Nigeria is not working, has not worked; will it ever work?

During the brief period I am in the United State on this trip, Nigeria will be on my mind like never before.

I expect to make up my mind within the week on what I think about the composition of Nigeria.

Never before, since the civil war, has the question of Nigerian unity engaged the minds of Nigerians like in the present time. 

One thing is clear: Nigeria is not working. It has not worked. The question now is: will it ever work?

My entire experience in life tells me that it is better to have a large country and turn diversity into strength. 

My experience tells me that the Igbo man is better off if he could have unfettered access to the vast territories of the North and the coastal space of the west. 

Equally, I can see that the Fulani man is better off if he has access to the riches of the east and west. 

The same with the Yoruba man, the Edo man, the Ijaw man, etc.

The vastness of the Nigerian potential has pushed me inexorably to advocate for a united Nigeria.

But every position has its limits and its conditions. 

Someone may as well ask me: if vastness and large territorial space were my decisive factor, why did I not advocate that there be no country like Togo or Benin Republic or the Gambia, all of which are small in territorial space. 

Also, someone would ask me: how come that life in Nigeria is not of higher quality and value than life in Ghana, which has a much smaller space than Nigeria.

We must therefore be ready to examine the broader argument. It is not enough to focus on unity at all cost. 

We must be open to discussing the conditions for unity. 

And if those conditions are unaffordable or unavailable, Nigerians must be brave enough to admit it. 

The idea that Nigerian unity is non-negotiable is an idea that is now completely without merit. 

The unity of Nigeria, as well as any other aspect of Nigeria, is not only negotiable, it actually requires a careful deliberation and serious renegotiation.

I have been thinking about this for a long time now. 

My stay in America this time will help me clear my mind and finally get me to a definitive position. 

But I can say for sure now that I am open to negotiation of Nigerian unity.

My goal, however, is to make it a viable union through renegotiation.

By the way, I enjoyed reading the following article from the Daily Post, in which the senior Nigerian lawyer, Afe Babalola, voices his openness to renegotiating Nigerian unity. 

I shall reproduce the article as follows:

—————

One Person Should Not Be In Power – Afe Babalola Calls For Breakup Of Nigeria

According to Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), Nigeria need to return to regional government in order to recover from its economic woes and myriad of challenges confronting it.

Having a central government with a president directing the affairs of a large multiethnic and religious body has been the reason why Nigeria has failed to develop, he said.

“I have attended three conferences in Nigeria and return to regional government has always been my position. 

“Nigeria consists of over 300 ethnic groups and with different religious bias, so what we need is confederation or loose federalism, where each region will be allowed to grow at its own pace and contribute to the centre,” he said.

“This has been the practice in USA, Australia and Canada. 

“But in Nigeria, we have a central government , where only one person determines what happens everywhere.

“In the past we had regional governments where each was allowed to develop and Nigeria was better off then.

“Nigeria has six geopolitical zones and these can be allowed to function as component parts and Nigeria will be good for it. 

“During the regional government, Nigeria was growing faster. 

“Malaysia is a very small country with a population of about 30 million and this makes it easy to govern.

“If Nigeria has been operating the regional government, we would have developed even better than Malaysia. 

“Our fore fathers considered the population, land and resources as very large, that was why they introduced regional government.

“It has always been the smaller, the better,” he said.

Afe Babalola is the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD).

He spoke at the weekend during a programme tagged ‘diplomatic talk’ organized by ABUAD’s Department of international Relations.

Emeka Ugwuonye

For Diaspora Digital Media Updates click on Whatsapp, or Telegram. For eyewitness accounts/ reports/ articles, write to: citizenreports@diasporadigitalmedia.com. Follow us on X (Fomerly Twitter) or Facebook