Tag: Tam David-West

•Tam David-West, a professor of Virology and former Minister of Petroleum Resources spoke with Deputy Politicl Editor RAYMOND MORDI on the ‘mistake of 1914’ and its effects on the country’s socio-economic and political develoment.

Nigeria is celebrating 100 years of the amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria. Looking back, was it a wise decision?

It is a wise or unwise decision, depending on how you look at it. We must ask ourselves whether the amalgamation of 1914 was necessary. Was the amalgamation done for Nigeria or the British trading companies? Lord Luggard had the mandate to amalgamate Southern and Northern Protectorates for administrative convenience; I emphasize the words administrative convenience. This is very commonsensical because he had two large groups that posed a challenge administratively and he was there representing the trading interests of Britain. They were two major blocs of diverse backgrounds; religious, ethnic and political structure. So, it was more convenient for him to amalgamate and deal with one unit. Therefore, amalgamation was done not in the interest of Nigeria, but that of the British.

But unfortunately for us, Nigerians have been expecting too much from the amalgamation over the years. I am even embarrassed that our intellectuals, political scientists, lawyers and historians have not addressed the major issue that the amalgamation was not done in the interest of Nigeria, which never existed before Luggard anyway. As a result, they are expecting too much from the amalgamation. So, the frustration that has been experienced by Nigerians over the years is because we are expecting too much from the amalgamation. I always like to give a simplistic example from elementary chemistry; the difference between an amalgam and a compound. In elementary chemistry, when you talk of an amalgam, you are talking about bringing two elements together without integrating them. For example, when you bring an amalgam, A, B and C and put them together without integrating them, it means that in spite of what you have done, they still exist independently as A, B and C. But if you for a compound from A, B and C, they would loose their identity at the end of the day, such that there would be no A, B and C anymore.

Any wonder then that the great Sarduana, one of the founding fathers of this country described the amalgamation as ‘the mistake of 1914.’ Richard Akinjide, one of Nigeria’s legal luminaries and one-time minister of justice, called it ‘the British conspiracy’, while Tafawa Balewa, First Republic prime minister, said in the Legislative Council of 1948 that since 1914 the British government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but that Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds; their religious beliefs and customs and do not know themselves, do not show any sign or willingness to unite. He said Nigerian unity is only a British intension for the country. Of course, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had also once said that Nigeria is ‘a mere geographical expression’. From all this, we can see that our founding fathers, the best crop of leaders Nigeria has had, saw it from the beginning that this coming together is a mistake. I blame our intellectuals, our historians, who are over-interpreting the amalgamation and expecting too much from it.

If the amalgamation had not happened, are there chances that the constituent parts would have evolved into nation-states?

Yes! That is why I say everything on earth has the good and bad sides. If the amalgamation had not happened, I believe that the Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate would have among themselves found out the acceptable modus Vivendi on how to live together. But the amalgamation brought too much drastic clash. We’re not serious when we say, One Nation, One Destiny! There is no one nation and so there cannot be one destiny; there are many nations and there are many destinies. That’s why we continue to clamour for conferences on how to live together. That’s nonsense; we can have 100 conferences on how to live together, it would not make any difference at the end of the day. It is Nigerians that must decide whether they want to live together; if we have not felt the need for us to live together, the conference would be a waste of time. When we had two regions, they were essentially developing at their own pace. And that’s the best time Nigeria has had a federation, not the autocratic set up we have today.

We’ve been together as a country since 1914, yet there seems to be more issues that divide us today than those that unite us. Where did we go wrong as a nation?

First, we have no nation. We went wrong as a people. Where we went wrong is this: the pristine suspicion among the different groups was not addressed. We never made any attempt to address those big divisions. Instead of this conference, we should have series of conferences in different parts of the country, with people coming to talk to us about the advantages of living together. We gain more by being together. Let me give you an example. Even if you are baptized as a Christian, except you believe in what you are doing; except you believe in the Almighty God and His only begotten son, Jesus, you would not make a good Christian. In other words, you must believe in the fundamentals of that religion. If those fundamentals are not in place, go to church seven days a week, it doesn’t mean anything.

Thus, Nigerians must see the merit of living together as a country, to be committed to that ideal. Right now, we do not yet believe that we should live together. That’s the problem we’ve been facing from the beginning till now. The basic suspicion is still there in our minds. We still use ethnicity for promotion; somebody is qualified, but because he is not from your area, you won’t promote him. The moment Nigerians settle fundamental problems, by respecting merit, everything would fall into place.