The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)

  • Issuing ID card to Northerners in East, threat to Igbo investment in North —ACF

    Issuing ID card to Northerners in East, threat to Igbo investment in North —ACF

    The Northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has warned that the ongoing controversy over the issuance identity cards to Nigerians of northern extraction in  in the Eastern part of the country could endanger the multi-billion naira investments of Igbo businessmen living in the north.

    It will be recalled that Northerners doing business in Imo State were allegedly being registered by the state government in preparation for issuing them identity cards, following the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The ACF also expressed the fear that the country may be envloped in crisis along ethnic lines if it decides to carry out a similar action against the Igbo who are resident in the north.

    While the forum maintained that there was nothing wrong with issuing identity cards, it condemned the plan to target a section of the country for the registration, stressing that everybody deserved the identity cards if it is done in good faith to achieve a goal.

    Addressing members of the South-South/South-East Arewa Coalition who paid a courtesy call on the ACF yesterday, the Deputy Secretary-General of the forum, Engineer Abubakar Umar said statistics available to the forum indicated that Igbos’ investments in Kaduna, Kano, and Jos alone amounted to N45 trillion.

    Umar said with such huge investments in just three states of the north, Easterners have no reason to maltreat northerners doing businesses in the east. He said:  “If the table turns round, it could be disastrous, as these investments may suffer for it. But we are praying for understanding among  Nigerians, for us to accept ourselves wherever we live to earn legitimate means of livehood.”

    He explained that Yoruba and Igbo people in Jos, capital of Plateau State, lost N480 billion and N410 billion investments respectively to the 2011 post election violence, adding that the South-South also lost N970 billion in the same crisis.

    “We know these statistics; we have these statistics, so we expect the Igbos to treat our kinsmen, our brothers and sisters in the East as kings and queens, in view of the fact that they (Igbos) have more investments in the north than in the East.

    “Take Abuja, the Federal capital territory, for example, Igbos occupy over 73 percent of the land, so these are some of the reasons why they should be everybody’s keepers in their place,”Umar said.

    Earlier, the leader of the Coalition, Mallam Awwal Yusuf, told the ACF that northerners were doing business in fear in the east, and called on the ACF to intervene, because, according to him, “every trader or Muslims from the north is considered a Boko Haram”.

    Yusuf said the Arewa Coalition has gone to court on the issue of identity card in order to seek justice and be freed from undue molestation in the hands of the people in the area.

    “We are so embarrassed with this issue of identity cards. Why should it be only traders or Muslims from the north that should be identified. We have taken the case to a court in Enugu and we are that the state governor, Sulivan Chime, is ready to help us by sending his lawyer to stand for us,” Yusuf said.

    In his closing remarks, the ACF Secretary-General, Col. John Ubah (rtd) reminded the visitors that the ACF was established to protect the north and its people, saying that whatever happened to any northerner anywhere was always considered a serious issue.

    Col. Ubah said, “It is very sad to brand our people as Boko Haram in the East. But we want to tell you that we have not been sleeping; we will go through the northern governors to address the issue.

  • ‘We’re better as a united country’

    ‘We’re better as a united country’

    Anthony Sani, National Publicity Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), speaks with Tony Akowe on the challenges of the nation

     

    At 52, Nigeria is still lacking in quality leadership. What really do you think is the trouble with Nigeria?

    Nigeria has been lacking in quality leadership because in most societies leaders tend to suit the people. The trouble with Nigeria is corruption and this has affected every aspects of our national life. It is corruption that steals people’s empowerment, steals their opportunity and steals their future. As a result, national ideals and moral values as well as social contract among individuals and among groups have collapsed.

    What do you think needs to be done for the country to attain its full potentials as envisaged by the founding fathers?

    I believe there is a need for cultural renaissance in order to change our ways of doing things. Another area is leadership that is accountable to the people. But this cannot happen if votes of the people do not count. And votes will not count if the people do not regard government resources as their own. One way of making people to be politically aware to the extent of making judicious use of their democratic rights and elect leaders is for the people to pay direct tax. Once people are made to pay tax and regard government as their own, nobody needs to teach them how to make their votes count, and how to make leaders accountable. As things are today, Nigeria is more or less a Trust Fund State where the beneficiaries have no say in its management. And the leaders like it that way out of their fear that taxing the people would make them become politically aware with dire consequences on those leaders who want to pillage the commonwealth.

    Many believe that issues of ethnicity, religion, indigeneship, among others, are major problems confronting the nation. What is your take on this?

    I do not believe ethnicity, religion and indigene or settler is the issue. This is because interdependence in Nigeria is very deep and wide that contemplating divorce is revolting. Nigeria is not the only country put together with diversity. Indonesia is a very diverse country. Other countries that are also diverse are Tanzania, Germany etc. America is a country of settlers. What stands these countries out away from Nigeria has been the common resolution to work hard and overcome the differences that divide the people and make the most of their diversity. And this is because these other countries know that culture and traditions are dynamic whereas core values of humanity are for eternity. But in the case of Nigeria, instead of living up collective challenges for common good, elbow-throwing grievance groups clamour for balkanization, as if they do not know that we are better off in one united Nigeria.

    So much has been said about the present day crisis in Nigeria, but there seems to be no solution in sight. What is the way forward?

    Yes, there has been crisis. But it is wrong to submit that there is no solution in sight. I have seen governments and religious leaders making efforts and the efforts are reducing the intensity and frequency of the crisis as we go along. Terrorism is driven by the highest commitment by those who have been convinced to believe that they have nothing to lose if they die. And so, the only way to make such people reconsider their positions is for us to work on their head and heart, which can take time. Consider how long America stayed in Iraq, how long NATO has stayed in Afghanistan and also the case of Palestinians, and you would hardly avoid the conclusion that to bring terrorist activities under effective control cannot be a day’s job. But I believe the situation is not beyond control, given the will not only by government but by all Nigerians who must know that what does not kill this nation can only make it stronger.

    There is the belief that the present NSA (Col Sambo Dasuki) is doing so much in curtailing the Boko Haram insurgence. How would you access him and his style?

    As I have said earlier, the campaign against such insurgence is not an easy task. It requires the support of all Nigerians of all faiths to live up their collective challenges. I notice he is using both stick and carrot which seem to be reducing the activities of the sect. But whether such approach can bring the menace under effective control is difficult to say now. Somehow, I still believe dialogue is about the most effective instrument that can rein in the menace. And this cannot take effect unless there is a definite policy on the part of the government which can convince Boko Haram to come out and embrace the offer of dialogue. This is because there is still the fear by members of Boko Haram that government just wants to use dialogue as a ploy to arrest them. I want to believe government must go as far as effort can go and bring the members of the sect onto the negotiation table.

    In what areas do you think Nigeria, especially the leadership, needs to improve?

    The leadership must know that they exist because of the people who should trust and have confidence in the leadership. Once the people believe the leadership lives at their expense without giving anything to the people in return, there is bound to be problems. So leaders must try and rewire the politics, reengineer our sense of justice, bring the people together to unleash their synergy, make mercy smarter, make hope more strategic, change our ways of doing things away from corruption, make people pay tax and dare the rest of us to follow. Motivation or inspiration is the instrument while social skill is the requirement.

    The onshore/offshore issue seems to have resurfaced with Northern Governors insisting that the issue must be restored in the constitutional amendment. What is your position?

    ACF has submitted its positions to the Committee of the National Assembly on the Review of the Constitution in which it said the forum is not opposed to derivation so long as it is meant to reward efforts or compensate for environmental degradation. Offshore exploration of oil is not a result of any effort by littoral states, nor does it degrade the environment of the oil producing communities. And so the proceeds of the offshore exploration of oil should not be included in the calculation of the derivation. When there is a very wide disparity in incomes between constituent parts of a country, it defeats the concept of nationhood which brings people together and enables them unleash their synergistic potential. Such a wide gap breeds instability rather than unity and stability. I hope you are aware that some oil producing communities in Delta State have demanded that their share of 13% derivation be paid to them directly, precisely because they feel short changed by their state government. Such demands suggest there is something wrong about the application of derivation to the extent that the PIB has another provision for Host Community Fund.

    In a communiqué at the end of your last meeting, the ACF talked of a Road Map to be implemented by stake holders as part of effort to address security challenges and problems of socio economy of the North. But the BOT chairman of ACF has said Vice President Sambo has no clout, that the northern governors are feckless while the Northern Leaders Political Forum is indifferent about the problems of security and peace in the North. Who then will implement the Road Map?

    I do not believe General J. T. Useni was reported correctly. Even in his personal views, the General is aware of how the VP led the northern governors who contributed to the success of the Arewa Conference on Peace and Unity. They all did so morally, financially and also organisationally. Other leaders like the former VP Atiku, ministers and members of the National Assembly contributed to the success of the conference. It is such efforts on the part of VP Sambo and northern governors that have inspired the ACF to reduce the resolutions of the conference to implementable Road Map, which we hope will be implemented by stake holders led by the Vice President.ACF is, therefore, very appreciative of the support by VP Sambo right from the time he was governor of Kaduna state. But if Gen Useni truly said what he was reported to have said about the VP, about northern governors and the Northern Leaders Political Forum, then we should concede to him the right of personal expression on issues of national importance. More so that he is a respected statesman and a seasoned politician.