The Road To Underdevelopment -By Eze Onyekpere

Great nations take advantage of the benefits accruing from diversity in the task of nation building, economic growth and development. The task of nation building seeks to utilise and deploy all the positive qualities of the various components of the nation while down playing the negatives in a bid to forge a national identity where all peoples work for development while expecting to reap the dividends in equal measure. This underlies the aphorisms of non-discrimination, equality before the law and equal protection of the law. This discourse examines recent statements from the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa to the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam El Rufai within the context of our diversity and nation building.

To ensure that the nation treats all its citizens in equal measure and forges a sense of citizenship necessary for nation building, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 provides in S.42 that “a citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only that he is such a person:-(a) be subjected either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions are not made subject; or (b) be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of Nigeria of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religions or political opinions”.The above provision is found in the human rights chapter of the Constitution.

Nigeria is a State Party to the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination. The Convention states that”racial discrimination” shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life”.

Recent developments in the polity seem to undermine this non-discrimination clause and persons in leadership positions have made statements of intention declaring to favour certain sections of Nigerians whilst discriminating against others. At the swearing in of members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, the speaker Mudashiru Obasa stated that the Lagos State House of Assembly will make laws and resolutions in the areas of economy and commerce, property and titles, in favour of indigenes and we “will reverse all that are reversible to protect the interest of the indigenes. We also aim at achieving our collective goals of creating a robust legislative framework that protects the interest of our people. Going forward in this wise, we are going to employ all legislative instruments for the support of the indigenes of Lagos.”

The implication is clear that laws and policies are going to be made to favour a group and discriminate against others. Legally and legitimately acquired access to properties and resources of the target group will be reversed and denied. All these are proposed in a democracy and in a state where there is a common citizenship. The expectation was that the speaker should have been called to order by the governor as well as receiving a public rebuke from President Tinubu. But nothing in terms of a reprimand is coming from these quarters. The Speaker’s position is a repudiation of the provision of the constitution and it is directed against citizens of Nigeria, taxpayers whose only crime, in the articulation of the Speaker is that they do not belong to the favoured ethnic nationality.

Former governor Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, states the need for the dominance of his religious group over others. He was reported to have stated: “I always tell them. When during this campaign season, they said this and that and I replied ‘Yes, we’re looking for those who can deliver. We’re not looking at your religion. Of course, we consider the religious aspect but I can’t say that.”Here is a man who has been a federal minister, headed the privatisation agency and served as a governor for two terms. He may even be among the persons being considered for a prominent role in the President Bola Tinubu administration. In retrospect, his statement provides the background to the insecurity in the state when he was governor and why nothing concrete beyond platitudes was the order of the day when hundreds of Nigerians of Southern Kaduna origin were hunted and murdered.

Again, the expectation is that those who told us that a Muslim-Muslim ticket had nothing to do with religion would have called him to order and disabuse the minds of Nigerians. Deafening silence is the order of the day.

How can a backward and underdeveloped society like Nigeria make progress and harness the energy of all its citizens when official policy articulated by the Obasa and El-rufai’s divides Nigerians into “we and them”? How will loyalty to the nation be guaranteed in such an exclusionary society? How do you expect the group discriminated against to react? To keep quiet and suffer in silence or to reject and rebel against a system that denigrates their humanity?

To maintain the loyalty of citizens in a democracy requires the recognition and affirmation of their rights, dignities and freedoms. Nigeria needs the contributions and energies of all its citizens, ethnic and religious groups to make progress. The monies that were used to build up the former federal capital Lagos were not taxes or money derived from Lagos indigenes. The Third Mainland Bridge, the federal airports, the ports, national theatre, military formations and other federally built infrastructure were built from the resources of the whole nation. And the oil resources of the Niger Delta made the highest contribution.

For El-Rufai, the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination notes, “Any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and that there is no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or in practice, anywhere.” Bigotry will lead Nigeria nowhere. The leadership of Nigeria needs to speak up and take a stand against ethnic and religious discrimination. Silence in the face of violations will be interpreted as support by characters such as the above.