1st October 1960 a day to remember

 

UNITY— A FACTOR FOR NIGERIA'S DEVELOPMENTAL RESILENCE

Ishaq Bilal 

"Today is Independence Day. The first of October 1960 is a date to which for two years every Nigerian has been eagerly looking forward. At last, our great day has arrived, and Nigeria is now indeed an independent sovereign nation."

Those were the words of Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa at the Tafawa Balewa square in Lagos on the 1st of October 1960 when Nigeria broke free from the hold of the British colonial rule. This is one of the greatest achievement that has ever happened in the history of Nigeria. Meanwhile, In the course of struggle to attain independence, we see various capacity elites from different part of the country like Herbert Marcauley, Nnamdi Azikiwe from the east, Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti from the south-west and Ahmadu Bello, Aminu Kano from the north etc. This men fought for the good of this country despite their ethnic diversification to attain a common goal "NIGERIA". This is what i call UNITY IN ETHNIC DIVERSITY and it serves as the greatest weapon they used in salvating Nigeria and would also continue to be the best instrument of development in Nigeria if not ignored. Nigeria has also witness different system of governance in the journey of governing this great country with most of these systems owing into great disaster of underdevelopment— economically, socially, politically, security wise and so on. I have however learnt from a view of the journey of this great country since independence that one of the defining factor for this great deal of underdevelopment is absence of UNITY.

That main tool "Unity" that was employed by our founding fathers in liberating Nigeria from the British exploits has long been dumped by our power clamoring leaders leaving the labour of our past heroes shallow along the drain. The factors that informed this disunity include the early fight for power, division of the country into states, tribalism as well as as the principle of media stereotype.

 The quest for power, governance amongst Nigerians (funny to start from those who unitedly fought for independence) immediately after independence saw the creation of political parties that were regionally based with no national outlook. This is when regional politics started in Nigeria and broke away that unity we had in diversity. Political parties like the Northern People's Congress(NPC) with Ahmadu Bello as the leader was formed to represent the people of the north i.e Hausas, Action Group(AG) with Obafemi Awolowo as the leader was formed to represent the people of the south-west i.e the Yorubas, and the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon(later changed to National Convention of Nigerian Citizens), with Herbert Macaulay as it first leader, formed  to represent the people of the east i.e the Igbos. Each of these parties carry as their primary objective to be beneficial to their respective regions and not Nigeria at large. This is where it all started.

Meanwhile, Although there are three major ethnic groups in Nigeria but the country is inhabited by over two hundred and fifty(250) ethnic groups. Each of these ethnic groups started feeling that they are being left out in the governance of the country, so they started agitating for government of their own. This move further divided the country and gave room for sectional governance.

Tribalism and ethnicity as a factor that contributes to Nigerians disunity started when Nigerians began to take governmental decisions(especially during election) as well as those made by government(appointments, policies, e.t.c) from a different perspective. Appointment made by government are looked at from the angle of where he/she hails from?, what ethnic group does he/she belong?, even down to what tribe and clan he/she hails from?. These factor have limited the support government appointees are suppose to get from citizens of Nigeria. Instead of looking at the capability of appointees, Nigerians rather look at federal character. Also, policies of government are now supported only if it's in the interest of our state, ethnic group, tribe, clan and once not, then such policy is castigated. What a major hindrance to a nation's developmental stability.

"Stereotype" is also a factor that has played major role in disuniting this country and it is unfortunately propagated by the media. Various characteristics have been attached to every ethnic group or religion in the country. For example, the muslims are more good and pitiful in governance than the Christian, the Igbos love money, the Hausas only care for themselves but are generally truthful, the Yorubas are seen as most educated but weak people. Now people tend to use these media stereotyped characteristics to judge anyone from that ethnic group. These stereotyped characteristics played a major role in the 2015 Presidential Election, whereby Nigerians made their choice as to who to vote for from the stereotyped characteristics of the two ethnic groups of the two leading candidates(PDP and APC), instead of ideal leadership qualities and competency.

Only when Unity is truly considered and uphelp in times of elections, government appointments, and our decisions are not base on which state, ethnicity,tribe or religion, is of interest, that we can be sure of unity along side undisturbed development.