Nigeria is celebrating her 57th independence day from its former colonial masters. Many Nigerians and non-Nigerians mock Nigeria for celebrating 57 years of huge-dependency, unproductivity, poverty, corruption and violence.[1] The critics insist that Nigeria should not be celebrating the birth of an unjust and retrogressive society. Instead, they insist that Nigeria should be mourning their jungle, which is hostile to any form of justice and growth. Fixation on Nigeria’s faults could blind patients/critics to the opportunity for greatness created by the gift of a nation.
British colonialists created Nigeria by lumping various unconsented communities and kingdoms.[2] The cost of the merger, in lives and property, is so high that it may take decades to recover.[3][4] They lumped the various kingdoms and communities in convenient clusters[5] for easy access to their resources.[6] But after the colonial horror was exposed by Mahatma Gandhi in India, the colonialists quickly installed loyal indigenes to replace their positions, while the system for exploitation their crude resources to foreign industries remains unchanged.[7]
In this colonial system, the different ethnic communities are suppressed. Today, the average Nigerian native is confused between seeking to align with British mentality and upholding his African identity. His ancestral land is tied to a would-be-governor, who can allocate the land to anybody.[8] And any mineral resource that is found on the native’s land is seized by the imposed federal government.[9][10][11] With the denial of these major elements of production, Nigerians float between marketing foreign products and working with foreign exploiters of crude resources. With this inability to access resources to produce what they need, many Nigerians are hungry and poor. The effort to retrieve these lands and resources from the federal government is resisted by force.[12] And those who are not connected to government or to the foreign manufacturers struggle to feed themselves.
Being unable to access resources to produce what they need, average Nigerians become poor hungry, angry and desperate. In this desperation to survive, they easily fight, cheat, rob, kill, bribe and lie.[13] Soon these survival acts become habits that continues even when they get some wealth. The adverse effects of colonialism in Nigeria seem too high. The loss of native values for industry; the hatred, suspicion and violence resulting from the forced amalgamation; alienation of African cultures and peoples; the continuous injustice and exploitation of raw materials; the loss of cultural distinction and integrity among others.
Yet, it will be wrong to overlook the few benefits that came with colonialism. Human societies grow according to the level of enlightenment in the society. Many African communities were closed in their ways and oblivion of outside world until the colonial invasion. Some communities were reported to have barbaric practices such as human sacrifice, killing of twins and other mythical lifestyles.
- The colonial administration abolished different forms of barbarism in the different cultures, like killing of twins.[14]
- An introduction into a scientific tradition of knowledge leading to the rise of formal education, agriculture, modern industry, trade and commerce. The missionaries built schools and offered formal education for collaboration.
- Opportunity to relate with others. People are united by difference forces and circumstances: joy, pain, sports, worship or leisure. Suffering together under a common enemy has a binding effect on victims who unite to fight against their common enemy.
These advantages do not change the fact that the colonialists came to exploit resources and secure foreign territories for themselves. Of course, there has to be a motivation for foreign industrialists to travel far into the thick forests of Africa. There has to be a motivation for sharing their Western Culture with African natives. The colonialists’ stress in coming to Africa would have been honourable if they had come only for civilization without exploitation. However, expecting colonial industrialists to travel far into African forests only for charity may be naivety for non-apostolic missionaries.
‘Ihe e ji-ato nwa bu ka-aghoria ya nri’,[15] – being an older child gives one an edge to prank the younger one. But if the younger child refuses to grow to resist the prank, his mind becomes questionable. The younger child must grow and resist the older child’s pranks, and then they can collaborate like grown-ups. The older child does not just stop pranking the younger child, until the younger child develops a matured mind to resist. The younger child resists by saying no to the pranks or crying louder for people to help him out.
As long as they have the chance to exploit Nigerians through the imposed political structure and elites, colonialists may never give up. Freedom in itself is not given,[16] it is taken when the captive is mentally ready to pay its due.[17] They may have cornered us into an alien structure of governance with different degrees of debt and dependence. They may have serious influences on the military and elite-class for manipulating the people’s minds. But they have not taken away our capacity to develop our minds to reorganize ourselves in our chosen order for better collaboration.
Man’s mind is his basic tool of survival,[18] and no one controls your mind without your permission.[19] They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me, then they will have my dead body. Not my obedience![20] Hence the legendary musician continues to advise: “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves could free our minds. Have no fear for atomic energy, for none of them can stop up the time. How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look, some say it’s just a part of it, we ‘ve got to fulfil the books…”[21]
Time to Restartnaija –
The first step in treating a patient is diagnosing the patient to understand the cause of his illness. The foundation of Nigeria was not laid on the consent of the people, but ethnic communities’ suppression. The ethnic communities are the original and rightful custodians of the indigenous peoples’ customs, traditions, development and wellbeing.[22] Taking away the ethnic communities rights to their resources brought untold poverty. Hence, a non-mechanical solution will be the re-negotiation of the Nigerian ethnic communities to collaborate for progress.
“If we are unable to solve the problem of social control, we are unlikely to be in a position to secure our cultural autonomy …and to use scientific knowledge to promote human wellbeing.” [23]
The ethnic communities have to retrieve and develop their resources for industry. Nigeria is the most positioned nation to reverse the biblical confusion of human collaboration in the tower of Babel.[24] Globally, Nigerians are doing well, even though their heroic acts are underreported while their crimes are is exaggerated. If Nigerians truly unite for productivity and social justice, many developed nations will experience mass-exodus of their keyworkers.
“A successful Nigeria could transform the continent in the twenty-first century… In business, law, science, art, literature, music, sport, Nigeria produces phenomenally talented individuals as if its superheated society throws up brighter, hotter human beings than anywhere else.”[25]
The former colonialists can do more on the areas of global justice; they only have to look beyond the fear of freeing the world beyond their maps. Then they can speak from their hearts without diplomatic lies. Then they can be sure that they have truly given Nigeria the gift of a nation, instead of a fighting cage. Then modern relations with former colonialists will no longer be of oppressors and victims, but of free-business partners. The British gift of a nation to Nigeria can only be true when Nigerians begin to own and use what they have to produce what they need.
[1] Inihebe Effiong, The Shame of a nation and why we should not celebrate. http://dailypost.ng/2014/10/01/inibehe-effiong-nigeria-54-shame-nation-celebrate/
[2] Ogban Ogban-Iyam, Re-Inventing Nigeria through Pre-colonial Traditions In Issues in contemporary political economy of Nigeria.edited by Hassan A. Saliu.(Ilorin: T.A. Olayeri press, 1999). P73
[3] Cf. Oladele Fadeiye, European Conquest and African Resistance. (Lagos: Murfat Publication, 2011). P29-30
[4] Ibid., p68-71
[5] Cf. Richard Dowden
[6] Oladele Fadeiye, op.cit. p29
[7] Richard Dowden, Africa altered states, ordinary miracles. (New York: Public Affairs, 2010). p.3
[8] 29th March 1978, Land use act. P7
[9] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 2
[10] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 2, paragraph 1
[11] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 3
[12] Odi massacre instance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odi_massacre/ retrieved 31/09/2017
[13] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, The Number of Criminals in Nigeria can only increase. http://restartnaija.com/2017/09/25/number-of-criminals-in-nigeria-can-only-increase/ retrieved on 02/10/2017
[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Slessor
[15] Igbo adage
[16] James Baldwin. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/30978-freedom-is-not-something-that-anybody-can-be-given-freedom
[17] Ernesto Che Guevara, http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_revolution_is_not_an_apple_that_falls_when_it/343951.html
[18] Cf. Ayn Rand, The Nature of Government, https://campus.aynrand.org/works/1963/12/01/the-nature-of-government/page2
[19] Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083987/quotes
[20] Ibid
[21] Bob Marley, Redemption Song. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobmarley/redemptionsong.html
[22] Ogban Ogban-Iyan, op. cit. p70
[23] Olusegun Oladipo, The idea of African philosophy, third edition (Ibadan: Hope Publications, 2014). p114
[24] Chukwunwike Enekwechi, We must impose peace and unity in Nigeria. http://restartnaija.com/2017/09/19/impose-peace-and-unity-in-nigeria/ retrieved on 2/10/2017
[25] Richard Dowden, op. Cit.p 441