The Task That Must Be Done

Progress has been a foundational aspiration since the birth of a Nigeria free from its colonial shackles. But only through self-determination can true progress begin. The United Nation’s Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP, 2019) shows that not only has poverty remained at astronomical levels in Nigeria since independence (61 per cent of the population in 1960), it has also actually increased (64 per cent of the population in 2015). Where countries with much larger populations, such as China and India, have managed to pull tens of millions of people out of poverty over the decades, Nigeria has failed to do so. In fact, in 2018, the World Poverty Clock and the Brookings Institute designated Nigeria, ‘the poverty capital of the world’—beating out stiff competition for the illustrious title. As such, the ‘progress’ benchmark remains unmet.

Peace was never a given for a Nigeria formed of many different cultures and ethnic groups. Bloody insurrections, violent insurgencies, ethnic conflicts, and kidnappings for ransom have been on the rise since the start of the Fourth Republic in 1999. Boko Haram and its off-shoot, Islamic State’s West Africa Province, have been waging a war of terror from their base in the North East with tactics that have included suicide bombings and mass kidnappings. Herdsmen (mainly of the Fulani ethnic group) have been roaming further away from their heartlands in the North and further into the Middle Belt and south of the country to find fertile ground for their herds. The influx has caused tension, and the conflict between the herdsmen and farmers has caused more death than Boko Haram’s war of terror. The International Committee on Nigeria, a USA and Nigeria-based non-profit organization, states that from 2015 to 2020, over 46,000 Nigerians were killed by militants, bandits and criminals. Against this backdrop, the ‘peace’ benchmark remains unmet.

Faith defines Nigerians as a people. Nigeria is recognized as one of the most religious countries in the world, with only one per cent of people in the country claiming to be atheists, according to a Gallup poll in 2012.  Though many Nigerians are proud of their faith, the two dominant religions in the country—Christianity and Islam—each account for around 50 per cent of believers and are concentrated in opposite geographies of the country (south and north, respectively). This stark polarization has led to religious conflicts that go all the way from the grassroots to the upper echelons of political society.

If not the main catalyst, religion has been at least a supporting factor in many of the deadly conflicts in the country. In addition, the politicization of religion has reached the point where, in 2015, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, denied the party planned to field a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket for fear of backlash (something the Nigerian population cared little about when they voted in huge numbers for MKO Abiola and his running mate Baba Gana Kingibe in 1993). Blind faith without peace and respect for our neighbours will not lead to progress. The ‘faith’ benchmark remains unmet.

That leaves us with the final, and key, consideration: unity. This quality is perhaps the most contentious one in Nigeria. Having fought a disastrous civil war from 1967-1970, with an estimated one to three million deaths, the military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, gave us the famous aphorism: ‘To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done.’

Though many of the military leaders who fought in the civil war say that the outcome has put to rest the question of Nigeria’s unity, the unrest has never ceased. The Nigeria Social Cohesion Survey of 2021, released by the Africa Polling Institute and presented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, revealed that 65 per cent of Nigerians believe that Nigeria is much more divided today than it was four years ago.

In 2020, Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo—famously bitter rivals and public critics of each other—gave speeches, days apart, where both stated that the country was more divided than it had ever been since the war. With acerbic vitriol in the political space, and inter-community killings on the rise, it is clear that the ‘unity’ benchmark remains unmet.

With Nigeria failing each of its own benchmarks in its official motto, and the myriad of issues plaguing the country, one concept has captured the imagination of ordinary Nigerians and those in the political space alike—restructuring.

For Nigerians, restructuring means everything and nothing. It means changing the constitution, the political system, the economic system, the social fabric, and more. It has been touted as the panacea—the golden elixir to pull Nigeria from the brink of uncertainty. But it has also been vilified by conservatives who benefit from the status quo, and by those who have lost faith in the national project and believe the country should be split.

But what exactly is ‘restructuring’ and how—if at all—can it solve Nigeria’s issues and promote unity and faith, peace and progress?