what do you guys think? lets face it, our current style of government doesnt exactly work, theres too many tribes in Nigeria, tribalism is rampant, people vote for a candidate solely because he is from their ethnic group rather than his intellect, his political stance e.t.c. so this is what I'm proposing or rather this is a dream I have. Nigeria reverts back to the first configuration of states we had(ya know, North, mid west,east,west and so on) and they each be given individual autonomy. There will be a seat of power Abuja, each representative of the autonomous states meets there and the ambassadors, ministers e.t.c. the country will be like the former U.S.S.R. (not literally) but they each had individual republics in it, like the Georgian u.s.s.r, russian u.s.s.r, something like that, comments,critics

Whether it is a good idea or not, what can we do about it? The stakeholders in Nigeria's misery are more than happy keeping the status-quo at the moment.

IMO it will take nothing short of a revolution, to change the status quo at the moment. Unfortunately I don't see this happening any time soon. Though it could be possible if we can elect a president that transcends tribal lines. The old military leaders are getting old and they'll eventually die

@ JayFK, isn't it sad to think that we have to wait for some of these old power hugging politicians to die before we move on? Do you really believe if we keep on just taking things the way they are it will stop after 'these people' die? I remember from a previous thread when someone said we should forget about the results of the election tribunal because Nigeria needs continuity. The sad part of the matter is that there is no continuity in government, or in things that will benefit from continuity. However, nigeria seems to enjoy continuity in corruption. When these people die or leave power, they just hand over to their relatives or associates to continue with the reign of terror. Andy Uba selected his relative to continue, OBJ selected Yaradua, Ibori selected his associate, Adedibu did thesame thing for a senator. The list goes on. So i really don't believe waiting for this people to die and keeping up this nonchalant societal attitude is helping us in anyway. If nigeria is to get back power, it might have to wrestle it from these people because they are not willing to let go.

There are so many people in Nigerian politics who should not be involved. Even without naming the usual suspects, Ibori had 2 criminal convictions before he got into politics in Nigeria, and yet he was made the serving governor in a Nigerian state for 2 terms. While the idea of a decentralised government might in some way work, the bottom line is that Nigerians should start holding the nation to higher regards, instead of turning everything tribal. We have been a nation (though a poor imitation of one) for quite a while now, and if we are to advance we should begin to see ourselves as one nation with different tribes, and accept it that way. I am not saying ignore our differences, but instead aknowledge them but also aknowledge nationhood. When we get this sorted then we can begin to look at decentralisation. If the nation wasn't so poorly run, i doubt many people would be so quick to start calling for seperation as we keep hearing.

Sky Blue:

There are so many people in Nigerian politics who should not be involved. Even without naming the usual suspects, Ibori had 2 criminal convictions before he got into politics in Nigeria, and yet he was made the serving governor in a Nigerian state for 2 terms.

Yeah, its really unfortunate that common criminals can become governors

.

Sky Blue:

the bottom line is that Nigerians should start holding the nation to higher regards, instead of turning everything tribal. We have been a nation (though a poor imitation of one) for quite a while now, and if we are to advance we should begin to see ourselves as one nation with different tribes, and accept it that way. I am not saying ignore our differences, but instead aknowledge them but also aknowledge nationhood. When we get this sorted then we can begin to look at decentralisation.

yeah I kinda see it that way, but I dont see it happening anytime soon though, at least not till I'm in my 60's or older and Im relatively young. I mean all you have to is look at the Tribalism,Racism and Culture forums and know that a "United Nigeria" or at least our vision of it can't be possible and these are the so called "enlightened" or if you will, Nigeria's future. There's just too many tribes and "traditional enemies" for us to be united. At least this is a compromise

Sky Blue:

@ JayFK, isn't it sad to think that we have to wait for some of these old power hugging politicians to die before we move on? Do you really believe if we keep on just taking things the way they are it will stop after 'these people' die? I remember from a previous thread when someone said we should forget about the results of the election tribunal because Nigeria needs continuity. The sad part of the matter is that there is no continuity in government, or in things that will benefit from continuity. However, nigeria seems to enjoy continuity in corruption. When these people die or leave power, they just hand over to their relatives or associates to continue with the reign of terror. Andy Uba selected his relative to continue, OBJ selected Yaradua, Ibori selected his associate, Adedibu did thesame thing for a senator. The list goes on. So i really don't believe waiting for this people to die and keeping up this nonchalant societal attitude is helping us in anyway. If nigeria is to get back power, it might have to wrestle it from these people because they are not willing to let go.

Very unfortunate and like I said nothing short of a revolution can turn Nigeria around and Nigerians are perfectly happy praying for Nigeria to get better rather than us trying to do something about it. But of course a revolution can not take place with only 1 person, it needs the whole populace. I'm sure if an igbo or yoruba guy leads, the rival tribe would of course, be against it. So to be blunt We're bleeped. Hey but at least we have this forum to discuss ideas right? I'm pretty sure that if someone comes about who can make this happen, a lot of people would be for it.

The problem is not the number of tribes we have
The real problem is the people who run the system
These people form the tribe, the cabal that makes
things un-workable in Nigeria

This cabal is not ethnic.
Their common language is corruption, greed and selfishness!

oldie:

The problem is not the number of tribes we have
The real problem is the people who run the system
These people form the tribe, the cabal that makes
things un-workable in Nigeria

This cabal is not ethnic.
Their common language is corruption, greed and selfishness!

Corruption is a major issue too, I agree. But let's face it Tribalism is also a major issue. Matter of fact, these are the two major issues facing Nigeria today.

This is issue was confused with the civil war, you know how that ended.

Nice topic when u think about it. My 2cent solution for this is that Naija has to begin enforcing a higher standard in different institutions especially in politics. People suggesting that we go tribal/old ways don't really see the whole picture and this is not to underestimate anyone's opinion; wat this would do is strengthen the emirs, ezes, obas etc and still yet not benefit the rest of the population cuz these traditional thiefs already possess 65% of the country's influence now not to talk about later.
There are many ways to a greater Nigeria but the essential few that haven't been secured are respect, trust, and dedication. We all know that Nigeria is comprised of different so called tribes and all kinds of traditions but yet we don't adopt or follow sincere and patriotic guidelines that protects people in Nigeria. There should be all forms of human rights that protects everyone in Nigeria from all kinds of tribalism and any other blacks in Nigeria regardless of their country, there should be institutions that is credible to do a thorough background on any kind of government position including ministers, there should be a law against obas/ezes/emirs inciting tribalism in their communities or getting any form of involvement in politics excerpt when they vote, obas/ezes/emirs should not be allowed to do pass any judgement in the community especially when it involves human life, human health, peoples land(not his land), etc.

JayFK:

what do you guys think? lets face it, our current style of government doesnt exactly work, theres too many tribes in Nigeria, tribalism is rampant, people vote for a candidate solely because he is from their ethnic group rather than his intellect, his political stance e.t.c. so this is what I'm proposing or rather this is a dream I have. Nigeria reverts back to the first configuration of states we had(ya know, North, mid west,east,west and so on) and they each be given individual autonomy. There will be a seat of power Abuja, each representative of the autonomous states meets there and the ambassadors, ministers e.t.c. the country will be like the former US.S.R. (not literally) but they each had individual republics in it, like the Georgian u.s.s.r, russian u.s.s.r, something like that, comments,critics

uumm,  Did you ever research what become of the country when we had that sort of model in place?? It resulted in commotion and in the end, it died. Is that what you want for Nigeria again?? I mean the very fact that you post that people vote for people based on tribal affiliation and what not already shows you that the will of the people is to have it that way. Why deny the people what they want?? If the people want to vote for tribalism, why not give them tribalism? Why deny them that and believe that you are doing better for them??

@Kobojunkie, tribalism needs to take the back seat in our nation if we are to move forward. Nobody is saying we should be blind to the fact that we are made of of many tribes it has actually added to our beauty and culture as a nation. But making that into an issue at every turn? Isn't that were this whole idea of "selective justice" started? You arrest somebody that stole from his people and those same people say you are dishing out "selective justice". The irony is that it is actually quite "UnNigerian". When a child steals from his family (never mind all the killing and what have you) he is disciplined isn't he? But in an environment where tribalism takes precedense in everything common sense is thrown away. If we are saying that tribalism should continue to be that important  that it puts development and progress of the whole nation in jeopardy then what future have we together as a nation?

Kobojunkie:

uumm, Did you ever research what become of the country when we had that sort of model in place?? It resulted in commotion and in the end, it died. Is that what you want for Nigeria again??

Did you read my post at all? I said similar but not literal. Besides the whole point of it is if we can't be a country while we are decentralized, then why stay together at all?

Kobojunkie:

uumm, mean the very fact that you post that people vote for people based on tribal affiliation and what not already shows you that the will of the people is to have it that way. Why deny the people what they want?? If the people want to vote for tribalism, why not give them tribalism? Why deny them that and believe that you are doing better for them??

so based on your logic, if people vote for a candidate based on tribal affiliation that must be a good thing right? The whole point of this is to improve Nigeria, not the reverse.

JayFK:

Did you read my post at all? I said similar but not literal. Besides the whole point of it is if we can't be a country while we are decentralized, then why stay together at all?

so based on your logic, if people vote for a candidate based on tribal affiliation that must be a good thing right? The whole point of this is to improve Nigeria, not the reverse.

We just came from a dictatorial form of government where the one in charge imposed his will on the people and you the rest. Now it is the time of the people to decide what they want for themselves and if what they want is tribalism, why do you think you denying them that makes you better for the people We have been down the whole centralized idea and history tells us why that did not work either. So why try it again?? '

Sky Blue:

@Kobojunkie, tribalism needs to take the back seat in our nation if we are to move forward. Nobody is saying we should be blind to the fact that we are made of of many tribes it has actually added to our beauty and culture as a nation. But making that into an issue at every turn? Isn't that were this whole idea of "selective justice" started? You arrest somebody that stole from his people and those same people say you are dishing out "selective justice". The irony is that it is actually quite "UnNigerian". When a child steals from his family (never mind all the killing and what have you) he is disciplined isn't he? But in an environment where tribalism takes precedense in everything common sense is thrown away. If we are saying that tribalism should continue to be that important  that it puts development and progress of the whole nation in jeopardy then what future have we together as a nation?

But the problem is this. The People vote for leaders based on ethnic affilliations, granted, but is that necessarily the problem Or the fact that the government itself is tribalistic when it is not supposed to be. Using the "selective justice" example you gave there, why should the government then concern itself with the ethnicity of a supposed  criminal when the law/ Justice is supposed to be blind to such?? Is it the people's issue here or the government with the problem I believe people are allowed as they want to for leaders but the leaders once they get into office are supposed to take an oath to renders them blind to ethnicity, sexuality and the likes. That is part of what government means. Why should the government care what rants are thrown at it when it is surely doing it's job as it is supposed to?? As long as the people have elected the leaders, the leaders no longer have to be sentimentally attached to the people in that manner at all but bound by law to carry out justice and make sure that all crime is punished.

We do not need to divide Nigeria up in to bits and pieces to get this to work. Tribalism will always exist but the law should get it's rightful place in society and the only way is to uphold the law irrespective of what tribes or ethnicity the groups concerned belong to. A Criminal from the south, north or even east ought to get the same treatment under the law. Why not just make sure that is the case and anyone who goes against that law get fired and punished for it.

Tribalism is not a problem even though many people like to make an issue out of it and we can never get rid of it  but we can work to make sure that the law is enforced all the time in that country. I mean if you deny them tribalism, people will try to latch onto something else as reason for them to cry foul. I mean even in places where people of the same tribe ought to live in harmony, you find that money, sex, religion and what not becomes the issue. I say we should focus on de-tribalizing the law and making sure that even though the people can remain tribalistic in their view, which if you ask me, is part of their fundamental right as human beings, the government itself stays clearly away from such and anyone of those in governmental roles that is caught in tribalistic acts on the people's time is seriously dealt with. It is like racism, the KKK have a right to their racist view but any government agent who is caught in a racist act is severly punished for it.

kobojunkie thinks from his anus

i wish i could agree with some of the above comments that the problem is the government.

i have to ask, where does the government come from? planet corrupt? no. it comes from the people. Nigerians themselves NEED to change.

don't pay to get ahead on the embassy queue, don't drive down the wrong way when there is too much traffic, don't laugh when ur friend tells u he had to give the police officers bribe, certainly don't laugh when you hear about the expo rounds at university, do not proudly tell ur friends about ur WAEC 'dubs' that were not discovered. start caring about the country and always see how YOU can improve Nigeria not hoping that the politician will finally come to ur street and hand out N5000 to everyone on it.

i do believe regional autonomy would be a good thing. it could even bring about more accountability and certainly clear comparisons can be made between progress within regions. it would also (hopefully at least) make people shut up about the problem being the president or a particular tribe or whatever.

But my God, what about the oil money?? . the north would die, the southwest would cry and the south- south would be a warzone. iraq would look like heaven, think about it. it's bad enough now right? imagine if they could actually fight for real control.

double post!