January 29, 2024. (Nigerian Tribune) Monday Lines Top News
By Lasisi Olagunju
First published in 2024, by “Our Vision” Magazine. Reproduced by “Middle-Belt News Networks Ltd.
(They looked at the figures, identified the loss centre and the profit zone. Because the proposed One Nigeria was a business for them, they examined all the ‘feasibility studies’ they had commissioned.)
The man, who was being prepared to rule over the new country as Governor-General, Lord Lugard, at one of the meetings, referred to the “two Nigerias” as his country’s “possession.” Lugard called the attention of the meeting to an earlier report, which showed that “the revenue from Customs in Southern Nigeria had increased from one million to two million (pounds) in five years” and that “land revenue of Northern Nigeria had increased from £16,000 to £460,000 in eight years.”
These figures, Lugard said, “show that the country has enormous possibilities, if only the merchants and the people of the country itself will realize the outstanding fact that it is all one country, and each part of it is interested in the development of the other…”
They discussed all those details and more. If you want more than I have told here, you can read Frederick Lugard, Hasketh Bell and Wyndham Dunstan’s ‘Northern Nigeria Discussion’ published in the August 1912 edition of The Geographical Journal. But the summary of that and other sessions was that the two unrelated ‘businesses’ would yield better, if they were merged into ‘One Nigeria.’
But, can a hut harbour rats and harbour snakes at the same time? At the close of the 19th Century, the British spoke of “the three Nigerias.” By the beginning of the 20th Century, they spoke of “the two Nigerias.” On January 1, 1914, Lord Lugard’s amalgamation speech contained an admission that what was being made to become one were two distinct countries. Where I come from, we say Ilé ò ní gba eku kó tún gba ejò. The translation is the logical answer to that question about rats cohabiting with snakes. The British, in 1914, built a house for snakes and rats.
There has never been, and there may never be, a national consensus on anything that will benefit the country. In the house of commotion, the only product they brew is chaos. The Merriam Webster dictionary says amalgamation “refers to a blending of cultures.” Since 1914, a clash of cultures and civilizations has robbed us of the much-needed peace and progress as a country.
We roll from one crisis to another and waste generations after generations fighting friends and foes over inanities. PwC Nigeria on Thursday released its 2024 economic outlook. Its projection is that poverty levels will increase to 38.8% in the New Year. I have not heard our ethnic champions express worry on how this will impact the vulnerable mass of the people.
They have erections only when the vital interests of the power elites are not served. The PwC Nigeria Report says further that, “Security spending in the past nine years amounted to N14.8 trillion.” A simple check will tell us that the collapse of everything in the north accounts for 80 percent of that spending.
The Report laments that, “Despite increased spending, insecurity remains a challenge and jeopardises national stability, negatively affects economic activities and undermines investor confidence.” The N14.8 trillion expenditure has been money spent without results. And that is because the last two decades have been years of self-destruction in the north.
Bob Marley asks you to “Open your eyes and look within.” The prophet of Reggae also asks us to “Light up the darkness.” The north has been fighting itself, while it blames others. Its ways have made for it a deadly, cancerous colada of urban and rural terrorism, unremitting illiteracy and grinding poverty.
Northern leaders do not see the odious choices they made (and still make) as the real enemy; the enemy they know is anyone, who tells them the truth. Some words of Socrates should ring for them – and for us: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” We will keep talking.