THE Federal Government is reported to be planning to mark the 100th
anniversary of the amalgamation of Nigeria to form a single political
entity. It was Labaran Maku, the Information Minister, who first gave
this hint when in 2011, he had said “when Nigeria clocks 100 years in
2014, counting from Lord Fredrick Lugard’s 1914 amalgamation of the
North and South protectorates, we will have a full scale centenary
celebration.”
This was also contained in a communiqué issued
at the end of a two-day state visit by President Goodluck Jonathan to
Jamaica when the country was celebrating its 50th independence
anniversary and the 178th anniversary of the abolition of slavery
(christened Emancipation Day). The communiqué quoted Jonathan as saying
that the celebration of the epoch-making event would be a year-long
series of events at which the participation of Jamaica would be
welcome. “An invitation was extended from President Goodluck Jonathan
to Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller to visit Nigeria in 2014 for the
centenary of the formation of modern Nigeria. The invitation was
accepted by her,” the communique further said.
IT is rather
interesting that a grandiose plan for the celebration of Lugard’s
discretion —or lack of it — had to be brought to the knowledge of
Nigerians in a communiqué issued on the President’s visit to far-away
Jamaica.
Nigeria is today in dire straits. This is why we
consider it unthinkable that a country that should be preoccupied with
how to contend with its assortment of challenges can be planning for
celebrations when there is nothing to celebrate. I. F. Nicolson, a
Briton, wrote in his Political Administration of Nigeria 1914-1960 that
“the most remarkable thing about the amalgamation was that it never
really took place.”
THE situation in Nigeria today makes it
incumbent on government at every level to have a scale of priorities in
which the myriad of problems facing the country will be diligently
catalogued and addressed in order of importance. During her visit to
Nigeria, the American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, cancelled
some of the engagements scheduled for her in the capital city – Abuja
– for reasons that were not unconnected with security while the Mubi
massacre is still fresh in Nigerian’s memory. President Jonathan, in
spite of everything at his disposal, said in his last media chat that
he could not visit some states of the federation also for security
reasons. The Boko Haram extremists keep killing and maiming with their
bombs and guns. Armed robbers and kidnappers are not relenting in their
nefarious activities. The Fulani robbers and herdsmen have become a
menace in certain parts of the country. The climate of fear is palpable
almost everywhere. Is this the right atmosphere to start planning for a
celebration that will last a whole year?
NIGERIA has the
problem of massive unemployment to contend with. The various forms of
criminality being witnessed in the country are not unconnected with the
large pool of idle hands. The vast majority of products of tertiary
institutions are roaming the streets in search of jobs that are not
there. More and more of the country’s youth are succumbing to
deleterious influences by taking to crime. The resources that should
have been channeled into productive ventures for the purpose of
correcting the errors of the past will, in the year 2014, be committed
to a meaningless celebration if reason does not prevail.
NIGERIA’S
plight is known to be self-inflicted because it is a case of willful
mismanagement. A country that should be in flourishing circumstances has
been wallowing in self pity. Successive generations have witnessed the
emergence of cliques that have been riding roughshod over the rest of
the population. Projects that will be beneficial to the populace are
rarely completed because the objective is not the interest of the people
but the percentage cut of the initiators.
ON the other hand,
all hands are always on deck in the organisation of ceremonies and
fanfares that add no value to the people’s lives because they provide
opportunities for those involved to line their pockets. The 2014
celebration cannot be a difference.
The questions that
therefore arise are: What sense does it make for a government that has
been borrowing to balance its budget to conceive the idea of such a
celebration? How rational is it to think of celebrating the
amalgamation of 1914 when Nigerians are calling for a national
conference to redefine the terms of association of the diverse ethnic
nationalities that were welded together without consultation and regard
for the people’s interests and preferences? Does Jonathan have the
magic wand to solve all the problems facing Nigeria before 2014 so that
there can be a real cause for celebration?
Nigerian Tribune
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