Pseudo or forced national identity will never overcome the reality of ethnic plurality in Nigeria

"It can be a catastrophic mistake to imagine that through democratic elections people will suddenly rally around a national identity and overcome their pre-existing ethnic, religious, sectarian, and tribal divides"-Amy Chua . When politicians distort reality by manipulating ignorant people to see the world in a way that favours them predictable results follow. Today Nigeria is now a deeply demoralised nation infested with a chronically chaotic government obessed with the fascist ideologies of the 20th-century. Despite ample warnings by critics and well-meaning citizens, the scenario unfolding on a daily basis has the potential of tearing the country apart. The future is very predictable; impotent government, chaos and crisis. The truth is the era of conquest and domination is over so one wonders what the power holders intend to achieve if they decline exploring comparative advantage and competition among all sectors in the country. Nigeria is never a homogeneous society so pseudo or forced national identity will never overcome the reality of diverse ethnicity that has come to stay, this is the obvious truth that the politicians must understand given the experiment and experience of nearly six-decades of unitary-centralised system of government . In a recent award ceremony organised by Governors of the ruling All Progressive Congress party -APC in honour of President Muhammadu Buhari, the president suddenly acknowledged that "True Federalism is necessary at this juncture of our political and democratic evolution", despite disagreeing on several occassions in the past on the need to restructure the country to address development challenges of the country's rapidly growing population. In his words; "true federalism and better collaboration among all sectors in the country is needed at this time in order to move the country forward", however, the political will and the courage to translate this sudden discovery into reality is what many observers are keen to see in the next four years as he prepares to start the second and his last term in office,despite controversial presidential elections, perhaps a lasting legacy that could define his presidency currently marked by the destructive forces of tribal politics, division, insecurity, discrimination, political bias and favouritism, repression, brutal force and the use of the power of the state to relegate certain ethnic groups and political opponents in the country. Never has the country felt more divided than in the past four years.We have said repeatedly that in ethnic diverse societies like Nigeria, restructuring the country is one sure way to address ethnic-hatred, religious zealotry, trust, governance and growth, not flawed elections every four years. No matter which political party that comes into power the story remains the same. The post colonial legacies of ''divide-and-rule, corruption, and autocracy'' brings more backwardness and hardships, 'exclusivism', persistence of poverty and stagnation as we are currently witnessing the 'catastrophic consequences' in Nigeria. The time has come to embrace reality; a new world in which all people co-operate freely and peacefully with minimum central control. No doubt exclusion fuels ethnic rebellion and the current government in Nigeria is helping to make it a reality on a daily basis. In ethnic diverse society, if a particular homogeneous group feels excluded and threatened by they the centre, basically they will run to their ethnic groups to seek protection. Without restructuring, the country may be in for a great danger whose outcome will definitely not be pleasant, this can be avoided. Equity and Social Justice is the glue that holds the society together, not unity and continuity regardless of inequity and justice, i'm surprised that this is a very hard lesson to learn. Find out more as we continue to analyse the activities of the government as they prepare for a second term in office come 29 May 2019. Read More : The tragedy of the evil brom; a difficult future ahead for Nigeria: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2019/03/the-tragedy-of-evil-broom-difficult.html
Uche Okeke is the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation.