All our woes including Ruga, the herdsmen saga, calls for secession and the throwing of punches in Nuremberg stem from economic problems

By Ayo Akinfe 

(1) Nigeria owes her independence in 1960 to India and Pakistan. After World War Two the Indian people made it clear they were throwing off the yoke of British rule and immediately they did that, Britain lost interest in the rest of her empire 

(2) In 1947, what was known as India then, was made up of modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Described as the jewel in the crown of the empire, India was arguably Britain’s biggest ever conquest. Economically, it provided more for Britain’s development than the US, Canada, Australia or Egypt did when they were under British colonial rule 

(3) Once India went, Nigeria was not surprisingly the next colony to demand independence. In 1951, the Nigerian Legislative Assembly passed a motion for independence but the British rejected it. In addition the country was not yet ready as the component parts of Nigeria had not yet agreed on a workable formula 

(4) Ghana passed its independence motion after Nigeria but because it is less complex, they could agree on independence by 1957, while Nigeria could not agree until 1958, after which independence was set for October 1 1960. Just to put everything into context, about 60% of Ghana is Ashante, about 20% is Fante and the smaller ethnic groups like the Ewe, Ga, Fulani, etc make up the remaining 20%. It is far easier to reach an agreement between such a few groups than it is in Nigeria with her 250 ethnic groups 

(5) One key feature of Nigeria’s independence negotiations was the horrific fear among the elite of northern Nigeria that they would be dominated by southerners once the British left. President Buhari and the cabal around him made up of the likes of Abba Kyari, Issa Funtua, Mamman Daura, Babagana Kingibe, Babachir Lawal and Mustapha Boss, still harbour this fear today, nearly 60 years after independence. I honestly believe this fear will remain while that generation is still in politics 

(6) One of the other main features of that pre-independence era was the fight for the soul of Nigeria between the Igbo State Union and the Sokoto Caliphate. Again, that battle still rages today, hence why Ipob is popular in the southeast. Some Igbos believe they have lost the battle irredeemably, so they might as well quit the federation. If you look at Nigeria’s ethnic skirmishes since independence, about 80% of them are between Ndigbo and Hausa/Fulani. Those two ethnic groups have given Nigeria more headaches than the rest of the country combined 

(7) Despite all these problems, however, Nigeria’s component parts were able to agree on a workable formula at the two London constitutional conferences in 1957 and 1958. If only we had stuck to that agreement, maybe we would not be having all of today’s problems 

(8) That January 1966 coup ushered in a lot of unforeseen problems that plague us until today. Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu spoke about the scourge of the ten percenters and the 15 percenters. If only he knew that military rule would eventually usher in 50 percenters or today’s 70 percenters. Maybe if he had a crystal ball he would not have joined thevlikes of Ifeajuna in staging that coup 

(9) When I look at the re-awakening of some of our base, dark and primordial sides like Ruga and calls for secession, I wonder if we can address them by grooming leaders the way the First Republic lot like Balewa, Awolowo, Azikiwe, Bello, etc were. Our problems are essentially economic and everyone knows thus, so why is the rest of the world not offering to help Nigeria by training her leaders on how to boost GDP to $1trn from the current $375bn?

(10) If every of Nigeria’s state governors could generate say $5bn in foreign exchange earnings, Nigeria’s problems would disappear overnight. Were living standards improving and economic growth accelerating, President Buhari would not need 85% of his security appointees to be Hausa/Fulani, there would no Ruga, Ipob would not exist, Senator Ekweremadu would be able to visit Germany in peace, Boko Haram would be non-existent, we would not all live in fear of being kidnapped and corruption in government would not be so rife