By  Sunny Ikhioya

TO understand this piece, we must put certain assumptions into perspectives: there is the whole as one, there are units or constituent parts standing individually and there is the totality of the constituent parts making up a whole. This arrangement is contrived to be fluid and dynamic in such a way that they can be working together both as units and collectively for the smooth flow and workings of society.

It is not a ‘die-cast’ arrangement, it is what a people decide on, especially those who claim to be practising democracy like Nigeria. If you practice it well, it will lead to progress, development and shared prosperity for the people; but if practiced in a skewed manner, it can lead to crises, stagnation and poverty like ours is tending towards. 

It is not a matter for conjecture,  ethnicity or religion as some of us will want it to be, it is arrived at by tested scientific models that can be seen, experienced and felt. It has to be done with dispassion, without elements of sentiments, and when the foundation is well laid, it will be difficult for man to dismantle it.

That is the challenge of the present day Nigeria: how to lay a foundation that prebendalists, tribalists and religious bigots will not be able to dislodge. In Nigeria today, everyone is looking at the centre, which is standing as a whole, very much disjointed from its constituent parts, stiffled of creativity and operating like a big elephant deprived of direction, all power but no sense; that is our Federal Government. 

We have the individual units which represent our states; by special arrangements, the states are supposed to stand on their own: self- sufficient, self-operating,  independent in their territories and creating a sense of belonging to individuals and citizens living within their jurisdiction. What is the situation on ground?

Everywhere you go today, apart from one or two, you see a collective without direction, waiting and looking up to the almighty centre to give them stipends, ignorant of their rights as federating units and totally subjugated to everything from the centre. That is why, on their own, they have extended the same oppressive behaviour to the third tier local governments, condemning them to inactivity. So, the local governments are themselves sitting ducks, doing nothing. 

If the collective states are are up to their responsibilities, we would have had a situation of agglomeration of individual states, bringing their individual federating power into the centre, where they will decide on how the  commonwealth is to be distributed, willingly and not by coercion; also, how the relationship and structure of the centre will be run.

This is the situation when a true Federal Government is in place, where the state governor will be the real security chief of his state, with the responsibility of harnessing the resources, welfare/development of the people under his territory, free from any interference. 

Of course, he will operate with his own security to ensure that criminal elements are kept at bay. That is how it is done, that was what the founding fathers of this nation did at inception and that is why, during that period, there was economic progress, peace and development and every unit achieved what it wanted, according to standards and enablements.

Nigeria became the envy of the world until some people decided otherwise, carried out coups and counter-coups that have seen the country’s progress skewed until this day. Because of the way we have been programmed and set up, there is no collective sense of patriotism at the national level; little external influence can infiltrate and put the nation on fire; religious organisations, rival countries, super powers and others afraid of Nigeria developing into her true potentials are responsible for this. 

How do we make our leaders to understand this? How do we make them know that the nation’s interest supercede all others? How do we make them to understand that a true nation state is of the ultimate benefit to all? These posers are necessary because, from the way we have witnessed the centre, out of selfish interests we have not seen a continuity of programmes at all levels; everyone comes in, does what he likes and leaves.

The other one comes in, abandons the programmes the predecessor was running and begins a fresh one, which he will be unable to complete until his regime expires. So, you find in Nigeria, a collection of abandoned projects all over the places; we can’t have light, good roads, manufacturing. Everyone is waiting for Dangote Refinery to take off, while the government refineries lie fallow. 

In attempting solutions to the country’s challenges, we will keep analysing previous situations and how they have led us to where we are today. If we want this country to get out of the woods, our political and other leaders must show sincerity in how they govern the country. If we must restructure, then let us do so without delay. If removal of fuel subsidy is the solution, let us do it but, we must not in the name of politics continue to sabotage our common patrimony; in the long run, everyone is feeling the effect.

The ruling party started with negative politicking and today we are feeling the negative effects. The Federal Government has, through the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, axed some  broadcasting stations. Meanwhile, they want their programmes to reach the populace in a positive light; what a paradox! 

Government is a continuum, it does not matter the political party you belong to, once you take charge, you continue from where the previous government stopped. That is why you see a Biden Presidency in the United States carrying on with a Trump policy on China; the country’s interest comes first. We are where we are today because of the break in the chain anytime a new government comes in.

For example, the Obasanjo government built power plants such as Omotosho and Geregu before the coming of the late Umaru Yar’Adua regime. Unfortunately, the line for the supply of gases to run the plants was not put in place. Yar’Adua came in and put the programmes aside, all the while looking for alternatives until the Jonathan administration came. 

Again, under Goodluck Jonathan, crude oil export reached a very reasonable peak for Nigeria because of the return of peace in the Niger Delta following agreements reached  between indigenous contracting firms and the Federal Government to secure our coastline and high seas from undesirable elements. But the Buhari government, out of pressure from interest groups, called off these arrangements without a critical look at the benefits of such arrangements to the prosperity of the federal government. 

Ikhioya wrote from www.southsouthecho.comoutside and distanced faraway in Abuja.