CONFAB: Nigeria must not break, says Anieke, VC, Godfrey Okoye University

Professor Christian Anieke, a Catholic Priest, is the Vice Chancellor of the Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, owned by the Catholic Church. He is one of those who believe in the proposed National Conference where Nigerians would have an opportunity to air their views on certain issues.
In this interview, Professor Anieke warned that the issue of continued existence of a united Nigeria should not be compromised at the conference. He even suggested that the issue should not be discussed at the conference. He warned that any idea of splitting the country would only spell doom for Nigeria as the country stands to benefit more as one entity. The VC further x-rayed the 53 years of Nigeria as an Independent country.
Excerpts:
From PETRUS OBI, Enugu
What is your impression of Nigeria at 53?

I  am grateful to God for the gift of this country; it is a very great country with so many people; a nation blessed with so many resources, talents, skills, people of all categories, of all shades of thinking. It’s a great nation and my gratitude goes to God in the first place.
But, of course, as a nation, we have had our challenges, we have had our ups and downs, we have had a civil war, we have had economic crisis, we have had political problems. I think it is all part of being great; you can’t talk of a great nation without all these challenges. It is sad today that many Nigerians don’t see the importance of having a great nation. Europeans have smaller nations but you can see that efforts are being made to bring these smaller nations together so that Europe can be a global player. But here we are, we have this greatness, we have the number, we have the talents and we are talking about splitting Nigeria. I will ask God to intervene so that this doesn’t happen because united we stand and divided we are going to have a lot of problems, as a nation and I pray that we become a nation indeed.
Are you impressed with the pace of development?
I will say that Nigeria has done well. We are always in a hurry to compare ourselves with nations that have existed for over 100 years. Look at Britain, the last time Britain was ever conquered on its own soil was in 1066. After the Norman conquest of 1066, Britain has never been conquered on its own soil. So you have a nation that has existed for how many years now, calculate that. So, we are young as a nation and we expect to be like nations that have existed for over 100 years. It will take some time, we have done well. Look at the roads, look at our airports, and look at the infrastructure we have; of-course, we can get worried because what we have may not be compared with what we have in the civilized world but let us consider the age of this nation, only 53 years. Imagine comparing somebody who has worked for 53 years and somebody who has worked for 200 or 300 years, the comparison is not right to do. We know there are areas we must work very hard; our roads are not what they should be; our education is not what it should be; the job market is simply not there, we have to set up machineries that will address these needs. But let us stop being pessimistic about this country showing that everything is dark, it’s not true. Nigeria as a nation has done well within 53 years.
What’s your view on the proposed National Conference?
There must be need for dialogue. In a great family you must give room for dialogue. National conference is one way; there are also other ways of talking and discussing our problems. I think one of the issues here is how we share our wealth. Some people feel disadvantaged. They feel that the bulk of the wealth is going to one side, so we can talk about that. Also, the states are talking about more autonomy. We can discuss our problems but we can do this in an atmosphere of love and understanding. National conference should not fight anybody; let us see that as a dialogue, if that’s actually what we need. Let nobody think that National Conference means that Nigeria is going to be divided because dividing this nation now will be a disaster.
It’s like a couple married for 53 years talking about a divorce; can’t you see how difficult it is, psychologically it’s a disaster for you and for the woman as well as the whole family. We have been together for 53 years, so how do we begin the process of splitting? What about the resources; what about things we have shared together; what about the difficulty of going to Lagos because you are going to need a visa. The greatest challenge will be the sharing of the resources; who is going to gain? And then you start to talk about boundary dispute and all that. The time we will spend on the crisis will be a disaster because progress will come to a standstill. If you check what is happening now, many investors are interested in Nigeria because of the large market but if we divide, then we will no longer be a large market. It will shrink with all the challenges, all the struggles.
What areas do you think we need to strengthen to get a better country?
What we need in this country is education; there is no getting it right in Nigeria without education and it has to start from birth; nursery school, primary and secondary schools. We are investing so much in university education and I do not think it is a proper thing to do in a nation. The bulk of our investment should go to our lower levels; first nursery schools, second, primary and third secondary schools. We can allow universities to become private because when you get educated people at that level; nursery, primary and secondary schools, then you have got it in a nation.
Our education system must be better than what it is now.
Then we can talk about values; then we talk about intelligent people; then we can talk about people who can make the right choices; then we can talk about people who can create wealth. If half of the money that is being given to universities is given to the lower levels, I think we will be doing better than we are now. A situation where everybody is talking about improving education and nobody is talking about primary schools and secondary schools is not the right situation. So, let us address the problem of education beginning from the lower levels and let us give the bulk of our money to the lower levels; if it is possible let us get the best heads to teach in the lower levels. Let our professors go down to the primary schools, let our professors go down to the secondary schools and I bet you, this nation will be a different place in the next 10 years. We have invested so much in the high education; let us invest at the lower level because that’s actually where you will make it as a nation.
If you go to some civilized nations, you see that many of them don’t go to university but they have sound schools; sound primary schools, sound secondary schools and sound vocational schools, only few go to the university. But here, everybody wants to go to the university because you believe that after university, you get a job. But assuming we do it in such a way that our primary, secondary and vocational schools can take care of job needs, then we have made it as a nation.
What is your take on the need for power Rotation?
It is sad to talk about power going to the South or the North; it is sad and it shows that we have not developed. Why should we be talking about where one comes from as the leader of a nation? You can’t hear that in a civilized nation; it’s about the person, so we must go beyond this, we must go beyond North and South for us to become a great nation. I think Ghana has done enough in this direction that you don’t get this North and South dichotomy in the choosing of leadership. So it pains me when we begin to talk of ‘it’s our turn to produce the leader’ instead of those who are interested, let them face the people, let them face a debate.
The problem still boils down to education; it is the kind of education we are giving our people. Are we educating our people to think as Nigerians or to think like Igbo people or Yoruba or Hausa people? Somebody defines education as the process that makes human beings out of animals. So what kind of human beings do we create from our institution? Those who are Nigerians indeed or those who are ethnic conscious! This is actually the issue. And then we move on from there; in many countries of the world, in Europe for example, it doesn’t matter where you come from. If you want to move from Tirol for example in Austria to Up Austria, you can do so; you register yourself in Up Austria, nobody said you are born in Tirol.

Why can’t we come to this point if we are serious with being a nation? 
In all I will say that we have a great country and tomorrow is good and it is standing with open hands to receive Nigeria and bless it but Nigeria must be ready for tomorrow.