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A Case For Yorubaland. by obaaderemi: 5:34pm On Jun 01, 2019 |
If one considers the situation of Nigeria today against the backdrop of colonial rapacity and malevolent machinations, it is surprising that the country has not sunken lower than it has. For the sake of cheap and convenient administration for the colonial powers, many African kingdoms were slapped together in different parts of the continent to create countries at the Berlin Conference of 1884/85. By 1914 Nigeria was created by the amalgamation of the Northern Protectorate and the Southern Protectorate, both fiefdoms of Britain. Like Nigeria, many of the countries of sub Saharan Africa were designed to fail. Pure and simple. Some were designed to be owned and settled by Europeans. Countries such as Kenya and South Africa fell into this category during colonial times and the battle for their "independence" were as expected bloody. Let's shun political correctness for a minute and try to make sense of this puzzle: How do you expect a country granted independence with several small and, three major nations in it, to prosper and stand on its feet, when the system had been put in place from the start to keep the reins of political power in the hands of the most backward of the three major nations/tribes? Many would argue to the contrary that, "Oh, the northerners were exposed before the others and could read and write Ajami( ) and wore clothes earlier than everyone else"-- but question is: How useful was that subjective opinion in the face of a rapidly changing world by the turn of the 20th century when "the others" were already producing medical doctors, great educationists,lawyers, town planners, businessmen, etc? But the most important question of all is this: What is the essence of the headstart "the others" had if at the end of it all, they are at the mercy of the so- called backward northerners who seem to have embraced their backwardness and even see it as a blessing rather than a curse? Check developmental indices between the north and "the others" and you will be alarmed at the gap, no--- wide gulf between the two. In Osun for example, you see a literacy rate of 91% against 38% in Kano. http://databod.com/nigerian-states-ranked- literacy-level/ I do not have the time or the interest to compare poverty rates. It is very clear that Nigeria's indices are the way they are compared to other countries due to the refusal of the north to pull itself up. Nigeria's Human Development Index currently is at 0.522. Most of the other sub- Saharan African countries are also within the 0.5.... region of HDI. This is the reason why I started by saying it is surprising that the country has not sunken lower than it has. However, this is not comforting because the ruling class doesn't seem to understand the problem: from the presidents,past and present to the governors. An attempt was made by the Yorubas at independence to include a secession clause into the first constitution. It failed. Years later, an attempt was made by the Igbos to break away. It failed. And yet since then during each presidential election the "others" try to outdo each other to show who is more loyal to the north. Just for crumbs. From the look of things, the status quo is going to remain as it is. Oro buruku t'on t'erin. So, what are we to do in a situation such as this? Restrategise! I can't speak for anyone, especially my Igbo neighbours, but as a Yoruba I have a stake in the Yoruba Commonwealth. We need to see ourselves differently and create a distinct identity for ourselves. In a nutshell, we must create a nation within a country. Politically and economically and above all educationally. Politics The first thing to do is to get our politics right. We seriously need to do away with the main national parties. We need to create a strong regional party like in the mould of Action Group and AD. But the difference is that this party must be made up of young vibrant professionals. Someone said of German political parties: No matter how bad they are, any German political party would still do well because it is made up of intellectuals. Look at the party in charge of China. Economy The first of the Six Killer Apps of Western Power is Competition. The Europeans,Americans and Japanese rose quickly because they competed fiercely. Lack of such fierceness slowed India and China down until recent times. We must pool our resources, if need be, borrow as a unit to build businesses and industries in Yorubaland. We must set our economic sight beyond even Nigeria and Africa.We must look into everything, manufacturing, services, entertainment, etc. Remember when HITV upstaged DsTV in Nigeria? That's the kind of thing I mean. But one which must be sustained! How else would we create jobs for our teeming youths? Education Our education in the South West is in doldrums. This is one sector where we had a serious headstart. If we focus on it and put a larger percentage of our revenue into building schools and training teachers, we would be building a stronger today and tomorrow for our land. The number of street urchins and criminals among us would reduce.Civics , history and values have to be taught to our children in our schools. Lazy teachers have to be punished and hardworking ones rewarded. Healthcare This is another sector we need to focus on. A healthy society is a progressive one. Infrastructure Our infrastructure must be built in a way to promote economic development. The states could come together and see if power generation can be done on a regional basis. I grew up in Ibadan and we had water flowing from the public taps. Things have changed a lot. And they have to change again for the better. Any governor who fails to provide water has failed! There are many more things to be done but these are the ones I can think of right now. We already have a little bit of an edge. We were the first in many developmental sectors. We need to leverage on the little we have now and use it as a springboard. Peace. 1 Like |
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