Nigeria @55: Prologue: Still groping in the dark

One of the enduring topics of debate over Nigeria’s nationhood is the question: was Nigeria’s amalgamation a mistake? In 1914, Sir Frederick Lugard amalgamated the Colony of Lagos and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria with the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Thus, hitherto independent and culturally exclusive kingdoms, such as the Sokoto Caliphate, the Igbo hinterland, Oyo Kingdom, Benin Kingdom among a host of others, were forcefully brought under one political and administrative umbrella under the British Crown.
It was done by the colonialists partly for administrative convenience and partly to enable it tap maximally and evacuate the resources of the colony. This explains why one of the earliest superstructural amenities established by the colonialists included a two-legged railways system that ran from Nguru in the North East to Port Harcourt on the eastern corridor, while the western line ran from Kaura Namoda through Zaria to Apapa in Lagos.
Most Nigerians recognise the fact that this country is vastly blessed in terms of human and natural resources. It is a federation that spoon-feeds its federating units every month through the federal revenue allocation. It is a country where privileged members of the elite have grown stupendously wealthy by living off the fat of the land. It is therefore not surprising that most of these chaps, especially those belonging to incumbent ruling cliques, are fond of advancing the argument that Nigeria’s amalgamation was not a mistake but a great blessing.
Every president or head of state has drummed this down the ears of all who care to listen. In fact, all our rulers and their acolytes like to frown on those who question the basis for Nigeria’s continued cohabitation. They not only follow it up with the warning: “Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble country” but even proceeded to put it in the Constitution.

On the other hand, there are those who believe the country is a “curse” and a big mistake. They argue that it was a colonial project, created to advance the interests of the British colonialists and created in such a way that the colonialists would continue to lord it over the people through their chosen “indigenous successors”. They point to the lopsided way in which Nigeria was configured, whereby one section of the country (the North) is more than the entire South both in landmass and (at least officially) population. This has ensured that the territory is politically dominated by the North, which has so far ruled for 40 out of its 55 years of independence. With the recent election of another Northerner, President Buhari, the former region is set to extend the lead.
It is this class of Nigerians that feel trapped and sterile. It is from among their ranks that the arguments, agitations and struggles (sometimes done intellectually and sometimes asserted in terms of armed protests) have flared from time to time, followed by forceful putdowns by the Nigerian state.
We have, therefore, experienced both peaceful and violent attempts at redressing Lugard’s “mistake”.

For the full story, check the Vanguard newspaper.