THE OPPRESSIVE NATURE OF THE NIGERIAN SYSTEM

Nigeria’s governance system is one that always shows flashes of oppression, it seems the genesis of the nation, it creation, independent and formation look like it was created for oppression.

THE OPPRESSIVE NATURE OF THE NIGERIAN SYSTEM
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Nigeria’s governance system is one that always shows flashes of oppression, it seems the genesis of the nation, it creation, independent and formation look like it was created for oppression. The oppression was imbibed in the system right from the earliest and highest hierarchy to the lowest rank in government, the oppressive nature though lacks an evocative name like the apartheid tag in South Africa, but it's as deadly and ruinous as it African tag.

In the system, there's  a small percentage of the population benefiting from the country’s wealth while most citizens are condemned to live in deprivation and penury. In a book titled; Nigeria and the Nation-State: Rethinking Diplomacy with the Postcolonial World, by the former U.S. Ambassador John Campbell, it explained seeing Nigeria through the prism of the nation-state is a mistake, but rather a conglomerate own and operated by a selected few.

The federal government is largely sustained by income from petroleum exports. An “elite cartel” competes for and controls access to a significant portion of the nation's wealth. Whatever effective governance exists, is usually found in subnational states and associational groups, meaning the Nigerian states is largely held in the jurgular by few thieving elites who is head bent in controlling the nation and it wealth in it entirety.

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Nigerian famous writer and Nigerian Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka once remarked that “it was too complex an entity.” Oxford scholar Wale Adebanwi entitled his book on the struggle to curb corruption A Paradise for Maggots. For the international edition, Adebanwi borrowed a milder title from a song by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: Authority Stealing. In a similar vein, Harvard scholar Biodun Jeyifo entitled his collection of essays Against the Predators’ Republic.

The recent violence and the Lekki toll gate shooting following the protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit who has turned to killing innocent citizen has further expose the imbalance in the country. The recent unrest has gotten Lagos under a twenty-four-hour curfew, and, for the first time, a state in the oil patch, Delta, has also been places under a curfew. Media also reports that in Lagos the violence has spread to almost all part of the nation, putting a curfew in place just to put a stop to peaceful protest further exposes the oppressive nature of the ruling class.

On social media, fears are being expressed that the Buhari administration could move to severe repression. Many Nigetians, in particular, recall Buhari's brutality when he was military chief of state in the 1980s, realizing he might be toeing the same part only put the nation into an oppressive state of another military regime in the 22nd century.

President Buhari addressed the nation on October 22, calling for protesters to consider “the various well-thought-out initiatives” his administration has put forth as an alternative to protests “being used by some subversive elements to cause chaos.” He, however, made no mention of those killed thus far. Whereas, Amnesty International has recorded at least twelve deaths in Lagos and fifty-six nationwide, but there really is no definitive number. So for the president of a nation to address a nation on the boiling issue without making any reference to the lost of lives is not understandable, unless of course if he's responsible for the killings.

The oppression continues for now as th3 Nigerian youth eagerly plan for the 2023 general elections, the state presently found lost and heading 8n no particular direction, but hopefully the rallying call by the youth will be instrumental in liberating the country from the grip of the old elites thieving the country to penury discount. Come 2023, things might start changing for the best.