As a people we Nigerians have a penchant for making scapegoats of fellow citizens whom we perceive as the cause of our many woes. We see such individuals or groups as the “infants terribles” of our national calamities, and so we demonise them, while maintaining a self-righteous disposition ourselves and absolving our own group (ethnic, religious or political) of any blame. Yet in truth we know that it is a cross-section of Nigerians from North and South and from East and West that have ruined our nation so badly and wrecked its economy so callously. We know that those whose evil behaviour brought a curse upon our land include the Igbo and the Hausa, the Yoruba and the Tiv, Urobo and the Efik, the Fulani and the Bini.
We know in truth that it is a collection of Nigerians of all creeds that have conspired to loot this nation and stack the proceeds of their loot in foreign vaults, while abandoning the generality of the people to poverty and misery. In truth we know that it is Nigerians of all political persuasions that have over the years presided over the gang-rape which has left our nation in the present state of pain and shame. Yet we find it very convenient to point our fingers at that other person, and those other groups (apart from ourselves and our group) that must be held responsible for our national predicament.
We Nigerians are also notorious for our tendency to give single and simplistic explanations to complex national issues, in this way dodging the challenges and sacrifices that must be made by all in the difficult process of nation-building. We find it convenient for example to blame military rule alone for our multifarious national problems. We find it convenient to ascribe our delicate social equation to an all-embracing domination of one group or section of the country over others. We find it convenient to blame the ground shaking social upheaval we experience today on either ethnicity or religion, whereas many of our inter-ethnic or inter-religious skirmishes have roots that are deeper and more deadly, roots that are moral and spiritual and not just political or economic.
Events on the ground have consistently demonstrated that the alleged North-South or East-West divide is often exaggerated, for Nigerians of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds have an incredible capacity to quarrel and quickly settle afterwards, living together and even sharing household utensils. Particularly at the lower level of society, Nigerians have consistently demonstrated that social barriers are oftentimes artificial, opaque, crisis-induced and non-permanent. They have often demonstrated that living together can be as peaceful, mutual and natural as God designed it to be.
Our fundamental problem as a nation therefore is not the North-South divide, although it must be admitted that there are divisive elements in the structural arrangements between the North and the South. Our fundamental problem is not exactly about who controls what resources either, although the oil producing regions such as the Niger Delta have suffered extensive deprivation which calls for substantial redress. And in spite of the violence occasioned by the threat of the Sharia law in some states in Northern Nigeria, and the very tense debate over its place in our nation’s constitution, religion nevertheless does not constitute the fundamental problem of the Nigerian state, for politics aside, Nigerians have over the years demonstrated an incredible capacity to live together with their various creeds. The above problems, serious as they sometimes appear, are often incidental, not fundamental. These problems are often symptomatic of the failure of a state whose leaders lack vision, charism, integrity and commitment, and whose people stink with corruption and indiscipline.
The real problem fundamental to the retarded progress of this country resides in the primordial greed and avarice, the crass materialism and selfishness, the wickedness and callousness that are to be found among the various groups that populate the land. The more fundamental problem with Nigeria is to be found in the privatisation of the state by individual members of the elite class, who have often cashed in on, and exploited the long-standing ethnic antipathies in the land. The more fundamental problem with Nigeria is the callous neglect of the common good by the leaders as they pursue the politics and economics of greed.
The challenge before Nigerians today is how to transform the citizenry from the less human state of ignorance, social injustice, violence and death, to the more human state of heightened awareness, justice, fairness, peace and prosperity. The challenge before us is how to transit from the less human state of hatred, resentment, selfishness, greed, corruption and indiscipline, to the more human state of love, mutual forgiveness, solidarity, concern for the common good, and the fear of God.
The challenge before Nigerians is first to acknowledge the past sins and atrocities we have dealt on one another either as individuals or in our social groups, and then in truth to be ready to show contrition. We need to acknowledge the mistakes, deficiencies and weaknesses in the structures around which our society is configured, and we must be prepared to boldly make amends. We must acknowledge that our unspoken prejudices, our pet hates and our uncharitable demonstration of intolerance, have intermittently exploded in inter ethnic and religious strife and imploded in intra tribal violence. We must acknowledge that the wounds and hurts in our historical and social development remain festering, and we must acknowledge the need to offer and receive forgiveness. If ever a real forum for national dialogue is convened for Nigerians, by whatever name it is called, this will be a number one task for such a forum.
A major challenge before us is how to change our conception of leadership. We must begin to see leadership as stewardship and not as an opportunity to exploit the people in every way for personal aggrandizement. It is time for us to re-examine our structures and undertake essential and far reaching reformation to change the country’s leadership profile for the better. And when a forum for national dialogue is convened, this will constitute one more item in the agenda.
Nigerians need to know that the good leader should be ready to make sacrifice for the common good. Those who aspire to leadership positions must have a sense of mission and vision. They must have a passion for the poor, the weak and those on the margins of society. Nigerians must be clear about what the good leader is not. The good leader is not the idle Nigerian politician who is in politics for the spoils of office, one whose only visible profession is politics and who has no other viable means of sustainable support. The good leader is not the feudalist ruler whose historical foundations, structured as they often are on ignorance, are antithetical to democratic principles. Feudalist authority structures are still very much around us, in the form of traditional rulers. They wield considerable influence over a gullible population. Yet they are part of the nation’s fundamental problems. They often think nothing of holding down the subjects in penury and serfdom, while feeding fat on the blood and tears of the very flock they are supposed to shepherd. Examples abound in our recent history to show how traditional rulers from North to South, and from East to West are among the foremost enemies of the Nigerian people.
Finally, the challenge before Nigerians is how to develop a new sense of national cohesion, a new sense of patriotism, and a new vision of Nigeria as our true homeland. We must get to work and develop for ourselves a new civilisation that will turn hate into love, a new civilisation that will transform foes into friends and a new civilisation that will change pretentious leaders into true stewards of the people. For unless and until we come by this new vision and civilisation, by which greed, avarice, corruption, hatred, primitive feudalism and the manipulation and exploitation of religion and ethnicity are destroyed, the Nigerian nation will yet remain distressed and its people traumatised. Unless and until this moral transformation takes place in the hearts of individuals and groups, not even a sovereign national conference will save our land.
