In Nigeria, Slaves Ride On Horses While Princes Go On Foot Like Slaves

“There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler: Fools are put in many high positions,...Slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.”  
- (Ecclesiastes10: 5-7). 

A northern Emir riding a horse

Thousands of years ago, a wise man observed an 'evil' happening under the sun and a 'sort of error' that arises from a king. He said that fools are placed in many high positions over the knowledgeable ones that merited it. And that slaves ride on horses while princes, who obviously own the horses, were forced to walk on foot like slaves. 

Unfortunately, this is the Nigerian situation today.

All these were precipitated by the fraudulent amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates by the British colonialists in 1914. Advantages were given to the northern Nigerian against its southern counterpart in terms of population figures, parliamentary seats, military recruitment etc., before handing over power to them in 1960, because the British saw the North as being malleable and easily controlled than the ‘highly educated and intelligent’ South who incidentally owns the resources through which the British runs their business -the Royal Niger Company - which would later become Nigeria.

It is sad that Britain has always seen Nigeria as their business empire.

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Consequently, Nigeria under the hegemonic rule of the northern oligarchs, who in-turn became the neo-colonialists, introduced many fraudulent and dubious policies in our laws which encouraged mediocrity, nepotism and corruption in the system, destroying the beauty of healthy competition and meritocracy among different geopolitical zones of the country.

In the education sector for instance irrational things like catchment areas, educationally disadvantaged states, etc., were introduced:

Thus a policy was formulated in 2012 that made students of some northern states who scored as low as 002 and 003 in an entrance examinations for UNITY SCHOOLS to gain admission over their southern counterparts who scored as high as 120 in the same exam. What an anomaly?  

I mean how can one explain to his kid from Anambra in Southeast Nigeria that the 120 point-score he painstakingly got in an entrance examination for Nigeria’s ‘Unity’ Schools couldn’t gain him admission in the same country where his classmate from Yobe State in Northern Nigeria who scored 002 got the admission? What more could be of corruption?

A southern village where oil is drilled, that feeds the nation.

Similarly in the civil and public service sector, a ‘federal character’ principle were introduced in the constitution whereby no matter how qualified one is for a job, he can never be employed unless  an equal number of slots are shared among every geopolitical zones irrespective of whether they are qualified or not.

All these were done to keep the North moving at the same pace with the South – which inadvertently draws the country backwards and made a clog in the wheel of our development. Now, even the so-called federal character principle is not being obeyed by them as recent recruitment's have been enmeshed in scandals proving a discreet but constant recruitment of large number people from a section of the country over others.

I wouldn't want to go on with the much-talked-about area of inequitable creation of states and local governments and its subsequent distribution of resources between the south and the north. 

The Oil in Bayesla belongs to Jigawa

It's an open secret that the black gold which God bequeathed at the backyard of the people of Niger Delta and Southeast Nigeria is the only cord holding the fragile ligaments of Nigeria's' unity.

In May 2013, Hon. Farouk Adamu Aliyu, a former minority leader of the House of Representaives, called a press conference to the bewilderment of everyone insisiting that the oil in Bayelsa and Delta states belong to Jigawa, his home state. It is not yet clear on which premise he based his provocative assertions. The video clip is still available on Youtube.

Similarly, at a northern leaders conference in 2015, one of the led speakers, Alhaji Usman Bugaje, asserted that the oil in Southern Nigeria belongs to the north. According to him, the north has 72% of the Nigerian land mass and that going by the UN law of the sea, its only the north that has the right to lay claim of the oil. What a country! 

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Anyway, depending on how you view it, we might actually say the oil in the south 'belonged' to them in the north because they have taken over ownership of almost all the oil blocks in the south issuing little or nothing to the owners of the land they were deposited What an injustice unto mankind?

A comparative picture of Abuja, a northern city, with
  zero revenue production and a community in Niger Delta
 where 80% of Nigeria's revenue source is produced.

And to add insult to injury we were made to understand that these same North that contributes nothing to the centre were ‘born to rule’ while the South that feeds them were 'born to serve' – What an anathema and a grievous evil? It is more like an owner of a ranch holding his cow at the head while an alien milks it from under. This is a clear indication of 'Slaves Riding On Horses While Princes Go On Foot Like Slaves?'

Chike Nnamani, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja, Nigeria.