SECESSSION, RESTRUCTURING AND THE PEOPLE!

There seemed to be all over the nation a feverish quest for a solution to Nigeria that is apparently in a shambolic state. Everyone in every corner is talking and the Northerners who had their heads in the sand like Ostrich for a long time have suddenly begun to confess of the terrible condition the country is into. The era of denials has gone and the chickens have come home to roost. Those who think that they will be unaffected by the raging tumult in the land are on their knees clamoring for any viable panacea to save themselves from advancing, consuming fire of a messy country. The South wants separate nations and the North wants restructuring, a kind of paint-up recalibration of the status quo without addressing the injustice and marginalization that had brought in the first place, the loss of faith, and increased the agitation for secession.

The fact is that a thorough analysis of the problem of Nigeria does not see secession or restructuring as a solution. The reason is that the problem is the people, Nigerians themselves who think that reordering or some kind of independent nations will work the magic of creating a paradise where all the ills that had soiled Nigeria to this nauseating excrement will disappear. They believe that bribery, corruption, hatred, and greed will never come close to the gate of the new republic. But such a mathematical equation does not add up. It will be a different thing if the agitators of the new republic are not part of the old nation, who are without the DNA and the seeds that brought the collapse they now wish to disassociate.

On the other hand, those who suddenly woke up to seek a solution through restructuring are clearly not well-meaning. They want restructuring but not justice, for the advantage they enjoy has become an addiction that they can hardly let go of. They don’t want balance in the polity, or fairness that can temper down the raging crisis. But the lopsidedness which the trashy document called the 1999 Nigeria constitution afforded them is the idea upon which the restructuring must be based. This mentality is predominant in the north which the Southerners who are equally calling for restructuring have no clue the restructuring has a different meaning in the senile skull of Alhaji.

For the benefit of the doubt, let’s assume there is an intention of a genuine restructuring, where the people adopt the 1963 regional government and abolish state government that had become a cesspool of corruption, will Nigeria resurrect from death? Where in the land can the former spirit of industriousness, competition, and dedication be found? Where are the youths that will like to take a simple job and build their fortunes and future from there without stealing or seizing the slightest opportunity to cart away common treasury? Where is the patriotism to build a nation for common good and not a scheme to rob and steal for selfish reasons? What is the guarantee that the new republics will be marched into by noble souls of Biafra and Oduduwa citizens and not yahoo boys, swindling pastors, dishonesty traders, wacky journalists, undedicated civil servants, and all past and present government officials?

Some argued that it is the leadership that failed Nigerians, but I partly disagreed. The problem of Nigeria is not only leadership because a leader is a sample of the collective nature of the people; he is a mirror of the perfect reflection of the people’s spiritual state. A leader is harvested from among the people, and he carries within him all the strengths and weaknesses that determine either progress and prosperity or, declination and failure. So, if Nigeria fails all of us are responsible because we are devoid of the noble actions capable of moving the nation to prosperity and health. It will even be a terrible resume for all the agitators in a Cooperate world, for no director will hand over a company to be managed by one who mismanaged a previous company, ran it aground in a deathly bankruptcy.

Here is the deal! We can agitate for a new republic or restructuring but every index and known facts show that nothing better than Nigeria will be obtained if the citizens of the new republics do not change their attitudes. With the current skewed mentality, the unbridled quest for inordinate wealth, the lack of patriotism and sense of duty, the wrong miseducation of the youth to own the world without work, and plots against each other’s downfall, it will be impossible to build a lasting and sustainable republic!