The atmosphere at the banquet hall of Sheraton Hotels Abuja, Tuesday, November 4, was striking. It reflected an admixture of the unique essentials of man’s place in history and history’s place in man.
The occasion, Book Reading, a rewording of the normal Nigerian book presentation, saw the unveiling of ‘Perspectives on Nation-state Formation in Contemporary Africa’ and ‘Global Trends in State Formation’, two books written by Ambassador Godknows Igali, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Power. It was supposed to be a simple event. But it turned out a big ceremony, which not only captured the deep meaning and worth of the author’s intervention in the critical issues of the contemporary world society, particularly the domestic scenarios of Nigeria and Africa, but also an elaborate and consummate celebration and testimonial of his person and work over the decades.
The rich presence of the doyens of the diplomatic corps, the academia, traditional institutions, the professions, public and private sector, the military and security apparatchik and even politics was indicative of not only his presence in the commanding heights of these critical arenas, but his personal touch and contributions to and in them as well.
Expectedly, such a diverse outing presented a natural habitat for interrogating the critical issues confronting Nigeria, especially with its current challenges. Of course, the books in question, stoking some of the essentials, became the guide.
Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, former Head of Service of the Federation, as the chairman of the occasion was full of praises for the author’s vision in putting his thoughts together in this regard, stressing the importance of such efforts in finding lasting solution to Nigeria’s very dire situation, especially the current threat to its very existence as a result of persistent security crisis.
Laced with some witty comments, which roused the audience and scintillated the atmosphere, the nation’s former number one civil servant stressed why Nigeria must not shirk the responsibility of building a new society in spite of the odds.
Describing Igali as passionate towards the Nigerian project, he said Nigerians must realise why the unity of the country is inviolable. His words: “We can only do that if we recognise the duty of contributing our quota and giving our support to our leaders, that is the powers-that-be. So long as we do not realise the beauty and the essence of being together in this country, we will continue to deceive ourselves. The work of God is what we should accept and live as brothers’ keepers and stop deceiving ourselves as a nation. This book reading is an opportunity to rekindle our hope that all is well and all will be well for Nigeria, insha allah!”
The unveiling of the books by elder statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark after a short welcome remark by the author, opened the floodgate for the reactions to flow from all corners of the hall, which was almost filled to capacity. Professor Ehiedu Iweriebor of the Department of Africana Studies, Hunter College City University, New York, and Professor Olayemi Akinwumi of the Department of History, Nasarawa State University, anchored two different sessions where eminent scholars provided the intellectual grilling of the books.
The variance of personalities and voices regardless, a clear point was made that Nigeria could fix itself if it were able to rely on the positive side of its history and that the author had provided the template through which it could be achieved.
As Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Muktar Shagari succinctly surmised: “What we are saying here today is how we can agree to live together under one nation. How can we agree that each person from the North to the South will have the same rights? As long as we believe that one group is better than the other, we can never get there. We must agree that every child no matter how disadvantaged from birth will have the same rights with even the son of the President. God put Nigeria together with 250 ethnic groups. God has a purpose. That purpose is that we should live together in peace and harmony.”
Echoing these sentiments, Ambassador Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, recently retired Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one of Igali’s soul-mates, said the author besides addressing domestic issues had also helped in addressing some of the misconceptions in the international realm.
“What Ambassador Igali has done is a major contribution to the intellectual heritage of our great country. There was a time when a scholar, Hugh Trevor-Roper, at Cambridge University declared that Africa had no history; that the history of Africa was nothing but a gyration of some barbarous tribes in some picturesque and obscure corner of the globe and that the rest was darkness and that darkness was not part of history. Of course he has since fallen into disrepute. But it goes to underscore the need to record our past, because if you do not and if we are not mindful of the past we are coming from, we cannot understand the intricacies of the present and we cannot fathom out what the future will look like,” he said.
Igali himself, stated his objective thus: “My motivation came as a result of my observation that in Africa, we worry a lot about our political problems and try to compare ourselves rather unfairly with some of the other democracies like Europe and America without realising that the historical antecedents and trajectory are not the same. As we saw in the discussions after the 30years war in Europe – 1618-1648; there was another 100years between that, they had been fighting. But the process of nations came with the treaty of Westphalia in 1648. It was negotiated. People sat down on the table to say how do we live together? You know unlike the kind of national conference we held, theirs was never held within a day or months. It took years upon years. Diplomats came and princes sat down and negotiated on how to live together and since then they have been trying to build on their democracies to fine-tune and perfect them. This is what we are doing. The President, this year, put on course the National Conference; although those books came much more before the national conference, but this kind of forum create opportunities for us.
“We have tried to show the best case practices that we have done – Federal Character, National Youth Service Corps, Federal Government Colleges – things we have tried to do to make us realise that we are one people. So, I’m happy. We also looked at why some states collapsed like USSR and other states survived despite the political turmoil and ethnic complications.”
Noting the unfolding trend of a new pan-Nigerianism in the country, he stressed: “If you watch, the time of my own parents, if you say you want to marry outside an ethnic group, it was an exception. In my own generation we are a little in-between. But today with our children you just marry who you like. So, almost all young people these days are not constrained by tribe. The language of tribe, tongue and so on is no more the big thing. If you ask any priest today, they will tell you that most of the marriages are across ethnic lines. So, we are becoming one community, we are becoming one country. Those cleavages are being broken. And I think it is very good for our country and over some time, you will not hear people saying I’m this ethnic group, I’m that ethnic group, you will hear people say I’m a Nigerian, the way an American will say I’m an American.”
However, the pulsating vibes of a dream new Nigeria, the robust exchanges, the endless accolades, and the general enthusiasm, which hallmarked the event seems to run on the same track with the aggregating takeaway that Igali belongs to the enviable roll call of men and women daily burning the midnight candle to find solutions to the country’s problems rather than using their positions to create or exacerbate them.
Just as Yayale posited, Igali’s activities in his current post is an ample testimony of this rabid passion to mend the crooked ways and fill the craters along the way of building a viable, beautiful Nigeria. Quite apt.
In what seems a confirmation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s ability for finding the best men for each job, Igali was posted to the Ministry of Power almost at the same time with the helmsman, Prof. Chinedu Nebo to tackle the problems confronting one of Nigeria’s most critical sectors. The perfect alchemy that resulted from the blend of the rich experience of Nebo as a first-class engineer, a teacher and university administrator and Igali, the quintessential diplomat, civil servant and scholar, for instance dealt with, as effortlessly as a hot knife on butter, the labour issues that created a chaotic and almost comatose situation, which had threatened to stymie the privatisation process and essentially led to the seamless progression of the power sector to its current status of a robust, virile and humongous phenomenon, through which the hope of the envisaged socio-economic transformation of the country is becoming real by the day.
No doubt, Igali’s example in ceaselessly trying to find solutions to the nation’s problems, as attested at that event, aggregates to Nebo’s depiction of a cathedral builder – one who builds not just for earning a living, but building for the society. Nigerians must be cathedral builders.
•Igboanugo writes from Abuja
