“They have not to recapitulate the past, but to build up the future”– Karl Marx
In the discussion of the “National Question”, we Nigerians must not be reduced to recapitulating the past but actually to be seized with building up the future of our country. We must be made aware that the “National Question” remains a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s history and politics. Even as the National Assembly continues to serve as the visible expression of our representative democracy, it has struggled to provide clarity, balance or resolution to this most fundamental inquiry of our statehood.
The dimensions of the “National Question” are multiple. Politically, there is the persistent issue of power-sharing between states and the centre, and the protection of minority voices in a system dominated by large ethnic groups. Economically, the dispute persists over the distribution of proceeds from oil, gas and other resources. Should the principle of derivation be strengthened in favour of resource-producing areas, or should equity demand that all Nigerians benefit equally regardless of where resources are found? Culturally, there is the challenge of affirming the rights and identities of all communities so that no group feels alienated. And in terms of security, the dilemma remains: can a centralised police and military apparatus adequately secure such a vast federation, or should local policing be constitutionally entrenched?
Each of these questions surfaces and echoes repeatedly in the chambers of the National Assembly. They are debated, sometimes with passion, often with suspicion, and occasionally with resignation. Yet they are rarely resolved with finality. Instead, compromises are postponed, and tensions remain bottled up, only to re-emerge in new forms of grievance. Thus, the National Assembly has become not the provider of solutions but the perpetual stage on which the “National Question” is replayed in stark contradiction of expectations and disappointments.
This need not be the destiny of the institution. History provides examples of legislatures that rose to the occasion and redefined their nations. The United States Congress, after the Civil War, helped reconstruct a fractured union that endures to this day. The Indian Constituent Assembly of 1946–1950, drafted one of the most remarkable constitutions in the world, accommodating immense diversity. The South African Parliament in the early 1990s transformed itself from the guardian of apartheid into the custodian of a new democratic order.
Nigeria’s National Assembly too can seize such historic responsibility if only it can transcend parochialism. It must resist being reduced to a marketplace of bargains and recognise itself as the embodiment of Nigeria’s democratic will. Its members must legislate not just to create new agencies or approve loans but to tackle head-on the thorny issues of federalism, revenue sharing and constitutional balance.
The true mandate of legislators is not merely to serve narrow constituencies or to defer unquestioningly to the executive, but to safeguard the Nigerian union broadly. It is by addressing the “National Question” that the National Assembly will be judged by history. No president, however visionary, can single-handedly reconfigure the federation. The judiciary, for all its authority in interpreting laws, cannot provide a political settlement. Only the legislature, in its representative and inclusive form, can craft a renewed social contract for Nigeria.
If the National Assembly shirks this duty, drift will continue, alienation will deepen, and the state will remain fragile. Nigerians deserve better, they deserve a legislature that is not the echo chamber of old quarrels but the forge of new consensus. They deserve senators and representatives who deliberate not only for themselves but for justice, equality and peace. They deserve constitutional amendments that reimagine the federation from its foundations rather than tinkering at the margins.
They deserve laws that address poverty, inequality, insecurity and marginalisation at their roots. Above all, they deserve a National Assembly that sees the “National Question” not as an inconvenient relic but as the unavoidable challenge of the present and the unfinished task of the future. The journey towards true nationhood is never easy. It demands sacrifice, imagination and leadership. Nigeria’s National Assembly has the capacity to provide all three, if only it can rise above the pettiness of partisan rivalry and embrace the nobility of national responsibility.
The choice before it is stark and unclouded. It can choose to be remembered as the chamber that watched while Nigeria drifted, or to be celebrated as the body that gave meaning, purpose and fortitude to the Nigerian state. The answer lies not in rhetoric but in decisive action. The time for postponement is over. The time for courage, leadership and responsibility is now!
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