By
Toyin Falola
In the natural order of things, solutions are implemented where problems arise—or, at least, debates on what those solutions mean. In Nigeria, there have been attempted solutions to find a way out of the Nigerian condition. There have also been debates on the best path out of the country’s predicament. There have been talks, in fact, moves, on what the national response to the Nigerian condition should be. However, the more ideas we debate and explore, the more contested the prospects of getting out of this Nigerian condition become.
Before delving further into the Nigerian condition, it is essential first to examine the consummate ideologies, problems, actions, inactions, and mentalities that have led to the formation of the malignancy of the Nigerian condition. Why has it been so difficult, even seemingly impossible in some instances, to get out of the Nigerian condition? How have the Nigerian people contributed to that which they seek to run away from? Are the country’s problems compounded, not by some bad fortune, but by the very acts that everyone parades? More so, in what ways have Nigerians attempted to escape from the Nigerian condition?
Discussing the difficulty of getting out of the Nigerian condition without reference to the associated causes will constrain that conversation and make it incomplete. So, when presenting arguments, the roles of the average Nigerian in our national calamity must first be engaged. Of these roles, we have the longstanding problem of disinterest. If the focus and attention of the average Nigerian citizen are considered, it might be amusing to find the country on the bottom of the rung. For many out of the about two hundred million people in Nigeria, agitating over the country’s issues holds little weight.
At the general elections in 2015, a fragment of the country’s population voted the administration into power. In 2019 again, Nigerians demonstrated their nonalignment with political issues by spending the day at home. Even during states and local governments elections, the general attitude of the Nigerian populace leaves voting as a task for a specific class. But a few years down the line, the right of complaints became free for all. Individuals, voters and non-voters, lament the collective sorrow that has befallen the citizens. And while this is an acceptable reaction to suffering, one should not forget the point from which it all began. Already, for many Nigerians, election days are desirable public holidays rather than days for performing their civic duties. If this is continued, then we might as well call the quest an odyssey, for it will indeed be a long journey.
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Furthermore, at the core of Nigerian society is a problem of internal division. From the inaugural days of the amalgamation down to the challenges of the 21st century, people have been at loggerheads with their affiliation. Rather than be branded Nigerians, a name that confers fellowship with other ethnic nationalities, many defend their ethnic roots while the nationality is saved for international passports. Attitudes that prevailed in the days of Nigeria’s infancy have been passed down through generations. Differences along religious and ethnic lines are at the forefront of any political consideration. In Southern markets and communities, Northerners are glared at with suspicion, and in the North, a slight misstep by an “outsider” is all the precedent for crises. This tense relationship and dissonance from a sense of nationality make it challenging to prompt Nigerians out of the Nigerian condition the right way.
Explicitly, the citizens seek a way out of the Nigerian condition the wrong way because their motivations are problems in themselves. Ethnic loyalty drives many quests out of the Nigerian condition, making ethnic disengagement from the Nigerian state the goal of these quests, a move that has proved unsuccessful, not once or twice. More so, the mention of religion or ethnocentric loyalties drives charged responses to national issues. Thus, Nigerians worsen a condition that would be less complicated without underlying rifts in ideology.
Similarly, the issue of grassroots corruption exists. Another hindrance dangling above the breakaway from the Nigerian condition is the diffused nature of corruption within the societal fabric. In Nigeria, corruption is a learned principle. Young minds are nurtured in an environment that justifies corruption and lampoons uprightness for its seeming absurdity. Even as anti-government rhetoric is never far from the tongue, the cheating mindsets of critics prevent these from gaining seriousness. Many Nigerians only see evil in corruption—one of the fundamental causes of the Nigerian condition—if they are not at the helm of affairs, calling the shots for corrupt moves. The moment they also get a chance at being corrupt, they forget that corruption is evil. This has blinded many Nigerians from the truth.
Break up into different factions all we will; the Nigerian condition will not suddenly roll away because two ethnic groups decide to split up and become independent states. If Nigeria were divided into different countries today—Biafra and Odua—we would, sooner than anyone can imagine, start to talk about the Biafran condition or the Oduaist condition, which would hardly make any difference on the Nigerian condition.
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In demanding justice, many Nigerians contemptuously treat their obligation to act reasonably. Corruption is a worn standard of practice for people in the civil service and other government offices, yet it is in these same circles that the government is most likely to fail. So, while it is convenient to shame political officeholders at every point, the citizens bear the fecal stains that are often overlooked. But as long as they remain, the validity of this quest remains in doubt. If we were to cast the above reasons in stone, a fundamental error would be committed, which is the failure to understand.
Regardless of questionable societal trends, however, an overwhelming responsibility lies upon the government. In many cases, the citizens’ responses to dynamics are attempts to adjust to emerging situations. Yet, any drug that must cure the Nigerian condition must work in both ways—a reformation of public mindsets and a concurrent attitude of change from administrative levels. On that note, let us look into the various paths that have been tried, all in the bid to find a lasting solution to the Nigerian condition. To wit, each of these paths finds strength in diverse arguments. Popular among these paths are talks of restructuring, agitations for secession, and fiscal federalism.
Restructuring
This is perhaps the story-changing solution that no one really understands. To many Nigerians, restructuring means different things. These may be classified into two: broad application of the term “restructuring;” and restructuring in a more specific sense. A broad application of the term finds faith in a loose portrait. Here, Nigerians characterize restructuring as anything, even the slightest shift, that differs from the current operation of the government structure. This model has no particular demand. Instead, it leads people to believe that satisfaction will be found in a change, no matter its form. It might even be argued that this is likely what most Nigerians accept because of uncertainty. There may be a clamor for a reorganized system, but where an understanding of what that should look like is absent, people tacitly accept a form that says, “anything goes.”
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However, there is a more specific application of the term “restructuring.” Here, the word is not specific because it is universally agreed upon but because the purveyors have mentioned, in succinct terms, what they posit it to look like. To the purveyors of this more specific form of restructuring, there should be reforms such as state policing, devolution, and decentralization. The advocacy for state-run police units posits that internal security management should not be within the unilateral purview of the federal government.
Instead, these powers should be adequately centered in the states. As opposed to the current structure, federating units can run their police forces, design and deploy them according to the peculiarities of respective territories. The idea of state police is mainly born out of prevalent security challenges across the country’s subregions. The federal response to this has been in the form of “community” police officers, another fancy word that portrays policing as one that grows out of the neighbourhood itself. In a burst of geopolitical dissatisfaction, governments in the southwest and the southeast have established their security networks—Amotekun and Ebubeagu.
Nevertheless, evolution and decentralization carry a broader political weight than their preceding counterpart. In this model, power is parcelled and redistributed from the central government to the component units. Responsibilities of the federal superstructure are limited to matters like defence and external affairs. Most sectors where the administration was formerly dominant will directly engage the states. Thus, the reins of power are held by hands as many as the number of states.
Secession
We can define secession in two names—Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho. It does not take much to understand where this is headed quickly. Amongst all the solutions in the public space, this is perhaps the most radical, most combative, and best attempted of all. No administration likes to hear the word, and those who say it are wary of what could come. In the context of the names mentioned above, what applies is years of litigation and maybe, in a rare demonstration of government clout, detention in foreign countries. Secession rends the fabric of the Nigerian map and gives each region its piece. It is a farewell to what we once had.
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There have been arguments against the plausibility of secession for any one component of the Nigeran state, arguments that find their footing in the provisions of the Constitution. There have also been arguments about the secession ratio: will those who secede do so based on the size of their ethnic population? What fraction of the national land would become theirs? Will minority ethnic groups join the seceded nation? There are many questions, arguments, and governmental moves; some backed by the law, others not so backed, which have stalled the success of any secession. The closest any part of Nigeria came to seceding was the first agitation for the Biafran nation, which led to the Nigerian civil war.
Fiscal Federalism
Fiscal federalism possesses ties to the incumbent vice-president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. The model presses for stronger financial muscle in the states as opposed to prevailing norms. Rather than have components that scramble for bread bits, fiscal federalism poses to have fewer dependent states. Without mincing words, it considers finance as the primary cause of political ramblings. Will the corruption-inclined nature of the Nigerian state allow for the success of fiscal federalism? Undeniably, there is a quest to get out of the Nigerian condition. The phrase “Nigerian condition” is not to be viewed at face value, for it truly represents a spreading disease whose symptoms are manifest on the surface and visible to passers-by—other countries of the world.
Nigerians are not wrong in seeking ways out of the Nigerian condition. In fact, Nigerians who have made moves to help the people out of the Nigerian condition should be applauded for trying. Yet, here we are, and it seems like the situation is getting worse by the day, making people wonder why this is so. In the last part of this series, we would look at why the attempts to find a solution to the Nigerian condition have proven futile and how we can genuinely end the Nigerian condition.
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Part 3 of 4 of the series on the “Nigerian Condition,” commissioned by the New Times. In Part 4, the concrete exit options will be examined.
Falola is a Nigerian historian and professor of African Studies. He is currently the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.
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