The organic evolution of Nigeria into a nation, by Majeed Dahiru

As Nigeria marks the milestone of nineteen uninterrupted years of successive civil democratic rule [the longest in its history], Nigerians are divided about the very relevance of politics in the economic lives of the citizens.
However, all sides of the debate are unanimous in their conviction that democratic rule has not lived up to its promise of individual and collective prosperity.
Some have blamed this disappointment on certain individual politicians and parties while others have put the blame on the very structure of Nigerian federation.
With some appreciable advancement in Nigeria’s electoral processes that resulted into the triumph of people power over an incumbent President in 2015, Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief in anticipation of a break for the better from the misrule of the first sixteen years of democratic rule.
This anticipation will become apprehension a few months into the new era of the ‘’Change’’ of Muhammadu Buhari led APC administration.
The inability of the APC government to navigate the ship of the Nigerian state away from the wrong direction of previous PDP administrations unto the right direction has left many Nigerians with the impression that both parties are the same hence ‘’Change’’ remains elusive.
The frustration of Nigerians with the system is quite palpable to the extent of widespread apathy and lack of confidence in institutions of government resulting into a resort to self help mechanisms in their everyday lives.
Today, the very essence of democratic rule is being challenged with some going as far as positing that democracy does not work for African countries.
There is nothing wrong with democratic governance because the very nature and form of mankind is inherently democratic.
This intricate consistency between democracy and the nature of mankind is evidenced in unquantifiable cherish of freedom by all of mankind.
While there are valid arguments on all sides as to the inability of the drivers of democratic rule to satisfy the yearnings and aspirations of the people, it is important to understand that all issues militating against democratic good governance are symptomatic of some deep seated issues at the very base of the foundation of the Nigerian state.
There has to be a Nigerian nation before democracy can work.
There is the urgency for the need for Nigeria to evolve from a geographic expression of micro and conflicting ethno-geographic nationalities into a united egalitarian nation state as the condition preceding democratic good governance.
The current socio-political configuration of Nigeria has given democracy the new meaning of a government elected, dominated and coveted by ethno-geographic groupings with numerical superiority.
This system of democracy has further deepened the existing fault lines with the people now elevating their indigene status of their respective ethnogeographic groupings over their citizenship of Nigeria.
A democracy that is premised on a political process that is heavily dependent on ethnogeographic and religious sentiments is not likely to result into sustainable socioeconomic development such as the kind desired by Nigerians.
Democracy thrives better in a united egalitarian nation where there is an existence of a clearly defined national consensus around the ideals of good governance.
No such consensus exists in Nigeria today as all ethnogeographic groupings are in conflict of sectional interests to the detriment of national interest.
The entrenched narrative of modern Nigeria being a forced amalgam of diverse ethno-geographic entities without anything in common before 1914 is a false alibi used by interest groups to perpetuate the helplessness and hopelessness of the Nigerian situation for their selfish ends.
In the contemporary world where united egalitarian nation states are in fi erce competition for global resources, Nigeria must outgrow its current state of deep divisions along ethno-geographic fault lines that has pitched the various groupings against one another in mortal combat for its meagre oil mineral resources.
The evolution of Nigeria into a united nation can neither be decreed by military fi at nor legislated by an Act of parliament.
It can only be achieved by a widespread selfenlightenment among the people about the need and benefits of a united Nigeria were citizenship is supreme in place of the existing micro ethno-geographic nationalism.
The people must realize that a mono racial Negro country like Nigeria does qualify to be described as a diverse country any more than mono racial Mongoloid China and mono racial Caucasoid United Kingdom.
Contrary to entrenched but false narrative, Nigerians from the four cardinal points have more in common socio-culturally as a result of several centuries of interactions predating 1914, through trade, diplomacy, intermarriages and even warfare.
Like Nigeria, China’s broad Mongoloid racial classifi cation is further broken into about 51 ethnic groups.
These include the majority Han and minority Uygur, Hui, Buyei, Manchu, etc.
Similarly, the mono racial Caucasoid majority that populate the British Isle are classifi ed into different ethnic identifi cations.
For example, Sir Winston Churchill British Prime Minister [1940-1945] was of Huguenot [French protestant] origin while Sir Philip Green, British business mogul is of Jewish ancestry.
Queen Elizabeth II of England as a great granddaughter of Prince Albert of Germany, consort of Queen Victoria, is of Germanic ethnicity.
The Queen consort is Prince Philip of Greece classifying her heir designate and future King of England Prince Charles as an ethnic Greek.
Discernably, the difference between the British and Chinese nation on one hand and the Nigerian country on the other hand is the ability to discountenance their minor differences of ethnicity and appreciate their oneness under a broad racial similarity.
The British and Chinese have been able to elevate the citizenship of their geographical realities over their micro-ethno geographic identity and evolve a national consensus about good governance structure in their respective nations.
This realization of the oneness of Nigerians is essential to an organic evolution towards a united egalitarian nation state wherein the ideals of democracy can translate into a good governance structure that will usher in a period of peace, prosperity and progress.

Zaria monarch commends FG on NITT board appointment
By Moh Bello Habib Zaria Emir of Zazzau and Chairman, Kaduna State Council of Emirs and Chiefs, Alhaji Shehu Idris, has lauded the federal government on the appointment of Mr Olorogu John Onojeharho as Chairman, Governing Council of the Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria.
The Emir made the commendation when management of the Institute led by the chairman paid him a courtesy visit in his palace in Zaria before the inauguration of the Board.
The emir said, “Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) Zaria, is making Zaria and the nation in general very proud through the quality training and retraining of manpower for the transport industry.
“The establishment of NITT reduced the hitherto wasteful overseas training whereby employees and stakeholders in the transport industry were traveling abroad for professional training,” he stressed.
Alhaji Idris also congratulated the chairman and members on their well deserved appointments, adding that the federal government made a good selection by appointing highly qualified people to the board.
He assured management of his support when the need arises, saying: “If there is anything you want us to do to give you further support, do not hesitate to let us know,” he added.
Speaking earlier, the council chairman, while expressing his gratitude to the Emir’s warm reception, noted that the visit was symbolic in that the traditional ruler donated the land on which the Institute was built.
He stated that they were at the palace to seek the Emir’s fatherly blessings before commencing their inaugural meeting.
Onojeharho also thanked the Emir for his contributions to the growth and development of Nigeria, particularly in the transport sector and pledged the loyalty of the Governing Council to the Emir, and prayed for his long and fruitful reign.

Opinion
Eff ective land policy for sustainable economic growth, by DENNIS MERNYI
Land governance basically involves the procedures, policies, processes and instructions by which land, property and other natural resources are managed.
The process included decision on access to land, land titles, land use and land development.
The policy is indeed universal as all nations across the world have evolved a policy on how issues concerning land are administered in their society.
In fact, in dealing with the situation, the four features of land tenure, value, use and development come to play.
So in every society, sound or very effective land administration is the key towards achieving sustainable economic development.
Countries without effective land governance or definite policies suff er social and economic underdevelopment.
This is because vibrant economic activities and growth are thwarted as a result.
In Nigeria, the case appears to be a practical example.
Even though, with a richly endowed vast land with all the natural resources, it appears those resources have not been adequately harnessed for economic and sustainable use after all.
The development was the basis for the recently held 25th Conference of Directors of Lands in the Federal and States Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Abuja.
The two-day annual event, which had not been held for close to a decade, was organised by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
With the theme: “Eff ective Land Governance for National Economic Growth and Development”, it drew key stakeholders and participants in the land and housing sector who brainstormed on the thorny issues hindering to utilisation of the economic potentials endowed in the land sector.
Indeed, the government is not unaware of the quantum of benefits in terms of revenue lost in the poor land governance over the years.
In an address to declare the conference open, Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Hon Mustapha Baba Shehuri, noted that the country has indeed lost huge revenue and income as well as other accruable benefits in the absence of improved and efficient and effective land administration.
He admitted that, “land plays an important role as a productive factor in the development of a nation.
Given this background and the present not too impressive level of infrastructural and economic development of our country, good governance and accruable benefits of improved land based revenue generation, efficient land administration and effective deployment of appropriate management strategies becomes imperative.” He informed the conference that government is working hard to strengthen the Federal Land Registry for online transactions in line with global best practices, stating that when it has become successful, there would be significant improvement in the country’s ease of doing business.
According to him, there are plans to establish the National Land Depository, a huge ICT backed infrastructure for the integration of various registries in Nigeria.
Presenting the lead paper titled, “Eff ective Land Governance for National Economic growth and development” at the conference, Mr.
Godwin Ityoachimin, a Deputy Director of Lands in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing who also chaired to organising committee for the event observed that, non effective land administration is the bane of the country’s economic development as well as unfriendly environment for economic activities to thrive thereby affecting the GDP growth of the country.
He disclosed that difficulties in titling and registering property is one of the factors responsible for the fact that only 3 percent of the 923,768 sq.km of land mass of Nigeria is titled and registered despite the fact that former land registration started in Nigeria as far back as 1863.
As a result, he said, Nigeria was ranked 185th place out of 186 countries whose ease of doing business profi le was assessed by the World Bank in 2015.
He further enumerated other factors such as, unavailability of authoritative information to support effective and efficient land administration and the difficulty in gaining access to available land records.
Others are absence of requisite legislation and regulations on land matters, absence of national institutions to advice the Council of States which is constitutionally empowered to make regulations to facilitate the implementation of the Land Use Act.
“This is on account of difficulty in registering properties, the long duration and high cost of doing so which is put at about 20 percent of the value of the property.
Mr. Ityoachimin further noted that Nigeria is currently plagued by weakening oil revenues and volatile short term capital flows which should prompt the need to identify other means of increasing economic productivity of which land development comes handy.
He noted that to unlock the potentials of land for economic rejuvenation and growth in Nigeria, it is critical to improve efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in land management.
Land revenue according to him in some states is the most stable source.
Stakeholders during the technical session deliberated on key areas like Eff ective Land Governance for National Economic growth and development, imperative of land governance for National Economic Advancement and sustainable development in Nigeria, Land Reform: A requisite tool for effective land administration in an emerging economy and Land governance for improving access to Land and effective economic Investment in the Federal Capital Territory among other presentations.
In a communiqué, stakeholders emphasized the need for a reliable data that would guide real estate sector development and unleashed the potentials in the sector for employment generation, inclusive socio-economic growth and shelter provision through collaborative efforts of stakeholders in the industry.
Government at all levels have been advised to collaborate and ensure the establishment of a central land governance framework in Nigeria which would serve as rallying point for constant evaluation and review of land administration and coordinate all land related matters and reforms that would engender economic growth and development in the country.
The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has urged to take practical steps to recover lands earlier acquired and registered which are still under the management of the states by requesting for title documents in respect of such lands in line with the provisions of Section 49 of Land Use Act Cap LEN 2004.
The conference further call on the Federal Government to establish a Land Commission to sustain the land reform drive by an Act of the National Assembly.
Mernyi, a media consultant, writes from Abuja

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