Atomization and the "new" constitution

Today comes news that the Gwagwalada Area Council in Abuja has created 5 "new" districts and 14 "new" villages.

The number of states is not the only thing subject to inflation; we inflate the numbers of LGAs, towns and villages too. I have mentioned before on this blog that my hometown was split into one "old" town and a new "autonomous" town during the Second Republic.

Like inflation of the monetary kind, each "new", smaller, more atomnized unit is worth much less than what preceding it. My hometown was not an economic juggernaut before being atomized for the purposes of venal politics. As we keep dividing and dividing, we will eventually reach a point where the new inflated units become effectively worthless.

But lets be honest, we the people are part of the problem, part of the engine of atomization. We are the fuel and the fire that keeps the worthless game going. We keep thinking that if we split ourselves from each other, we will have disassociated ourselves from our problems. There is a widespread belief, supported by formal and informal commentators, "leaders", even alleged intellectuals, a belief that all of our problems (as in whatever socio-cultural group we belong to) are caused by all the people in the other socio-cultural groups (ethnic, regional, religious, etc). And so we insist on splitting, believing our lot will be better in the newer, smaller entity.

It never is.

So we insist on splitting all over again.

At some point, each compound will be a state, and we will still be faced with the same core problems we have refused to face for decades.

I will not take any proposed constitution seriously, unless it restructures Nigeria into 6 second-tier entities (call them "states" or "regions") and 75 third-tier entities (call them "districts" or "provinces"). The 6-and-75 structure would replace the current, bankrupt 37-and-774 format.

Unfortunately, this will not happen.

There are many reasons why the "new" constitution will prove as short-lived (and as useless and irrelevant) as the many "old" constitutions. I could write a book on why we keep ending up with irrelevant documents in the name of "constitution". But rather than waste your time with voluminous polemics, I can just stick to this one point:

The "new" constitution will not restructure Nigeria by reducing the number of second-tier and third-tier federating units.

It just won't.

The constitution-making process is in the hands of the politicians, and the requirement that it be approved by the state legislatures means it is specifically in the hands of the state governors and their minions in the state legislatures. These men are not going to approve of the abolishment of their jobs, their near-imperial powers, and their mostly unconstitutional privileges.

It simply won't happen.

And that one fact renders any so-called "new" constitution effectively useless to the people of Nigeria. If it cannot do this one simple, foundational thing .... this one thing without which everything else becomes unnecessarily complicated to the point of dysfunctionality .... if it cannot do this, then what is the point of the inevitable long-winded blah-blah-blah grammar about stuff that no politician or militician has ever obeyed, secure in the knowledge that there are no consequences for unconstitutional behaviour?

Again, we the people are a part of the problem.

It is difficult to rally people together to work to fix the system ... because people don't want the system fixed until after they or their brother or their kinsman has had a chance to exploit the broken system first.. Even people who have no chance at ever being in a position to exploit the system nevertheless dream of the day some miracle would put them in such a position.

No one wants the perceived golden goose of a broken system to die before they get their chance to grab a few illegitimate and unearned eggs.

And if there is one thing that truly angers me, it is those people who suddenly become born-again believers in an improved Nigeria after they leave office with enough wealth to last two lifetimes. Except they then run into opposition from people who haven't had a chance to "chop" yet.