The latest round of Igbo/Yoruba super heavyweight boxing bout has again called to mind the agitation by some people that Nigeria should be balkanised into North and South. Why do they still see balkanisation as the solution to our political and economic challenges? I have an idea. Professor Achebe famously said: “Nigerians will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of the Igbo”. I will parody that by saying: “Southerners will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of Northerners”. Every talk about breaking up Nigeria is usually targeted at the North; the Hausa/Fulani to be specific. The Igbo and Yoruba are hypocritically united when they want to spite the North. They talk about how the North is “dragging us backward” and how only a break-up would “liberate us”.I hereby predict that the proposed “Republic of Southern Nigeria” would be a political disaster. It is wishful thinking to suggest that the Igbo and Yoruba will suddenly bury the hatchet in the new country. To start with, where would the capital be? Lagos or Enugu or Port Harcourt? They will have to hold a sovereign national conference on that. The argument will start from whether or not Lagos is no man’s land. As soon as they settle that one, they will hold another sovereign national conference to determine the structure of government - confederacy or “true federalism”? Meanwhile, how would the petrodollars of the Niger Delta be distributed? Will there be “fiscal federalism” and “resource control”? And while the Igbo and Yoruba would clearly dominate the Republic of Southern Nigeria and fight endless supremacy battles, what will be the fate of the minorities?Maybe you are in favour of balkanising Nigeria into more units, not just North and South. In which case, the Yoruba will have their own republic, with headquarters in... Ibadan. Or is it Lagos? Many Yoruba nationalists portray the Yoruba nation as united, indivisible and progressive - with one mind, one aspiration and one goal. They so conveniently forget that Yoruba states and councils have received over a trillion naira in revenue since 1999 but their “sophistication” and “competence” are yet to turn the Republic of Oduduwa into Singapore. To them, the Hausa/Fulani should be blamed for this, not Adebayo Alao-Akala or Niyi Adebayo. Meanwhile, the notion of a “united and indivisible” Yoruba “nation” is a joke, and I will not bother to comment on that. What should I say about the Republic of Igbo? Maybe I should not talk about the Umuleri/Aguleri war - and many of such tensions waiting to explode some day. Maybe I should keep quiet on the frequent Igbo-on-Igbo killings in Ezillo, Ebonyi State. Maybe I should conveniently ignore the Catholic/Protestant divide in Anambra State and the deafening cries of marginalisation from Enugu North. And when Igbo nationalists blame the North for their underdevelopment, you are forced to wonder if it was Northerners that helped them spend the trillion naira they have received in revenue in the last 14 years. Is it the North that helped them vote for Chinwoke Mbadinuju and Achike Udenwa as governors? Or it is the North that has stopped Igbo governors from turning the South-east into Africa’s powerhouse for manufacturing of electronics? I think I should just shut up before I am conferred with the honorary title of “Igbo Hater”.I will now summarise my arguments. One, the proposal for the balkanisation of Nigeria, as attractive as it is to Southerners, is not a magic formula for the nation’s problems. Two, the notion that the Igbo and Yoruba can live happily together in the imaginary Republic of Southern Nigeria is exaggerated. Three, the thinking that a purely Yoruba or strictly Igbo republic will suddenly experience peace and prosperity is subject to further interrogation given the fact that the trillions of naira that have gone into Yoruba and Igbo states and councils, ruled by their own sons and daughters since 1999, have not transformed their regions. It is clearly not enough to demonise the North as the stumbling block to anyone’s progress. -Simon Kolawale.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 06:36:31 +0000
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