THE NIGERIAN STATE AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF HISTORIANS
December edition
Isah Mohammed Abbass 0
0 Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria
Since the evolution of the Nigerian State, failures in economic, political and social realms have been multifaceted and multi-dimensional. Historical trajectory in these series of failures has not been explicit. In certain perspectives however, these state failures might have been over-looked or over-exaggerated. Hence, what seems to be a turning point in the history of the Nigerian State might have been discussed, written and agreed by many Nigerian historians. Different points of controversial views, either conservative or radical, have been expressed with, of course, harmony and agreement within the community of historians. This paper examines the responsibility of historians, irrespective of their orientations, personalities and analytical methods, in constructing the faulty, ethnocentric and historical account of the past and contemporary Nigerian State. The need, therefore, to continue producing and reproducing professionals with ethical responsibility and historical irreducibility of the Nigerian political diversity becomes imperative for the stability of the Nigerian State. It is contended that the Nigerian modern state must be analyzed by historians in the light of the tedious, lengthy and protracted passage of time and with the application of the historical trajectories and distinct historicity of the evolution and development of the Nigerian State.
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historical trajectories. The paper also explores the need for a critical reconstructing the
account of the Nigerian state and explaining the nature of its instability. The responsibility
of historians must go beyond giving the chronology of events but also providing a critical
examination and assessment of why the Nigerian state remains unique or complex in
meeting the needs of the large segments of Nigerians notwithstanding the enormous
human and material resources. Hence, the role of the state and its actors must therefore be
seen to have fundamentally impinged on Nigerians. The impacts of state policies and
strategies on the citizens by the state actors, transmitted through governmental
institutions, by politicians and bureaucrats, must be exposed to show that they are directly
responsible for the setting of and therefore constituting Nigeria s drawback and
backwardness. In other words, the politicians and bureaucrats must bear the full wrath of
the people, contrary to what has been the general orthodoxical conception of the state.
It is therefore tempting but inadequate and misleading to exonerate the politicians
and bureaucrats and other state actors for the failures of the state. This is perhaps a clear
reflection of static conception of essentially a dynamic situation. Whereas other organs of
the state like the legislature, law enforcement agencies, judiciary etc. are presented as
adjuncts to the instrumentality of the state but in reality, these organs symbiotically
influence each other and the state activity. Narrow perspectives on such issues cannot
bring about understanding of the nature of the Nigerian state in the evolutionary process.
This also limits our understanding of the natural and human endowments, the dynamics
and complementarities of the structure of the Nigerian economy. In addition, critical
social characteristics of the Nigerian population may not be comprehended if unnecessary
constraints are deliberately imposed through policy making and execution.
The Nigerian State: General Issues and Perspectives
Although certain features of the state have been more or less universally
recognized, the eurocentric features and the form of evolutionary processes have
continued to be contested with fierce academic flavour (Tornquist, 2004:14-25). Hence,
such eurocentric perspectives of the state bring a wrath in the heart of scholars and
consequently pose a threat in scholarly traditions towards understanding the nature of the
Nigerian state. Radical historians have constantly challenged the notion of the state
The predatory nature of the Nigerian state indicates that it is greedily destructive
and ruthly aggressive with constant determination to steal. The Nigerian state as a
monster has evolved to control almost everything in the economy. This has transformed
the state to become too powerful, knowing no bounds and no restraints even against it.
Armed with executive, legislative and judicial organs, the Nigerian state extracts massive
resources by fiat, through state enterprises, institutions and agencies that have continued
to be inefficient with waste, nepotism and the ubiquity of mass corruption. Many
paradoxes occur in the Nigerian state with the failure to deliver goods and services. Oil
refineries in the Nigerian state cannot produce refined oil for local consumption. The
import-substitution industrialization in Nigeria has collapsed. Power, health care services,
education, other services and infrastructures in the count (...truncated)