The Negotiability of Nigeria

There has been a lot of talk these days amongst the low and mighty in Nigeria about the unity of Nigeria, notably the sustainability of its unity. PMB and Prof represent the left side of the divide: “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done!”  The other side is equally strongly represented: “”This marriage is not working!” What I want to do today is to simply share some thoughts from a term paper I wrote in 2005, titled “Yoruba[1]: The Nigerian Ethnic Myth.” The paper appears to me to be relevant to the current debate. This is especially so as we must take the debate from the street and the banal to the intellectually rigorous, especially as regards the ‘prehistorical’ roots of ‘Nigeria’. It will take a few weeks to represent those thoughts. Afterwards, I will do an auto critic of my thoughts of over a decade ago in the light of subsequent research and the current debate on the unity of the Nigerian nation.

Nigeria is a federation of states which are segregated by three major ethnic groups: the Ibo, the Hausa/Fulani and the Yoruba. The eastern region is dominated by the Ibo, the west by the Yoruba and the north by the Hausa/Fulani. These three major ethnic groups were brought together via European efforts to divide Africa among themselves. Mounting ethnic tension between political leaders from these three nationalities caused Ibo elites to fight for their independence from the federation only 6 years after Nigeria gained its independence from Britain.[2] The Hausa/Fulani elites to whom Britain handed the government of Nigeria in 1960, refused to grant the Biafrans their independence, in order to maintain access to oil reserves in the southern Niger Delta which was a part of the East although in an area populated by the minority Ijaw and Ogoni. Oil was first discovered in the Niger delta in 1958 and quickly took over Nigeria’s economy. The low sulphur content of Nigerian oil stimulated great international demand; therefore the northerners (Hausa-Fulani) would not allow the Ibo to secede from the federation. The result was the Biafran war, 1967-1970, which led to 100,000 military casualties and between 500,000 to 2 million civilians who died from starvation during the war.[3]

My thesis is that ethnicity and racism is not an enterprise of the ordinary people. It is the lucrative business of elite ethno-political entrepreneurs. It is probably now trite to add that it is also a very dangerous and highly destructive game and, most importantly, playing the ethnic or racial game is, indescribably, not merely wicked but inexplicably inhuman: the perks and privileges of ethnic-mongering do not match the costs. I have always detested ethnic politics and all xenophobia. The present work has rewarded me with the beginning of some intellectual support for my natural inclinations against politics of bias and ethnicity. I must also add that this exercise has been an eye opener for me.[4] I have learnt most from the contribution of late Bala Usman[5] to this presentation. I have cited him copiously because I think his understanding of the reality of politics in Nigeria is the most researched and thorough. I have of course relied on several other, albeit less vigorous, authors because they help give a rounded picture of ethnic politics in Nigeria, a politics that led to the Nigerian civil war that killed two million people. This project has also moved me from being critical of the Nigerian state, from seeing it as a mere British contraption, to seeing it as naturally compact, politically, economically and, most importantly, geographically. My study has made it apparent to me, most surprisingly, that I did not understand my country. And Bala Usman’s writing was particularly helpful in this regard. He debunked three basic assumptions that seem to cause so much conflict in Nigeria. These false assumptions are, firstly, the existence of a fundamental dichotomy between the North and the South of Nigeria. The second is the inevitability of competition and conflicts between supposedly ancient monolithic and distinctive ethnic groups. The third is an inherent antagonism between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria. He argued that these assumptions obscure the mosaic plurality of Nigeria and Nigerians and the processes of fusions, diffusions, intermeshing, formations and transformations, which have marked the history of the people of the Nigerian area for millennia, before, and since the country’s formation, and right up to today.[6]

[1] It is worth noting that Yoruba speaking people exist outside of the immediate political playing field of the Yoruba political entrepreneurs of South Western Nigeria. There are Yoruba in Benin Republic, another country. There are also Yoruba in the North of Nigeria near the Niger River. It is particularly interesting that Sunday Awoniyi who currently heads a cross-section of the political leadership of Northern Nigeria, Arewa, is a Yoruba of the North. I maintain ‘Yoruba’ in the title of this paper even though the paper has metamorphosed and expanded greatly from my original intention of describing ethnic politicians of South Western Nigeria prior to formal independence from Britain, i.e., the period between 1945 and 1960 when local elites were already administering various regions of the country through elections into political offices.

[2] The Ibo wanted to be a new sovereign state which they named Biafra

[3] http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/biafra.htm

[4] As I mentioned elsewhere, what I write now is a great shift away from what I had in mind many before starting this work which was simply to show that ethnicity was a trump card in the political power tussle leading to Nigerian independence, and that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the chief protagonist of this ethno-political entrepreneurship. As I research I became more sympathetic to those like Awolowo whom I would have probably simply written off as ethno-political entrepreneurs: while I am not yet convinced that this Yoruba politician did not play an ethnic card, I can see at least that once in government he did well, compared to others, in the economic management of the region under his control, the Western Region of Nigeria, home to most Yoruba speaking peoples of which Awolowo is one. I am saying in effect that, while in principle I abhor all ethnic politicking, I can see the possibility of a good intention on the part of ethno-political entrepreneurs.

[5] Various underlined headings of this essay where I have made reference notes indicate that large portions of the text thereunder are largely verbatim citations of the authors referred to. Bala Usman is the most cited as I have indicated above for reason of his thoroughness and depth of research.

[6] http://www.waado.org/NigerDelta/Essays/BalaUsman/Usman_Misrepresentation.html.