Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) – As the 100-year treaty that led to the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Nigeria Protectorates under the British Colonial rule ends on 1 Jan. 2014, a coalition of ethnic nationalities under the aegis of the Movement For New Nigeria (MNN) has called for the restructuring of the country along federating states.
The group, which include the Lower Niger Congress, Federation of Odua People, Middle Belt Congress and Oporoza House, made its position known at a news conference in Lagos Monday.
“From January 2014, Nigeria will only exist on papers as a De facto state, because the treaty that led to the amalgamation will technically seize to exist,” the coordinator of the group, Dr. Fred Agbeyegbe, told journalists.
“Even though the executive, legislature and other structures will remain, what it now means is for the ethnic nationalities to re-negotiate and decide on the basis they wish to co-exist, using the Constitutional Conference coming up next year,” he said.
Dr. Agbeyegbe traced the root of the current socio-political and economic problems confronting the country to the amalgamation which he said was forced on the people.
“What we are rejecting is not Nigeria per se, but the unitary system, the lopsidedness in the structure that took away our resources and the unwillingness to change the system. We are simply saying we want a better Nigeria
”The amalgamation was done without consultation. Lord Frederick Lugard took over the land belonging to ethnic nationalities and their resources. We are claiming our sovereignty, which is given to us by God, the unfairness and the oppression must stop,” he added.
Another member of the group, Mr. Timi Ogoriba, said the national conference, which President Goodluck Jonathan has said will be held next year, remained the panacea to Nigeria problems.
”MNN, on behalf of the entrapped Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria, asks President Jonathan to expeditiously proceed with the historical task thrust upon him by providence to help the people reset the compromised foundation of the fallen house of Nigeria…in engaging the issues that are rocking the polity,” Ogoriba said.
”MNN is persuaded that getting down to the business of the National Conference will provide the panacea to the multifarious issues plaguing Nigeria,” he added.
To get the conference process on a proper footing, the group proposed that the constitutional arrangement imposed on the Nigerians first by Lord Lugard in 1914 and the 1999 constitution imposed by former military head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, be replaced.
They said Nigeria fell into the pit of retrogression when it lost its federalism in 1966, upon the sacking of five federating constitutions that defined the union.
The group suggested a process akin to the one undertaken in South Africa by CODESA (Convention for a Democratic South Africa), which negotiated the end of apartheid in the country.
PANA reports that the Nigerian government has already kick-started a programme to mark the country’s centenary in 2014.
Photo: Eric Gaba
