The Kukah Centre and Nasrul-Lahi-L-Fatih Society (NASFAT) have disagreed over calls to abolish indigeneship in Nigeria. While the centre, founded Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese of Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, argued that citizenship should be promoted above indigeneship, the Islamic body on the other hand, submitted that indigeneship should come first, while Nigerians strive for integration and cohesion.

The views were expressed at a strategic stakeholders’ meeting on strengthening social cohesion in Lagos State, facilitated by the centre, with support from the MacArthur Foundation, in Abuja at the weekend.

The parley discussed the scenarios of the 2023 general elections and their significance on contemporary issues. The centre’s Executive Director, Fr. Atta Barkindo, lamented that Nigerian citizenship has been lost, stressing the need for a common umbrella of citizenship and identity.

He noted that Lagos State has become a symbol of the multiplication of different identities that is increasingly making governance difficult.

Barkindo, who heads the Secretariat of the National Peace Committee, maintained that the country has suffered from “colonial legacies, which divided the North and South, amalgamation without consultation,” adding that there was no institution to design and construct a common identity for Nigerians.

He went on: “The military came and created chiefdoms, states, local governments, boundary adjustments and also now, we have seen with democracy, we are talking about rotational presidency, agreements in order to accommodate literally everyone.

“What these have done is that these policies and initiatives have completely suppressed competence and meritocracy and placed ethnic, regional identity above competence that citizens can bring to the table. The content on your head no longer matters in Nigeria. What matters is which tribe you belong to. Where do you come from? What is your religion? What we did was an eight-month kind of research and study regarding what happened in Lagos.”

He argued that the focus on identity politics has suppressed competence and meritocracy, leading to a divided society, where citizens are judged based on tribe, ethnicity, or religion, rather than their abilities.

The cleric added: “What we have discovered in Lagos is that you can be born in Lagos and live there for 60 years, but because you don’t come from there, they will tell you are non-Lagosian or you are a non-indigene.

“So in Nigeria, you are a citizen in one place, and you go to another place, you become a settler, and you lose certain rights. Why can’t an Igbo man go to Kano for example, live in Kano and participate in politics, elect and be elected and thrive because he’s a citizen of Nigeria?”

Competence?”

But NASFAT President, Alhaji Ayodeji AbdulRauf, maintained that indigeneship is an important aspect of Nigerian identity and should come first. He, however, stressed the need for evaluation of such identities “and see how we can live together in peace and harmony.”

Represented by Muyideen Yusuf, he explained: “We must first of all have that difficult conversation which revolves around our identity so that we can have the integration and cohesion we are talking about.

“I will say indigeneship should come first, like the late Sardauna, who said we should identify where we are coming from. Let us know who we are first. After that, whether you are Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa, Muslim or Christian, let us now look at those factors that make us different from one another, and see how we can integrate them.

“It wasn’t like this before. We have not been doing it the right way. It was the recent political structure that brought all these things.

“During the colonial era and up to our independence, we didn’t have as much fracas between tribes and religions as we have now. But the political class, what do they tell their people in their villages, in their communities? You see that most of this crisis revolves around politics, and politicians are the first stakeholders that need to be addressed, and that needs to be talked to. So, the issue of indigeneship should come first before citizenship.” (The Guardian)

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