Nigeria Content Online

The clamour for the creation of new
states is increasing and the voices of those who speak for it are
becoming bolder. A lot of reasons are adduced for the creation of
states; the first would be the need for grass-root development and the
second to discourage marginalization and to create a balance or erase
the lopsidedness in the polity. These are veils for the other unspoken
reasons of political mago-mago, selfish ethnic and religious
aggrandizement, as well as the sustenance of elitist looting.

If we pause here for a while and carry
out an unbiased surgery on the states that have been created from the
beginning, many true Nigerians will indeed rise up and insist that we
return to the days of the regions – Western, Northern, Eastern and
Midwest regions. Genuine development of the mind and physical
structures actually took place then and those of us who were born in
the sixties enjoyed the activities of Azikiwe, Awolowo, Sardauna and
their peers.

We have never been able to recapture
the spirit and the ambience of those good old days. Let me state
clearly here that I still do not see them as my heroes; but they are a
lot better than the crooks, criminals and cretins we have been
unfortunate to call our leaders. I am an Urhobo man and I visit Asaba
once in a while because that is my state capital and I must confess
that if the union of the Delta Ibo with the other ethnic groups were
not contrived out of the same political tricks of IBB, I still want to
believe that the development in Asaba today would not be happening.
Imagine if the state capital had been Warri or Ughelli, because we have
die-hard tribalists and very selfish human beings.

So you will understand now why the call
by some sons and daughters of Delta Ibo for the creation of ‘Anioma
State’ is inspiring this piece.

I have heard and still hear of a
similar cry from the south east, from the middle belt and even the core
north, not forgetting the call from the west. The truth of the matter
is, if it is encouraged, every hamlet in Nigeria will shout for a state
to be created from within its rank, because they see it as the fastest
way for the national cake to trickle down to their pockets.

States for wrong reasons

States should be
created for the right reasons but in Nigeria, I wonder if any state can
be created outside the usual wrong reasons. But if any state must be
created, apart from the ones that stem from the evil cravings of bad
and very dangerous politics that our leaders play, the state must be
self sufficient; its people must show or prove beyond reasonable doubt
that with or without the subvention from the centre, they can survive;
that they are viable and can take care of their own and themselves.

I am tired of
hearing ‘educationally backward state’, ‘economically inviable state’
and states propelled by ethnic and religious bigots. They will promise
not to wait for the Federal government before they can pay teachers and
the genuine civil servants in their state; they will promise that they
can provide standard healthcare for their people; that they can provide
education for their children and, most importantly, they can provide
food and relative security for their people.

Otherwise, let us remain deaf, dumb and even blind to these calls of
disunity, because, ‘If you give some people chance, dem go plant egg.’