One of the most exciting teachings received on Wednesday 23rd November, 2016, during an inaugural lecture delivered by James Tar Tsaaior, Professor of Media and Cultural Communication, at School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, centered on;signs and symbols.

Speaking on the topic; Nightjar in the forest; the word in the world of signs, science and wonders, Tsaaior among other things noted that the idea of the sign is associated with two theories. The first theory is that of the swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure whose understanding of the sign is dyadic based on the relations between the signifier (sign) and it’s signified (meaning). In Saussurean linguistics, the relations between the signifier and its signified are arbitrary and conventional based on social codes. The other theory is based on the perception of the American Charles Sanders Peirce who identifies the sign as having a triadic relation: the sign itself, the meaning the sign conveys and the interpretation/decoding of the meaning the sign encodes………Whenever and wherever words fail to impose order, anarchy prevails. Wherever and whenever signs fail to communicate noble ideas and ideals, humanity is diminished and impoverished.

This new awareness about signs and symbols has in some ways transcended to the political circle and naturally comes flooding each time I ruminate on the leadership challenge in the country. More specifically, it points to how the nation’s political landscape is dotted with warning signs and symbols, and says something about how any efforts to fixing Nigeria socioeconomically without first having the geographical entity restructured will end in futility.

The above claims on restructuring don’t exist in vacuum as mountains of evidence reveal that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) is not the way true federal constitution supposed to work. But before then, let say some words about the form of restructuring being demanded.

The envisioned restructuring from what the contemporary school advocates are saying, is not the type that will take the nation back to regionalism tp relieve tribalism, election malpractice, brinkmanship, hatred, acrimony, impunity, and dehumanisation of man by man. This form of restructuring is not based on the 1954 constitution.

Similarly, it is based not on parliamentary system of Government but on Presidential system of government. This presidential system they argued is not the extant unitary system of government run by Buhari. ‘The old school believes in rolling back the states to the size defined or specified in the 1954 or 1963 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN). Rolling back the states will be counterproductive. This will reverse the visible gains; the nation has made over these years through the warped and deviated 1999 constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria (1999 CFRN)’.

Now, the drivers, signs/symbols and factors pointing to the urgency of nation restructuring.

Read More: https://www.crispng.com/signs-and-symbols-of-a-nation-in-need-of-restructuring/

My country Nigeria