On Friday, Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West District, Nigeria, said that he had submitted a bill for the abolition of State of Origin in the country. He made the announcement in Abuja at the 18th anniversary logo of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN).
The controversial Senator announced the submission of the State of Origin bill last week and proclaimed that the bill will foster unity and cohesion within the country. “I have submitted a bill for the abolition of State of Origin. We are one united indivisible people in this country we do not need State of Origin,” said Melaye. “My bill will be that instead of State of Origin we should have State of Residence. Where ever you reside is your state. For example Emeka can become governor of Kano State, Oluwole can decide to become the governor of Borno State and Abdul Malik can want to become the governor of Edo State. That is the Nigeria of our dream and…for the youth to actualise.”
The bill comes at a time of transparent disunity across the nation as Biafra agitators in the south east call for a secession, militants in the south-south groan that the region has been long neglected and exploited and political observers voice their concerns over the predominance of certain ethnic groups within the current administration. The bill comes after years of advocacy for the recognition of State of Residence from prominent public figures including former Senate President, David mark, the first Vice President of the fourth republic, Atiku Abubakar, former Governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, Charles Soludo, among others.
“Nigeria has a major citizenship question with too much emphasis on state of origin,” said Mr. Soludo in a speech at the American university of Nigeria (AUN) Yola campus in 2012. The former Anambra state gubernatorial candidate is referring to the ubiquitous indigene versus foreigner dichotomy experienced all over the country. Bala Usman a Nigerian historian warned that this constitutional definition of citizenship would “make ethnicity – indeed a deepened form of ethnicity akin to racism.”
Residency means very little in Nigeria. Whether an individual was born in a community and has resided in that community all his life is, for the most part, inconsequential if said person’s parents are from a different part of the country. And more so if the person’s “ancestral language” is different from the one spoken in the community of residence. Similarly, someone who has lived and been an active part of a community for over 25 years is still considered a foreigner in his community and may face discrimination as a result. “No country in the world has developed without a strong sense of citizenship and nationalism because nationalism and patriotism cannot be preached but only lived,” stated the former bank governor in the same speech.
Why state of origin should be abolished
The education system has suffered as a result of the destructive indigene-foreigner dichotomy. The vice chancellors of universities at different levels, whether state or federal, tend to be ‘local indigenes’ of the community or from a neighbouring state and the staff configuration within the institutions reflect the same distribution. This undermines one of the core tenets of learning institutions, that is, the sharing of different ideas and experiences that precipitates constructive dialogue and fosters intellectual depth and growth.
The concept of state of origin becomes obsolete in a contemporary and integrated society where people and ideas are moving more freely than at any point in history. Why should an individual who was raised in Lagos, worked in Lagos all his life and now raises a family of his own in Lagos feel that he has to return to his state of origin if he wishes to represent his people?
Remi Sonaiya, the presidential candidate of the Kowa party in the 2015 elections, when asked why she hadn’t sought out elected office at a lower level replied that although she had resided in Osun state her entire life she wasn’t eligible to run for office in the state. If she wished to represent the interest of people she could not do so in the community she had invested so much time but had to aspire to represent people her ‘home town’ where she was not as familiar. The current system elevates the importance of ancestral origin over merit and has been a hindrance in the Nigerian political system and in the true unity of the country.
There is an increasing number of young Nigerians who are products of inter-tribal marriages or whose parents ultimately settled in states a distance from their place of birth; they have also grown up and moved either for school and/or work. Every four years, Nigerians vote for their desired representatives at the local, state and federal levels. The new generation of Nigerians are increasingly cosmopolitan, multilingual and socio-culturally mixed but are Nigerians first and foremost. This category of Nigerians, while claiming to be indigenes of a particular state, have no right to vote for their desired representatives or influence the outcome of elections in their state of residence. To what end would it benefit the country if citizens of communities cannot actively contribute to the development of that community and are not incentivised to do so? Nigeria as a geographical representation was constituted in 1914 and, since then, has been one country. Perhaps it is time Nigerians truly identify as one.
Will this bill be enough to foster national cohesion?
Senator Dino Melaye said that the bill had already passed in the House of Representatives and the Senate is expected to pass the bill. Passage of the bill is, however, unlikely to sufficiently put an end to nationwide discrimination of non-indigenes residing in foreign communities. Communities are not tied together by a piece of paper but by informal institutions such as norms, culture, a common tongue and sense of shared history. There will thus, still be elements of discrimination and exclusion within societies even after the passage of the bill but the formal recognition of a ‘state of residency’ will inevitably lead to the rise of leaders who aren’t traditionally from the region and this will be a milestone towards true integration.
This bill, along with other efforts at integration such as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme where university graduates are mandated to work in a state different from their state of origin will promote the citizenship consciousness necessary for national development. On the other hand, institutions such as traditional monarchies in which titles are automatically conferred by birth, clearly expose the indigene-foreigner dichotomy and conflicts with modern modes of representation and public election. The necessity of such long-standing traditional monarchies is, however, not the focus of this article.
