The problem with Nigeria: Confronting it – the situation – and not one another -By Rees Chikwendu

Rees Chikwendu

I have often listened to some Nigerians in their debates blame corruption and poor leadership as the country’s fundamental problems. Still, others, in their attempt to explain and describe Nigeria’s problems rap up the assumptions of the resource curse theory and the paradox of plenty to analyze the country’s problems. Agreed, corruption – which kills economic growth and development – and poor leadership are serious problems in Nigeria. No doubt, years of irresponsibility of Nigerian leadership could be blamed for some of the problems of Nigeria. There is a lack of vision and effective policy design to tackle Nigeria’s social problems. Nigeria’s public officials, on federal and local levels of governance are either complicit or perpetuate the problems. So, yes, corruption and poor leadership are part of Nigeria’s problems. But are they the problem with Nigeria?

Those who view Nigeria’s problem from the lens of resource curse theory and the paradox of plenty are in other words saying natural resources carry a virus that countries with abundance or plenty contract easily. Actually, when people assume what might be symptoms and consequences as causes, I tend to consider such people as intellectually lazy or, probably, as those who do not want to confront their demons. To me the resources curse argument is like contracting HIV or other debilitating illnesses and attributes its feverish symptom as the cause, or point to malaria as the illness. Even at that HIV or the disease is cannot be the cause but the act of having unprotected sex or the act of promiscuity is the real cause. In this example, to identify the cause of the problem, one must question the issue of morality – which has to do with human nature and behaviors. That is to say, the cultural and religious embedding of the individual must also be confronted. It will be lazy or insufficient to point the disease or symptom as the problem. However, it is the approach of many Nigerians in their national discourse, which does not confront the problem with Nigeria but merely identifies the problems in Nigeria.

Why is that so?

Over the years, after the civil war, Nigerians have developed post-traumatic Biafran syndrome. This syndrome has kept Nigerians from confronting their fundamental national problem or their national demons. Rather, they continue to sweep it under the carpet. They have refused to teach their children their own history. They have also refused to call a national deliberation dialogue to address the fundamental issue that has suffused the country. Sometimes when some people with some guts raise the fundamental questions on Nigeria’s problems and call for national deliberation, then you get to hear slogans such as “Nigeria’s unity not-negotiable” and “It is God who created and ordained Nigeria.” It is the post-traumatic Biafran syndrome talking. They are attempts not to confront the real problem. No communication, no dialogue – and the problem continue to be septic. If there is a problem to solve, at least there should be a chance to deliberate on it by the parties involved.

Instead, Nigeria has continued to be in a sort of no-effort relationship situation – leading to its doom. But they are doing very good in assigning blames. Each ethnic group blame the other for the country’s problems, although they dream and yearn to “live happily ever after,” but they don’t want to work for the happily ever after they dream of. Can you imagine that? In the minds of many Nigerians it was God who created the country therefore they don’t have to work in repairing its fraught relationship. They don’t want to turn it into a beautiful garden. It is the same God who created it who must come down to fix the problem for them. They forget that every relationship demands effort to keep it on track. They seem not to be aware that every success and achievement demands effort. No, rather, God will come down to fix the problem for them. Right now all they are good at is confronting one another. It is either the fault of the Igbos. Oh, no, it is the fault of the Hausas who are taking the country backward. Hey! What about the Yorubas? They are treacherous, backstabbers, can’t be trusted…the blame goes on and on.

The suspicion among Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities has contributed in keeping the country from being innovative. It is not as if Nigeria has got no intelligent people. There are many Nigerians all over the world who are doing very well for other countries. Nigeria has world-class leaders who have excellently managed international organizations and serve in the governments of other countries where they have nationalized as citizens. Now, take those great minds to Nigeria and watch them underperform or fail. Have you asked yourself why? Know that a country cannot be innovative and grow where its citizens are suspicious of one another. A country cannot thrive where its citizens are not in amity with another. This is because innovation as good ideas must flow, connect, combine and recombine. Good ideas or innovation must be allowed to cross borders and compete with other good ideas, form interfaces, and lead to an invention. This cannot happen in an environment filled with suspicions, strife and conflicts, and where its people do not trust each other. Nigeria still remains that country where good ideas are stifled depending on the ethnic group you come from. Yet this is not still the fundamental problem.

What then is the problem with Nigeria?
To answer this question, we have to first understand what conflicts reveal in a nation. It emphasizes disagreement between groups and parties. It is an evidence of rivalry-ridden environment. Nigeria’s numerous conflicts points to its primordial nature and problem: the lack of genuine citizenship and ethnic nationalism. Nigerians are not one and cannot be one, despite the delusional rhetoric of its politicians and elites. A Nigerian environment, with its current political and economic structure, will continue to be befuddled by the struggle for dominance and hegemony. Its ethnic groups will continue to react and treat another in an ethnocentric manner, and perceive each other as either inferior or an outsider, until the problem of genuine citizenship and ethnic nationalism is confronted. Today, no Nigerian ethnic group fights for Nigerian interests, but the recognition of its own identity based on the belief to defend and protect self-interest first. This is common in multi-ethnic societies. Therefore, this fundamental problem is what plays out in Nigerian politics, religions, state institutions, etc. Now, understand that it is within this space that corruption emerge and thrive. Each ethnic group with access to power by occupying public position wants to grab-it-all while they can. It is within this space that nepotism (a form of corruption) thrives. So you can see that corruption is not the problem with Nigeria. In a homogenous nation, the interests of the nation will be put ahead of individual interests, although does not completely eliminate corruption, because of the moral dimension of human behaviors.

Based on these, we can argue that Nigeria’s problem is structural. It lacks the right political and economic structures of governance. Failing to address these will make everyone in Nigeria, in the long-term, a loser.

To address Nigeria’s many problems we must start from this root cause – the ethnic nationalism problem, which result into power struggle and hegemony. The issue of citizenship must be tackled. The political and economic structure of the country must be renegotiated. These would entail complete constitutional reforms. Alternatively, which is not my preferred option, split the country into viable independent nations. And if eventually one or two countries emerge from Nigeria as role models for Africa, it will be better than this rotten and big-for-nothing country existing today.

Like in every relationship, if Nigeria is incapable of change, nothing can improve in the country.