Madiba,
Kindly re-post the said speech of Professor Ali Mazrui on Nigerian political
and/or social dichotomy to my private email account, IF you have it handy.
Thanks in advance.
OB Silla.
----- Original Message -----
From: Emmanuel N'Dow <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 24 March 2000 23:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Re: MAZRUIS TREATISE ON NIGERIA]
"Alieu .K. Jammeh" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Folks,
Prof Mazrui is no doubt a great scholar. He has the gift and the ability to
provide very sound and convincing analysis of political situations around
the globe. This one of his on Nigeria is indeed a good one as well. The
synopsis given here on his keynote speech provides a clue of the gist of
what his jury has come out with on Nigeria.
I am however not quite clear about his comparism of Nigeria with Malaysia as
to what he thinks could be good for the former, in what he terms as a
"division of control". From the posting, he is reported to have said:
"Wondering if Nigeria should go for a confederation or a federation of
cultures, the scholar noted that what is needed in Nigeria is a division of
control "similar to the deal between ethnic Malays and ethnic Chinese in
Malaysia".
Could this be a model for Nigeria? Seems to be what the Prof. is concern
with. If there is anybody on the List who was fortunate to have listened
to/attended to the Prof's speech, please furnish me of what questions might
have been asked on this subject and what answers were provided by the Prof.
I find it hard to understand that these two societies can be compared in
this regard. The North and South dichotomy in Nigeria, as given by the
Prof., in my humble opinion is far different from the Malay and Chinese
division in Malaysia. True, in Malaysia, you have a "division of control".
How did that come about is a long history. Suffice to mention here that, it
was highly precipitated by the racial riots of 1969. Another contributing
factor was based on the understanding that Malaysia belongs to the Malays.
The Chinese are alien. If, therefore, the Chinese have succeeded in
dominating the economic sector of the country after their arrival, a sort of
a mechanism was needed that could make sure that at least the Malays do not
loose control of their own country. And so, it was found out that the
political life of the country most be in the hands of the Malays lest the
Chinese control everything. By this, the Malays calculated that they can
have control on the Chinese. The political history of the country, uptill
the time it had its indepedence in the 1950s to date, has been centered on
such a calculation. Current situations however show that things are changing
a bit. The configuration and the division is taking another shape. There are
more Malays in business whilst, on the other hand, the Chinese are getting
more and better involved in the political life of the country.
In Nigeria, which part of the country or section of the people can claim
ownership of the country? Who are the aliens and who are the natives? I am
not sure if the Prof. had made clear these questions but having the
Malaysian experience as a model for Nigeria will require a clarification on
them. The understanding of making some people, with equal claims to the same
community, in the division as provided by the Prof. may be a complicated
equation. If it is that simple, then perhaps it could as well be suggested
to our brothers in Burundi, for example, that maybe the Hutus should be
kings continously and the Tutsis as farmers or something else.
That's my simple contribution. I enjoy reading about people who endeavor to
find solutions to the numerous problems faced by our mother continent,
Africa. I thank Prof. Mazrui very much. Brother Maidy Saidy thanks for
bringing this to my table. Allah bless you all.
Cheers
Alieu
Alieu, let me add my two cents to your point, the professor also used South
Africa as an example "Black people gained power and are running the
government, but the Whites retain their economic prowess" Both examples of
South Africa and Malaysia in my opinion are some what short sighted. First,
Nigeria never suffered under apartheid after independence, the British
simply
handed power over including economic one, Second, the factions involve in
the
conflict are all indigenous Nigerians and Third,unlike Malaysia none of the
factions are aliens. The only semblance of similarity is that in Kaduna and
Zamfara, the economic power is held by easteners who migrated up north; but
then they're all Nigerians not like its in Malaysia.
Daddy Sang
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