DIVERSITY MIS-MANAGEMENT IS THE CAUSE OF UNDER-DEVELOPMENT IN MULTI-DIVERSE COUNTRIES

This article presents information gathered from a research and development work which focuses on the problems associated with the lack of development in most African countries. It also proffers solution towards resolving the root causes of under-development, which leads to mismanagement of resources in the continent. It is mapped out for the development of a methodology of the digital age civilization, for the management of diversity and population.

Some African countries like Nigeria are not named after any native identity peculiar to the people of the country. The name Nigeria is not native to any part of the country. In Europe, country names are coined synonymous to their languages. England from English, Sweden from Swedish, Finland from finish, just to mention a few. The multi-cultural nature of Nigeria is a serious matter of concern.

Democracy is the culture of governance in the western world. It is constructed to work for countries where all citizens are one people who share same value system.

Nigeria is composed of a people who are not homogenous by nature and therefore cannot easily operate harmoniously together by the use of democratic process, because during elections, the factor of majority and minority votes influence results. Most electorates by default, favor candidates who originate from their tribe, religion, and speak same native languages with them. Partisan politics which is meant to dissolve sentimental factors is dis-functionally managed by the political players who are bereft of providing ideologies unique to them. They all seem to apply common ideologies which in most cases are influenced by tribal, religious and other sentimental factors that divide the people. The masses concern themselves with the shared values of their various ethnicities, and inclinations peculiar to them, instead of focusing their interest on what benefits the general public. Even within internal political parties, there are blocks of ethnic, tribal and religious partisanship.

China has fifty-six (56) ethnicities and three hundred and two (302) spoken languages, but China does not operate democracy. China is the second strongest economy in the world today. China practices communism and its working for them. India has twenty-eight states of which they all speak different languages but all are Indians and share common native values. India practices Democracy and it seems to be working for them. The United States of America is composed on many nationalities, different cultures and traditions. USA practices democracy it works for them because they have a strong value they share in common- the English spoken language.

This is unlike in Nigeria and many other African countries where democratic governance is being practiced among people of different tribes and ethnicities who do not share common native values. Hence, iCODE is a solution developed to specifically address and resolve the challenges of diversity and population mismanagement in Africa.

THE PROBLEM: MISMANAGMENT OF DIVERSITY AND POPULATION

Diversity is the beauty of life, but its mismanagement is the albatross to the development of any society. It is eloquently colorful. In diversity, people of same origin come together as one, people of same culture, tradition, color, race, language, et cetera come together to share common values and combine them to develop themselves. Most of these factors are natural and some are human made. For example, the class factor is created by humans to further distinguish same people who share common values; which can be people of same tribe, ethnicity and even family, etc.

In this submission, I shall be dealing with the most challenging aspect of diversity, where people of diverse origin, inclinations and backgrounds are brought together to form indivisible countries, in each case. In Nigeria for instance, there are about 250 ethnic societies that speak over 500 languages. This is interestingly massive and intriguing, that compositional factor is the crux of our subject matter in dealing with the challenges of diversity management.

In Europe, almost all countries are formed by people who share common value systems in the majority, except for a few countries like Belgium and Switzerland, otherwise in the majority, England is formed by English people, France by French people, Germany by people who speak German language, Sweden by people who speak Swedish, Finland by Finish speaking people, etc.

The challenge of diversity is in its management, and that has a lot to do with the methodology of governance in operation. As we all know, both Africa and European countries use same governance methodology, which we all know as democracy.

Democracy is what obtains in European countries and it was also used to establish governance in African countries and largely in countries being colonized by any of the western countries across the globe.

Under democratic governance, there is an evidence of success in having people who share same value system, live in harmony. In the other way round, it is also being proven that people of same nationality who are diverse in nature find it absolutely difficult to live in harmony when they operate democracy.

Therefore, democracy is good for European countries but does not work well for African countries.

After many years of research and development, I am able to identify the reasons why African countries cannot thrive well under democratic governance, and most importantly, I have a solution for resolving this age-long challenge that African countries are facing in the management of their various countries.

I need not define democracy in this presentation, but must highlight that it is basically a method of governance which yields to the opinion of the majority. This is very practical in electoral processes. The majority votes account for who wins in elections. It is referred to as the GAME OF NUMBERS.

Through my R/D work, I was able to identify the right game to play into achieving inclusive governance. I call it THE GAME OF LIFE. I cease this as an opportunity to highlight that that Logo of iCODE is indicative of a PITCH (eg. football pitch).

In the game of number as being practiced in Nigeria, those who are being elected eventually do not function based on their individual capabilities, but by the influence of those who vote them in at primary elections, especially the political parties.

Some of them have the potentials to deliver good governance, but the conditions surrounding them and the political parties who sponsor them to run for elections, deter them, as they hope to be re-elected or for fear of impeachment, thereby, are left with the option of capitulating to the dictates of their party leadership or political God fathers.

In diversity, most political parties are merely blocks of ethnicities, from where they derive political energy to bargain for power. Unfortunately, partisan politics which is meant to the dissolve negative influence of religious, ethnic and tribal biases, and other forms of divisiveness, has not yielded any good fruit applying democratic processes, in Nigeria. Rather, it has become a legitimate platform for formalizing the division of a people who are supposed to work together for the common goal of building their countries into united, peaceful and prosperous societies.

In elections, tribes that form the largest population, cast more votes. Smaller tribes in most cases, surrender to the political devices of the majority tribes, in order to be found in the political map, because they are relegated as minority groups. Election results are influenced by minority and majority factors. Geographical location is also a huge divisive factor- It promotes irredentism.

The game of number in democratic elections for a highly divisive society is a factor of majority and minority factors by population. In practice, this will not guarantee fair-play in any electoral process because candidates who are inclined to the values of their geographical regions, tribe and religion that form the majority by population, win elections in most cases.

This is obviously an error in any government which operates under democratic setup while electing government officials based on number game.  Elections results will never favor even the best candidates who originate from the minority groups. This is where the problem of many African countries begin. It leads to insurgency, tribal and ethnic crisis, and political battles that sometimes lead to civil war.

The fact that the different regional blocks of the country do not share common value systems, makes it absolutely difficult for hitch-free electoral processes to exist. To better our understanding of my postulation, it is important to note that tribes, ethnic groups, religion and language groups are not by any means uniform by population sizes. Some are one million in number, some ten million, some fifty million. It is only a matter of common sense that the parties which present candidates from the largest populated tribe or religion, win elections. This is what happens at all levels of government structure starting from the local council to the national level. At the local council, the candidates from the most populated villages win elections while those from smaller villages would hardly win. This highlights the absence of measurement unit for rationalizing the distribution of political and economic resources.

Going by the game of number in elections, the minority groups remain intimidated and insecure. The consequential damage of the influence of divisive factors is critical and has rendered governance in Nigeria unproductive due to unavoidable conflicts. This is unlike what happens in Europe where electoral practices are clearly different from what is experienced in Nigeria and in many African countries.

Literally, it is a fact that almost all European countries do not have majority nor minority citizens, aside immigrants who eventually adopt the common value systems of their countries of residence. This is a pointer to why European countries are stable, while African countries are not. The most frustrating factor is that Africa countries are also being controlled by their colonial masters who desperately foist the compulsion of democratic practices up-on them, even in the midst of the fact that some leaders in countries like Nigeria are not bereft of ideologies that can change their societies for the better.

At this juncture, it is significantly noteworthy to mention that a few countries in Africa like MOROCO do not operate democratic rule, and a few countries also like RWANDA, have experienced leadership at the top under a president who emerged from the minority tribe, seemingly, these two countries seem to have stabilized over time, they appear more stable than others who operate democracy or led by political candidates who emerge based on majority influence.

Nigeria and Africa at large is a victim of diversity mismanagement. The Western powers who scrambled for the sharing of its huge natural resources, deliberately imposed the practice of democratic governance on them, in order to have them battle with endless conflicts among themselves, so as to continuously exploit them, knowing fully well that democracy is meant for countries where people share common value systems.

If the West had no exploitative intentions over the resources of Africa, before imposing democracy on them, they should have first experimented the practice of democracy in a country mix of the French, English, German, Swedish, Finish, and many others put together as constituent parts of one nation to exist together as one indivisible entity. If they did not have sinister intentions, they should have allowed African countries to form their separate countries among entities who share common value systems, just as they did for themselves. However, I am also perturbed that no African leader has sort for the freedom to operate a different methods of governance from what democracy offers.

For instance; People of eastern part of Nigeria should have been free to form their BIAFRA, People of the Western part of Nigeria to form ODUDUWA, People of Southern Cameroon to establish the AMBAZONIA, etc. If they must practice democracy, they have to be one people and nothing less.

So my question remains; Why did the west form their own separate countries with people who share common value systems to live together in each case, and did otherwise in Africa.

Secondly, why impose democracy on African countries and not allow them to operate any methodology of governance which is suitable for them to manage their numerous diverse human compositions in their various countries.

Nevertheless, I must mention that some countries in Europe are made up of people of separate origins. Switzerland and Belgium are composed of people who speak three to four different languages. In Switzerland, majorly, there are Germans, French, Italian, and Romansh, and an increasing mix of non-national languages like English and Portuguese.

In reality, African countries are unable to organize themselves by the use of democratic governance. They are connected to themselves on the basis of divisive factors and sentiment, they are disconnected from commonly shared value systems, they battle for power and state resources among themselves, they fight themselves for political reason, go into arms struggle and terrorize themselves, some have terrorist established governments who obliterate their opponents to retain power, they kill themselves in large numbers and democracy is the underlying factor behind this unfortunate ordeal of the African countries.

Africa is the cradle of Humanity and in humanity, natural laws subsist. Human beings by default are controlled by natural laws because those laws provide the equilibrium of human existence. Those factors of diversity, such as ethnicity, religion, race, color, are components of human existence. They are natural laws. Subject to democratic practice these divisive factors have been used as foundational stones for establishing government standards and operating systems, especially in Africa. The regional governments, state, local government are formed by the use of the natural laws that divide us.

Despite the fact that African countries are formed by people of diverse cultures and traditions, it has so far been impossible for them to operate any fresh governance methodology aside democracy, exactly as it was established for them by Western powers. The reasons are simple; they are controlled by the colonial masters who want them to remain under-developed.

Finally, I have to submit that natural laws are suitable for used to establish harmony among people who share same value system, while universal laws are required in societies that are mixed by people of multiple cultures and value system.

iCODE will provide us with a solution that presents the universal laws instead of natural laws, as solution for establishing the foundational stones of administering governance in any nation of multiple diversities.