Nigeria's 1914 Amalgamation: A Historical Mistake?

 By Adetula David

Sometimes in 1980, Nnamdi Azikwe somewhat shifted grounds on his ‘Ideology for Nigeria' saying “we must dig deep from our roots to discover the secret of successful co-existence.” This definately showed the pant for a true federal state, though coming late but that was necessary to give a dose of recuperation to our nation's unity that had repeatedly suffered attacks from eminent personalities among many other Nigerians.



I will like to start this article by drawing the attention of everyone to a well known fact; Many nations of the world today  were formed as a result of wars and other unsuitable acquisition processes but still, all these did not lead to the failure of those nations or rather justify any attempt by groups or states at jeopardizing their sovereignty. A very lucid example of this was how Texas, USA came to being.


On the contrary, Nigeria had a very peaceful annexation process if you ask me, whereby only signed documents brought the northern and southern protectorates together with the Lagos colony in 1914. What I am driving at here is that, Nigerians should be grateful and see objectively beyond their mindsets and what their leaders and elders have made them to believe over the years about their amalgamation. We need to start to see reasons to admit that the 1914 amalgamation is one of the best things that happened to us.


Nigeria will celebrate her 100th year of glorious existence come next year, this is undoubtedly one of any feat any nation will be glad to celebrate. This is more reason why a discussion like this at this time is necessary to address some begging and deterring issues before we embark on another centenary journey.


It is no new analysis from various historical analysts and pundits that our amalgamation was falsely founded. They blame the past and present problems facing Nigeria on this foundation and many went as far as prescribing disintegration as the only cure to our problems. All these simply based on their understanding of the situation.


I once again crave the indulgence of my esteemed readers to kindly set aside, at least for this time whatsoever stance you maintain on this topic as we peruse and logically dissect it and I do hope we both reach a common ground at the end.


Without conceding to the fallacy that the 1914 amalgamation is a historical mistake, I will liken the birth of Nigeria to that of a man who was brought into existence as a result of a vicious rape incidence. After conception, the pregnancy of this man was not aborted despite the known unpalatable circumstances surrounding it and probable external influences against it. The baby was delivered, can we say that baby was a mistake? This baby grew up and went past the odds of life to become a comfortable man who can fern for himself and even give to people. Can we still say this man is a mistake? Sincerely NO! So also our dear nation Nigeria. She is no mistake at all!


I still find it very difficult to dissuade my thinking faculty from allowing me point accusing fingers at some of our past and present leaders who have told us nothing but falsehood and have given us continued reasons why a country called Nigeria should not exist anymore without even feeding us with the benefits we stand to enjoy as a united nation.


Our population in the black continent has earned us the incontestable title of the Giant of Africa. This has in many ways brought a lot of benefits to our land. As we all know that the population size of a nation goes a long way in determining the commanded respect she enjoys from other countries of the world, even in important international decision making processes. Nigeria has been an unrivaled beneficiary of this since her existence.


The 1914 marriage has also helped us in creating an abundant manpower base, courtesy of the many ethinicities we have got. This abundant manpower is obvious in various vital sectors of our economy. Among which we have the security and sport sectors. Imagine the combination of the doggedness of the Hausas with the intelligence of the yorubas, now complemented by the skills of the Igbos in our military, wao! what a great military set up we have got! Likewise in the sports arena. How about the available numerous tourist centres for both nationals and international citizens to explore from? This cannot be possible if not for an amalgamated Nigeria.


The grace to gather the erudite from various angles of the nation for the best representation and government also lay credence to the beauty of our diversity. All these and many other advantages are crusted in the amalgamated nation of ours.


Having mentioned the advantages of a nation like Nigeria as a result of its amalgamation, it will be a gross show of ignorance on my path if i do not acknowledge the fact that Nigeria as a nation is been faced with challenges, just like any other nation around the globe but we will be doing a grave injustice to ourselves and our colonial masters if we say our compounded problems of the past and present is as a result of the 1914 amalgamation. A very huge injustice!


The peculiarity of this article will not permit me to fully implicate our leaders and ignorant citizens as the major causes of our misfortunes so far. Someone may want to say, how about the ethnic clashes here and there? Let me say here that some of those clashes started out as minor misunderstandings that could have been resolved by our leaders before they were wide blown if truly they had the unity of our beloved nation at heart, but all they do is to blame a marriage of heterogeneous people of a hundred years old. Is that not unpatriotic? They forgot clashes can even be more violent in a homogeneous setting if the necessary measures are not put in place.


Take for instance a homogeneous nation like Somalia, a country regarded as a big family with almost a single tribe. Somalia only has dents of few other minor tribes. A country where 99.9% of her citizens practice thesame religion, yet, Somalia can be said to be a very good example of a failed nation. Can we still blame their woes on heterogeneity? Absolutely No! Therefore, I want us to look beyond the 1914 amalgamation as the reason for our setbacks and problems.


Truly, our diversity if not properly harnessed and continually encouraged to its positive side, there could be problem and this is the instance we find ourselves atimes. Sovereign National Conferences should be a routine exercise in a very heterogeneous nation like Nigeria. By so doing, no tribe or group will feel marginalized in any way. So also, we get to know our differences and take advantage of it to build a more united and stronger nation.


With all sense of humility and respect, I want to say that Nigeria is greater than anyone of us, even the president and at thesame time, Nigeria belongs to all of us. So I believe every spirited efforts at encouraging her existence and sovereignty should be unanimously appreciated and jealously promoted, no matter the challenges we are faced with at the moment.


As I conclude, permit me to reinstate my position that the 1914 amalgamation is not a historical mistake in any way but a clad blessing to us all. Thank you!



REFERENCES

Nigeria: The mistake of 1914 By Y! Editor (21/06/2012)
http://www.ynaija.com/nigeria-the-mistake-of-1914/

Middle East Policy Council – Muslim Populations Worldwide
http://web.archive.org/web/20061214023655/http://www.mepc.org/workshops/popstat.asp

The World Factbook. Langley, Virginia: Centra Intelligence Agency.
http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html

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