National Identity: Pragmatic Solutions for Democratic Governance in African Nations

By Barrister Nathaniel Uko-Ima

Historically, before the advent of colonialism, African continent was made up of independent states and kingdoms with organized political, social and economic practices. Most of the states and kingdoms had their social and political structures founded on various religious beliefs. In order to understand the fundamental issues in the post-colonial African nations, the socio-political students must understand the core socio-political pre-existence of these states and kingdoms.

This book is aimed at liberating the minds of pre-colonial ideologies and colonial mediocrity and points African leaders and college students (the tomorrow leaders) on the right direction by studying my pragmatic solutions that could lead African Nations out of the present catastrophic experiences to utter freedom and prosperity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499047943

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Copyright © 2014 by Barrister Nathaniel Uko-Ima.

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Rev. date: 07/11/2014

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Contents

Acknowledgement

Introduction

Chapter One

Mistakes Of The Founding Fathers

The Failure Of Nigerian Founding Fathers To Form A National Government

Note

Chapter Two

Misconceived Ideology

Concept Of Poverty And Corruption In Nigeria

Poverty

Corruption

Notes

Concept Of Ethnicity And Religion In Nigeria

Ethnicity And Emergence Of Regionalism

Centralized States

Non-Centralized Societies

Amalgamation And Colonial Federalism

The Concept Of Religion In Nigerian Society

Islamic Religion

Christianity

The Role Of Religion In Nigerian Politics

Religious Crimes In Nigeria

Religious Organizations And The Rule Of Law

Solutions To Religious Crimes In Nigeria

Regulation Of Government Conduct Towards Religion

The Adoption Clause Of Section 10 Of The Constitution Of Nigeria 1999

Strict Separation

Neutrality

Accommodation/Equality

Special Faith Schools

Secular Purpose

Secular Effect

Excessive Entanglement

Religious Beliefs And Conduct

Mandated Reporting Law

Chapter Three

Sooth Federalism

Sooth Federalism And Federated-Units

Sooth Federalism And Religious Crisis

Sooth Federalism And National Identity

Delineation Of Sooth Federalism

The Sooth Federal Systems

Necessity For Sooth Federalism

The Nature Of Sooth Federalism

Components Of Sooth Federalism

Written Constitution

Constitutional Adjudicator

Corporate Institutionalism

Notes

Chapter Four

Evolution Of Nigerian Federalism

Federalism Before Independence: From Two Protectorates To A Single Federation

The First Republic: Nigeria’s First Attempt At Democratic Governance (1960-1965)

Notes

The First Period Of Military Rule (1966-1979)

The 1966 Coups, Civil War, And First Period Of Military Rule (1966 – 1979)

Gowon’s Government

The Muhammad And Obasanjo Government

The Second Republic: Nigeria’s Second Attempt At Democratic Governance (1979-83)

The Second Period Of Military Rule (1984-2000)

The Buhari Regime

The Babangida Government

The Abortive Third Republic

The Sani Abacha Government

The Abubakar’s Transition To Civilian Rule

The Fourth Republic

Yar’adua’s Death And Jonathan’s Succession

Chapter Five

Nigerian Pragmatic And Elastic Federalism

Metamorphic National-States Relations

Notes

The Powers Of The States

A Theory Of Nigerian Federalism

Cooperative Federalism

Notes

Chapter Six

The Confrontation Between The Federation And Federated-Units

Distribution Of Powers Between The Federal And The Federated-Units

Limits On The Federal Power

Notes

The Role Of Judiciary

Independent Judiciary

Chapter Seven

National Identity And Political Participation

Inadequacy Of Nigerian Nation As Political Communities

National Identity: The Privileges And Immunities Provision

Federalism And Political Participation In Nigeria

Nigerian Dominant Party Democracy

Chapter Eight

Pragmatic Approaches To Vertical Federalism

Federal Government Encroachments On The States

Solutions To Federal Encroachments

Systematic Palladium

Normative Palladiums

Judicial Palladium

Distribution Of Authorities And Boundaries Setting

Common Security

Economic Management And Liabilities

Novelty

Intergovernmental Competition

Apparent Outcome Management

Resources Sharing And Management

Political Participation

Diversity Management

Accountability

Despotism Management

Assured Electoral System

Forced Compliance

Notes

Chapter Nine

Pragmatic Solutions To Nigerian Heterogeneous Problems

Acknowledgement Of Nigeria’s Historical Past

Identification And Recognition Of Ethnic Sovereignties

Formation Of A Union

Federal Constitution

National Identity

Sooth Federalism

Constitutional Constraints

Independent Judiciary

Accountability.

Separation Of State And Religion

Notes

Chapter Ten

State And The Common Good: Philosophical Analysis Of African Political Rule

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Through history and the workings of this book were the memories of my late parents, Chief Effiong and Elder Ima-Inyang Nneke who devoted their entire lives for the building of a nation which they derived nothing in return. I dedicate this book to all readers who by reading it would aim at unity, prosperity and freedom for all Africans.

INTRODUCTION

This book is written at a time that African nations are faced with increasingly governance crisis. It is particularly, written to provide a solution for the dwindling governance in the most populous and heterogeneous African nation, Nigeria, whose political outburst may affect the fabric of the entire continent.

The Post-colonial African nations have increasingly experienced social, political and economic problems since their independence. Since the end of the colonial era, the continent has witnessed bloody civil wars, ethnic cleansing and religious crises that have claimed millions of lives.

For example, Angola, since independence from Portugal in 1975, more than 1.5 million people has been killed and 4 million displaced in the quarter century of fighting. Sudan, since independence from Britain, more than two million was killed over a period of two decades of civil war. Rwanda, following independence from Belgium, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating in a state-orchestrated genocide, in which between half a million and a million people were massacred.

Following the annexation of British Somaliland with Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the new nation, Somalia has descended civil wars with an estimated death toll to 400,000 people. Since the Democratic Republic of Congo gained its independence from Belgium in 1960, political and social instability have claimed an estimated 5.4 million lives, half of them children.

After independence from Britain in 1962 Uganda witnessed a tyrannical government that brutally killed over 300,000 people; guerrilla war and human rights abuses that claimed more than 100,000 lives. Mauritania since its independence from France in 1960 is increasingly facing ethnic tensions among its Afro-Mauritanians and the Arab-Berber ethnic communities, as well as a growing terrorism threat by al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Although it is often asserted that Liberia was not a colony, the 11 Years civil war that claimed over 450,000 Lives was a war of ethnic rivalry for recognition and participation.

The First Sudanese Civil War from 1955 to 1972 between the northern and Southern Sudan was a demand for regional autonomy. The 17 years war claimed over Half a million lives. The second north-south war broke out in 1983 and continued for 22 years until 2005. The war resulted in the death of more than two million people, famine and diseases. More than four million people were displaced. In fact the Sudanese ethnic conflicts recorded the highest civilian death toll since World War II.

Following its independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria fought a bloody civil war that claimed more than one million lives and continue to experience ethnic and religious crises.

Whenever people think about problems in Africa, what readily comes to mind is either poverty or corruption. These are only conditions associated with problems rather than being the problems per se. In fact, they are fruits of the problems endemic to any dysfunctional society. Others may, attribute African multi-complex problems to the claws of colonialism on the continent. There is no doubt that, the endemic political turmoil; social disruption and economic crisis in African nations are the legacies of the colonial era. Most of the pre-colonial kingdoms, despite their independent political, social and economic status, were fused into one artificial nation for colonial administrative purposes. However, such catastrophic occurrence is not peculiar to African Nations; hence it is not a justification for the continent’s quandary. Although colonialism left the continent with fragmented nations without any sense of national identity, is only an evincible phenomenon.

This book identifies two primary causes associated with the political, social and economic crisis in the post-colonial African nations: Firstly, the failure of the Africans to acknowledge historical precedents. Secondly, the inability of the Africans to identify and implement a suitable political system that fits with the complications of post-colonial era. In the words of the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, African problems could only be solved by the Africans and Africans alone. In order for the Africans to solve their problems, each African nation must first of all understand the circumstance that brought them together as nations and the suitable ideology that could enable a national co-existence.

Historically, before the advent of colonialism, African continent was made up of independent states and kingdoms with organized political, social and economic practices. Most of the states and kingdoms had their social and political structures founded on various religious beliefs. In order to understand the fundamental issues in the post-colonial African nations, the socio-political students must understand the core socio-political pre-existence of these states and kingdoms.

One of the administrative strategies of the colonial rule was to forge nations out of pre-existed states or kingdoms. The formations were forceful and coercively sustained. Thus, independent states with their autonomous and organized political, social and economic practices were incorporated into artificial single entities which characterize each of the present African Nations. The colonial administrations vacated these nations without suitable plan in place to carter for their political, social and economic co-existence. Natural kingdoms or states can only be repressed, but not extinct. Hence, after the exits of the colonial regimes, the natural kingdoms re-emerged for recognitions over one another. Wars and crises erupt when a majority kingdom or ethnic group attempts to exert power over the minority. These states and kingdoms re-emerged with their religious ideologies. It results in wars and crises whenever the majority tries to impose their religious beliefs on the minority or whenever the minority religious identity is unrecognized. Hence the primary cause of wars and crises in the post-colonial nations is a struggle for ethno-religious supremacy.

Despite any good intentions of world organizations and supporting efforts from private individuals and organizations over the decades, African Nations are regarded as third-world nations. The continent continues to experience increasingly political, social and economic crises. Hence, my book is challenging the fact that no intention or effort has been so good for the African Nations, without a change. In the words of Apostle Paul, a change in the post-colonial African Nations is possible only by the renewal of the African minds. As John Adams put it in his letter to Hezekiah that:

The (American) Revolution was in the minds and heart of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations … This radical change in the principles, options, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.¹ Bernard Bailyn wrote concerning American liberation that: It was an elevating, transforming vision: a new, fresh, vigorous, and above all morally regenerate people rising from obscurity to defend the battlements of liberty and then in triumph standing forth, hearing and sustaining the cause of freedom everywhere. In the light of such a conception everything about the colonies and their controversy with the mother country took on a new appearance. Provincialism was gone … What were once felt to be defects – isolation, institutional simplicity, primitiveness of manners, multiplicity of religions, weakness in the authority of the state – could now be seen as virtues …²

This book is aimed at liberating the minds of pre-colonial ideologies and colonial mediocrity and points African leaders and college students (the tomorrow leaders) on the right direction by studying my pragmatic solutions that could lead African Nations out of the present catastrophic experiences to utter freedom and prosperity.

The most pathetic, perhaps problematic situation in the continent is an attempt to copy a system of government from foreign nations without the understanding of underlying principles in the system. For example, since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has adopted five Constitutions. The present Constitution which borrowed most of its contents from the United States Constitution is a product of a military led initiative. Unfortunately, Nigerians fail to understand that, it is not what is copied on paper that produces federalistic character; rather, it is the means or mechanism to enforce the contents of such instrument that matters. Laws are a dead letters without the mechanisms to effect and define their true meaning and sustenance. Constitutionalism is meaningless without resources of power, in some form, both to achieve and sustain it.

Since one of the post-colonial African nations, Nigeria, is experimenting with the federal system of government; I will focus a greater part of this book on Nigeria federal system in a comparative approach to sooth federalism which will serve as a governance guide to other post-colonial African nations.

For purposes of informed clarity, the book will give analytical accounts of Nigerian historical form and federalism. More will be done to provide pragmatic solutions to achieving sooth federal system in post-colonial African nations.

Unlike other related works in this area, this book does not focus on the symptoms of African problems, but the causes and pragmatic solutions to those problems. The central theme of the book is what I called A Union with two Lines, which I refer to in the book as Sooth federalism. The term connotes my governance ideology that each post-colonial African state should form a union with two lines. The first line will provide a solution for the problem of ethnicity. Thus, the first line is a political structure that provides for central and subordinates governments with a distinctive line of sovereign power. The second line will provide for the second problem which is religion. Thus, the political structure must be able to provide for the separation of State and religion. These two lines will foster a strong national identity and peaceful co-existence in the diverse ethno-religious African nations. The only political design capable of this function is what I called Sooth Federalism.

The book is comparatively written to borrow from various scholarly experiences. It is the first of its kind to combine, history, politics and law as a resource for academic scholarship and political advancement.

CHAPTER ONE

MISTAKES OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS

THE FAILURE OF NIGERIAN

FOUNDING FATHERS TO FORM A

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

The idea of sovereignty, that in all heterogeneous society it is necessary, there should be a distribution of power between the federal and the federated-units should have been the beginning point of Nigeria federal politics. The doctrine of sovereignty by itself should have compelled a common audience to be convened in the strictest terms of political theory. It should have been the single most important abstraction of politics in the entire socio-political search. The theory of sovereignty should have pervaded the arguments of the whole political agenda from the Moment of freedom struggle through the adoption of the new federal Constitution.

The problem of sovereignty was not solved by the country’s independence from Britain. With independence it became obvious that the parliamentary assembly, created simply out of the exigency of events in 1960, needed some more solid basis; the regional delegates failed to immediately work on an agreement that would more permanently connect the national government and ethnic groups in the new federation. There were regional sentiments in 1960, which had their roots from the events of the colonial rule – perhaps more of a feeling of religion and ethnic loyalty among the various disparate ethnic groups than at any time in history. The climate and the economic and social interests of the separate groups, seemed so varied, the habits and character of the people, particularly between North and South, appeared so different, that a continental republic with a single government coalescing all the states was as nearly impossible of establishment.

A man’s ethnic origin and religion was still his country and culture. It was so to the Northern

Reviews for National Identity

[cyderry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

James Monroe was the last of the Revolutionary Presidents. He served the United States during the War of Independence being wounded while scouting for the Battle Trenton, and during Washington's administration served in the US Senate and State Department. He represented the United States in France and Spain as he continued his diplomatic career (assisting in the negotiations regarding the Louisiana Purchase). He was also the Governor of Virginia and during the Madison Administration served as both the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War. With his election to the Presidency, Monroe's political career was complete.Monroe was a very analytical man, who gathered all the information available before making momentous decisions. He regularly held meetings with all of his advisors (Cabinet members) and then would reflect on their viewpoints and analyze the ramifications of the proposed actions.Perception was that Monroe was indecisive, however, it appears that he mainly used a delaying tacit to allow time for others to arrive at the same conclusions. He preferred unanimity within his Cabinet.It was also assumed that because of John Quincy Adams' extensive diplomatic experience that Monroe allowed him to set the foreign policy, but it is shown in Adams' diaries that Monroe controlled the foreign policy and the direction of proposed discussions with foreign ministers of the time. One must remember that he too had diplomatic experience and had served 8 years as the Secretary of State.Monroe questioned himself and wrote to Jefferson" Was it not proper for the US to encourage nations seeking their freedom while condemning those seeking to deprive others of their liberty? "Monroe made the conscious decision that it was time for the United States to take a bolder stand on the international front and in 1823 during his annual "State of the Union" address, declared several paragraphs which stated that 1) "the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interest of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as the subjects for future colonization by any European powers." and 2) "We owe therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety." At the time, it was referred to as the "American System". Now we know it as the Monroe Doctrine. This moral standing had no "imperial mission" behind it but served notice to all the nations of the world that the Americas were not to trifled with. This is a very detailed biography of the 5th President. The author makes every effort to inform the reader of the accomplishments of the man as well as show his shortcomings. On a personal note, I was not particular impressed with Monroe until I realized all that he had been through and accomplished in his lifetime. He reminds me a good deal of Washington in that he felt that the Constitution was to be adhered to fanatically and that the good of the Nation was more important than the good of his party. I was unaware that the "Monroe Doctrine" was actually part of the annual address to Congress in 1823. It was not a separate document but several separate paragraphs in his State of Union address and yet made such a definitive statement that it still serves as part of the United States foreign policy standards. It is sad that this man who put forth the policy that "protected" the Americas also was partially responsible for the Missouri Compromise that put us on the road to war.How ironic, that the last of the Revolutionary Presidents also died on the 4th of July.