My comment above is just one food for thought to consider.
Breaking up Nigeria will be a huge mistake.

1. The North will NEVER in a million years be able to raise the required funds to build a dam that will block BOTH rivers benue and Niger.
2. Blocking both rivers will not lead to desertification, hundreds of smaller rivers still run through the south.

Some other will not get the gist. next time try and elaborate.

I guess you are totally againat Nigeria breaking up and I agree with you