The Nation Newspaper

Tag: nationhood

  • The journey to nationhood

    The journey to nationhood

    Nigeria, the most populous black nation-state in the world, appears to be in a fix. The ‘federation’ is facing the most challenging test of survival. Its brand of federalism is on trial. To its intended beneficiaries, it is confusing, divisive, unproductive, provocative and fundamentally unjust. All over the country, feelings of anger and revolt by ethnic nations ooze from the fear of domination, marginalization, deprivations and injustice, making the trembling antagonistic ethnic groups to now brainstorm on how to re-define their place in the disputed Nigerian federation.

    Indisputably, the beleaguered country has paled into a poor ethnically-segmented nation-state battling to survive a unitary system, aptly foisted on it by military interlopers. Fifty seven years after independence, there is a combative regression to the pre-independence battle cry for restructuring at a time developed countries expect the African sleeping giant to be a continental model of federal democracy.

    Nigeria’s defective federal principle has become its albatross. It is a skewed arrangement, with an inbuilt lopsided and marginalising distributive process that has heralded colossal injustice and induced intense agitations. The major bone of contention is the over-centralisation and monopolisation of power by a distant central government to the detriment of pauperised and disadvantaged component units in the heterogeneous country. The notion of unity in diversity has been displaced, due to prolonged perceived structural defects and institutional deformities, which deny the reality of peculiarities in a plural society.

    The country is enveloped by protracted identity, participation and distributive crises. In its current fragility, it totters on in a self-inflicted ‘federal decay.’ The troubled country reflects the awful picture of an amalgam of incompatible social formations. It is gradually being submerged in growing ethnic, religious and other centrifugal tensions. The victim of the identity crisis is national cohesion. The gains of national unity are wiped out by the revival of primordial sentiments. The inevitable emotional detachment from the deceitful federal conception constitutes an obstacle to the development of national outlook. Also, participation crisis is accentuated by the struggle of ethnic champions for power at the centre because the ‘sectional federal government’, which has monopolised state power and resources to the detriment of aggrieved federating units, has blocked the channels of decentralisation.

    Cries of despair and despondency by few surviving founding fathers fill the air. Obviously, they are seized by nostalgia, having witnessed the adoption and practice of unfettered federalism in 1946 under the Richard and Macpherson constitutions and in the First and Second Republics. To them, even at the twilight of life, true federalism is still the answer.

    Can restructuring stem the looming disaster? Many subscribe to the compelling argument that restructuring will solidify federalism, foster good governance, give a sense of belonging to aggrieved regions and states, and restore hope. Thus, to salvage the edifice that was built on the false colonial foundation erected by Lord Fredrick Lugard in 1914, political leaders and other stakeholders are exploring the alternative route to nation building to avoid disintegration. International agencies, which had previously alerted Nigeria to a prospect of a ‘failed state,’ are urging speed, warning that delay could be dangerous. The re-enactment of the Yugoslavian and Czechoslovakian experiences may be catastrophic for Nigeria and its neighbours. Across the six geo-political zones, attention is being re-focused on the contentious national question. Also, the politics of inclusive discussion is unhindered. There seems to be an agreement that Nigeria faces a perilous future, unless the current defective system gives way for a re-vitalised and workable federal process, variously described or interpreted as by diverse stakeholders as ‘federal configuration,’ ‘federal redesign,’  ‘federal reformation,’ ‘review of federalism,’ federal re-configuration,’ federal renewal,’ ‘federal re-engineering,’ ‘true federalism and ‘political restructuring.’ In extreme cases, unguarded outbursts have led to proposals of confederation or a loose federation, a re-worked federation, secession and outright war. These extreme options are being advertised by rebellious militant groups and protesters in the Eastern Region.

    There is no consensus on all the elements of restructuring on the front burner. Restructuring is a broad concept. But, there seems to be an agreement on the cardinal goal of restructuring. It presupposes the existence of a structure built on a faulty platform or foundation that requires to be rebuilt or rearranged. Restructuring, in the view of Kunle Amuwo, political scientist and University of Ibadan teacher, is intended to lay an institutional foundation for a more just and equitable sharing of political space by multi-national groups cohabiting in a federal polity. “The strategic objective seems to be the solidifying-or perhaps, merely engendering-of a sense of national community,” he said.  The implication is that the resolution of the contentious national question is germane to peaceful co-existence among the diverse ethnic groups.

    Restructuring is also suggestive of an inevitable compromise; a display of the spirit of political bargaining by the distraught component units of the fragile federation. As Amuwo put it, “restructuring is a better appreciation of the need for tolerance and respect for civil and civic rights of both aggrieved ethnic majorities and marginalised ethnic minorities.” This line of thought is consistent with the position of ambivalent protesters, who despite their adamant position on restructuring have reiterated their commitment to a united and indivisible Nigeria.

    Although the clamour for restructuring is not new, it has now become the main issue in the polity. The debate was kicked-off in the eighties by the activist-lawyer, the late Chief Alao Aka-Bashorun, who called for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). Following the annulment of the historic 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, intensified the clamour for restructuring.  But, what is remarkable is that past opponents of the agitation, including former military rulers and other prominent Northern leaders, have retraced their steps and lent their voices to the crusade. Former military President Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have decried the evil of unitarism and endorsed the popular demand. Since restructuring is likely to be a campaign issue in 2019 general elections, many politicians are threading the path of populism by reaching out to Nigerians on the borrowed platform of restructuring.

    Two decades ago, Afenifere Deputy Leader Chief Bola Ige predicted that a cloud of uncertainty was hovering over Nigeria. He said the country may not survive the tragedy, unless there was an agreement among the tribes on the basis for cohabitation. “Do you Nigerians want to live together in the same country? If yes, on what terms?” he asked. Echoing the slain Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the Yoruba Assembly recently warned at Ibadan, that Nigeria risked disintegration, if its defective structure is preserved and the modalities for peaceful co-existence are not spelt out and mutually agreed upon. The Ohaneze Ndigbo, the Southsouth Assembly, and the Middle Belt Forum are now singing the same chorus.

    The pro-restructuring crusade has woken up the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from its slumber. Although the party adopted restructuring as a core campaign promise, no concrete step has been taken in that direction by the Federal Government since 2015. However, as the battle for true federalism assumed a new dimension, the party set up a committee to collate the views of stakeholders across the six geo-political zones. Thus, mini-regional conferences evolved naturally to debate the country’s future. The zonal and sub-zonal meetings are serving as veritable platforms for the ventilation of grievances arising from the lopsided federal structure.

    Issues that fall within the scope of restructuring are as diverse as Nigeria’s diversity. According to the APC Committee on True Federalism, the major elements of restructuring include true federalism, devolution of powers, regionalism, state police, and resource control. There is no consensus on these items. The states, regions and even, individuals, differ on the notions of restructuring. However, the issues put on the front burner by the committee are not different from the ones canvassed by many stakeholders. A legal luminary, Kola Awodein (SAN), noted that these unresolved issues were central to the preservation of unity and corporate existence of Nigeria. In a paper titled: “Restructuring and Constitutional Review,” delivered at the ‘Yoruba Retreat’ held at Ibadan in December 2007, he identified “18 issues and concerns” critical to the consolidation of federalism in the country.

    In 1960, Nigeria was a truly federal state hoping to build on its delicate ethnic balance. The country became the ‘Federation of Nigeria.’ In 1963, it became the ‘Federal Republic of Nigeria.’ Its constitution became the ‘Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.’ The three, later four, regions were more or less autonomous entities. There was a democratic power sharing arrangement. There was the 1960, and later, 1963 constitutions for the entire country. But, the regions also had their separate constitutions and symbols.

    Of importance was the power sharing formula. The Federal Government legislated on items on the Exclusive List. Both federal and regional governments legislated on the Concurrent List. The regions legislated on the Residual List. Each region developed according to its pace and there was a healthy rivalry and competition in an atmosphere of cooperative federalism.

    The military intervention aborted the orderly political evolution through the imposition of unitary system, which subsequent constitutions failed to properly address. When the first military Head of State, Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, foisted a unitary system on the polity through his Unification Decree, little did he guess that he had sowed a seed of discord that will do an incalculable damage to the health of the country.

  • Religious interplay in nationhood

    Religious interplay in nationhood

    A Prof Olufemi Vaughan’s book supremely holds the reader’s interest, fittingly fires her curiosity, and graciously gives her the pleasure of an intellectual high. It tells—with ease and fluid prose—the complicated but important story of Nigeria’s state-society development in the context of, in interaction with, and in antagonistic and agonistic relationships with religious forces.
    Vaughan argues that religious forces are decisive within the process of state formation, civic association, political mobilisation, and political culture in Nigeria. Religion and religious identity are important not only for individual citizens’ self-understanding, but also for conception and realisation of the national project, “the making of Nigeria.”
    This book demonstrates that state formation finds itself increasingly between the rock of religious past and present and the hard place of welding different groups, ethnicities, kingdoms/empires into “one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.”
    To the extent that the Nigerian project has gone on this far is a testament of leaders and ordinary citizens’ capacity to take a diagonal path between the rock and the hard place.
    Vaughan demonstrates a similar capacity to take a diagonal path between regnant intellectual debates. He deftly navigates and yet avoids falling in line with the scholarship that maintains that Nigeria’s state formation processbegan with Britain’s subjugation of the peoples and groups that came to be known as Nigeria.
    In the same spirit, he does not tell the story of Nigeria’s state formation along the usual lines of historical periodisation. He demonstrates that the Nigerian state and society started before 1914, before Lord Lugard’s amalgamation.
    He captures the continuities within the local settings that fashion the character of the Nigerian state. In his analysis, colonial activities or the rupture that was colonialism are not elevated beyond everything else. Colonialism is just one of the factors that have been mixed with local agency, indigenous skills, memories, institutions, and religions to fashion the Nigerian state.
    Vaughan’s perchance for taking the lonely intellectual pathway in search of truths is most amply demonstrated in the way he presents the Nigerian story of religion and state formation. He shows two forces playing in a common field over a long period of time. Christianity and Islam, interacting together in one common field of state-society formation over a long time. Scholars often resort to other common fields (violence, class/economic interests, etc.) when analysing how these two world religions interact on the Nigerian soil.
    But Vaughan, the Oxford-trained political scientist and historian and renowned scholarchose a different common field of interaction: state-society formation. This is, perhaps, the oldest, widest, most continuous, and longest running field of play so far. How does this approach change the way we interpret inter-religious dialogues, comparative religion, state, civic culture, pluralism, and religion and political theory?
    Vaughan shows a way forward. I admire Vaughan’s book for his attention to historical analyses, critical engagements with cutting-edge paradigms and theoretical perspectives, and the large and penetrating lens that he brings to elucidate his research topic.
    All these are made possible, in part, by his use of a robust methodology that is well suited to understanding Nigeria’s structural and systemic problems and for providing appropriate responses to them. His book adopts the methodology of longue duree of history, enabling him to provide a robust or sophisticated perspective on the nature, logic, and dynamics of the problems confronting Nigeria. His book nudges the reader to move his or her gaze from well-worn binary oppositions to the grand and longue duree process of state formation, institution building, and search for state legitimacy. He does this by clearly showing how the forces, logics, and ethos of religion (Islam, Christianity, African traditional religions), indigenous social institutions and traditions, and Western ideas and practices intersect and intertwine in the long and ongoing processes of state formation in Nigeria.
    Religion and the Making of Nigeria shows that at the root of the state formation process are religion/religions and the values, attitudes and sensitivities it (they) promotes. Second, religion is not something external to the state formation process, it is integral to the whole process. Religion is an internal process that powers the state formation process from within and also powers the agency of major actors and their followers. Religion is not a tool the key actors in the nation’s history take from a toolbox to tackle the state formation process.
    There is no binarism/duality: religion here and state over there. Religion is part of the referential totality of the horizon of the state formation; it is part of the purpose, process, meaning, and spirit of the state formation, and helps to make sense of the state-society formation itself. Religion and state formation are part of one large and complex process of development, yet he shows us how to parse them for analysis and understanding.
    In conclusion, let me state that Vaughan’s book has implications for how we think about socio-economic development in Nigeria. His book demonstrates that at the root of Nigeria’s development or civilisation is a non-material core of values, religion and ethics. We cannot foster our civilization or development if we ignore religion and religious difference.

  • Nigeria: Nationhood still a daunting task at 55

    Nigeria: Nationhood still a daunting task at 55

    A Professor of History from University of Texas, Austin, Toyin Falola, has said Nigerians representative of the emotional attachment to their ethnic origin rather than national interest has continued to constitute a setback to attainment of nationhood 55 years after independence.

    He was the guest speaker at the Golden Jubilee of the Department of History University of Lagos.

    He spoke on the theme: “Ethnicity: Its organ and intestine,’ at the Afe Babalola Hall of the university.

    At the event were the university’s Vice-Chancellor Prof Rahman Bello, Prof Chukwu Obinnaya.

    Others were Dean of Faculty of Arts, Prof Yomi Akinyeye and the Vice-Chancellor of Caleb University, Imota Prof Ayodeji Olukoju.

    According to Falola, ethnicity has been too embedded in the collective psyche of Nigerians, which has made an average Nigerian  to see himself more as first belonging to his ethnic cleavage before being a Nigerian.”

    As a result, Falola said the task of attaining nationhood had remained a challenge since Nigeria’s independence for nearly 60 years.

    The fallout out of this, among other factors Falola explained, is the merit based progression in the social and political circuits which is now being supplanted by the quota system. According to him, the need to avoid dominance of one group against the other has forced decision makers to compromise standards in the quest to ensure that all segments of the country have access to power and social amenities.

    “In Nigeria, contestation for power by political gladiators in the nation’s political space has further accentuated the problem associated with ethnicity. The choice made by voters is mainly driven by the concern for how a given political party will serve the interest of a given ethnic nationality rather than the collective good of Nigeria. This trend presupposes that electorate will most likely form, organise and identify with any political platform that tends to accentuate and perpetuate their quest to dominate others,” he said.

    Falola lamented that some political space had been dominated by a particular group to the exclusion of others, thus bringing with it resentment and security issues that further threaten the nation’s collective fibre as a coercive and progressive unit.

    To Falola, ethnicity, which is now a commonplace syndrome in Nigeria, is also prominent in the creative sector as it has really helped in defining the persona of the Nigerian traditional being. He listed such areas to include music, film and literature.

    “The world has come to identify more with numerous works of creative arts from Nigeria majorly because the creators themselves rooted their creativity in the numerous cultures within the Nigerian landspace,” Falola explained.

    “The whole world celebrates the works of great literary icons like Professor Wole Soyinka and Professor Chinua Achebe because their works were rooted and steeped in the environments that produced and nurtured them. If you remove the cultural contents from the works of these icons, I don’t think there is anything the world will hold on to as being unique in their works,” Falola said.

    The Head of Department of History Prof Olufunke Adeboye said despite the challenges, the department has achieved a lot over the last 50 years.

    In order to remain more creative and relevant, the department designed new programmes aimed at to meeting up with trends.

    She said: “You don’t expect that we have to be where we were 50 years ago. Today, we have adapted to the reality of global trends in the way we carry out our mandate.

    “For instance, we had to change the name of the department from being Department of History to Department of History and Strategic Studies to cope with global trends, which emphasis the need to bring diverse focus to the study of history.”

    The nomenclature, Adeboye stressed, has paid off as enrolment surged at both undergraduate and postgraduate cadres.

    “Owing to the improvement in the course module for the areas of studies that we have had to focus on, the calibre of students that come to study here range from security agents, policy maker, who have found the courses very attractive thus enriching the pool of our alumni base.

    “Apart from these people that readily come to mind, I can confidently tell you that our products are doing well and holding their own in the different areas of society that they find themselves,” she added.

     

  • Lawyers appraise 100 years of nationhood

    Lawyers appraise 100 years of nationhood

    On Friday, August 29, the curtain was drawn on the 54th annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) held at the International Convention Centre (IICC), Owerri, the Imo State capital. Its theme was “Nigeria: 100 Years After.” It was a weeklong event that tasked the ability of the Imo State Government to host a conference of that magnitude.

    Weeks preceding the conference, the state government worked hard to ensure that the conference would be hitch-free. Finishing touches were given to the world-class convention centre built by Rochas Okorocha’s administration. Unarguably, the IICC is one of the best convention centres in the country.

    Although the conference was adjudged one of the best by the conferees, it witnessed some challenges.

    First was the fear of managing over 10,000 lawyers and other visitors coming from all parts of the country and beyond, without risking an outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    The opposition parties in the state, especially the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had played up the Ebola sentiment to persuade the NBA to cancel the right of the state to hold the conference. But apparently prodded by the overwhelming assurance by the government, the lawyers defied the Ebola scare and converged on Owerri for the event that turned out as an historic one for the Heartland State.

    To allay the fears of the visitors and residents, the state government adopted adequate measures to ensure that all visitors were screened at all entry points, especially at the airport and the venue of the conference. This was to ensure that no visitor affected by the Ebola Virus gained access to the conference centre.

    To further ensure the safety of the visitors, sanitisers were provided at all the entry and exit points within the centre and the expansive premises.

    Security arrangement was also at its best during the programme as there was no reported case of crime at the venue or in any of the hotels where the visiting lawyers lodged.

    Two days before the beginning of the conference, economic and social activities in Owerri had been on the upbeat. All the available hotels had been fully booked with the state government re-opening the famous Concorde Hotel, shut down for the past four months to enable maintenance work to  be carried out.

    The prices of food items and cost of transportation also rose by over 50 per cent because of the influx of people into the state.

    On the first day of the conference, all roads leading to the convention centre, venue of the conference, were cordoned off by stern-looking security operatives. This resulted in heavy gridlock in the entire capital city which forced most people to walk long distances to their places of work.

    Commuters who had no inkling about the conference were trapped for hours in the gridlock, while street hawkers made brisk businesses as they sold their wares with maximum profits. It was indeed a boost to the state’s economy.

    During the five days that the conference lasted, Nigerians jettisoned the fear of the Ebola threat and brainstormed on the challenges confronting the country and the right way to go to obviate possibly impending catastrophe.

    Distinguished speakers such as former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Governors Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, among other eminent Nigerians, identified corruption, insecurity, poverty, unemployment, among others, as part of the country’s problems.

    In his opening speech, the host, Governor Okorocha enjoined the NBA to support the struggle for a free and virile country. He urged the legal practitioners to proffer solutions and ideas that will ensure good governance.

    Governor Okorocha maintained that bad governance has, over the years, impeded the country’s growth and development, even as he insisted that “bad governance is worse than the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease.”

    He argued that while the Ebola Virus has the capacity to kill 100 people at a time,  bad governance has the capacity to kill generations yet unborn.

    Governor Okorocha, who described the judiciary as the last hope of the common man, urged members of the Bar to put the issue of electoral malpractice at the centre stage of their discussion in order to ensure free and fair election in 2015 general elections.

    He regretted that 100 years after, Nigeria is still battling with crisis and could not create employment opportunities for her teeming youths or boast of regular power supply. He challenged members of the NBA to address the critical issues bothering the country.

    He emphasised the need for the electorate to vote a credible candidate who has the vision, passion, intelligence and political will to deliver the benefits of democracy to the people in order to ensure good governance.

    Governor Okorocha, who regretted that democracy in Nigeria has failed, noted that Nigeria has come to a critical moment where power can no longer be taken for granted but must be given to those that have the capacity to deliver.

    In his speech, Tambuwal praised the Imo State Government for hosting the 2014 Bar Conference, stressing the need for Nigeria to shun self-deceit and institute good governance hinged on credible elections.

    The Speaker, who described the NBA as the vanguard of democracy, urged the members to use their position to rescue the country and preserve the Rule of Law and human rights.

    The outgoing President of the NBA, Wali Okey (SAN), said the conference offers the NBA the opportunity to discuss issues relating to legal profession and to proffer solutions.

    He praised the lawyers for their support for his administration, which he said, had restored dignity and discipline in the legal profession, adding that “during my tenure, 12 lawyers were sacked for several acts of misconduct and high level of discipline now prevail in the profession. We have tackled completely the issue of quackery and instilled high level of discipline in legal practice.”

    Further highlighting the achievements recorded by his administration, he noted that the completion and inauguration of the new seven-storey NBA House built by a prominent lawyer and businessman, Dr. Wale Babalakin through one of his companies in Lagos State, was one of the major achievements of the outgoing administration.

    The chairman on the occasion, Gen. Gowon praised the NBA for being faithful to its mission in administering justice, pointing out that it has a role to play in ensuring good governance.

    The conference ended with a call on the Federal Government to rescue the over 200 girls abducted from Government Girls’ Secondary School Chibok in Borno State on April 14 in order to restore the country’s dignity and save Nigerians further embarrassment from the international community.

    The new NBA President, Augustine Alegeh (SAN) and other senior lawyers such as Tajudeen Oladoja, a senior member of the Bar from Kaduna State, adjudged the Owerri conference as a huge success.

    “We have been having the NBA annual conferences in other parts of the country. But I must tell you with all sense of modesty that the Owerri Conference was a success,” he said.

    The 49-point communiqué, presented by Alegeh, highlighted the challenges of the last 100 years of Nigeria’s existence as a country, stating that it would need deliberate and articulate measures to surmount them.

    The communiqué also maintained that “with the benefit of the lessons of the last 100 years, all Nigerians have roles to play in nation-building, by ensuring that the existential values are re-established.

    “That all Nigerians must collaborate with the government and security agencies in order to address the seemingly intractable issue of security problems confronting the country, particularly the expanding escapades of the now dreaded terrorists called Boko Haram.”

    It further stressed the need for the Federal Government to “re-engineer and re-invigorate all anti-corruption agencies, as well as grant them more autonomy, with a view to ensuring their impartiality, to exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice and without interference from any person or organ of state.

    The communiqué equally observed that “a major portion of our socio-political and economic problems are caused largely by lack of exemplary and visionary leadership.”

    Apart from speeches and paper presentations, traders made great gains selling their products to the conferees that swamped on the goods like curious tourists. Photographers also had a field day taking photographs of the conferees with their friends and family members, especially those attending the NBA Conference for the first time.

    Okechukwu Uzoigwe, a fabric dealer said: “To be honest, I wish the conference continued. It has been long I made this kind of quick turnover. I was going to Onitsha Main Market to buy wares everyday because of the patronage.”

    Mrs. Charity Uzoaru, a food vendor said: “I am very happy for the event, even though we had to walk long distance to the venue because of the closure of the roads, I made enough sales these few days and I want the state government to host more of this type of conference to help the people.”

    Perhaps, hoteliers are the most fortunate. In most of the hotels visited by our correspondent, the entire rooms had been booked with the management craftily changing the usual rates overnight to make extra gains off the unsuspecting visitors.

    A manager of one of the famous hotels, Mr. Stanley Nwokocha, praised the state government for hosting the NBA Conference, adding that, “the most viable industry in Imo State today is the hospitality industry. Owerri, the state capital for instance, has over 50 world-class hotels and this kind of conference will help the industry.”

    As the dust settles, the people will not forget in a hurry, the gains, pains and glamour of the NBA Conference just as the visiting lawyers will relish the unique hospitality of the Eastern Heartland for a very long time.

  • How to march forward into stable nationhood, by Federal PS

    PERMANENT Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, has called for the establishment of institutional paradigms upon which Nigeria can begin to march forward into stable nationhood.

    Stating that it is only at the level of institutional equity that the country and her citizens can transcend ethnic, religious and cultural challenges, Olaopa who made the call at a public lecture titled ‘Aawe town, Bishop Atilade and the vision of a new Nigeria,’ as part of activities to honour the President, Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas, Archbishop Magnus Atilade.

    He noted that the value-based institutions that will provide the base infrastructure on which sustainable development is grounded and which defines national standard in all spheres, including leadership, governance, and service delivery is imperative.

    Olaopa noted, “A good polity is one that is grounded on institutional framework of constitutional order. To achieve the above requires a solid rethinking of the educational system and all its structural shortcomings. A sound educational system constitutes the institutional answer to the problem of good citizenship, value reorientation, low skills equilibrium, unemployment, etc.

    “More than this, it provides the mental basis for an enlarged mind-set that sets an individual beyond the lures of ethnic or religious chauvinism that consistently work against the goal of national integration. The result will be a national citizenship education to ignite culture change that will breed a new generation of conscientious and purposeful leaders.’’

    Another critical plank in the rehabilitation of the national project, Olaopa observed, is the need to reconnect with the generational value chain that stretches from the past to the present, adding that generational capital requires that the accumulated wisdom of those who have laboured within the trenches of the Nigerian project be deployed in educating the new generation in the virtue of patriotism and the love of humanity.

    “Installing a new productivity paradigm shift in the national economy is critical in our national bid to capacitate the infrastructural basis of productivity in the national economy. Productivity in this sense becomes a commitment on the part of government to increase the welfare of its citizens through improved performance of its public services charged with the delivery of qualitative goods and services,” Olaopa postulated.

    Lamenting the tales of developmental woes that have been the lot of the Nigerian state since independence, and the repercussions of these failures on the Nigerian citizens, Olaopa submitted that the task of integrating Nigeria’s diverse population into one unified citizenry has been held in critical abeyance because successive governments have been struggling to fulfill its part of the social contract.

    “The failure of the development plans is represented in the lack-luster performance of the Nigerian public service. I am a critical participant and insider in the contemporary evolution of the Nigerian civil service, and I can say that it is not yet Uhuru. We still have a long way to go,” he said.