Some Governance and Peaceful Coexistence Issues for Sustainable Advancement: A Nigerian Perspective
190
Some Governance and Peaceful Coexistence Issues for Sustainable Advancement: A Nigerian Perspective
190eBook
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781546221418 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 01/09/2018 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 190 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
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CHAPTER 1
Some Perspectives on the Evolution of Large Societies
There are several accounts on how humans emerged into existence from creation. Every religion has its account, and science has an account it prefers to stand by. One thing, however, that is not controvertible is that humankind has been changing and is continually changing, not only in its adaptive attributes to surviving in the environment but also in its ideas as humanity expands its horizon of knowledge.
Humankind's evolutionary attributes have affected all aspects of humanity. Humans must have been living in solitary entities with close family units at the early stages of human existence on the earth. They fended for food and protected themselves from wild beasts and from other human neighbours. These small units must have been exposed to numerous hazards, such as attacks by other predators and wars from other expansionist human units. Life must have been short, brutish, and unpredictable.
In my mind, two things may have encouraged communal living. When a human unit engages another unit in war, the winner may choose both to kill the threats in the captured group (men) and then to take over its other members as slaves into its own unit. Alternatively, communal living may come about by related units coming together to form a stronger unit that can repel or overcome enemies.
Either approach over time will lead to an increase in the size of these emergent units, and leadership will be required to ensure that such units — or now societies — function well in protecting these emerging societies against all forms of enemies. In most of such societies, leaders who are the most powerful and who can fight and kill all others will be instinctively feared and obeyed by everyone else, and in each case, this person will also engage lieutenants who will help in the administration of such units.
The survival of the units and the leader then becomes the primary responsibility of the leader. It follows that, as societies evolve, people will have to take up responsibilities of protection, of farming and hunting for food, of education, of appeasing the gods, and so on.
That is the evolution of specialization, where people in societies devote time to acquiring skills in order to provide services in the society.
Specialization is critical for a working society, since it enables people to devote time to learning and to research; this is because many people depend on those who do so for the provision of such services. Thanks to such specializations, native doctors or medical doctors, house builders, spiritualists, soldiers, administrators, and others all become proficient in their fields of endeavour in a bid to retain their patrons.
The evolution of communal living did not start with humans. Even bacteria live in colonies. Kindly permit me to refer to the Bible, which recognizes the wisdom of the ants who are able to prepare for the winter in the summer; this scripture can be found in Proverbs 30:25. Again in Proverbs 6:6, the Bible advised humankind to go to the ant, consider its ways, and be wise. The ants have specialization within their population. They have the soldiers, the workers, the queen, and so on. Communal living is common among many wild beasts, including lions, antelopes, and many more. Many animals (birds, fishes, wild mammals) by instinct come together and journey together to procreate. That indicates the importance of staying together for the survival of the species.
Specialization also ensures teamwork, since everyone depends on one another for life sustenance. As societies continue to evolve, those societies that had wise rulers, encouraged enterprise, and rewarded ingenuity began to advance faster than those that enslaved everyone. With time, weaker societies and kingdoms would be overrun by greater kingdoms.
Humanity has had great kingdoms, and great kingdoms have been destroyed by greater kingdoms. The game has remained the survival of the fittest.
One thing we must not lose sight of is the role of science in the rapid advancement of societies. While some societies actively encouraged scientific pursuits by providing incentives for scientific breakthroughs, others (because of conservatism and superstition) actively fought against scientific changes. It is true that even in modern days, some societies, for inexplicable reasons, may still discourage scientific findings that go contrary to their current beliefs, could alter their ways of life, or make their current means of livelihood redundant or outdated.
Despite all that I have said in terms of the role of security and specialization in the advancement of virile societies, every progressive society must have effective laws and customs to ensure a peaceful and harmonious society where everyone is happy. That means that the rulers must put in place the dos and don'ts — and also put in place penalties for defaulters. Such a set of laws and regulations would help in caging in the antisocial elements that would tend to disrupt the smooth running of such society. A society without guiding principles will be in anarchy, and impunity will reign.
CHAPTER 2
Some Perspectives on the Evolution of the Nigerian Nation
Numerous ethnic nations have occupied the Nigerian geographical space. They range from the Hausa, the Bornu, and other kingdoms situated from the Niger River to Lake Chad. Some of these ethnic nations existed before 11,000 BC. The existence of communities like Iwo-Eleru in the south-west and Ugwelle-Uturu (Okigwe) in the southeast since that time is documented (Leonard 2009; Jones 2001).
According to the same sources, the Fulani entered Hausa land around the thirteenth century, and by the fifteenth century they were already within the Kanem-Bornu land spaces. The report also stated that, although the vast majority of the inhabitants of the area were Muslim by the sixteenth century, they were attacked by Fulani jihadists from 1804 to 1808; by 1808, the Hausa Nation was conquered by Usman dan Fodio and brought under the rule of Sokoto Caliphate.
The Yoruba people, on the other hand, are found in the southwestern part of Nigeria. They are the main group on the western side of the Niger, occupying many city states. Their nearest relatives, the Igala, live on the opposite side, where the Niger River meets the Benue River.
The Igbos are the majority tribe of the south-eastern part of Nigeria. Igboland, like the Yoruba, has many city states. There are the Akwa city state, the Onitsha kingdoms, and the Umunoha state in the Owerri area, among many.
Nigeria is said to have more than 450 tribes who were more or less independent ethnic nations prior to British colonialism. Apart from the three major tribes of Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbos, there are many other tribes, including the Ijaws, who mainly live in the coastal parts and riverbanks within the Niger Delta region. There are many other minority tribes within the Nigerian territory.
There are diverse beliefs by the various ethnic groups on their origins and how their ethnic groups came into existence.
Some states and kingdoms that existed prior to British colonialism include:
• Benin Kingdom
• Borgu Kingdom
• Fulani Empire
• Hausa Kingdoms
• Ibani
• Kalabari
• Kanem Bornu Empire
• Kwararafa Kingdom
• Ibibio Kingdom
• Nembe Kingdom
• Nri Kingdom
• Nupe Kingdom
• Ogbia Kingdom
• Oyo Empire
• Songhai Empire
• Warri Kingdom
These are just a few of many, totalling more than four hundred ethnic nations (Sule 2014; Leonard 2009; Jones 2001).
Britain, along with other European countries, scrambled to possess Africa. Nigeria was eventually taken by Britain. The British came with the intention to explore and exploit the resources of the nation for their own good. First it was to acquire slaves, who would make up a cheap workforce in their own nation. They knew that, if their intention was clean, all they needed to do was to negotiate with the communities and parents on how their children could go over to Britain (for example) to work for an agreed sum and choose to return home when they so desired. Rather, they chose to acquire people by force through slave merchants who stole people and sold them to the British merchants. The acquired slaves were treated as subhuman for the sole purpose of maximizing the merchants' productivity. Many died during their transportation; many were stolen as children; and many died in foreign lands, where they begot several generations of slaves. Slave children were considered in the same way we consider domestic animals, and offspring of slaves were slaves themselves. They had no future plans of their own, since they were the property of the slave owner. By the time the slave trade was abolished, these people no longer knew their roots and, therefore, became citizens of Britain or any other country they were in. Some chose to return to Africa and settled in places like Liberia.
Let me also say that some Britons and others saw the colonization as an opportunity to spread the 'good news' of Jesus Christ, and as a result, they were able to convert many Nigerians into Christians.
Nigeria was also exploited for other resources in the form of trade. Our agricultural produce fed the booming industries in Britain. Though this was a fairer trade (our nation earned some foreign exchange from the business, as we sold cocoa, groundnuts, oil palm, and other resources) I would think that we earned less than what our products were worth since it was more or less a monopolistic relationship.
Later came crude oil production and sale.
Nigeria became a British protectorate on 1 January 1901. At that time in world history, Britain was the most powerful nation in the entire world.
Within fourteen years, by 1914, Britain had amalgamated the colonies and protectorates into one administrative unit. Despite these efforts, Nigeria remained divided into the northern and southern Provinces and Lagos Colony. With persistent demand for independence by Nigerian nationalists, the British government made Nigeria an autonomous federation on 1 October 1954. On 1 October 1960, Britain gave independence to the nation of Nigeria.
This new nation adopted parliamentary government like its former colonialist government, with three regions each having substantial self-governance.
This government was headed by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belewa, who was the prime minister, and Nnamdi Azikiwe was the ceremonial president of the nation.
At the regional levels, the following were premiers — in the north, Ahmadu Bello, the Saduana of Sokoto; in the west, Chief Obafemi Awolowo; and in the east, Dr Michael Okpara.
The unfortunate event of coup on 15 January 1966 by some young majors led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, mainly from the Igbo stock, massively derailed the already bad situation. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Belewa and the then premiers of northern and western regions, namely Ahmadu Bello and Samuel Akintola respectively, among others, were killed.
This coup was frustrated, and a military government headed by General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi emerged from it. This first military government became a unitary government, as expected, with the highest and unquestionable command system from the head of state, who ruled by promulgating decrees. The failed coup and the fact that the new head of state was from the Igbo stock, whose tribe contributed the bulk that carried out the coup, aggravated the conflict, and many Igbos in the north were killed in a pogrom. This conflict eventually resulted in a counter-coup that took the lives of General Aguyi-Ironsi and Colonel Adekule Fajuyi, who was hosting the then head of state.
Eventually a full-scale civil war started when the Igbos, led by Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu declared independence from Nigeria as Biafra.
The war ended when representatives of Biafra conceded victory to the Nigerian military government led by General Yakubu Gowon in 1970. However, this war cost Biafra many lives, mainly from actual war casualties and from starvation.
This war did not only impact negatively on the Igbos; many minorities within the south-eastern part of Nigeria and some in the midwest region suffered casualties, despite the fact that a good number of them did not see themselves as Igbos or Biafra. They were afraid that, because they were minorities, the Igbos would not treat them well. This positioning by some minorities, especially the Kalabari people, who are Ijaws, resulted in their ill treatment by the Biafran army. The army maltreated those they considered as saboteurs, and many were killed in Abonnema (a Kalabari land). Eventually for whatever reason, the Biafran army chose to evacuate all of the Kalabari communities, starting with Abonnema and Bakana. However, these communities were lucky, as the Nigerian army overcame them just as they were being evacuated, and the Kalabari ethnic nation was liberated from this sinister intention of the Biafran army.
In societies where impunity is norm, majority groups will first of all take care of their own interests before considering others, especially minorities, and this affects weak minorities more because they have less power or voice to demand justice. The minorities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria where the crude oil is produced are still not getting the best of deals from the Nigerian nation after the civil war.
Several events happened after the cessation of the civil war. General Yakubu Gowon continued as head of state, and he ruled for about nine years, always postponing the return to civilian regime. Then on 29 July 1975, General Murtala Mohammed staged a coup that overthrew General Gowon. General Murtala Mohammed was assassinated in an unsuccessful coup, leading the way for Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo to take over as head of state.
General Obasanjo handed over power to a civilian regime, with Alhaji Shehu Shagari as the president of the nation. This military regime headed by General Obasanjo facilitated the new constitution that was used by the new civilian regime. As expected, some of the issues in the constitution had not been subjected to any serious review or deliberations. This failure was made even worse by the fact that members of the constitution drafting committee had approached their task with a poorly concealed military mentality, resulting in a constitution with a strong leaning towards a unitary system of government that was the hallmark of the soldiers. Again, at this time, many Nigerians were used to the easy money coming from sales of crude oil from the minority sections of the nation, and the unitary system was ideal to own and use the revenue the way the central government wished.
The civilian second term only lasted a little more than one year, when General Mohammadu Buhari struck and terminated it on 31 December 1983, ending the opportunity for learning through civilian mass action and resistance to stop the continued mismanagement of governance through electoral malpractices, corruption, and impunity.
However, by this time, the coup bug had bitten Nigeria, and the overthrow of governments became very frequent. General Ibrahim Babangida overthrew Major General Muhammadu Buhari in August 1985.
General Babangida tried a number of policies and experimented on how to introduce good civilian governance. Some were actually promising, like the option A4, where voting was open, as voters queued behind the picture of their candidates to be counted and so forth. However, he was instrumental to his disgraceful ousting, as he annulled the election that was acclaimed to have been won by M. K. O. Abiola. The mass agitations by Nigerians were unbearable, and he had to hand over power to Ernest Shonekan, who headed an interim government from 27 August 1993. Ernest Shonekan did not last long, as a member of his cabinet, General Sani Abacha (then Defence Minister), forced him to resign and became the head of state on 17 November 1993.
Consequent upon the annulment of the 12 June election, many nations severed their ties with Nigeria, and the embargo worsened our already deplorable economic situation.
Eventually Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, who declared himself president, was arrested, and he died in prison.
General Abacha's regime was plagued with so many unpleasant issues. General Obasanjo and Major General YarAdua were accused of planning a coup and were jailed. YarAdua died in prison.
Vanguard, the newspaper based in Lagos, reported that there was violence across Ogoni land as a result of demand for Ogoni Bill of Rights resulting in the killing of Albert Badey, Edwin Kobani, Samuel Orage, and Theophilus Orage at Gokoo in Gokana Local Government Area on 21 May 1993. This eventually led to the prosecution and conviction of Ken Sarowiwa (a prominent activist) and eight others by a special tribunal set up to adjudicate Ogoni civil disturbances. Most people were not happy with the action of General Abacha's government, because the accused persons were not availed the right of appeal.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Some Governance and Peaceful Coexistence Issues for Sustainable Advancement"
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Copyright © 2018 A. W. Lawrence.
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Table of Contents
Foreword, vii,
Acknowledgements, xiii,
Chapter 1 Some Perspectives on the Evolution of Large Societies, 1,
Chapter 2 Some Perspectives on the Evolution of the Nigerian Nation, 4,
Chapter 3 Some Perspectives on the Evolution of Political System in Nigeria, 13,
Chapter 4 Some Key Issues to Be Handled to Improve Societal Advancement, 22,
Chapter 5 Conflict and Peaceful Coexistence Issues, 82,
Chapter 6 Sustainable Development and Sustainable Advancement Issues, 107,
Chapter 7 Other Issues, 127,
References, 165,
About the Author, 169,