CITIZENS COMPASS– In 2024, De Renaissance Patriots, a socio-cultural organisation of prominent Lagosians for the emancipation of Lagosians, raised concern over the marginalisation of Lagosians in the governance of the state.
The group looked at this phenomenon from the socio-economic standpoint and raised alarm over what it described as the systematic and deliberate marginalisation of Lagosians in the governance of this state through the transfer of state power to non-indigenes, who have used this power to surreptitiously exclude Lagosians from the political structure of the state.
The group was too polite, too circumspect, too politically correct to give the phenomenon its proper name, “colonisation.”
Curiously, this insidious colonisation is not being perpetuated by our brethren from the North, the South South or the South East, but by our kin from the South West. The fact that this act is perpetuated by fellow Yorubas does not make it less unacceptable. In this article, I would like to explore the wider effect of this colonisation, particularly the effect on the health and well-being of Lagosians.
The harmful effect of the colonisation of a people and their marginalisation from the management of their affairs is well documented. Extensive research in the US, Australia, and New Zealand have conclusively demonstrated the negative effects of this type of phenomenon.
Research have conclusively proven that this type of phenomenon contributed significantly to the high rate of alcoholism and suicide amongst the Indigenous Native Indians of the US and the Aboriginals of Australia.
Studies by the Centre for Disease Control and the Indian Health Service, shows suicide death rate among Native Americans is 7 times higher than the national rate and depression and anxiety tend to be more serious among Native American youth compared to youth of the general population. Another study by Fred Beauvais, published in the National Library of Medicine, titled “American Indians & Alcohol” , attributed the high prevalence of alcohol and drug misuse and their consequences among American Indians to several factors, including and the exclusion of the Native Americans from the political decision-making structure over their affairs.
These findings echo the conclusion of similar studies into the prevalence of alcoholism and suicide amongst the Aboriginal people of Australia, which attributed the prevalence of mental illness and drugs/alcohol misuse among Indigenous Australians to marginalisation, including economic/social disadvantage.
Whilst the full effect of the colonisation of Lagos by our Southwest brethren might take a long time to have the same effect as the colonisations of the indigenous peoples of the United States and Australia on the health and well-being of Lagosians, the evidence is already there for those who bother to look. Alcoholism and drug misuse are evident among our youths in various parts of the state and are on the rise.
This is a clarion call to all Lagosians to raise up and take their rightful places in the management of our affairs before it is too late, before our children become disillusioned, and drown themselves in alcohol and recreational drugs as they experience loss of heritage and power of self-determination.
Seyi Clement is a lawyer and Political Analyst
