I was speaking to a very young pharmacist from the South East yesterday.

I advan
ced the restructuring/true Fiscal Federalism as what I believe is the way out of
Nigeria's muddle. He would not buy it.
"Forget it ma'am. It's better we just go. Give us ten-fifteen years and see how
Biafra would be transformed." He spoke with conviction. His eyes shone with what
I thought was longing. "Just forget it. There is no need dragging this thing wi
th them," he concluded.
A good number of Igbos, and I dare add, other young Nigerians, are totally not u
nderstanding Nigeria as it is right now. It is not enough to make dismissive rem
arks like "They were not even born when the war happened." Or remarks like "They
don't understand what they're asking for."
Make them understand. That is, if you understand what you're asking them to unde
rstand. If it makes sense to you. It even gets more annoying when you hear the o
lder ones, the actors and spectators of the unfortunate war, urge the younger on
es to learn from history.
According to Osibanjo, "experience is the best teacher for a fool. History is a
much gentler teacher.'
I agree.
But comments like that could even draw the ire of the young ones who have today
been denied history classes in school.
Who keeps a people ignorant of their history? But even more annoying is the fact
that those who urge this learning have themselves not only failed to learn from
experience, but have bluntly refused to learn from history, the much gentler te
acher.
And what is there to learn? What is there to understand?
That a boy from Anambra State aspiring to get some education at the prestigious
Unity schools has to score about 139 marks in the entrance examination while his
counterpart, perhaps even his classmate or neighbour from Zamfara State would o
nly have to score 4 marks.
And that it takes an even weirder turn when they're done with school, at which p
oint the Zamfara boy would have over 80% more chance at a federal job than the 8
0% more studious boy from Anambra. How do you explain that to a young Nigerian s
o that he may understand?
How can they understand that a State like Kano, created at about the same time a
s one like Lagos, has about 44 local govt areas while Lagos State has a paltry 2
0 constitutionally recognized local govt areas. Bear in mind that Kano state has
long been sub divided into two states of Kano and Jigawa. Jigawa alone has 27 L
GAs of its own.
You can say that the old Kano State has 71 LGAs while Lagos still lags behind wi
th 20. And that the entire South East of five states has only about 94 local gov
t areas? Did it strike you that the South East is the only region still dawdling
with five states? It would not have mattered of course if the National cake was
n't shared on the basis of local governments. Only if it was baked on that same
basis. How would any young person without a brain for understanding twisted thin
gs get this?
How can they understand that in the present Govt, the entire South East has no r
epresentation in the security body of the country. So when the security chiefs s
it to discuss security, the primary role of any govt, there is nobody from the e
ntire SE region in attendance. How can anyone understand this.
How can even a gentle teacher make anyone understand that a South South youth wo
uld die for daring to steal crude oil from what used to be his fertile and arabl
e farmland, while his Northern counterpart can freely mine minerals from his bac
kyard. We only get to hear anything about it when lead poisoning begins to ravag
e communities.
How do you understand that we have Petroleum Equalization Fund which ensures tha
t petroleum products get to the people in the North at the same price at which i
t gets to those in the South but we do not have Tomato Equalization fund or Carr
ot Equalization Fund to trim the cost for people in the South? Break it down for
me so that I may understand since I didn't witness the war.
How do you break down the brazen massacres of Igbos, Christians and other innoce
nt Nigerians any time the North wakes up from the wrong side of the bed? Or when
an artist draws a denigrating sketch of Mohammed in countries some of the victi
ms have never heard of? Or when a group of girls decide to bare their bodies in
beauty pageants? Or when a man cannot win elections? Or when a farmer must till
his farmland? Or just about when anything... Just unbelievable impunity. And no
one ever gets justice.
But we can start by explaining how Katsina State alone just got allotted more sl
ots that the entire SS, than the entire SW, than the entire SE, than the entire
N.Central in the ongoing (or is it completed?) recruitment by the DSS.
And a host of flustering matters.
So what is it you want History to help you teach? That the oppressed should stay
calm and "ask nicely" like Obasanjo put it? They should ask nicely for their sh
are of a piece of cake jointly baked by all? They should treat Nigeria with love
like Obasanjo again suggested. It shouldn't matter that they get only rebuffs i
n return. I don't blame Obasanjo. It's probably the way he knows love and reconc
iliation...one sided. Any wonder his daughter would literally disown him publicl
y?
I listened to all the speeches made at the Biafra@50 event. They were all rich i
n flowing grammar, beaming with rhetorics but glaringly bare on commitment. Nobo
dy but Nwodo dared point a way out. Osibanjo's speech had no mention of restruct
uring, something I can bet my last finger that he believes in. It would seem lik
e we don't want to find a way out of our predicament yet.
Make no mistake, the clamour for Biafra is getting more tumultuous by the day th
at I fear that the voices of some of us preaching 'restructure' may soon be drow
ned.
And this house may come crashing on us all.
(c) Nneka Aroh