Recently Bayelsa State Nigeria played a host to one of Nigeria’s  foremost thinkers ,the Nobel Laureate,Prof ‘Wole Soyinka ,who was  visiting the Ijaw National Academy and celebrating his birthday,and  there was a consensus between the Professor and the host Governor Henry  Seriake Dickson that the Nigerian union is negotiable but they prefer to  sustain one nation. Ever since and even before this event,many people  have come out to call for restructuring of Nigeria. Some advocates even  go further to suggest a true federalism or even confederal arrangement  with weak centre. However there are still thinkers like Nnamdi  Kanu,Olisa Agbakoba who insist that a part ‘Biafra’ should be allowed to  attain complete Independence .With the highest respect for the  patriotism that brought an intellectually sound Governor and a Nobel  Laureate rubbing minds to proffer for us a way, and thereby throwing the  floor open,there is still need here for deeper critical thinking on this  issue to avoid Nigeria descending into another merry go round on the  renegotiation or restructuring issue
I am concerned that we get it right this time around. I know how  Nigerians felt when our hopes that President Jonathan would restructure  Nigeria were dashed. The reason being that intellectuals were so taken  by the prospect for a Southern leader that there was no more  commensurate push for change of structure. I remember when I differed  with the Nobel laureate and the Save Nigeria group over whether the  structure determines good governance or the person occupying the office
My lone voice was drowned at that time.I had been insistent that the  structure determines how well the leader would act and advocated that  getting a change of structure was more important than pushing the  President Jonathan into power. But our learned colleagues thought  otherwise and here we are today. We are back to square one
Going through history,I have found out that the Nigerian union of 1960  was perhaps the best document that Nigerians ever had. The document that  was indeed closest to the laws of nature and the natural process of  development for each of the peoples. Of course it wasn’t perfect,nothing  is actually perfect in this world but it was a document that could be  built upon. It was a good foundation. Unfortunately this document has  never really been allowed to be ,it was never really implemented
Starting from the first year of independence there were concerted  attempts by the various units and groups not to build upon this  foundation but rather to scatter it. The prevailing sentiment then was  that it was a British document protecting colonial interest. Today we  know better. The structure that was known as the Tripod was a well  thought out structure customized for Nigeria,bearing 50 years of British  colonial experience as well as more than two decades of self rule  experiments. There had been constitutional conferences in Nigeria and  London leading up to this Independence document. There were a surfeit of  pan-Nigerian intellectual inputs into the document. It had more Nigerian  interests protected than what we have today. The Document was properly  produced and scored into music for better and wider comprehension of the  citizens in their various levels of existence. This process made it  possible for Nigerians to point out quickly the core objective of the  Nigerian State ( To build a nation where no man is oppressed) something  that led to unrivaled consensus across the country,north,South ,East and  West for independence. This singular situation has never been reached  again in Nigerias history. Now what you can get is majorly  sectionalized voices,everyone thinking primordially about his area and  its primary interests before what is nationally expedient
My argument stands out to say. Yes it is true that what Nigeria stands  in reality today is not what the founding fathers wanted it to be and  facing us are the ugly symptoms leading our intellect to take decisions  for immediate gratification not minding that we are still a nation,an  organic union which ensures that the decisions we make today takes  national effect not sectional one. So how do we sit down under such a  sectional atmosphere to consider national question without descending  into only resolving in the short run symptoms of the problem,abandoning  the root causes and postponing the evil day?. To avoid such situations  that will not serve any of us in the long run, it is better to go back  for solution to the only time we had true national consensus devoid of  sectional considerations ,when we produced a document that was  unfortunately never implemented. That was the 1960 independence  constitution that became the 1963 republican constitution by way of  removing the last vestige of colonial control. But what did we get? We  began to change the solid structure in 1964 less than a year later,when  we created the Mid -West Region thereby destroying a delicate power  balance and pitching the North against the South,creating suspicion that  the South wanted to increase its power over the North. So the consensus  and trust was broken by one singular seemingly innocent act that  finally cascaded Nigeria into an avoidable civil war and military rule
Let us get it straight here. The Nigerian nation arose out of this only  existing “We the people… ” 1960-63 constitution and can only be  rebuilt through this true foundation of our independence,our liberation
Everything that happened bad or good as we may come to see it in our  limitation caused by this cascading error and imbalance is only a  symptom of our one mistake not to build upon but to destroy this legacy
To this end our collective duty today is first of all to comprehend and  understand that our infantile attempts at sectional supremacy,power  struggle has failed us, our children and this nation. That Nigeria  remains organic no matter how many states we create or local  governments,that the advantage we seek in politics is only ephemeral and  our victory pyrrhic but never really fulfilling since the eternal  yardstick remains Nigeria as a whole. That Nigeria can still fulfill our  individual and collective dreams in life if allowed by us once again to  stand on her only viable structure through our participation and  prayers. That secession of part is not a cost effective way to achieve  happiness and fulfillment since we would still have to partake in a  heterogeneous world now becoming a global village. So what is more  important is that we understand that the structure determines how good  is the governance and the people living in it
As to renegotiation,in Igbo Culture one does not really sit in judgement  over the decisions his father or grand fathers took because he or she is  also the product of such bad or good decisions. Of course one can  criticize it and seek to make sure the same road is not taken by him at  present. I believe we have similar customs across board. If ones mother  was a harlot or conceived him through a rape, and now one is respectable  in society the igbo culture sees such sitting in judgement or  renegotiation as renunciation of ones self. So the culture frowns  generally at such moves
In the same vein a man that introduced a style in a game cannot just  pull out of it while the game lasts.It is even worse when you designed  the journey and called upon your brothers to join you along the part  they had not understood properly but you cajoled them along and even  conceded the leadership at a point to get them going with you. After  they have come to enjoy the journey then suddenly you say you want to  pull out of the journey. Since truly they don’t even know where the  vehicle is arriving at,there is a likelihood that they will be hostile  to your request. It may even be seen as a betrayal of the others. Maybe  its better you accept some blame and work to get control of this vehicle  to put things right rather than attempting to jump down
Nigeria has become a building of concrete walls and rooms inhabited by  people. The house building plan itself may have been bastardized by  later ignorant managers but generation have known it as home .These  people do not like to be taken out of their comfort zones by changes so  when one whole floor wants to leave the building,they know that it means  that the entire building has to come down and they do not view lightly
It becomes a threat even though they know that the building is not even  giving them proper shade as planned. It may indeed be better that we all  join hands to ensure that the wrong practices of covering some parts of  the building with corrugated roofing sheets ,others asbestos and still  some with just raffia palm is discouraged because we are all living in  one building and we have no other building to go to if this one falls
I have reduced these explanations to such simple pictures to get us to  understand that time has come for us to look beyond mondäne politicking  and focus on the pan Nigerian solution so that we do not unconsciously  sustain the undesirable status quo in our present quest to restructure  or renegotiate our union
Written by Nwokedi Nworisara, is a former Presidential Aspirant.
