Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.6 Model-Driven Programming for Better Model Production
The Nigerian state is blessed with tremendous wealth, articulated minds and noble personalities that radiates intellectual prowess. Yet a contradistinction between the Nigerian state and other states formerly grouped within the title ‗third world‘ shows remarkable progressive changes taking place in most of these states contrary to the Nigerian predicament which for the past five decades appears bleak. On one hand, the nation has remained scientifically and economically backward, which explains the reason the Nigerian socio-political and cultural conditions have consistently been unable to adequately sustain her citizens; thus, fueling violent agitations along ethnic lines. On the other hand, the agencies of the state charged with the responsibility of making laws, interpreting laws and executing laws are inconsistent in their activities, as such, deferring the logic of their establishment and further fueling social disorder within the polity.
114 Prior to independence, the negatives were assigned to the colonial masters. Nationalists, scholars, religious and traditional leaders among others from Nigeria, Africa, and even foreigners sympathetic to the Nigerian cause wrote volumes to support their claims, thereby heaping blames for the many woes befalling the nation on the colonial master.
From being labeled exploiters to agents of under-development, the blame game continued till Nigeria got her independence on the 1st October, 1960. Thus, while Rodney posits that, African civilization, culture, beliefs and values were trodden under the feet. For the European invaders to effectively realize their objectives, they had to establish themselves firmly on the continent of Africa by introducing and imposing on Africans, their religious, political, economic, social, linguistic and administrative systems, thereby upstaging the noble and enviable African institutions.2 Falaiye sums up that:
The European aggressive incursion and subsequent imposition of colonial domination on Africa had both traumatic and destructive consequences on the political, social and cultural situation of the continent. Africa did not only lose her political freedom; but more fundamentally, the structures of political power were weakened, retarded and even dismantled in some occasions and replaced with those of the metropolis that were considered more ―enlightenment‖ and
―sophisticated‖ without any consideration whatever for the people‘s worldview3.
Ironically, decades after independence people still recall nostalgically the developmental plans and strides of the times of the colonial masters. More so, other countries in different continents of the world that simultaneously experienced colonialism has since rose, dusted up and reckoned in the comity of nations. Invariably, the following questions are continually begging for answers; why has the socio-political and economic conditions in Nigeria and most African states continued to be bleak since independence? Is it due to poverty of ideology or lack of the will to
115 implement lofty policies? Is it a result of failed leadership or is it rather failure in the path of followers?
Obviously, the staggering and pathetic state of affairs in Nigeria is evidenced in the numerous developmental challenges facing the state since independence, and has led to clamors for a social and political revolution by the masses at any given opportunity. It is a truism that no one in his normal senses enjoys creating social disorder for its sake, and that the right to dissent is innate in man. Thus, Etuk posits that:
The easiest way to understand a willful act on the part of individuals or groups of persons to cause social disorder, is to see it as an attempt on their part to make a statement, to make a protest which cannot but attract attention and maybe rouse feelings in others and cause them to act. The same kind of impulse presumably shows itself in a child who, denied of adequate attention, throws a tantrum and scatters things about the house. Since people cannot tolerate disorder, they will have to find out what went wrong and possibly look for solutions.4
It follows, that the yearning for revolution in Nigeria at every given opportunity is not unconnected with the events immediately after independence which witnessed the early leaders/nationalists constituting themselves into neo-colonialists, thereby sustaining the imperialist ideologies that are ontologically and intrinsically unacceptable to Nigerians.
Consequentially, the first coup in 1966 which turned out to be a pace setter of pogrom against particular ethnic groups in the country was a revolutionary response by the military against the ineptitude of the First Republic political leaders and it equivocally led to military intervention in governance in Nigeria and as in most African countries.
Also, the thirty-month civil war with its unforgettable effect was more or less a response to a revolutionary clarion call due to perceived injustice and marginalization of a section/region of the country by the majority tribe. Of recent, the country is plagued with seemingly unending eruptions of religious violence and mayhem against
116 other ethnic groups for little or no provocation; unwarranted destruction of lives and properties by Fulani herdsmen and cattle rustlers, the Boko Haram insurgency, the Shites revolts against constituted authorities, revolutionary movement such as Odua People‘s Congress(OPC), Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), Ijaw Youth Congress(IYC), the Coalition of Northern Groups(CNG), and the multiplicity of ethnic militias. There are glaring indications that the country is in a boiling state with each ethnic group being suspicious of the other on one hand, and the masses generally aggrieved by the wanton looting of their collective wealth by a privileged few which has led to economic stalemate and biting hardship on the other hand. However, it is a fact that even in the pre-colonial Nigeria, there was some level of orderliness and civility amongst the people. According to John in his Man and the State: Issues in Socio-Political Philosophy:
In traditional African society there was a viable and fruitful political system that was built on a uniquely African sense of communalism, founded on kingship or extended families, in a proportion unequalled and unrivalled elsewhere outside Africa.5
However, the resultant effect of leaders going contrary to these cherished and revered cultural values was disastrous. Corroborating this point, Francis Offor maintains that in pre-colonial Nigeria:
The people had their existential values with which they developed a culture and politics that they considered adequate for positive living and progressive development.
In addition, the structures for checks and balances including those that guarantee the right of dissent were well institutionalized. For example, it is on records that the legendary Oba Ewuakpe of the famous Bini kingdom was forced to abdicate the throne and go into exile when the Bini people withdraw their allegiances to him and civilly disobeyed his proclamations.6
117 Invariably, the distinctive variable between the clamors is in the approach. The pre-colonial structures and even the concessions gained during the pre-colonial administration by nationalists were achieved through non-violence approaches, while the post-independence Nigeria could be justifiably identified with violent approach which is significantly influenced by government‘s suppression of the right of citizens to freely express dissenting opinions.