Farmers in the European Union are protesting against EU policies. In Belgium, Germany and other European Union nations, they are protesting about new environmental regulations, removal of subsidies and cheap imports that they believe don’t meet the same level of requirements of food they produce in the EU. As at last week, farmers encircled the EU headquarters in tractors, in one of the numerous class actions to protest the EU agric policies. They have been protesting for months, and several of the demonstrations have turned violent, like protests in February and March in Brussels, the seat of the EU government. Breaking it down, it is about guarding of economic territories, protection of means of livelihood and kicks against unfriendly government rules.
In Nigeria, on June 5, 2024 on the floor of the Senate, it was a day to demand citizens and human rights for cows.
If human beings have rights to freedom of movement, Senators Adamu Aliero (Kebbi) and Danjuma Goje (Gombe), leading those in their camp, couldn’t see why cows should not enjoy the same rights. At the lower chamber a member of the house from the same northern constituency had confirmed that yes, herders value the cows more than they value their own lives, and it is because we are eating too much maggi that we are so edgy and intolerant to cows having the first take in the use of natural resource – in the comity of living things, including over 200 million people in Nigeria.
To them, open grazing should continue and the Nigerian environment should continue to attract influx of herders from wherever they are coming from because ECOWAS protocol permits free movement, and it doesn’t matter that land is not increasing in size despite ever-increasing population per hour cramming themselves into the same land space with needs for more foods and housing.
If we thank Lord Lugard and his co-travellers for giving us Nigeria, why shouldn’t we do more by praising the military boys to high heavens for the unitary system of governance they tied to the neck of Nigerians like millstone, since 1966, to drown the people with. What other sure and very effective tool would have worked better to destroy Lord Lugard’s Britainic and selfish economic arrangement and to totally annihilate the destinies of the people living in the country than the imposed unitary system of government. Let’s imagine a pen of horses, pigs, sheep, goats, snails, snakes, etcetera brushing against themselves inside the same shed. What an animal farm in such a scenario!
Nigeria is currently experiencing food insecurity due largely to the farmer-herders’ imbroglio that has turned the food basket states to near-zero production zones. The invasion of herders, those who value cows more than their lives, and banditry in the far north with the attendant losses of the crop farmers’ lives has given Nigerians new music, ‘we are hungry o’.
In all these with the disillusionment and ebbing patriotism, the federal government believes that Nigerians must continue to be patriotic and sing the praises of the country to high heavens. With speed never known before, the national assembly passed a Bill for the return of the 1960 independence national anthem.
According to President Bola Tinubu, the reversion to 1960 anthem is a priority because it reflects the diversity of and unity of Nigeria. The Senate president on his own declares that one of the most important issues is to take Nigerians back to their genealogy; the genealogy of their birth. Whether in the field of battle or politics, Nigeria must be hailed.
Yes. To hail Nigeria, the citizens need more than a national anthem at a time the production capacity of the 60s had been destroyed and the food inflation rate is well above forty per cent. Since the independence anthem is a priority and Nigerians need to go back to the genealogy of their birth, we will not be there yet with just the changing of the national anthem. As a matter of urgency, the 1963 republican constitution and its enshrined governance structure must be brought back without delay so that we can begin to forget the damages done to Nigeria by the military and their destructive unitary structure impositions.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria came into existence on October 1, 1963 with the introduction of the 1963 Republican Constitution, thereby making it the first attempt at self-governance as a country. The 1963 Constitution threw off the indirect rulership of the Queen of England and made Nigeria a sovereign republic, with its own constitutional backing. The constitution (1963) recognised the diversity of Nigeria by retaining the parliamentary system of government with a prime minister as head of government and the regions having their own governments with freedom to operate at their own paces without let or hindrance. The constitution had such features like an elected president, but the power of governance resided with the parliamentary authority, making the Supreme Court the highest court.
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In the first chapter of the Constitution which dealt with the federation and its territories, the second clause clearly expressed that Nigeria shall be a Federation comprising Regions and a Federal territory and shall be a Republic by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Clause 3(1) says, there shall be four Regions; that is to say, Northern Nigeria, Eastern Nigeria, Western Nigeria and Mid-Western Nigeria, while Clause 3(2) indicated that the Regions and Federal territory shall consist of the areas comprised in those territories respectively on the thirtieth day of September, 1963. It was the capacity for the component parts to operate at their respective paces and identity that the military truncated within a space of three years; and 58 years down the line, the country has retrogressed and retarded almost irreparably.
to be continued
. Emmanuel is a business planning consultant and founder of Leacent Incorporated Trustee, a network of entrepreneurs and group of cooperatives. He works with a team of international consultants to conceptualise and plan agribusiness and housing projects. As a certified trainer authorised to use the International Labour Organisation’s enterprise development modules, he trains entrepreneurs and organises workshops and seminars for potential and practising entrepreneurs as well as business managers and cooperatives. He also speaks and facilitates at leadership and management workshops on invitation. His book, Business Planning Made Easy: Step by Step Guide On How To Turn Your Idea To Profitable Business’ is the latest of the books authored by him. Telephone: +234(0)9068602954 (call and sms), +234(0)8023257707 (WhatsApp only).
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