Tuesday 15 January 2013

Residency over Ethnicity: A Vista of Positive Change

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Who would have believed that such progressive thinking would emanate from within the precincts of this National Assembly (NASS), which most Nigerians have likened to a ‘fattening room’ or an El Dorado for our chequered legislators? It is highly commendable that an attempt is being made through the ongoing constitutional amendment exercise, to introduce a regime of genuine and uniform national identity for every Nigerian citizen, wherever he or she may reside within the country. We have it on good authority that the Ad Hoc Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution of both chambers of the NASS conducted public hearings last November on the issue of substituting the ‘State of Origin’ clause in the Constitution for ‘State of Residence’. And though reports of those surveys have yet to be made public, the Senate Ad Hoc Committee has gone further to initiate an opinion poll over the internet on the desirability or otherwise of introducing the residency clause in our Constitution.
It is pertinent, from the outset, to make a quick examination of the import of the sought amendment, to enable all Nigerians understand the dynamics of what this change will portend, if it sails through. In simple terms, this amendment which should affect the enjoyment of Nigerian citizenship rights only as they pertain to inter-State and intra-State relations within Nigeria, may serve as the needed tonic  for recognizing the efforts of Nigerians from different ethnic groups or different States of the federation who have resided in States or amongst ethnic groups other than theirs, for a considerable period of time and contributed immensely toward the economic and socio-political development of their places of residence within Nigeria. It is callously scandalous to discover that some Nigerians have resided in parts of the country other than theirs for many years, working hard and paying their taxes to their State of residence, but when it comes to receiving some of the corollary benefits of diligent and responsible citizenship, like job placements, political appointments, bursary and scholarship grants for their deserving children, etc., they are totally excluded on the ground of ethnicity. The whole gamut of this reckoning with ethnicity has shut the door against merit and competency in our national life, with the resultant consequence of perennial retrogression and degeneracy in our forlorn quest for progressive national growth and development. Therefore, there is an urgent need to forthwith, guide Nigerians to move away from the treachery and deceit in regarding fellow Nigerians from other States or communities who dwell in their midst as ‘settlers’, while referring to themselves as ‘indigenes’.
No true patriot would claim not to have found worrisome, the deep-seated degree of discrimination, irredentism, clannishness and ethnic bigotry pervasive in modern Nigeria. These cankerworms have stultified the imperatives for steady growth and stunted the progressive development of the country in all spheres of human endeavour. Yes, these are the monsters that have greatly impeded the unity of the diverse nationalities that make up the Nigerian federation and their projected integration into a proper nation-state.
Those who argue against the proposition to shift the basis of enjoying citizenship from ethnicity to residency say it may lead to domination and marginalisation of a minority ethnic group by the majority. They support a sustenance of the principle of “Federal Character” enshrined in section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and its ancillaries and fallouts like the segregative policies of “Quota System” and “Catchment Area”, despite the shortcomings of these reactionary devices which have engendered and facilitated the sacrifice of resounding merit on the alter of mediocrity over the years, thereby retarding Nigeria’s progress and march towards development and egalitarianism.
The point must however be made here that the “Federal Character” principle is not bad in itself, rather, what has turned it into an albatross for Nigeria is the way and manner its implementation has been persistently pursued and  the nebulous extensions that have been attached to its proper meaning. Tribal bigots and sectarian champions have used it to wreak havocs of lopsidedness, nepotism, parochial insensitivity and brazen injustice against fellow Nigerians. If, for instance, an Ishekiri born and bred in Kano, who has lived there all his life cannot get a decent job in the Kano State Government bureaucracy on account of being Ishekiri by birth, then we have a huge problem with unity and national integration on our hands, and this completely defeats the purport of our much taunted “unity in diversity” cliché as a potential bedrock of our over drummed federalism.
It has however been argued that unless a formula for even spread of development amongst all the States of the Nigerian federation is evolved and religiously implemented, the issue of ethnicity will not go away, even if backed by the finest piece of legislation. The proponents of this thought say widespread poverty is the negative force behind the ill wind of ethnocentrism.
Our founding fathers, without any intent to diminish their numerous laudable achievements, contributed in heightening ethnic tensions and dichotomy in Nigeria by the way and manner they conducted the politics and internal affairs of the first Republic. But the fact that some of these astute leaders and statesmen decided to remain in their regions, while sending their subordinates and inferiors to serve Nigeria at the centre, disclosed the quantum of belief and level of importance they placed on national integration, at that initial time.
Our legislators must not forget that this is an issue with a lot of challenges and booby traps. Even Nigerian citizenship in itself has 3 classes, viz: by birth, by registration and by naturalization.
While the first is natural and permanent, the second and third are held subject to good behaviour. This underlying principle should be introduced in perfecting this change, so that sacred and non-negotiable indigenous cultures and traditions like land tenure systems and ancestral land ownership, kingship and traditional institutions, etc., particularly of minority communities, are shielded from any possible extraneous interference, domineering tendencies or adulteration.
NigeriaIntel

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