Nigeria’s foremost statesman, retired General Olusegun Obasanjo, a two time head of state gave a lecture on October 29, 2021 at the premises of Nigeria’s premier social club the Island Club to mark the 78TH anniversary of the club and Nigeria’s 61st Independence anniversary. The topic of the lecture was ‘Social Responsibility in Nation Building; the Role of the Island Club’. The former military and democratic leader of Nigeria was at his engaging, amiable and articulate best, showed great regard for his hosts and was incredibly believable when he quipped that any invitation from the Island Club to him is an order to show up. He gave the lecture in a form of bullet point presentation and it was clear that a master of statecraft, who knows his onions on the topic of the day, was diligently at work and was in his element. Which of course was to be expected, except for the exceptional humility and candor on display in this presentation by a veteran of the Nigerian politics . A leader who received the surrender of secessionists in a civil war as a military commander, when nation building collapsed and the security and territorial integrity of Nigeria was tested in a civil war as a result of the failure of leadership and corruption of the Nigerian elites both politicians and civilians. And the lecturer has been one or the other, at one time or the other and is a unique fusion or amalgam of both and it was therefore a great pleasure hearing from the horse’s mouth on the topic of the lecture.
The lecturer opined that nation building has no destination as what is made today can be undone tomorrow and is indeed a perennial work in progress. He asked social and civil organisations like the Island Club to play a key role in nation building through advocacy, political participation and mobilization of Nigerians. He deplored the attitude of some of the elites who do not participate in politics because they say politicians are thieves. He urged them to participate if only to stop the stealing. OBJ insisted that nations are made and not born and no nation can be called that name unless it solves the problems of insecurity, political instability, injustice, inequity, and impunity. At the end he advocated the establishment of state police to combat the pervasive insecurity in Nigeria and assure political stability.
I asked him a question at question time , handled by a former Chairman of the club Chief Olu Falomo who heckled me by asking me not to give another lecture , even as the lecturer listened keenly tomy dilation towards my question . My question was how and when one can distinguish between theory and practice of nation building and the master statesman who has seen and experienced both, gave a good answer that the theory has always been the same but the application has always been the problem, an answer which I found quite pragmatic, realistic and mostly correct. I told the lecturer that I would apply the acronym INFORM which he used in piloting his delivery in my column anytime I write on nation building. The acronym is made up with the words – Interrogate, Note, Focus, Organise Review, Mobilise. I will use this acronym today to look at the state of Nigerian nation as at now as the lecturer has admitted that the problem is in the application of nation building and not in its theory which I believe is embedded in the acronym -inform . I will try on a comparative basis try to see a match in EU integration efforts which I see as form of nation building of a mega nation of Europe, as opposed to the Nigerian nation which someone once described as a mere geographic expression.
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The EU is made up of 27 nation states struggling to integrate just as Nigeria is trying to fuse its hundreds of ethnic groups into a nation of 36 states . Integration of components parts while not a destination of integration of component parts into a whole, is also work in progress like the Nigeria leader calmly pointed out on nation building. Hence the acronym INFORM too should be applicable in solving EU nation building problems. Especially on the issue of sovereignty and the superiority or not of the laws of member states and the authority of the EU Supreme Court which is being contested by Poland .The rule of law in Poland is being contested by the EU Supreme Court while Poland insists it is a sovereign state and not a colony of the EU and it should not be blackmailed on the rule of law as its law is superior to that of the EU in Poland.
Going back to the issue of nation building, it should be said that while it is necessary for social clubs to be involved in political participation, aggregation of interests and mobilization , the fact remains that politics is a game of power, money and elitism and in Nigeria leaders or potential leaders without money, cannot enter the political arena successfully. Poor leaders cannot interrogate the system, they cannot note or be noted, and they cannot focus on the product of any interrogation. It follows therefore that their potential for organization and mobilization is virtually zero. Money is the name of the game of politics and its meal ticket in Nigeria and those who don’t have it, cannot participate successfully or mobilise anyone even as elites in their various social clubs .As the lecturer admitted insecurity , injustice and inequity cannot make nation building a success and those are rife in Nigeria and there is not much the social clubs can do about it . It is not necessary to flog a dead horse here, because it is like trying to close the stable doors after the horses have bolted . That indeed is the state of nation building in Nigeria and nobody knows that more than the lecturer. He has said so many times in the past and although he did not say it this time, Nigerians know that he knows.
Anyway, let me use this opportunity to congratulate, the Island Club at 78 , Nigeria at 61 , the Chairman, Chief Kehinde Shitta, Vice Chairman and Owu High Chief Rotimi Martins, tireless Secretary Chief Biodun Sowunmi and the lecturer, who indeed is the conscience of the Nigerian nation , on a good outing . From the fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria.