According to former president,Goodluck Jonathan, while Nigeria’s founding fathers deserve praise for the country’s war for independence and the subsequent victory, they also bear some of the guilt for the following failure to build the nation.
This was stated by Jonathan during a national dialogue and public presentation of 21 books organized in Prof. Udenta Udenta’s honour as part of celebrations for his 60th birthday on Tuesday in Abuja.
The former Nigerian president who presided over the event compared the celebrant, who wrote all 21 books, to Julius Nyerere, the former president of Tanzania, who he said promoted Tanzanian nationhood.
Unlike Nyerere, he claimed, Nigeria’s founding fathers placed more importance on ethnic and identity politics at the expense of fostering national unity.
“Have we been able to convince ourselves whether we are a state or a nation? If we are a country and a state, how do we become a nation?
“I am not blaming our founding fathers but they failed to integrate us into a proper nation. They operated as individuals and so on.
“Of course, if you have read some of the comments of our former leaders, someone like (Obafemi) Awolowo made it very clear that there was no nation called Nigeria. That it is a geographical entity, it is a country, it is a state, it has laws but there is no nation.
“The country was so polarized especially during the early political party formation and the parties were regional parties.
“There was no sense of commitment to integrate Nigeria into an entity that you can say yes, this is a nation with core values, common philosophy and people will be patriotic to that nation.
“Most of the parties that time belonged to regions and there were no alliances for the purpose of ruling the country.
“When I compare Nigeria and a country like Tanzania, I feel that Julius Nyerere made his vision clear to make Tanzania a nation. They have different tribes, maybe not as many as Nigeria but one nation was at the height of his thoughts”, he said.