"If you cannot see that GLARING DIFFERENCE between Australia/Canada/US on the one hand, and the colonial states like Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tanzania, etc. created by the Europeans in Africa, you will never be able to solve the problems thrown up by the creation of such unnatural unions by fiat."
The above statement reflects one the key perceptual and conceptual challenges that the African intellegentsia contends with: the inability to compare similarities and differences without the implicit conclusion that African examples are inherently defective or even inferior. The premise seems to be that Western countries in particular and foreign countries in general are somehow superior in all regards to Nigeria and Africa.
Were Australia/USA/Canada not also colonies establsihed by the self-same British colonial dominator of Nigeria? Whats' the difference really?
2. I would appreciate a clarification on a related matter.
a. Exactly what is an "unnatural Union"?
b. Is it possible to have a state or nation as a "natural union"?
c. What nation/state in history is a "natural union". can you give examples?
d. Are nations biological creations?
e. Are nations divine creations?
3. All states and nations are historical creations whether put together by skillful diplomacy, adhesion to a powerful neighbour or by internal or external military conquest and imperialism.
In this sense there is no natural nation, artificial nation and there is no "unnatural union."
4. Would the Old Oyo Empire whose formation involved conquest and incorporation of numerous groups - Yoruba and other peoples be considered a "natural Union"?
5. Is Yoruba identity and consciousness natural? How is this so?
6. I suggest that Yoruba identity and consciousness was not fixed and delivered from on high but a deliberate a historical creation. It is a testimony of the skillful deployment and generalization of the Oduduwa creation myth as the pan-Yoruba founding ideology by self-conscious political and religious leaders.
7. Its creation is also an expression of political power by way of conquest, incorporation and accommodation over time by ascendant polities including Oyo and Ibadan internal imperialisms at different times.
8. Yoruba or other ethnic identities evolve in time and context. Yoruba identity in ts present form evolved in the territorial and political entity of Nigeria not in isolation but through interaction, conflict and resolution with other groups and even social forces internal and external. Therefore it is a uniquely Yoruba Nigerian identity and is substantially different from pre-Nigeria Yoruba identity.
9. In the formation of nations, empires or kngdoms it is also possiblle to have individuals or groups who are unable to reconcile themselves with new polity and prefer the comfort of an assumed "natural" community. In short, it is likely that there are individuals and groups who will never come to terms with their location in Nigeria. Its their right to be free and unreconciled to Nigeria; on the other hand, it is the duty of their opposites to continue the efforts to create an agreeable, functional and successful homeland that is worthy of respect, affection and defence.
10. And despite Nigerians common disparagement of Nigeria, it is clear that they also give the country some grudging allegiance. It would seem that what Nigerians are actually waiting for are a series of state supported, promoted and enabled decisive successes and common place accomplishments (like regular supplies of electricity, water and petrol and cheap food) to further their respect and allegiance to the country. The process is on.
11. In the final analysis, all historical political formations over time: decentralized societies, chiefdoms, states, kingdoms, empires and today nation states are products of deliberate ideological thought, political and social engineering, psychological and symbolic grounding and affirmative actions and activities of committed leaderships. But leaderships themselves are not divine creations or naturally born. They are also products of the complex inter-play social pressures.
12. Nigeria's formation is taking place in the context of the accommodation of a very complex heritage of advanced ancient polities incorporated in modern Nigeria, a highly confident people and a leadership which has to manage this tough mix.
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