Partitioning Nigeria?
Femi Abbas
POLITICS DIGEST – “Man is nothing but history after his demise. Therefore, endeavour to be a veritable archive of reference from which others can learn lessons after you might have left the stage”. – Arab poet
Observation
What is true of man in the above quoted poem is equally true of a nation. As a matter of fact, nothing is qualified to be called a nation or a country in the absence of man.
Preamble
Man is both a product and a producer of history. He lives by history and leaves history behind, as his legacy, at the time of his exit from this ephemeral world. This confirms the fact that man and history are like Siamese twins. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. The synergy, between the two, makes them look like a pair of scissors in which one blade cannot effectively function without getting firmly attached to the other.
Necessity of History
This is a period, in Nigeria, when recalling history is a necessity. And, that necessity has raised some vital questions which require some cogent answers.
How did Nigeria come into being as a country and how did she come to be so named? Is this name fitting and appropriate for the country that bears it? Can the name be changed and, if changed can there be any sensible difference? These are some of the questions that ‘The Message’ column seeks to answer here today. The venerable readers of this column can also provide answers from their own thoughts as they may deem fit.
Accident of History
On January 8, 1897, an article appeared in The Financial Times, of London, which suggested a name for the vast area of land, around river Niger, here in Africa. Earlier on, this land had been colonized, by the Royal Niger Company, on behalf of the British Government. The suggested name given to it in the referred article was Nigeria. And, that name was coined from the word Niger. How the word Niger itself came into existence is another story to be told on another day in this column. Meanwhile the author of the said article was one Miss Flora Shaw, a 45-year old British journalist who was then the colonial editor of The Financial Times of London as well as a weekly columnist. The title of her column, in that newspaper, was ‘The Colony’.
In coining the name ‘Nigeria’, Flora Shaw logically took certain facts into consideration. Those facts were as follows:
- At the time of her writing, the colonized vast area of West Africa which came to be named Nigeria had no specific name, by which it could be called, other than a protectorate of the ‘Royal Niger Company’ which Miss Shaw considered inappropriate.
- She also considered an earlier suggested name, ‘Central Sudan’, as aberrational since that name had already been given to a particular area around River Nile, which was occupied by a population of Black Africans now called Sudanese.
- Miss Flora Shaw also examined the appropriateness of a name ‘Slave Coast’, which the British colonialists had attempted to give to the vast land in question and found it derogatory. Finally, after a lot of efforts, Flora settled for ‘Nigeria’, which she coined from ‘Niger Area’.
Who was Flora Shaw?
The British woman called Flora Shaw was born at N0 2, Dundas Terrace, Woolwich, England, on December 19, 1852, as Miss Flora Shaw. She was the fourth of her parent’s fourteen children. She grew up to become a novelist and a versatile female journalist, who gained fame through her pungent analyses of African colonial economy. She was later to become Honorable Dame Flora Lugard, the wife of Frederick John Deatry Lugard of Abinger who colonized the southern and northern parts of the area now called Nigeria, and later merged them together in the name of amalgamation, in 1914.
Flora was six years older than Frederick Lugard who was born in India on January 22, 1858. The two historic personalities married in 1902 and lived together without children for the rest of their lives.
Profile of Fredrick Lugard
Lord Frederick Lugard was a military adventurer and an ardent administrator who played a major part in Britain’s colonial history between 1888 and 1945. He served in East Africa, West Africa, and Hong Kong. His glorious name, in history, is particularly associated with Nigeria, where he served as High Commissioner (1900-06) as well as Governor and Governor-General from 1912 to19. This man was knighted, in 1901, and promoted to the peerage in 1928.
His Military Incursion
As at the time of Lugard’s military incursion into the territory now called Nigeria, in the late 19th century, most of the vast land of over 300,000 square miles or 800,000 square km was still unoccupied and even unexplored by Europeans. In the southern areas, at that time, were mostly animists while in the northern areas were multitudes of Muslims with city-states and large walled cities.
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After colonizing the two areas, Lugard’s intention was to merge the occupants of the areas together, to enable him manage them as a single people in a single nation despite the diversity of their cultures and traditions. Thus, within three years of his expedition, he had established a British control over the vast territory using diplomacy on the one hand, and effective mobilization of the meager military force at his disposal, on the other hand.
His policy, at the time, was to forbid local slave raiding and impose severe punishments for recalcitrant while seeking a central control over the area through the native rulers.
The Lugards’ Historic Marriage
After Lugard’s marriage to Flora Shaw in 1902 and the latter could not cope with the Nigerian climate, he (Lugard) felt obliged to leave Africa and accept a junior position of the Governorship of Hong Kong which he held from 1907 to 1912. It was like stepping down as president, to accept the position of a Governor.
Thereafter, Lugard and his wife managed to come back to Nigeria with the purpose of joining the Southern and Northern parts of this country in a way that makes that merger a repeated talk of the town till today.
But to worsen the situation, a tribal military incursion was brought into the scenario with a strong intention of domination in January 1966. Since then, Nigeria has not been a country of comfort again. Now, after 61 years of independence, Nigeria continues to wallow helplessly, in a paroxysm of despair, despite her abundance of wealth. It became so bad that at a time, we suddenly found ourselves in a situation where figure 16 was officially declared higher than figure 19 and theft was officially defined as a lesser crime than theft in the framework of politics. On a daily basis, billions of dollars were declared missing from our national or State treasuries just as our foreign reserves are recklessly being depleted with fiat. Where are we going from here?
Democratic Tenure
Four years is a long period in a democratic tenure of a nation. It is long enough to lay a solid foundation for a nation. It is long enough to build a formidable edifice that can be inherited from generation to generation. If 16 years of democracy could not do any of these in Nigeria can one century do anything? If a journey of one year cannot take a traveler to the port of embarkation, who says 10 decades will take him to the port of disembarkation?
As an OPEC country, we have abundant oil wealth but we must import refined fuel for domestic consumption. We have a massive army of unemployed youths and we cannot provide electricity to enable them to be self-employed. Yet, we are insisting that we must continue like this even as billions of dollars are being funneled out of the country daily, by the means of corruption. Where are we going from here?
Obama’s counsel
In his direct presidential address to Nigerian populace on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, the then American President, Barrack Obama said something quotable about a Nigerian election that was to come up the following day (March 25, 2015). Here is how he put it: “Hello. Today, I want to speak directly to you-the people of Nigeria.
Nigeria is a great nation and you can be proud of the progress you’ve made. “Together, you won your independence, emerged from military rule, and strengthened democratic institutions. You’ve strived to overcome division and to turn Nigeria’s diversity into a source of strength. You’ve worked hard to improve the lives of your families and to build the largest economy in Africa. Now, you have a historic opportunity to help write the next chapter of Nigeria’s progress-by voting in the upcoming elections. For elections to be credible, they must be free, fair and peaceful. All Nigerians must be able to cast their votes without intimidation or fear.
“So I call on all leaders and candidates to make it clear to their supporters that violence has no place in democratic elections-and that they should not incite, support or engage in any kind of violence-before, during, or after the votes are counted. I call on all Nigerians to peacefully express your views and to reject the voices of those who call for violence. And, when elections are free and fair, it is the responsibility of all citizens to help keep the peace, no matter who wins.
Successful elections and democratic progress will help Nigeria meet the urgent challenges you face today. Boko Haram-a brutal terrorist group that kills innocent men, women and children-must be stopped. Hundreds of kidnapped children deserve to be returned to their families. Nigerians who have been forced to flee deserve to return to their homes. Boko Haram wants to destroy Nigeria and all that you have worked to build. By casting your ballot, you can help secure your nation’s progress.
“I’m told that there is a saying in your country: ‘to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.’ Today, I urge all Nigerians-from all religions, all ethnic groups, and all regions-to come together and keep Nigeria one. And, in this task of advancing the security, prosperity, and human rights of all Nigerians, you will continue to have a friend and partner in the United States of America”.
Conclusion
No country in history ever came into existence with mono-tribe or mono-tongue by design. Whether in the primordial or contemporary time, all countries are inhabited by diverse people of diverse cultures. The continued existence of such countries is just by management by reciprocal understanding, tolerance, endurance and sacrifices through dialogues. Every famous country is like a currency which recognition and validity depend on its intact posture. If it is torn, there can be no fame for it any more. Nigeria cannot be an exception. This is a fact which those agitating for secession should note very carefully in their own interest. GOD SAVE NIGERIA!
