Category: Commentaries

This time it is in a boarding school in Yobe, one of the northern states.  Children have been slaughtered in their sleep.  The report was on one of the African TV channels on the Sky platform. The crime scene is a unity school. Boko Haram has desecrated the altar again. After all we have been through as a nation, must our children be butchered so?  Remember, the price we paid, and our resolve – “To Keep Nigeria One is a Task that Must be Done!”

The news report included a clip of an interview with President Goodluck Jonathan – a file tape – evidence that we had encountered this challenge before.  It required a voice-over to make our President’s speech discernible; that is just a mild irritation regarding the insinuation that the Nigerian president didn’t speak clearly.  It would not matter if it were merely an insult or perceived dent to our collective ego.  What matters more is the symbolism of the president’s physical and aural posturing.   These were very symbolic, suggestive of the kid gloves with which this matter of Boko Haram is being handled. The President appeared to be wringing his hands, while pledging to do his best.  The image spoke of a man, indeed a nation perplexed by a band of hoodlums.  That file tape had been recorded after a previous atrocious incident committed by the group and there has been several.

According to their profile on the BBC News website, the Boko Haram was established in 2002.  Their mission and grievances are unclear; though they have declared a war against western education, it is not clear what they seek to achieve by their wanton destruction of life, and they have been getting bolder in their senseless aggression towards the rest of us.  According to BBC’s timeline of their activities, their earliest attacks was in 2009, that is five years ago.  Records from Nigerian media which have more intimate knowledge of the localised incidents will no doubt be more comprehensive; they are like to have accounts of earlier albeit ‘smaller’ incidents which world media had missed.  Not so those in states like Borno, Bauchi and Yobe who felt the blows dealt.  These are states in the extreme north-east, but the people (victims) are our compatriots.  In terms of social infrastructure, their needs are far greater than what is required in most other states.  Yobe is far behind on various indices of development and Boko Haram merely compounds the situation, laying siege on the locals, redefining concepts of nationality and citizenship by the selection of their targets, instilling fear, deepening isolation and stifling meaningful economic or development activity as well-meaning development agents stay away.  I mean who wants to die?  In its 12th year of existence, Boko Haram continues to wax strong.

By 2011, the group gained national and global notoriety, first by attempting to disrupt the inauguration of the President in May.  Some of our international guests gave that ceremony a miss.  On that occasion there was no big bang in Eagle Square Abuja, but some Nigerians in the northern states paid the price for Boko Haram’s publicity. There was another media spectacle which they created in June.  It was a forerunner for more despicable acts to follow, a blatant act of defiance to the authorities.  The move shouted loudly, “Catch me if you can!”   They took on the Police Headquarters in Abuja with such impunity.  In this they had desecrated the altar, but not much progress was made in apprehending them and securing the nation.  By August, global media attention was secured by bombing the UN building in Abuja.  World community had been defied; Boko Haram gained recognition as a terrorist group with two fingers in the air.  The response from our leaders? Pledges and promises, some hollering, some arrests, some criminals paraded, some vagabonds roam free, and the carnage continued till the mother of all atrocities.  We thought we had seen the worst with that attack on the churches in Abuja on Christmas day 2011.  Three years later, many senseless violent acts in between, and here we are again lamenting the killing of defenceless children in the dead of night. Haba!  This is no act of terror, it is an act of cowardice that must be stopped.

Why have we been so helpless in tackling this issue?  Is there a growing numbness in citizens and leaders alike, to the situation?

As citizens we have been ‘quiet’ for too long.  Our silence makes us complicit, so no more of that.  We must cash in the dividends of democracy and call on our president to stop ‘wringing his hands’ and ‘pledging his best’. He is an elected President, he must give an account of his stewardship now.  As the commander-in-chief of the nation, what has he done?  Who or what are the obstacles in his way?  We have seen in other shores, what leaders do when children are massacred.  These are not even the consistent purging that the Boko Haram campaign is turning out to be. We have seen the response of the leaders in those places; their sorrow, sense of indignation and resolute commitment to root out evil. Not so in this case. Our president dare not visit the crime scene, make solemn declaration to obtain justice for the slain.  Or can he?  What would he do if any of the deceased were his children? Come to think of it, they are!   These were students in a Federal Government College, while in school, they are wards of the federal government, just like the youth corpers who are in the service of the nation.  Many of these have also been slain by the same Boko Haram in the course of their service, with what reprisals?  Boko Haram is getting more audacious – launching their attack in government premises on hapless children as they sleep.  It really is time for a concerted effort.

Frankly the President is not the only one to be indicted.  Everyone who has ever ruled or led in this country, every person of political (religious or economic) influence (and that includes the traditional structures – emirs, obas, obis, all the titled persons in the land, lords spiritual and temporal, captains of industry with extensive distribution networks), if you have a sphere of influence and can reach people in your constituency you have a duty and a role to play.  The closer you are to the grassroots, the more effective you can be.  But to those whom we have elected to govern must the burden fall.  Don’t you just wonder what happens at the governors’ forum?  What about our legislators, councillors and local government chairpersons?  Are they simply jostling for power – deliberating on who should lead, who is in or out of favour.  This is the time for action, not for sharing spoils of war.  It is time to form lobby groups and networks that can appeal to the good sense of those propping up Boko Haram.  It is time to reap the benefit of the extensive and expensive political machinery that we run.

I say on this occasion, let the women take the lead.  Let’s take a cue from the Leymah Gbowee (2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner) and the Liberian Women’s Mass movement for Peace. They “prayed the devil out of hell”, on their knees and with their heads. Surely, Nigerian women can do so too! Already there are calls for rallies, for prayer and fasting.  That is a start. Let us rally women’s groups nationwide – market women’s associations could be the focus for our grassroots movement.  Let us say “No more of these violent acts!”  We are more in number than them, we should not be intimidated.  They have machetes, bombs and guns, but we have our cooking pots and feminine wiles.  We can constitute a superior intelligence force as our sisters in Liberia did.  But we must be resolute and refuse to compromise.  The task is daunting, but it may not even be so onerous, once there is the political will to act, and efforts are not compromised.

If our mothers – Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Madam Tinubu, Margaret Ekpo, the Aba women, Hajiya Gambo Sawaba and all their collaborators could put a stop to oppression in their time, so can we.  Really enough is enough. Our Liberian sisters eschewed the temporary comforts to get lasting gain for their children.  Women of Nigeria, arise against violence from Boko Haram and those who one way or another aid their dastardly acts.

• Dr Esan writes from School of Media & Film, University of Winchester, UK

Walking through the streets of Kaduna, you see several relics of the city’s once fabulous and thriving textile industry. Kaduna was once the centre for textile industry while neighbouring states of the north also shared in the prosperity of the region that was linked to its then thriving agricultural sector.

But that was then. Today the textile industry in Kaduna is a shadow of itself. So are other industries that once made the north proud. The region has lost its once firm grip on the productive sector of the economy and is currently subject to the dictates of allocations from oil revenues from the South-south.

Recently, leaders of the north under the auspices of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, gathered to rub minds on how to extricate the region from this ugly situation, reverse the trend and restore the glory of the north as they met it when many of them were toddlers.

And in looking for a man to draw a map to point the way forward, they found one in Abdulfatah Ahmed; the eloquent and resourceful governor of Kwara State, without doubt a man with testimony on the topic that became the focus of the gathering: “Northern Nigerian Economy Free of Oil Revenue”. In Kwara, Ahmed, first as Commissioner for Finance and later Economic Planning before assuming the mantle of leadership of the state, has been part of an award winning strategy to reposition the state, and indeed the nation’s understanding and involvement in agriculture. He is a man with deep experience in the mix of politics and economics, who is passionate not only about diversification of our economy, but potentials of an agribusiness.

Those who chose him were sure they made the right decision after listening to his lecture. It was an admixture of bitter truth about the realities facing the region and what it can do to save the situation. He left the leaders to ponder on two critical questions: For how long will the north allow others to threaten her with economic strangulation unless she moved in a particular political direction? When will oil revenues that are outside the control of the region cease to determine the future of the people of Northern Nigeria?

According to Ahmed, the extent to which Northern Nigeria controls its economic resources will ultimately determine the degree of its political power and by extension, its freedom. In other words, if the north cherishes real political freedom and power, it should strengthen its agricultural base where it has comparative advantage over other regions.

His words: “ I hold that only effectively planned and managed agribusiness can sustain a Northern Nigeria economy free of oil revenues. Additionally, l assert that in order to achieve the agro-based prosperity that this region so deserves, we must also engender good governance, grow the right institutions to implement appropriate policies while entrenching equity and respect for rule of law as the foundations of agro-led prosperity”.

“However, we must not mistake agribusiness for the ad hoc and centralized approaches to commercial agriculture that we have implemented over the years. Neither do I advocate the isolated agriculture programs implemented with limited success by states in the region. Rather, I propose an approach that fully explores specified value chains by providing inputs to farmers and connecting them to consumers through the financing, handling, processing, storage, transportation, marketing and distribution of agro products. Each point of this value chain promises significant opportunities for economic activities, jobs and markets that will also grow the revenues of other components of the chain especially the small holder and large commercial farming concerns.

He went on: “An obvious benefit of this approach is the emphasis on value addition as opposed to the sale and export of primary produce that has dominated our agriculture over the years. Furthermore, this approach also makes it possible to forecast demand and therefore the expected financial returns due to its demand driven approach. The demand driven approach ensures that farmers and others along the value chain know from the beginning who will buy their produce or require their services. Indeed, Northern Nigeria’s antecedents in agriculture and its current share of the food supply market in Nigeria clearly demonstrate that its agribusiness opportunities are limitless. There remain largely untapped opportunities for agribusiness in the region, especially in view of high prices for food locally, regionally, and globally. Definitely, the economic future of this region lies squarely in appropriately planned agribusiness.

“However, to achieve this vision of agribusiness-driven prosperity in Northern Nigeria, we must move beyond rhetoric and return to the basics.”

What were his proposed solutions to the challenges facing the region?

He listed them as follows: “One, we must put in place the necessary ingredients for building a prosperous agro-based economy.  Two, we must focus on human capital development through the provision of functional education and access to affordable health care. Three, there is need for greater collaboration among the 19 northern states so that each can leverage on the others’ strengths in agribusiness for optimal resource utilization and to eliminate wastage.

“Four, I call for a Northern Nigeria Agribusiness Summit to fashion a roadmap for the restoration of our regions prosperity.  Five, at the core of successes and failures in our polity highlighted earlier is the quality of governance. Political parties must entrench a democratic tradition that ensures adherence to rule of law, equity, and good governance by those elected on their platform.  Six, as part of efforts to free the Northern Nigeria Economy, the 19 component states must increase their Internally Generated Revenue.”

But above all, there was still a clincher the leaders were asked to literarily put in their left palm to avoid eating with it. He said:  “let me make something very clear. For as long as the greater proportion of those without western education live in Northern Nigeria, for as long as majority of our people live below the poverty line, as long as we harbour the largest number of people afflicted by disease, as long as our region remains a theatre of war, as long as our youths remain afflicted by unemployment, the vision of agribusiness-based prosperity that I have outlined above will remain a mirage.”

Thus he said it has become  a matter of urgency for northern leaders to take firm action to end despair and deprivation in Northern Nigeria. And the way to do it according to the banker-turned politician is to prioritize people-focused governance that urgently transforms the lives of the average northerner.

Speaking, the no nonsense General Buhari charged northern governors not to allow Governor Ahmed’s submission go the way of similar recommendations submitted to the Northern States Governors’ Forum 10 years ago.  Earlier in his submission, Chairman, ACF Board of Patrons, General Yakubu Gowon, said Ahmed’s submission was timely, though warned that oil revenue should not be regarded as a curse simply because such revenue has been misapplied in the past at the expense of the well -being of most Nigerians.

At the end, participants agreed that Ahmed had provided a workable solution to the restoration of the glory of the north. What is left now is the action to implement the policy directions he provided.

•Oba writes from Ilorin.