Nigeria: Journey to Nationhood.
Transcending Challenges: Attaining True Nationhood
Lecture delivered on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Catholic Herald
by Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH, Lagos, October 5th, 2024
The journey to nationhood, like all journeys, has a lot of assumptions, requiring proper planning, resources and some degree of knowledge of the terrain by the travellers. When it comes to the journey of a nation, there are no limits or boundaries that we can place, the resources are impossible to calculate and even the destination is a shifting kaleidoscope of promises, hopes and failures. So, for the purpose of our discussion, I will skip through any postulations and make my case in three phases. The first is to look at the nature of this journey and try to briefly ask why ours seems to have generated so much anxiety, doubt, frustration, and pain. Secondly, I will briefly ask, to borrow the words of Phil Collins of blessed memory, what happened (to us) on the way to heaven? Thirdly, I will identify one or two stories and argue that journeys to nationhood demand discipline, patience and far more sacrifice than we are prepared to admit. It is a journey of life and generations.
Why has our journey generated so much pain?
Nigeria today is consumed by an almost suicidal passion of self-abnegation which manifests itself in the incessant collective self-flagellation that has become embedded in our collective psyche. Ask an average Nigerian what he or she thinks about themselves, their families, communities, not to talk of their nation, and they will go into seizures and fits of apoplexy, feeling sorry for themselves, blaming everyone around them, castigating their country and its leaders. Nigerians wonder if we are a nation, a people, a state or if we qualify to be called a country. I refuse to be dragged into the fruitless debate. Suffice it to say that by whatever name we choose to call it, Nigeria, like every nation, is characterized by a geopolitical boundary, cultures, narratives, languages and histories. No two countries have the same story and the processes of moulding these identities is what is called statecraft. Often, what we may call a nation today is the result of an amalgam by conquests of many other nations with a small n. Every nation is the result of a peculiar historical process and, as I said, Nigeria is not different. Our concerns should be a proper reading of where we have come from, where we are going, and how we can get there.
Nigerians love to abuse, vilify and criticize their country by rehashing famous but tired and unhelpful excuses about themselves and their histories. They say, we are many nations, we were forcefully brought together, victims of a forced marriage and held against our will by the British. They say we have a Constitution that was forced upon us by the colonial government and their military surrogates. Although these debates have gone on in Nigeria for a long time, we have made little progress largely because the travellers on this journey have had problems of poor map reading. Many of those who have led this journey have tended to suffer visual impairment, limited sense of direction, lack of clarity of vision. We have therefore been faced with problems of lack of knowledge of distance, misuse of resources, and disrupted leadership with different visions. In the course of this journey, many travellers have fallen sick, some have died of hunger, but the journey continues. We have often travelled in circles, with a blurred vision, and seemingly losing faith in ourselves. Yet, the journey continues.
In every journey, people fall sick, run out of resources, become tired, die and often have regrets. The journey of the people of God in the Book of Exodus should be taken as a metaphor for understanding the nature of the challenges to nation building. It is quite significant that from Moses, Arafat, Mandela to Netanyahu, most journeys to nationhood are stories full of blood, sweat and tears. In all, there are no short cuts. In the case of the people of Israel, it is not enough that God raised up leaders for them, it is not enough that they were fed freely, it is not enough that God intervened in their wars and that endless miracles were performed to allay their fears. Despite the Covenant with a faithful God, the people of Israel still rebelled against their leaders and against God. They blamed God even for the free food that they were offered. The stubborn Israelites raised the banners of, We No Go Gree for God. We no go Gree for Moses. So, when recently, Nigerian Youth say; We No Go Gree for Anybody or, End Bad Governance, they are all living the history of the moments of frustration on the journey to nationhood.
To continue with Israel as a metaphor, being bitten by snakes was an expression of failure/sin and redemption. So now that we are being bitten by the snakes of suffering, hunger and suffering, we must pose some questions: Who will raise a serpent of redemption for us? Who will encourage us to continue on the journey? Who will give us what the long-distance runners call, a second wind, that extra strength or oxygen that fills your lungs and renews your strength when you get tired but must not stop? Who will give us the can do, will do, must do, spirit of sacrifice that comes with nation building? Who will mount a bill board for us with the words of Prophet Isaiah boldly saying: But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Is. 40:31). Who will direct our eyes, hearts and minds to the cross of redemption so that as we are bitten by the serpents of suffering, hunger, unemployment, sickness, banditry, failed promises, we shall know that there is salvation in the cross? Let me attempt to provide a context for our reflections.
Nigeria’s dilemma is best captured by the epic poem of W.B Yeats, titled, The Second Coming. The first verse says: Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The blood dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned. The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity. I am concerned with the last line of this poem. Yes, today, here we are, as a country, with degrees from the world’s best institutions. here we are with some of the best minds anywhere in the world, yet, here we are, being held captive, unable build a nation, unable to make progress on our journey. Here we are, being held hostage by a band of illiterate, rag-tag, dishevelled, murderous, inhuman bandits from the pits of hell. Men from the stone age are holding an entire nation, its government, security agencies to ransom. We are reaping the consequences of what happens when the best lack conviction. We are reaping the fruits of what happens when the worst are full of passionate intensity. How did we get to this part of our journey to nationhood? We are paying the price for what happens when an elite is unable, unwilling to lead.
What happened (to us) on the way to heaven?
In my view, too many things are often missing in our discussions about our country. We have presented many reasons to explain why we have performed so badly. As I said, we have referred to our country as a mistake. Some have found validation in the claim that Chief Awolowo said Nigeria was a mere geographical expression. The statement itself was not original to Chief Awolowo, contrary to what has become popular. This statement was made by Count Metternich of Germany (German Ambassador to London) who over 200 years ago referred to France contemptibly as a mere geographical expression! After those years, has France transcended its challenges and attained real nationhood? We know the crisis that that country is going through right now.
John Major, former British Prime Minister, in the course of an address at Westminster some years back, asked his audience to raise their hands if there was anyone in the room who believed that after over 850 years of trying to plant Democracy in the UK, they had succeeded. He confessed that of course no hand went up and then chided his audience by saying: The belief that we can pick up our Democracy and transplant it into other countries where they have no historical instinct for Democracy is fatuous; it isn’t going to happen. Unfortunately, his great great grand ancestors believed they could, but that is story for another day.
In an opinion article which was published in This Day newspaper (July 14th, 2024), Bishop Godfrey Onah and I argued that although the principles of Democracy were important for Africa, the assumptions in that system of government had failed to address the issues of the peculiar African environment. In the absence of such drivers of Democracy like an enlightened intellectual and economic elite, infrastructure, matured institutions of state, and a bureaucracy, ours was still largely a work in progress in its very early stages. We appealed for patience but dedication with the experiments so far.
A month or so ago, a delegation of members of The Patriots, founded by the late Professor Nwabueze, led by Chief Emeka Anyaoku went to visit the President to press home the urgency of the quest for a new Constitution. The Patriots represent a wide body of opinion of those who believe that unless we throw away the 1979 Constitution and write a new one, Nigeria’s stagnation will continue. They also argue that what we have was given to us in the 1979 Constitution by the military, and cannot work. Furthermore, some argue that the opening clause, We, the people, is an aberration and a fraud because we Nigerians didn’t write the Constitution and were not consulted. Popular as these arguments and views are, I think the proponents overstate and overstretch the facts a bit. I am not a lawyer but my views differ a bit in the sense that focus on a mere document without the disposition of the operators only leads to more frustration of a worker quarrelling with his tools.
First, can we really argue that the military gave us a Constitution as these critics claim? Yes, sadly, the military has always proposed amendments to Draft Constitutions but is that enough to call the final product a military Constitution? In 1976, the federal government set up a panel of 50 eminent and the best legal minds across the board who gave us a Draft Constitution. It was later submitted for public debate openly in 1977/78, drawing members from the length and breathe of Nigeria. The process canvassed for and took views, reports and memoranda from all over Nigeria. That gave us the 1979 Constitution despite the military disruptions. In between, and for the better part of over thirty years, government after government, military and civilian have set up so many trojan horses to review or re-write new Constitutions. I had the honour of serving as the Secretary to one of these initiatives in 2005. I saw the shenanigans at close quarters. These were largely gatherings of old political war horses whose main concerns were with political horse trading and machinations. They were often consumed with narrow ethno-regional interests, hence, the occasional theatricals in the jamboree.
These efforts at Constitutional Amendments and Reviews have become part of the vocabulary of our Democracy and a heuristic device for creating the impression that Nigeria can never find the right Constitution. If we were serious, we would have gone past this post by now.
I do not deny that a good Constitution is fundamental to a nation’s ability to transcend its challenges. However, no nation has gone about it in the bizarre and shambolic manner that Nigeria has continued to do. A Constitution is fundamental to how a people govern themselves and how they build institutions of state that regulate human behaviour aimed at attaining a just and an equitable society. However, as a document by mortal men and women, we need to be more circumspect in ascribing some magical or mythical powers to a mere human document. In my view, it is only time, operation, discipline, practice, and more practice, patience, and more patience, that confer on a constitution the legitimacy that engenders awe and reverence. A constant chiselling by way of advocacy smoothens the rough edges.
No Constitution or nation dropped from heaven, fully made. When God created the earth and everything therein, the Bible is full of the refrains that what He had created was good. Yet, what have we made of what God divinely created today? The holy books with all their injunctions and teachings have not kept us from sin. To make my point, I wish to turn our attention to the way the Americans have dealt with this issue. With its flaws, it helps make the case that I want to make, namely, that a constitution matures with age and efforts. Over time, this evolution helps make a constitution credible and legitimate in the eyes of citizens.
The American Constitution drew inspiration from the Declaration of Independence of 1776. Written in 1787, the Constitution was ratified in 1788 and came into operation the next year, 1789. It was written by 55 Delegates, but finally signed by 39 members. The drafters of the Constitution were drawn from a wide spectrum of American life even though it was an all-male affair. They included men as old as Benjamin Franklin who was 81 to Jonathan Dayton who was only 26! It was written to consolidate the hold of the white, male elite classes on power. Thus, there was no place for black men or women, no place even for poor white men without property and no place at all for white women! It took subsequent Amendments, specifically, the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments between 1865 and 1870, to abolish slavery, guarantee citizenship rights, and give the blacks voting rights. However, it was not until 1920 that white women got the right to vote! We must therefore pause and reflect about a journey towards transcending challenges and creating a nation.
Even at that, these revolutionary provisions of the Constitution did not self-activate to bring about a just society or a nation of the dreams of the framers of the Constitution. Some trigger had to be provided. The freedom that had come the way of black people was merely symbolic.
Realizing that neither the letter nor the spirit of the law could change the structure of their oppression, the Black people decided to take a step. In 1909, they set up an organization called National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, NAACP. Although this organization was set up to pursue the issues of justice for black people, it had white sympathizers from the onset. The story of their struggles is subject for another day. However, this organization fought against the arbitrary murders and lynching of black people by the notorious Ku Klux Khan, KKK. They also fought against the notorious Jim Crow Laws of segregation that reinforced the inferiority of black people. The courage of great men and women like Booker Washington, W. E. Dubois, Thurgood Marshall to Martin Luther King, Correta King, Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks or Angela Davies would later pave the way for changes in the lives of black people. By the middle of the 60s, such major developments like the Civil Rights Law would expand the frontiers of opportunity for black people. Today, justice is still far away from black people but happily, the torch has been ignited under the name of Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM). In these struggles, new challenges will continue to emerge, but each generation must renew its visions and commitment to a better society.
A journey to nationhood is a journey of life and of generations
To come back home, I believe that the idea of a nation of our dreams is an illusion. Who are we and who can dream for another? Who can foresee the dreams of another generation so clearly? Who has the right to dream for others? Today, most parents realise that they cannot decide the future of their children by daring to dream for them. If Jay-Jay Okocha had listened to the dreams of his parents, perhaps he would have been a clerk or a teacher somewhere in Asaba and not the soccer wizard he became. If Davido had followed the advice of his parents, perhaps he would still be David Adeleke probably a middle level banker. Ronaldo’s mother named him after President Ronald Reagan. Had he listened to his mother, he might have been an Assistant to some politician, not the world’s best football player as he is today.
Had I listened to my mother who threatened to kill herself if I became a priest, perhaps I would have been some palm wine tapper married to two or three wives in my village. The Hausa say, You cannot borrow someone’s mouth to eat onions. The Japanese version says, you cannot borrow another person’s buttocks to sit down. Leaders of nations or parents can and must have visions, dreams of what they want their children or countries to look like. However, all that they can and should do is have the imagination to create the environment for them to thrive. Thus, to achieve a nation of our dreams, leaders have to have the clarity of vision and create the required conditions for citizens to achieve their dreams. It is therefore these collective dreams that make a great nation, a nation of our collective dreams. Let me turn my attention to some concrete proposals as I try to conclude.
First, every nation requires a robust set of institutions around which, what the American founding fathers called, the pursuit of happiness can revolve. These institutions should serve as a gate-way to the realization of the dreams of citizens. They include a Justice system that is independent and free around which the notion of the rule of law revolves. The road to the courts must be a frequent destination by citizens as they daily seek the interpretations of the letter and the spirit of their Constitutional rights. In the case of the United States for example, a lot of progress has been made since the struggles of the NAACP right down to the BLM movement today. For example, had Homer Plessy not challenged the Supreme Court ruling of Separate but Equal (E Pluribus Unum) in what became the Plessy vs. Ferguson case in 1892, the landmark judgment of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 would not have opened up the frontiers of opportunity for black men and women.
In our own country, the great Justice Oputa once said that: Every aggrieved person is looking for justice from the courts, for redress, for remedy, for restitution, or else an injunction as justice of each particular case dictates. But Rights and Justice are abstract concepts. No one has ever seen Justice on a walk, and no one knows the latitude or longitude of Rights. that is where the Judge comes in. He is the magician who can perform this miracle. I do not wish to enter the murky waters of the quality of judiciary that we have in Nigeria. However, we know that our country has seen some extraordinarily brilliant, dedicated, and committed Judges who have shown commitment to the delivery of justice. However, sadly, today, the Judiciary is now the butt of jokes. Without a respected Judiciary, no nation can achieve its dreams and goals especially in the area of justice and equity.
Second, perhaps more than other institutions, an effective and efficient Bureaucracy, that conveyor belt for carrying through the intentions of government is fundamental to how a people achieve a sense of nationhood. Therefore, the quality and calibre of men and women who run the bureaucracy determines whether the good intentions of government can impact on the lives of citizens. People speak a lot about how Singapore has turned out. President Lee Kuan Yew made the public service the most important vehicle for this government. Imagine how the worl
