Amalgamation and Its Enemies: An Interpretive History of Modern Nigeria, The

African Studies Review, Dec 2004 by Falola, Toyin

Richard A. Olaniyan, ed. The Amalgamation and Its Enemies: An Interpretive History of Modern Nigeria. Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2003. Distributed by the Africa Books Collective, The Jam Factory, 27 Park End St., Oxford OXI IHU. xxiii 242 pp. Maps. Index. $30.95. Paper.

Whether presented as amalgamation, federalism, regionalism, the "National Question" or ethnicity, the issue is always the same: how can Nigeria, a multiplural society, sustain its political stability and prevent fragmentation? There is a great deal of repetition and overlap in the presentations and arguments of the various contributors to this book, as readers will note. Nevertheless, Professor Olaniyan has touched upon an important topic and given us the opinions of a new generation of Nigerian scholars.

The depressing undertone suggesting that the country may break up or that its component units may not function in a coherent way remains central to the arguments and the conclusions that are offered. The data are no longer new-indeed, much of the material is rather stale-but every new case of political chaos or conflict is matched with the extant ones to revisit the issue. The book does not assume that Nigeria is a failed project. Rather, it seeks to understand the challenges posed by the amalgamation of 1914. In returning to the subject, we are not told why it is more important than approaching the same problem via the analysis of federalism, political centralization, and leadership. One can argue that Nigeria has moved beyond the imperatives that led to amalgamation to those that are needed to sustain a nation state in the twenty-first century. Thus the critical subjects covered in the volume, such as military rule, political economy, and citizenship, do not necessarily have their origins in the decision to amalgamate the country in 1914. Other African states without a similar history of amalgamation have not escaped the problems cataloged in this book. Were the country to split, virtually all the problems highlighted would quickly be duplicated in the new countries.

The impact of oil is not fully factored into the equation, namely, that the component areas of the country without oil now lack a viable economic basis to sustain secession. Unlike in the pre- oil days, the northern region cannot just wake up one day and say that it wants to secede. The rhetoric of secession or fragmentation should therefore be separated from its reality-the words of a politician who is grandstanding should be put in a more realistic framework than that attempted by this work. Like a "Catholic marriage," partners may complain but without necessarily going their separate ways. One question to await is what will happen to Nigeria if oil suddenly dries up or the world turns to other sources and agriculture once again become the basis of the economy. Perhaps, amalgamation may reacquire the saliency that is accorded to it in this volume, but until that time the problematic may well be different from the way the questions have been posed.

The editor and contributors see Nigeria as a country in search of solutions to its many problems. Various chapters look at different aspects of the political problems and offer some solutions. The editor fails to amalgamate the problems and solutions, thus leaving us to deal with contending variables, constructed around political structures, institutions, leadership, and even history. As important as all these are, the central ideology governing Nigeria and how this informs actions, policies, and events remains rather unclear. If I were to offer an ideology, say, regarding political corruption, one might well reinterpret the evidence provided in the book and reach the conclusion that the country is working just fine, quite in keeping with the values of its dominant elite. Money continues to flow into the pockets of the political actors, which means that amalgamation is a success and Nigeria is functioning well!

Toyin Falola

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, Texas