Nigeria, When?
Nigeria and that elusive common front…
If you want Nigerian leaders to see eye to eye, organise a big wedding. They need to be cajoled to gather at pre-election meetings that look like that call of order to warn adolescents who are hellbent at beating each other up. Even when they come together in those moments, you can see they’d rather be anywhere else. Still, they are encouraged to maintain peace and order at those meetings, as you would order children to not fight or stop fighting.
They may repeatedly throw verbal daggers and even be in danger of throwing punches at times, however, when it is time for wedding parties and condolence visits, they come together, united in joy and a common solemn state, just as I believe the founding fathers must have wanted it. If you want to organise a multi-partisan forum on national development, just do it on the sidelines of a major wedding. Outside of that context, a national development forum is never important enough for a coming together.
For starters, we do not have a common national identity and that comes at a cost because it is at the root of everything, culturally and socio-economically. I was taking a stroll in Prague last week wearing a classic Nigerian Super Eagles jersey, the Atlanta 1996 home strip. A Nigerian man identified me and immediately starts to speak to me in one of the popular local languages. I told him I wasn’t from the ethnic group of his expectations. I wondered why he assumed I couldn’t have been from anywhere else other than the place he thought I was from. I responded to him in pidgin instead. I think pidgin is a common ground. He was disappointed though and we quickly went our separate ways. I was wearing a Nigerian jersey but even in far away Czech Republic, I was quickly reminded that many prefer to see “Nigeria” only through the lens of their ethnicity. I don’t think that’s a bad thing if such people know not to impose that expectation on other people.
We are a nation divided. That’s almost cliché at this point. We have always been. There are videos on YouTube and books in libraries that show that our founding fathers appeared to see Nigeria primarily through the lens of their ethnic identity. I don’t think that is a bad thing either if you design the terms of engagement that also centers our common and collective interest.
Social media have brought our differences to the fore. Whilst some want us to believe we started hating one another since the 2023 election got loss and won, common sense and evidence suggest the election only added more layers to what has always been. Some politicians continue to play into it, knowing when to play the ethnic card and when to pretend to care about the collective Nigerian identity.
Sadly though, that Nigerian identity is lacking. It is not for lack of trying. We have built programmes and systems to help culture and nurture same. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the Federal Character Commission are two of the popular platforms that show that the country itself isn’t unaware of its diversity. It is. It is why the constitution insists on at least one minister from each state.
All of these have not made much difference because these divisions are profitable. Politicians profit off them. On social media for instance, you see presidential hopefuls with long posts that are clearly intended to fire up their base. And despite any pretense to the contrary, even their use of words and nouns betray them.
Football and sports that have generally provided some cosmetic meeting ground for that identity, these have been reduced to nothing. At the Paris Olympics, we are one of very few populous countries with zero, zilch medal. Not even a bronze. The Super Eagles are on one of their worst runs ever as we risk missing out on the World Cup again having missed out on Qatar 2022, where our perennial World Cup opponents, Argentina went on to win their third thanks to an inspired Lionel Messi.
You do wonder. When will Nigerian leaders across party divides come together to forge a common understanding? When will they meet without being cajoled by foreign partners or the allure of big wedding parties? At what point will they realise that this game as it is currently being played cannot have a winner outside of the pyrrhic individual victories? The Nigerian people are denied the needed common front necessary to build a truly prosperous country.
Someone could say, “but they are already united in the National Assembly”. There is a point there. All the parties are aligned in terms of allowances and other privileges. There is neither North nor South, no East or West, no PDP, APC, LP, YPP, etc., when it comes to sharing the SUVs that are needed for them to navigate the tortuous roads across the country as they deliver on their promises to better represent their people. There is unity at those times. There is a sense of purpose at those times. It also reflects the fact that, when push comes to shove, our politicians are one and the same. United in their commitment to ensure they lack nothing in the carriage of their duties.
You wonder though, when will they find that common ground on development? At what point will they understand that even they could earn bigger allowances and may be then deserve to if they help to build a truly prosperous and united country. If they could be blessed so much by such a poor country mostly full of poor people, can they not wonder how much more they’d be blessed were they to help this country prosper?
Social media users often ask, “God when?” when they see something they desire to happen. In this case, one cannot begin to ask, “God when?” for something women and men must seek and do for themselves. So, Nigeria, when?
This piece appears in the THISDAY Newspaper, 6 September 2024
