Moving Nigeria beyond 2030

None of these nationalist had premonition that their sacrifice will be threatened in 2012, that the dominant regions will be shaken by exodus of some Nigerians following threats and call that they should either relocate or face the consequences. In fact, it was their conviction that later generations will consolidate on these sacrifice for a […]

None of these nationalist had premonition that their sacrifice will be threatened in 2012, that the dominant regions will be shaken by exodus of some Nigerians following threats and call that they should either relocate or face the consequences. In fact, it was their conviction that later generations will consolidate on these sacrifice for a durable national unity. Today, the corporate existence of the country is being threatened like never before. Even scholars from United States of America are out with another shocker that Nigeria will become a failed state come 2030.

Initially, the country was said to be likely to disintegrate by 2015, while the current prediction by a group of scholars under the auspices of Centre for Strategy and Technology (CSAT) in United States is that Nigeria will become a failed state in 2030. Positions I stoutly disagree with. I am a strong advocate of the view that the amalgamation of 1914 was not an accident; it was a divine arrangement that we should appreciate and live with. I also maintain that the first military coup and counter-coup that led to the civil war should be considered as incidences that should unite us as a nation. Because, after several loss of lives and properties, a truce was reached and since 1966 the country has remain a union of ethnic groups and kingdoms, before the June 12 crisis and some ethnic feud across the country.

In the last couple of years, insurgence began to breed as minor protests in some towns. For instance, a group of jobless Nigerians went to suburb in Damaturu in the name of Nigerian Taliban; they were ignored. They are now said to have metamorphosed into Boko Haram. What also started as roadside misunderstanding by a passerby in Jos has become a serious crises spanning over years.

From the South-South, Drum-beats are in high frenzy calling for resource control or true federalism. Several groups have emerged in the bid to actualize this project. Unfortunately, the off-shoot of this project is the emergence of militancy in the Niger Delta with scores of kidnaps and pipeline vandalisation. Just like some people are hiding under the guise of calling for implementation of shariah to promote violence.

I appreciate the enormity of unemployment in Nigeria particularly in the Niger Delta where 13% of Revenue is being allocated to the region. Yet basic amenities are grossly inadequate from Akure to Eket through Ughelli to Eket. This should not be a basis to call for separation. My fear for the intense call for resource control is that it’s likely to be later reduced to local government and to specific oil producing communities despite being in the same state. More so, the various “sons of the soil” who serves as governors in the oil producing states owe their citizens convincing explanations on how the Derivation Fund are expended,  in addition to the allocation to OMPADEC and now NDDC. So, we must be careful in handling leadership problem in Nigeria.

Danlami Alh. Wushishi is a Minna-based legal practitioner. He can be reached at [email protected]