[size=14pt]Sovereign Nairaland Conference[/size]

It can be easily argued and observed that Nigeria is not a nation. It is no more than a piece of land on which we exist. We have never entered into a contract between regions and ethnicities that would define the basis of our nationality. The very vagueness of a national definition is at the root of every pressing Nigerian problem. To what does the citizen owe their citizenship? What does the Nigerian state owe the citizen? What is the contract between citizen and state?
Sadly, there is no answer to any of the above, because the formation of the country was faulty and built on the wrong premises; take some of the most explosive statements of some of our “founding fathers”; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-412959.32.html#msg5690683

If the founders of this country either had little faith or wicked plans for its future; it is not surprising that, in 1966, just 6 years after independence; the Aburi Accord documents were shredded and the country was at war. The tragic cost was no less than 3 million of lives. To this day, there has been no recompense, remembrance or mutually beneficial resolution and tempers are still high with the East left out of the Nigerian system.

The story was told by the late Mallam Aminu Kano himself (a true and convinced nationalist) of how, when he opted to study law instead of going to the teachers' college decreed by the British District Officer (D.O), his father was summoned by the district head and berated and threatened with sanction if he failed to convince his 'errant son' to drop his idea of studying law for primary school teaching, which the D.O. decreed. The young Aminu said he had to obey to save his poor parent from threatened indignities for producing a son who defied the British design on education for the North.

In other words, the British deliberately prepared two pseudo nations of Nigeria: A conservative, sectarian pan-Arabist North, and a Westernised secular South. This dichotomy of North and South has remained with us. We all know how efforts to balance the ethnic and political and religious equation of the North and South led to Chief Awolowo's treasonable felony trial of 1962, and also to the Nigerian civil war of 1967-70.

http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/narticles/national_conference_need_to_make.htm

There is a quota system and Federal Character system that many are unhappy with, because, it seems to promote mediocrity above merit. This directly impinges on pace of development.

The country is 100% dependent on oil, gone are the groundnut pyramids, cocoa and palm nut industries of pre-independence times. Indeed, Malaysia acquired their oil palm industry know-how from Nigeria (the then, foremost producer) along with a couple of palm nuts. Today, Malaysia is the foremost producer and a developed country, while our oil palm industry has perished and we are classified as a state in danger of failure.

Nigeria is located close to the equator, but does not utilise Solar Energy and is afflicted with a comatose electricity supply system. We cannot seem to harness our peculiar environment for our own benefit; always looking to Europe and the US for solutions to peculiar Nigerian problems. The same lack of self pride and identity is evident in several areas of Nigerian life; made in Nigeria goods are discouraged and despised and many cannot speak their mother tongue.

Shocking human rights problems in the Niger Delta have led to the formation of local militias. These militias have directly threatened the Nigerian economy and stability by attempting to drive out the oil companies that have polluted their lands and destroying oil infrastructure. The Niger Delta is the most polluted oil producing area in the World, there is very little federal government assisted development, yet the area produces 98% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange.

Nigeria runs a unitary system of government; it can be argued that this is at the root of all our problems.

Nigeria is said to be a federation of ethnic nationalities. However, the country is run as a unitary system where the central government is overly strong and dictatorial. It gained its style from the British colonial government that invaded, fought and conquered the already independent peoples who lived around the River Niger. So by 1960, after the forceful amalgamation of the so-called southern and northern protectorates, Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa, was born by becoming independent. At its birth about 300 different ethnic nationalities or groups were forced against their wishes to form the union, like in the former Soviet Union which had about 120 ethnic groups.

http://www.greens.org/s-r/46/46-06.html

The purpose of this National Conference is to enable the 300 plus ethnic groups to negotiate modalities of inter-ethnic co-existence and state-ethnic partnership or severance. The lack of such modalities has led to frighteningly brutish pogroms such as the recent Jos occurrences. In 3 months, 1000 lives have been lost in Jos, this is equivalent to losses from all out war between, not one, but several countries. Without a framework or contract for co-existence, our 300 plus ethnic groups have come to see the overly strong and dictatorial central government as the only price worth fighting for and have become willing tools in the hands of evil men.

This National Conference will also thrash out logical propositions for our development. How Nigeria can move from a single commodity country to one that has a diverse and technologically advanced economy. This entails the formulation a workable citizen-state contract and the reorganisation / optimisation of the Nigerian federal architecture in such a way that there is an efficient symbiosis between citizen and state.

---

[size=14pt]Please come forward with your proposals and suggestions for a vibrant, workable Nigeria.[/size]

@Beaf

Thank you for this thoughtful piece on the "geographical expression" called Nigeria. A couple of comments:

1. Unitary Government: A system imposed by our militaricians in their futile bid to forge a country out of the mess created by the British. However, the British in their time were wise to rule each section of the country according to "what works best". At independence they simply left control of the country to those who had proved to be their most willing tools in colonizing and exploiting our continent. While, I would not attribute any deliberate intention to the British as you seem to suggest, it is also safe to say that an invader being forced to move out of the house he took by force is not going to put in place arrangements to benefit the owners or might even seek to make the house unliveable. In any case, the outcomes are indistinguishable, predictable, and is exactly what we see today. The 45 or so year experiment of our militricians have failed woefully.

[size=14pt]Unless the fact is recognized that Nigeria cannot exist as a unitarily governed community the ultimate end for this country would, sadly, be a bloody dissolution. So how do we really avoid a bloody dissolution or even a peaceful dissolution, and perhaps make a workable nation?[/size]

2. Sovereign National Conference: This suggestion in your piece matches well with what many eminent Nigerians have being calling for over many decades. However, its is doubtful that a SNC will ever happen in Nigeria or even if does happen, it is unlikely to resolve our constitutional/governance issues. The reason for doubt is buttressed by the two quotes from your piece as below, statements that were made right after independence, and by no less than the First Premier of the Northern Region and his assistants.

“This New Nation called Nigeria, should be an estate of our great grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in the North as willing tools, and the South, as conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their future.”  ---Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto in THE PARROT of October 12, 1960.

“The conquest to the sea is now in sight. When our god-sent Ahmadu Bello said some years ago that our conquest will reach the sea shores of Nigeria, some idiots in the South were doubting its possibilities. Today have we not reached the sea? Lagos is reached. It remains Port-Harcourt. It must be conquered and taken.”  --- Mallam Bala Garuba in WEST AFRICAN PILOT, December 30, 1964.

So, if we can't have a SNC or if one would be a waste of time, what is my suggestion?

3. My suggestion is MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction. The statements above make clear that one section of the country has set out their own imperatives i.e. conquest of the entire country for religion's sake. In the face of such a regional imperative, which to my knowledge has not been disavowed, and the creeping move to realize this objective over the last 4 decades, the only alternative is for each region to set out their own imperatives and actively work towards it. For example, if any region stockpiles arms, officially or unoffically, then the remaining regions must stockpile similarly, etc. 

At this stage in Nigeria's history if we "want peace then we have to prepare for war". This proposal is not to encourage regions to go to war, but to assure any constituent region that attempts to impose itself would be fatal - leveling the playing field as it were. May be then we can have a meaningful SNC. Until then please expect calls for a SNC or the like to be ignored.

Excellent idea!

Let us discuss the Nigerian problem with all sincerity, and attempt to proffer solutions.

Beaf, may I recommend that you remove the quotes credited to Sir Ahmadu Bello and Awolowo in your post because these quotes have been sited by various ethnic haters in many threads as an excuse to continue to carry on their hatred.

This thread should be free of such inflammatory quotes from the past. I can find similarly negative quotes from leaders from the South East and South South as well - funny thing is that people from that region may not find them inflammatory. Let's not start this exercise on the wrong footing.

What we want to do is encourage participation from as many people as possible instead of starting off with an implicit blame game.

Thanks

ndu_chucks:

Beaf, may I recommend that you remove the quotes credited to Sir Ahmadu Bello and Awolowo in your post because these quotes have been sited by various ethnic haters in many threads as an excuse to continue to carry on their hatred.

This thread should be free of such inflammatory quotes from the past. I can find similarly negative quotes from leaders from the South East and South South as well - funny thing is that people from that region may not find them inflammatory. Let's not start this exercise on the wrong footing.

What we want to do is encourage participation from as many people as possible instead of starting off with an implicit blame game.

Thanks

The words of our founding fathers at the period of independence and is surely of paramount importance. They set the foundations of the country.

A very strong part of remediation is finding root causes of the problem at hand by thorough analysis. If you are making the mistake of seeing this as a strictly tribal / regional issue, then you are making a big mistake and might not be emotionally or mentally ready. More than anything, it is a Nigerian issue. We must understand how the place turned out the way it has, before we can fix it.
Please take a second, impartial look at the article and if you feel that there are similarly negative quotes from founding fathers from the South East and South South from before or just after our independence; it is your duty to bring them forward for addition.

There is no blame game here, so please lets keep it civil.

In truth, our problems started before the so called founding fathers. We as a 'more enlightened generation' can begin to problem solve by dealing with the issues as they manifest themselves today.

There is a synergy between those quotes from the so called founding fathers and our situation today but there needn't be a dependency. Let us move forward.

1. Resource Control (Land Use Act).
2. Federal Character.
3. Religious or Secular State.
4. Balanced Military (equal contribution from all the geopolitical zones to the armed forces)
5. Decentralised Police Force.
6. Common pass marks for national exams.
7. Genuine Census Figures.
8. Regional Political Parties.

These are just some of the issues that we need to address to move forward.

@Beaf, I'm afraid your first post is an argument for the southern areas of Nigeria to break away from the northern areas. Such arguments should not be included in the introduction of this thread as many people will find them objectionable.

You initial post should be neutral. Only your last 2 paragraphs qualify as such  i. e. The paragraph which starts with the text "The purpose of this National Conference    " down to the bottom of the post. I'd still recommend that you remove the rest of the post to encourage full participation.

nduchucks is your continued involvement dependent on those quotes, because I feel we need to look beyond them and discuss the issues at hand as they affect us today. Those people don die tey tey.

SapeleGuy:

nduchucks is your continued involvement dependent on those quotes, because I feel we need to look beyond them and discuss the issues at hand as they affect us today. Those people don die tey tey.

What's wrong with removing these inflammatory quotes and moving on?

Any thing short of peaceful achievement of disintegration of the colonial memorial called Nigeria will be waste of human endeavor. I do not want any resource control, federal character or census figure but disintegration of Nigeria.

ndu_chucks:

What's wrong with removing these inflammatory quotes and moving on?

Moving on to what?

We should sweep them under the carpet like we usually do?

Bring out those south east/south quotes so that we can have a balanced view of where we are coming from so that we will know where we are going.

asha 80:

Moving on to what?

We should sweep them under the carpet like we usually do?

Bring out those south east/south quotes so that we can have a balanced view of where we are coming from so that we will know where we are going.

I meant moving on with the discussion of SNC. Those quotes can be used to butress points made, but not in the introduction of the discussion. Its only my opinion and Beaf does not have to remove them from the initial post - I simply believe that many people may simply ignore the thread because of those inflammatory remarks.

I think every all the quotes and problems of Nigeria should be brought to the fore and should not be swept under the carpet. We have to know our problems and face them fair and square.

ndu_chucks:

I meant moving on with the discussion of SNC. Those quotes can be used to butress points made, but not in the introduction of the discussion. Its only my opinion and Beaf does not have to remove them from the initial post - I simply believe that many people may simply ignore the thread because of those inflammatory remarks.

Those quotes are the foundations of this space on this planet called nigeria.If the foundation is bad anything you build on top is waste of time.We better start with the foundations of this country otherwise we will just be wasting energy debating here.Inflammatory remarks yes but that was what the country was built upon and per ignoring the thread well nigerians have overtime being known to be more interested in solving[b] effect of a cause and not cause of the effect.[/b]

I think every all the quotes and problems of Nigeria should be brought to the fore and should not be swept under the carpet. We have to know our problems and face them fair and square.

ndu_chucks:

What's wrong with removing these inflammatory quotes and moving on?

@ndu_chucks
We cannot move on until we honestly address the issues raised by these quotes, and others.

The question is whether Nigeria's reality reflects elements of those quotes or not. The answer seems to be yes, but if someone feels otherwise then they should educate the rest of us. The worst thing would be to jump to the wrong conclusions.

If after considering everything the answer remains yes, then we need to call on that section of the country to disavow these statements, and right all the wrongs committed in the pursuit of such objectives. Otherwise, we can pretend to have a nation all we want, but these statements would continue to hunt us. The only solution would then be MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.

I'm beginning to wonder whether some people have an english comprehension problem. I do not object to discussing these quotes, I am simply suggesting that they should not be included in the introduction of the thread. The neutrality of the introductory post is what I was recommending to the OP - he does not have to oblige.

ndu_chucks:

What's wrong with removing these inflammatory quotes and moving on?

The quotes are not insurmountable and only carry as much relevance as we decide to accord them, i believe there is enough intelligence to undermine them.

Freedom of speech is germane to the issues we have laid out here. I am very uncomfortable turning to censorship because some one has quoted something i disagree with, there is such a thing as the self righting process in which the people decide what is best for them.  Anything else is paying lipservice to democracy.

SapeleGuy:

The quotes are not insurmountable and only carry as much relevance as we decide to accord them, i believe there is enough intelligence to undermine them.

Freedom of speech is germane to the issues we have laid out here. I am very uncomfortable turning to censorship because some one has quoted something i disagree with, there is such a thing as the self righting process in which the people decide what is best for them. Anything else is paying lipservice to democracy.

I am simply suggesting that the quotes should not be included in the introduction of the thread. The neutrality of the introductory post is what I was recommending to the OP - he does not have to oblige.

ndu_chucks:

I am simply suggesting that the quotes should not be included in the introduction of the thread. The neutrality of the introductory post is what I was recommending to the OP - he does not have to oblige.

Seriously, I strived to make the article fair and wish it would be perceived that way. Test me, see if there is any quote on the founding of the country you suggest I add that I wouldn't.
There might be very worthwhile things that the likes of Azikiwe, Okpara, Dennis Osadebay, Jereton Marierie, James Otobo, Enahoro etc said that I honestly missed; please if you have any, test me; see if I will not add them to the article.

Beaf:

Seriously, I strived to make the article fair and wish it would be perceived that way. Test me, see if there is any quote on the founding of the country you suggest I add that I wouldn't.
There might be very worthwhile things that the likes of Azikiwe, Okpara, Dennis Osadebay, Jereton Marierie, James Otobo, Enahoro etc said that I honestly missed; please if you have any, test me; see if I will not add them to the article.

I simply thought the introductory post would have been more neutral if it contained only the last 2 paragraphs which began with "The purpose of this National Conference   " without the objectionable quotes in question. The quotes and other issues could be brought up later. As I said, its only a recommendation and you don't have to accept it.

ndu_chucks:

I simply thought the introductory post would have been more neutral if it contained only the last 2 paragraphs which began with "The purpose of this National Conference   " without the objectionable quotes in question. The quotes and other issues could be brought up later. As I said, its only a recommendation and you don't have to accept it. 

"Objectionable" is a relative term.
Ok, they've been taken out and replaced with a link for the sake of an honest and participatory discussion.

Beaf:

"Objectionable" is a relative term.
Ok, they've been taken out and replaced with a link.

Not perfect, but I can live with this compromise.

@Beaf
I'd like to attend the conference, when and where is it holding. Lol!!!
Seriously this is a great idea, we don't want to another war so lets talk.

so we are still arguing over a few semantics and some paragraphs in the introductory post?
at this rate will the SNC itself be concluded in 48 calender months?
By the time the SNC jaw jaw is over, there might be no country left.

SapeleGuy:

In truth, our problems started before the so called founding fathers. We as a 'more enlightened generation' can begin to problem solve by dealing with the issues as they manifest themselves today.

There is a synergy between those quotes from the so called founding fathers and our situation today but there needn't be a dependency. Let us move forward.

1. Resource Control (Land Use Act).
2. Federal Character.
3. Religious or Secular State.
4. Balanced Military (equal contribution from all the geopolitical zones to the armed forces)
5. Decentralised Police Force.
6. Common pass marks for national exams.
7. Genuine Census Figures.
8. Regional Political Parties.

These are just some of the issues that we need to address to move forward.

I would also add technological progress and individual fulfilment to your list; but, in my opinion, we must first establish what a desirable relationship between government and citizen should be (contract between citizen and state); that is fundamental. As soon as we can identify (in an ideal Nigeria);
(a) what the citizen owes the state (in patriotism and sweat) and
(b) what the state owes the citizen (in rights and services),
it would become much easier to build an equitable society, as all factors would rely on an established relationship between citizen and state (as against region-state or ethnicity-state).

Let us establish;
[list]
[li]A definition for patriotism[/li]
[li]A definition for citizenship[/li]
[li]Create a list of areas where the citizen gets automatic protection[/li]
[li]Create a list of basic citizens rights (rights to expression, land, water, food, justice and fairplay, place of origin etc)[/li]
[li]Only after the above have been acheived, should we begin to create a contract between ethnicity and state[/li]
[/list]

I believe that after we have done the above, everything else will begin to slot naturally into place.

In my opinion d 1st step is 4 all regions and all ethnic groups in d country to grant unconditional amnesty and pardon to all other regions and ethnic group and that is to forgiv and forget d past and let us all start on a fresh slate.
Secondly Jonathan shld be allowed to contest d nxt elections as a Nigerian and henceforth any Nigerian who wants to aspire for d top job in d country must come up with evidence of his or her contribution to d polity.
We shld remove d concept of indigene and non indigene in our national life if an Ibo man has lived in Abeokuta for a while he should be able to contest elections in Abeokuta.

Beaf:

The text below was exised from the main article, because it was found to be objectionable.

“This New Nation called Nigeria, should be an estate of our great grandfather, Uthman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We use the minorities in the North as willing tools, and the South, as conquered territory and never allow them to rule over us, and never allow them to have control over their future.”  ---Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto in THE PARROT of October 12, 1960

“The conquest to the sea is now in sight. When our god-sent Ahmadu Bello said some years ago that our conquest will reach the sea shores of Nigeria, some idiots in the South were doubting its possibilities. Today have we not reached the sea? Lagos is reached. It remains Port-Harcourt. It must be conquered and taken.”  --- Mallam Bala Garuba in WEST AFRICAN PILOT, December 30, 1964.

"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." [From Path to Nigerian Freedom by Obafemi Awolowo]

@Beaf,

Why did you succumb to the blackmail by ndu_chuks?

These quotes remain the very foundation of Nigeria and until they are addressed we will be wasting time.

ndu_chuks knows this and that remains the reason why he was uneasy about them.

Your leaders ask you to kill and maim and till today people are doing just that yet someone does not want such serious issues discussed.

Henceforth I will have these quotes in my responses here so that everyone will read them and know how we may have gotten to this point in our country.

Afam:

@Beaf,

Why did you succumb to the blackmail by ndu_chuks?

These quotes remain the very foundation of Nigeria and until they are addressed we will be wasting time.

ndu_chuks knows this and that remains the reason why he was uneasy about them.

Your leaders ask you to kill and maim and till today people are doing just that yet someone does not want such serious issues discussed.

Henceforth I will have this quotes in my responses here so that everyone will read them and know how we may have gotten to this point in our country.

You are right. But, I have replaced them with a link, knowing they will come up several times within the discussion for the simple reason that our faulty politics can be traced right back to them.
Those words will be quoted several times, I don't see how that can be avoided.

This is a good development.

Afam:

@Beaf,

Why did you succumb to the blackmail by ndu_chuks?

These quotes remain the very foundation of Nigeria and until they are addressed we will be wasting time.

ndu_chuks knows this and that remains the reason why he was uneasy about them.

Your leaders ask you to kill and maim and till today people are doing just that yet someone does not want such serious issues discussed.

Henceforth I will have this quotes in my responses here so that everyone will read them and know how we may have gotten to this point in our country.

Afam, there was no blackmail whatsoever.  I'd appreciate cordiality on this thread so that discussions will not degenerate into ill advised accusations and counter accusations. The bolded portion above is regretable and an unnecessary generalization. The vast majority of Nigerians, regardless of tribe, is opposed to the kinds of extremism which you are quick to associate with certain groups.