Is Northern Nigeria colonising the South? (Part 2)

Is Northern Nigeria colonising the South

I begin this week’s essay by touching on two related issues: First, I would like to acknowledge the demise of Prof. Chinua Achebe, and to pay my respect to a man who was profoundly respected and loved. He made millions of Africans proud, and was beloved by millions more around the world. They loved him – not just for being a great story teller — but also for being a towering man of letters. But more than that, he was revered just for being Achebe: simple, decent, munificent, and cultured. But as we mourn his passing, and celebrate his life, we must also console his wife, Chinwe Christie Achebe (nee Okoli), and their children: Chinelo, Ikechukwu, Chidi, and Nwando. What a man, oh what a man! Farewell, Achebe! Farewell!

The unwarranted insolence of some Nigerians, which was directed at Prof. Ibrahim Bello-Kano (of the Department of English and French, Bayero University, Kano), vexes me. What was Dr. Bello-Kano’s offence? That he rendered an intelligent and systemic analysis of Achebe’s work. (See “Chinua Achebe: A Non-Romantic View,” Premium Times, March 28, 2013). Their language was raw, crude and insulting. The overall vitriolic was saddening. Prof. Achebe wouldn’t have minded an honest assessment of his work. And, in fact, all his life, he welcomed such examinations and renditions. To insult and belittle Bello-Kano was, in my opinion, totally uncalled for. It is unhealthy!

I now segue to this week’s essay which obviously is a continuation and conclusion of a series started a fortnight ago: Is northern Nigeria colonising southern Nigeria? The answer is a resounding No! There are a dozen and one evidences to show that southern fear is baseless. Let’s focus on one basic fact: How many Nigerians of northern extraction live in southern Nigeria? A related question is this: What percentage of the means of production and or other economic activities do northerners living in the south actually own? And now, let’s compare these to the percentage of economic activities controlled and owned by millions of southerners who call the north home.

We know that the Yoruba and the Igbo control a sizeable portion of the business and economic space in the north. It also appears that there are more southerners in the Nigerian Armed Forces and in the academic and diplomatic arena. It is also possible that there are more southerners in the intelligence and security agencies. Because of the politics of census, there are more northern states and more northerners in the National Assembly. Nonetheless, the number-advantage has not translated into an overbearing advantage, or for that matter, a variant of internal colonialism. What we have, then, is a situation where the south controls virtually all aspects of the private and public space in the country.

How could the south accuse the north of colonialism when they control virtually all the afore-listed sectors? In addition, they control the media and the propaganda machines. And also control the banking, the real estate, and the insurance sectors. But in spite of the obvious “southern advantages,” they have convinced themselves that the north – especially the Hausa-Fulani – are in control of the country. They have willed themselves to believe so. As a result, they ascribe monumental power and influence to the north. This fear, and this belief, is so everywhere and so irrational that many have come to actually believe that in the affairs of the country, they have very limited power or inconsequential influence.

Indeed, in many political and economic competitions, the average southerner gives up the game even before it begins. There is the failure, or the cunning refusal to accept responsibility for their miscalculations. Also, they forget the insidious effect of the internal struggles and fights that are so rampant in the south. Something else: Take a look at Igboland. Do you see “men of timber and calibre” that were so common several decades ago? The 1960s through the early 1990s are over! Over! Are these not the same people who neglected the once thriving markets of Aba, Onitsha, and Nnewi to move up north? Are these not the same people who proudly build magnificent structures in the north, but feign annoyance at the gradual decline and desolation of many Igbo towns and villages?

Who do you blame if the Igbo decide to make a mess of what Michael Okpara, Nnamdi Azikiwe, K. O. Mbadiwe and others constructed? Since 1999 or so, the Igbo had embarked on destructive politics. Self-immolation, if you will. If things are bad in Igboland, well, you’d cry for the Ijaw who, since the advent of this Republic, had not had a single governor competent to manage hamburger joints in New York or Texas. They have folks such as Timi Alaibe, Godsday Orubebe, and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, as their heroes.

Any southerner who believes that the north has a grand design to colonise or is colonising the south, must either be mistaken, or have a sick mind. Same goes for the counter-accusations from the north. What we can say, what we know to be true are these: (1) Both sides have yet to overcome the primordiality and suspicions of the 1914-1960 years, hence both sides have the propensity to blame the other for their self-inflicting wounds ; (2) the country has yet to find an acceptable means of sharing economic and political power; (3) the refusal to convene a Sovereign National Conference adds to the wobble and siddon-look attitude that pervades our space; and (4) the mostly mediocre leadership at both the state and federal levels has been very damaging.

But most importantly, the constitution, along with the current political system and governing structure are so poorly constructed that they allow the bloodletting that’s become a feature of our collective landscape to continue unabated. This country has to be restructured. And I mean everything has to be restructured, rearranged and renegotiated! Advance economic and political systems are not accidental. Peace and prosperity do not come to a nation by chance, by luck or by an act of God. And assuming there is a God in heaven, he definitely will not come down to put the Nigerian-house in order. It is up to us.

What becomes of our country — in unity, peace and prosperity or in tatters and unrelenting state of insecurity and underdevelopment ­— is up to us. Ignorance, mediocrity, fear and fatalism will not help us. This insidious blame game can and will not take the country anywhere.