Sovereign National Conference- United Nations of Nigeria
Our civil societies and social justice individuals have requested for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to redefine the United Nations of Nigeria since the disastrous General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s administration. In my humble opinion the three objectives of the SNC should be; the discontinuation of internal and external colonialism in Nigeria, Africa and by extension throughout the African Diaspora. The second issue is to end the Nigerian and Biafran civil war that killed more than 2.5million southerners and continues through the persecution and neglect of the Niger Deltans by the Federal Government in Abuja and state houses in the Niger Delta region. The final goal of the SNC should be resolving the lack of transparency that results in massive corruption and “do or die” politics. These and more points should be evaluated despite the potential 8year leadership of President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan because the SNC predates and supersedes his mandate.
Moreover, the prospect of the Sovereign National Conference has been viewed as a means to take the country beyond the 1914 amalgamation exercise by the colonial and imperialist United Kingdom. In 1914 Sir Frederick Lugard decreed the unification of Southern and Northern Nigeria. Most critics have asserted that the British Empire did not provide and/or facilitate adequate consultations between both regions that eventually evolved into the United Nations of Nigeria. Instead they used the divide and conquer strategies which were the catalyst to the Trans Atlantic slave trade expeditions that took Africans to the West and ensured genocidal warfare in places like the Benin, Ghana, Nri, Kano, and Opobo Kingdoms to mention a few. The SNC is envisaged as a way to reengage our various tribes so that we can make an attempt to stop the tide of imperialism which has been cast as modern-day western cloned administrations that continues unabated. The movie “Apology of an Economic Hitman” and book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins might crystallize my contentions.
In reference to ending the Nigerian and Biafran civil war through the SNC, the reality remains that since 1967 southerners have been demonized and killed in the north for the flimsiest of reasons. Our natural resources such as peak petroleum and liquefied natural gas in the Niger Delta are now a curse. The powers that be like the federal government of Nigeria
Over the years our Nigerian government has remained lazy and reluctant to equitably diversify the economy. The government, the military, and the Oil companies (such us British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell) are willing and eager to wage wars in the Niger Delta instead of setting up commissions for peace and conceding to the reasonable demands of the poor. The Niger Deltans live with exposures to carcinogens and oil spills that make the Louisiana gulf coast oil explosions seem like a joke while the government and oil company cartels would rather murder our community leaders like Dr. Ken Saro Wiwa and Chief Albert Tombari Badey and then setup discord among us. Where are the apologies and restoration for these brutal realities? Why did the Nigerian government and Royal Dutch Shell fail to consider the demands of a non-violent progressive human rights movement? These inactions have spurned the current instability, killings, and kidnappings in the Bright of Biafra.
Consequently, the Sovereign National Conference should seek to address our problem with transparency and corruption. How do we begin to account for the billions that were siphoned from projects like the Ajokuta Steel Rolling Company and the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria (NAFCON) at Onne by the General Babangida administration? Notwithstanding these thefts of national resources the Northern Military Industrial Complex (NMIC) wants to rule us again. They are crying about staying out of power for only 17years when they have held us in servitude for 50years. NMIC members like Babangida and Rilwanu Lukman (former Minister of Mines Power and Steel, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Petroleum, Chairman of the Board Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC) have sliced the Niger Delta regions into Oil blocks for their personal interest and foreign business partners/criminals. Then, they wonder why our impoverish people and their children who graduate from schools without any economic opportunities have arisen to stop these madness. After all these atrocities General Babangida is able to profess his love for Nigeria. If this is how the love is manifest we pray not to know his enemies.
Hopefully, the SNC would be able to provide major transparency blueprints to stop these corruptions that occur with impunity. We have a situation where resources are allocate in the federal, state, and local governments and one or few persons can boldly steal these monies without any hesitations and accountability. This leads to the nonpayment of civil servants, teachers, and societal breakdown. Can we not have a situation that informs all the citizenry about national revenue allocations? Have 50years of experiences not proven times without number that secrecy is the brainchild and toolkit of the ruthless embezzlers in the United Nations of Nigeria and indeed worldwide. How can a civil servant in the National Assembly be in the position of importing 6 armored vehicles and conspire to defraud the department of customs in the process by not paying the required clearing fees. The first and obvious question is the source of his money. Did anyone bother to ask this representative and others to declare their assets before they contested the elections? Another point of inquiry should be about his constituents, are their interest really been served.
However, why some have postulated that the Sovereign National Conference is the panacea for our problems, others wonder about the practicality of the consultation. These concerns are grounded in our past and present-day experiences. For example how would the over 200 ethnic nations within the United Nations of Nigeria elect/select their representatives to the SNC. This process is crucial because it would ultimately determine the success or failure of the meeting. Would the ethnic nationalities be bamboozled and/or “wayooed” into sending individuals like some in the current National Assembly to the SNC? Let me digress by proposing a 30% across the board reduction of the salaries, bonus, and gratuities that are allocated to members of the Nigerian National Assembly.
Conversely in answering the aforementioned question, if we are tricked and the usual suspects (so-called elites and NMIC) hijack the conference, we might have to stop in our tracks and strategize anew. We can not afford to congregate with just members of the Nigerian Elites Establishment (NEE). These so-called elites have demonstrated their inabilities to relate and empathize with the regular Ades, Obinnas, Zainabas, and Bomas of the United Nation of Nigeria. But they need to realize that some of us are no longer cynical and resigned to dissolution, we are engaged and mobilized with a willingness to lay down our lives on the altar of social, economic, and environmental justice by way of good governance. The question for the government is how long we are going to remain with vestiges of colonial mentality /mental slavery. On the other hand citizens of the United Nations of Nigeria need to grapple with how to configure the Sovereign National Conference to achieve positive progressive outcomes for all our nationalities.
Nnamdi Frank Akwada, MSW, BA, Community Activist
Masters of Social Work (2010)
University of Maryland Baltimore
Health Specialization
Management and Community Organization/Clinical Concentration
University Student Government Association
Chief of Public Relations, 2009-2010
Social Work Community Outreach Service-
Maryland Community Fellow Intern 2009-2010
Bachelors in Criminology and Criminal Justice (2001)
University of Maryland College Park
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