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Tag: North

  • Moneybags up north

    Moneybags up north

    The school was Aminu Kano Commercial College, Goron Dutse, in Kano State, and I was a teacher there during my year as member of the National Youth Service Corps between 1985 and 1986. Most of the students, boys and girls, were from the South, although some of them had blended into the seductive northern culture and borne northern names. And for most of them, you had to inquire to know that they were not Hausa-Fulani.

    Because many indigenes did not go to school, it was easy after about three months as a teacher to know that over 70 percent of the students were from the South or Middle Belt, most of them either Igbo or Yoruba.

    But by far my best student was named Idris  Muhammad Amin. He was an indigene and has some of the physical features of Muhammadu Buhari – tall, slim, taciturn. I taught English language and Literature. Idris was fluent in tongue and pen in language and Literature, and dipped himself in the ins and outs of words and culture.

    I became a sort of mentor to him, and when he was done with high school, he opted to read English at Ife in my own footsteps, although I studied history. I was impressed because in all my years as a student at Ife, the only northerners were not Hausa-Fulani. John K. Galu and the late and ebullient Sam Nda Isaiah, publisher and politician. I felt a thrill when I saw Idris on Ife campus in one of my visits on assignment as a reporter of Newswatch magazine. 

    Idris was one of eight students  out of 88 who graduated in Second Class Upper Division. He had a short stint as graduate assistant at the Department of English, Bayero University Kano; went to University of Lagos (UNILAG) and obtained an M.A. degree in English; got a BBC appointment as a London-based producer (Hausa Service) in 1998; obtained a second MA degree in English from the University College London (UCL). He left BBC and returned to Nigeria in 2015.

    I never saw him or heard from him again until about three decades later. Last year, he called me, and he said he was a business man.

    Idris came to mind when I mused over the aftermath of the floods that swept through parts of the North, especially Maiduguri. I wonder how many Idris’s were washed to death and to beggary, how many geniuses. But it also stoked my sunny heart after I saw the roll call of Northern bigwigs who opened their cavernous wallets to help the weak and helpless. It seems to be a salvation day for the poor, if we seize the chance.

    The donors rolled in. Let us forget the names of the politicians. But the money bags. Enter Aliko Dangote, Aminu Dantata, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Dahiru Mangal, Mukhtar Betara, Abdulsalam Kachala, et al.  It reminds me of a dialogue I had with Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani on TVC before the catastrophe. He was lamenting the state of the North, and he challenged the Northern men of money to invest in the development of their society.

    He remarked that if we counted the richest persons in the country today, at least half of the top-tier would be from the North. Hence it made sense that the men rose to the situation. Yet, it bothers me that all of the billions that made their way to the victims waited till they became victims.

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    It is like the line from the Theban Poet Pindar as quoted in Aristophanes’ play, The Archanians: “What I’d saved to buy a coffin, I must spend to pay a fine.” It is a terrible part of our culture. When a man begs for bread, we look away. When they lose a mother, our purse opens. We have a morbid sense of generosity. When they beg, we say in our minds, “it’s your own funeral”, but when they die, we bankroll their funerals. We fear death more than the living. So, we pretend not to buy the coffins, but we pay the fine when we do not care for the living. As Shakespeare said, the dead have paid all their debts. It’s up to the living to pay our fines.

    That is what Governor Sani meant. The North suffers in virtually all indices. Governor Uba Sani recalled the words of the great Maitama Sule. Hear him. “Twenty years ago or more, Maitama Sule came out and made it clear and every prominent person in Northern Nigeria was aware of that comment…that the educational gap between Northern and Southern Nigeria was …a 30-year gap.”  The governor, who often shows the reflexes of his activism, also referred to the recent UNICEF report that said that of the 18.3 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, 14 million are in the North.

    He is not saying the problem will be solved by the Northern billionaires alone. He said it was a collective effort.  Governors, including the Federal Government, have a role to play. He said it was not enough to bellyache over the anguish and suffering. It is high time to sit on one table and map the path to prosperity.

    The government role is to create an enabling condition. That is, build infrastructure, power, and health care facilities. These are the enablers. We should not wait for floods and disasters to ennoble them. It is charity without family. In the last riots, the overwhelming majority of the protesters were al majiris who know nothing of the economic issues. They don’t buy in the market, don’t pay school fees or rent, don’t buy fuel or travel, and they do not read or write to make them know what is going on.  When they raided a library in Kano, the only precious thing in the building was the only thing that survived. The gods of letters had blinded them to rows of books. They went for ephemeral sop with a lifespan of a soap bubble. Governor Sani said if the boys were engaged in a factory or office, they would not be out there plundering their own patrimonies.

    It only shows the dark side of feudalism. For the North to rise above its educational ennui, its private sector must counter its feudal infrastructure. To do that, it must track it from the ground up. With more educated citizenry, contempt for the feudal structure will gradually raze down its strongholds.

    I recall when now Vice President Kashim Shettima was governor. We had just visited one of the schools he built in Maiduguri. The convoy had hardly hit the road when youths erupted from houses and over the walls and streets. They encircled the convoy and chastened its speed. They were boys as mendicants, a battalion of mercy. They wanted charity. They are part of the Nigerian family. Then Governor Shettima remarked, “If we don’t take care of them now, they will take care of us in the future.”

    Capitalism overthrows feudal ramparts with more capitalism. It happens with enlightened minds. Track Chinese and Hongkong histories. Track the rise of Europe after the medieval rut. Perhaps that is why my former student Mohammed chose business. One good thing from this act of charity is that the feathered class up North are aware of their environment, and they have brought open pathos into it. They are not just cocooned in their mansions. Although, as Henry James describes it in his novel, The Ambassadors, “There is detachment in (his) their zeal,” we can see some “curiosity in their indifference.” That curiosity should translate into action.

    Those who attribute poverty to the sway of banditry and terror in the North may have their point. But poorer communities in the world still live in peace. Poverty does not always beget violence. Something else happens to collapse the culture of tolerance, and anger boils over. The North was always poor without bloodshed before now. Other aspects of society, including cynical politicians, exploitation of religion, cynical religious elite, modernity and alienation, rank among the reasons poverty is used as excuse to foment turmoil.

    That explains why Governor Sani’s admonition makes sense, and why more Idris’s with their brilliant minds should not be allowed to waste. As the novelist Erich Maria Remarque notes in his All Quiet on the Western Front, “When the sun sets for the final time, it sets on the lives they never lived.”  Let it not be so to many geniuses wasting away because of neglect.

  • Who will lead the North? – A Reaction

    Who will lead the North? – A Reaction

    In a 2 -part article deployed primarily, I suspect, towards asphyxiating the entire Southern Nigeria into a state of somnolence ahead the 2027 presidential election when, because they are born to rule, the North would, again mount the presidency of Nigeria even if President Muhammadu Buhari – a Northerner – spent his two full terms (2015 – 2023), gentleman ILYASU GADU, got published in the Daily Trust, his article, ‘Who Will Lead The North?’ Interested readers should please see the Daily Trust of 6 & 13 August, 2024.

    For ease of reference, I paraphrase Gadu’s main beef below in what was, essentially, a Tinubu put down.

    In my part of the country we say that even if you were sent a message befitting a slave, you deliver it like a freeborn.  No, not Gadu, who cut President Tinubu no slack whatever.

    For instance, in Gadi’s words:”From the tenor of the nationwide protests, Nigerians now see President Tinubu as the signature image of Nigeria’s current tribulations”, even if that selfsame protest was dominated in the North solely by uneducated urchins, who know practically nothing, besides shouting whatever it is they are told to shout, Putin inclusive; and regardless of whether Tinubu had, himself, earned their angst only in the process of  trying to clear the Augean stable of the clueless eight years which preceded him.

    Rather than honestly bemoan the North’s loss of political power, our friend chose to write:”Now that Tinubu has finally ascended the presidency of Nigeria by the instrumentality of the same northern political elite, it is ironically the north that is groaning most from the harsh economic policies of the Tinubu administration”.

    And concerning his Northern political elite he believes that President Tinubu has locked out, ‘benched’ he called it, most Northern APC leaders, Nasir El Rufai, the erstwhile, powerful Kaduna state governor, inclusive.

    As I used to do during the tenure of governor Jonah Jang of Plateau state when I usually exchanged ideas on critical issues of state with Elder Tony Sani, then ACF Publicity Secretary, and also to eschew any notion of any personal prejudcces, I contacted a regular reader of this column, a University Professor, to ask for his views on this very important article.

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    His comments which are also paraphrased for space constraint, reads as follows:

    Ilyasu Gudu’s article captioned ‘Who will lead the North?’ and published in the Daily Trust of 6 & 13 August, 2024 is , in my view, a very unfortunate one, reflecting as it does, the mode of thinking in the North.

    To describe it as horrifying will be an understatement. It portrayed a mind left behind in the primitive morass of feudal nostalgia, and delusional pomposity, earnestly celebrating  excessive entitlement mentality; something that has become an epidemic, of sorts, with our Northern politicians. It defies logic and benumbs reason but, unfortunately, yet persists.

    The author, therefore, must have captured the minds of many of his Northern compatriots which, to say the least, is a shame because he deliberately ignored many obvious, and undeniable, facts.

    He failed, for instance, to mention the North’s proclivity for primitive existence which places heavy encumberances on the average northerner’s path to growth or progress. The fact that they deliberately keep their people down is of no moment to the writer, at all. He equally ignored the fact that Northern leaders clothe the talakawas with a garb of ignorance, poverty, destitution and other forms of human degradation. This is perhaps to ensure their amenability.

    With millions of children, and youth, roaming the streets – with no education, no skills, no parental guidance, no direction, no control, no hope, and nothing to live for – why wouldn’t their existence be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutal and short”, (apologies, Thomas Hobbes).

    In blaming the Tinubu administration for the hardship in the north, Mr Gadu feigned a blissful ignorance of  the atrocities and misrule of the past in the hands of Northern rulers, civilian and military alike.

    Or come to think of it, hasn’t the North always held the levers of power in Nigeria? Have they not always been in total control, even when a  Southerner is on the seat, as

    Dr Yusuf Datti Baba – Ahmed once had the occasion to gloat about? Or aren’t  Southern Presidents often subjected to threat, intimidation and blackmail till they are compelled to do the bidding of the North? Obasanjo was no exception, nor was Goodluck Jonathan who was literally ran out of town with some Northern leaders of his party, the PDP, eagerly working for his defeat. Or aren’t  they now doing it to Tinubu?

    Conversely, when a Northerner is in power, all is well, and they keep the peace. Which was why no one heard from Ilyasu Gadu during the depredation, and chaos of the immediate past regime – an era that berthed a multi billion Naira crime industry in kidnapping and banditry.

    What, too, of an ethnic militia – ‘Fulani herdsmen’- recognised by the World Global Terrorism Index, 2023 as the third most dangerous terrorist organisation, worldwide, operating freely and leaving a huge trail of blood and tears across the country during the entire Buhari administration? How many Nigerians  live in IDP camps today simply because they were driven out of their ancestral homes by local invaders and murderers?

    Mr Gadu is here representing  the voice of predators which is why he did not mention the scorch-earth greed and insensitivity of the northern elite.

    An elite that cares only for itself and promotes the comfort of a few at the expense of the many. An elite so unfeeling, so merciless, indeed, so   conscience-less it steals from orphans and widows, from the weak, the infirm and the dying.

    I find the article totally  repugnant. All the North wants is power, power without accountability but power to control and denigrate; the reason Gadu wrote the article now, eagerly awaiting the next Northern Emperor.

    The Leaders of the First Republic had great plans for their respective regions and  the country as a whole. And they worked towards its realisation. Up north, the Sardauna worked hard to take his people out of the morass of the dark ages. But today,state capture remains the ultimate goal of those who inherited his power, the reason Ilyasu Gadu is so agitated he wants to know who would next lead the North and, ipso facto, rule Nigeria the way they want.

    Unfortunately, it’s like the South and the Middle Belt are both cursed, and will never, ever find accommodation for each other. They can complain together about their misfortune and mourn their tragedies together. But no. They never sit together to articulate a proper response to those  snapping dangerously at their heels. They are embroiled in their own little wars and big hates, giddy peskiness and endless shadow chasing. 

    And what’s more? There is no end in sight. For without that response, nothing will change.

    Yes, Nigeria needs leadership.  But not leadership blinded by ethnic irredentism, religious bigotry and tribal exceptionalism. Not leadership mired in corruption and rhetorics and self service. It is time to look for leadership with vision, empathy, wisdom and the strength to pull back from the brink. Nigeria needs leadership that can bring hope back to the largest black nation on earth. It needs leadership that can look across the mountain and see hope. Leadership that can cast its glance across the ocean, look beyond the seas, and tell the people: “there’s hope. Let us go forward together in amity and brotherliness”.

    May that day come.

  • An introspecting North

    An introspecting North

    In ethnically heterogeneous Nigeria, contest for privilege and patronage among the different ethno-political groups is constant, and any presumed disadvantage is perceived as deriving from the malevolence of the contending groups. So, the spokesperson of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, was reported by Sodiq Omolaoye, in a story titled “We regret voting Tinubu, won’t repeat mistake in 2027, Northern Elders fume,” in The Guardian (Lagos), to have declared on 9 April, 2024: “The North made a mistake in voting Bola Tinubu to the presidency in 2023, and it is unlikely that they will repeat the same error in future.” Suleiman was also reported to have said: “They will prioritise someone who is more inclusive, less controversial, and more aligned with the interests of all regions.”

    The Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, was reported by Leadership.ng to have reacted indignantly, in a 13 April, 2024 story by Tarkoo David titled “Northern elders, a burden to

    the region – Matawalle.” The Minister was quoted as saying: “The so-called NEF is more or less a political paperweight trying to embark on a destructive journey that will bring the North to disrepute for the group’s personal and selfish gains.” He was said to have further noted: “The group is seeking to erode other people’s rights in order to be recognised or made relevant in the scheme of things despite the failure of their sponsored candidates in the 2023 general elections.”

    The Minister also charged: “The NEF has not deemed it fit to seek audience with Mr. President to discuss issues affecting the Northern region despite the numerous challenges facing the region as rightly highlighted by the president and being addressed by him.” Moreover, he was said to have observed: “The group is yet to visit any of the ministers dealing with issues of security, agriculture, water resources, police affairs, education, health, budget, foreign affairs, or any head of security agencies in the country so far for firsthand knowledge of government programmes and actions.” He was also reported to have asked rhetorically: “So, who is the NEF to want to undermine the president’s victory and even threaten to unseat him?”

    It was in these circumstances, among other ethnic, regional and economic challenges, that a group of Nigerians declared that they had scheduled protests from 1 to 10 August, 2024. The organisers tagged the proposed protests “10 Days or Rage” or “#EndBadGovernance.” From the rhetoric of the organisers, the Federal Government of Nigeria perceived the scheduled protests as an undemocratic scheme to topple the democratically-elected Tinubu administration. As scheduled, the protests took off on the first day of August, and it saw unsettling vandalism, arson and killings in Northern Nigeria.

    In a 4 August, 2024 interview with ARISE News, Ahmad Sajoh, Former Adamawa State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said: “[W]hat played out was not a perception of Asiwaju by the North. What played out is a clear indication of the abdication of the responsibilities [of] we, the Northern elites. … We have abdicated our role and responsibilities to empower our young people. We’ve allowed a large army of uneducated, out-of-school children walking about in the streets, without homes, without families, without imbibing any values … And, imagine, when they broke into the National Library in Kano, they took away everything except books; not one book was taken by anybody. That tells you that … their direction is totally different from whatever you’re thinking of. We have neglected education in Northern Nigeria.”

    Speaking further about these children, Sajoh said, “They have been the reservoir from where insurgents have been recruiting their army. They have been the reservoir from where bandits and kidnappers have been recruiting their army. … So, this is the kind of people we’re breeding in Northern Nigeria. … It’s a wake-up call to every Northern elite … that if we do not turn around this situation, if we do not address our out-of-school children, if we do not address the absence of skills in our children in Northern Nigeria, if we do not address the problems of unemployment by people who are uneducated, we will end up with a bigger crisis than we are facing.”    

    In a TikTok video which has been circulating widely for some time now, Vice-President Kashim Shettima recounted his friend’s story: “His wife and driver were driving through Kano City. And some young men came out and broke the windscreen of the car and told them in Hausa ‘Shegu, ku na jin dadi, mu mu na wahala’ (‘Bastards, you’re enjoying, we’re suffering.’) And those young men did not run away. It was my friend’s wife and driver that scampered away. And very soon, very soon, we’ll reach that boiling point unless we wear our thinking caps and work for the people.” How prophetic, considering the daring attempt by the protesters to overwhelm the security personnel and enter the Kano State Governor’s Lodge! And, how prophetic, considering the Kaduna protesters defiantly climbing and standing on top of a moving police Armoured Personnel Carrier and hanging on to its front, sides and back!

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    Moreover, in a 6 August, 2024 interview on the ChannelsTV programme “Politics Today” with Seun Okinbaloye, Shehu Sani, former Senator representing Kaduna Central, said: “[T]he new dimension … was that a day before the last protest, money was shared to youths, and then Russian flags were also shared. That shows that the whole intent of the protest is not simply about the policies and programmes of the government or objection to the removal of subsidy, but there was an attempt to create an atmosphere where there would be an overthrow of the government. And when you have this kind of situation, you would see that there is someone writing a script for anarchy, lawlessness, and disorder.”

    Shehu Sani had earlier on 4 August, 2024 introspectively said in a post on his Facebook page titled “The North; After blaming others let’s probe ourselves”: “Most public schools are free, our young ones still don’t want to go to school. … Most parents in rural areas hand over their children to a religious teacher in the city and the religious teacher depends on the children to beg or steal in order to feed him and his family. For ethnic, religious and sectional reasons, we protected, defended, praised and refused to hold to account all our kinsmen who led the country at every wasted opportunity for over five decades. The bandits and terrorists that kill and kidnap our people and [prevent] our farmers from going to their farms and [prevent] our children from going to school are not from any country or from the South of the country; they came from our homes and from our families up North.”

    In a 25 September, 2023 article titled “The North and Tinubu’s appointments” in his column in Nigerian Tribune, Lasisi Olagunju noted: “President Bola Tinubu gave our country’s Minister of Defence and Minister of State, Defence to the North; he gave the North Minister of Police Affairs and Minister of State, Police Affairs; he gave the North Minister of Education and Minister of State, Education; he gave the North Minister of Agriculture and Food Security and Minister of State, Agriculture and Food Security. Again; he gave the North the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare plus Minister of Steel Development and Minister of State, Steel Development. To the North, again, Tinubu gave Minister of Water Resources and Minister of State, Water Resources. I can go on and on … No part of the South has that privilege of having ‘couplet’ ministers managing key sectors. It is double, double blessing for the North. I don’t think any president has ever done that.”

    Olagunju also observed that with these North-located strategic appointments, it could be argued that “the cluster pattern is the President’s way of ticking problems and attaching them to localised solutions.” He then asks whether with these strategic appointments, the North “should … still have the mouth to complain of lack of official attention to its endemic insecurity? … [S]hould it still rummage for policies that will wean it off the blight of mass illiteracy and of having uncountable millions of out-of-school-children? … [S]hould we ever hear it lament high incidences of child and maternal mortality and epidemics of preventable diseases? The whole of the agriculture ministry is ceded to the North; the entire Water Resources ministry belongs to the North. We wait to see how it will use these to feed its dying, hungry poor.”

    Specifically regarding the problem of insecurity in the North, Usman Yusuf, a Professor and vocal member of NEF, said on 16 March, 2024 in an ARISE News The Morning Show: “We have a Vice-President, No. 2, who is from the North. We have a Speaker of the House, who is No.4, who is from the North. We have an SGF who is from the North. We have the senior-most military officer who is from the North. We have all the Ministers of Defence from the North. We have the Minister of Police from the North. We have the National Security Adviser from the North. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would look at us and say, ‘You guys have no excuse not to bring peace to your land.’ So, it is up to us to look at ourselves in the mirror, we Northerners, especially those of us in government, and lock the door and say, ‘People, how do we take care of these problems?’”

    A 30 June, 2024 article by Suleiman A. Suleiman sombrely titled “The North in tatters” in Daily Trust outlined the bases of the Northern crisis: “First, an incline in religiosity has combined paradoxically but seamlessly with a precipitous decline in moral values right from the family level. Second, the traditional institutions, previously firm epicentres of Northern society, have been degraded by politics and the narrow-minded political ambitions of a few. Third, education, which should be a prized heritage of this very society, is either priced out of the reach of millions or lost its real value among many who have it. And where personal integrity was the default currency of all social transactions in Northern Nigeria to the envy and admiration of other Nigerians, money is the new god, such that people do just about anything in pursuit of it.”

    In this article, the focus has been on the North, especially considering the cataclysmic and yet ominous turn of events in the region during the “Days of Rage” protests. This however does not mean that the South does not have its own serious or related problems. In fact, the South needs introspection as much as the North does; and the growing introspective consensus in the North may even provide an emulatable template for our Southern compatriots.

  • Sick North, rioters and faceless foes

    Sick North, rioters and faceless foes

    • By Abdu Abdullahi

    Eventually, the nationwide protest erupted. Its aftermath in the North particularly saw deaths, destructions and lootings. Two symbiotic and organic elements were directly responsible: extreme poverty and alarming illiteracy, the invisible players of destruction of the North. Again, they tested their evil monopoly as manifested in the youths’ catastrophic adventure, leaving behind blood, sorrows, pains and despair.

    Conflicts are repulsive yet inevitable, always laden with causes and effects. In most cases however, we are emotionally aligned with the latter, ignoring the former in its entity. We strongly condemned the reckless manner the youth perpetrated arson, looting and destructions during the frightening episodes. Many are still having a traumatic memory of the various video clips that captured the outrageous disasters of these belligerent youths. Yet, we are still chasing the shadow instead of the real object. 

    The lawless youths’ ‘volcanic eruption’ was a spontaneous reaction to the existing ‘class antagonism’, overtly resonating with the looting of public treasury by some political office holders across the country. Was it a class struggle to assert their supremacy in terms of breaking law and order? Was it a game of looting the looters? Did we really understand their language of fury within the social and economic context of their violence? 

    While the rioters believed in what they unleashed as legitimate, we saw it as illegitimate. Nevertheless, beyond their acts of wanton destructions and our deep lamentations, it is imperative to mesmerize on the inducing forces behind their sheer lawlessness. Before they murder the next sleep, jingoistic northerners who do not want the region to be on another fire should lead a rigorous and painstaking campaign of redeeming these exploited and oppressed youths from further degeneration. The final verdict is that all is not well with this class of young people.

    Unlike in the South-south, Southwest and Abuja where the protests were peacefully conducted devoid of mayhem, the pathetic narration was that of unprecedented social disorder in the core north. We all watched how Kano and Kaduna were particularly the worst hit as there was a brief demonstration of anarchy. The unrelenting aggression of the’ hoodlums, miscreants, or thugs’ who unleashed the reign of mass calamities was driven by the two evil forces of abject poverty and imposed illiteracy. How did we arrive at that level of senseless behavior by those who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow? What type of future generation are we expecting in the North?

    Sympathize with them or crucify them, these’ destructive elements’ are the bad products of our regional retardation. We made them what they are today through our collective negligence and display of social and political irresponsibility. To keep northern youths socio-economically dislocated, they will continue to part ways with sense of social belonging and the society is their sworn enemy. Exploiting every opportunity at their disposal, it will be easy for them to attack our social formation. Remaining insensitive to their fundamental right to education and their state of poverty persisting; we will be living on a time bomb. A philosophy has it that the only security is opportunity. Have we forgotten this philosophical sermon in our search for security in the North?

    The unwavering upheaval that reared its ugly head was seen as an evil to detest. However, it was and still also a timely warning to the northern governors, political and business elites, traditional and religious leaders, the so-called champions of the North under different banners to accept the despicable outcome as a great challenge to work out possibilities of reducing and eradicating ubiquitous poverty, providing quality education for self-reliance among the teeming youths.

    Are we having the type of leadership the North deserves? Betraying the essence of leadership is betraying the North and the unavoidable repercussion will be the occurrence of more social disturbances.

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    It was disheartening that what lasted years for construction as a means of sustainable development that benefited the attackers directly or indirectly were devastated within few hours. On the other hand, was the perpetration of vandalism by the youths a ‘protest’ against their socio-economic degrading? Sadly, our belated and inactive responses to the process of social construction only ensure the youths’ full growth without proper development. We are all guilty of lacking the enigmatic spirit of inclusiveness as a viable agenda for development.

    A scanty and disjointed meaning should not be the basis for our analysis of the unrest. It should rather have an everlasting effect on our sense of judgments for prolific deliberations and actions. It should have a broad meaning of socio-economic dimensions of our existence. We ought to engage our intellectual power to establish reliable facts drawn from the horrible experiences and infer what triggered the disturbance in the first place.

    To this end, it is categorically clear to all stakeholders in the North that a notorious gang of young people unjustly dispossessed of economic protection and education is a potential danger to our existence. Already, the brutish bandits and insurgents are taking the lead role. Instead of preserving our regional integrity and stability, they are destroying them with impunity. Unfortunately, they are pulling down the very structures of their own house. We are victims of self-inflicted injuries but deploy little efforts to heal ourselves. Who will save the North at this critical time for the sake of Nigeria?

    For the destructions of the North, therefore, extreme poverty and illiteracy are gathering momentum. They are hugely intimidating and provocative and should not be taken for granted if we truly love the North. The last protest should serve as an eye opener to do the needful and bring to a halt the menacing trend. To eliminate these twin diseases, all efforts must be on deck otherwise we will continue to be passing through the process of self-destruction and repressing our development fortunes.

    Undoubtedly, the North is yearning for positive minds for positive changes. The message has been sent by the rioting youths without any ambiguity. It is a memo waiting for prompt and appropriate actions. Our governors ought to have a rethink of prioritizing human development programs and policies against needless physical projects. This will ensure and enhance an effective management of priorities to produce the desired results. Albeit there are different approaches to development, for our immediate requirement, the ‘Basic Needs Approach’ of development should be allowed to make a breakthrough and rescue our region from the brink of a precipice.

    A region of ‘false attraction’, the North is endowed with many positive attributes for negative values. We are blessed with vast and fertile agricultural land but economically depressed. We boast of large population but a significant portion of it is afflicted with drug addiction, part of it consists of political thugs and professional sycophants, lacking innovations and creativities to move the region forward. We are proud to have produced a greater number of Nigeria’s leaders, yet we are comparatively backward. We are politically indomitable when it comes to presidential elections; however, our political will to reform the North is bankrupt.

    The richest man in Africa and other business giants belong to us. Yet, we celebrate squalor in the midst of affluence. We are not resonating with the fact that ‘competition is not only the life of trade; it is the trade of life’. We are maliciously interested in building strong individuals for self-aggrandizement rather than powerful institutions and ideas that promote human development.

    Our default learning process for development is very dangerous and requires reassessment. For instance, we are not learning what to avoid and what to aspire for greatness. We are not learning how to rise after falling down. We are not trained to be masters of our destiny and not servants of doom. We are incapable of breaking disabilities for the construction of possibilities. That is why building a bridge as a point of our convergence for moving away from adversity to prosperity has eluded us.

    For the survival of the North, we must observe a paradigm shift from our erroneous belief in disabilities to possibilities. This can start with a gigantic and regional project such as the Northern Nigeria Development Plan. Under the auspices of eminent persons with impeccable character who must be apolitical, there will be clearly stated goals and objectives, the human, material and intellectual resources needed and the timing, the anticipated challenges and what have you. In the end, if we fail to plan for tomorrow and continue living in disarray, then the future will definitely fail us. We will continue to be under the illusion of precarious development instead of planned and orchestrated development. And our troubles will continue.

    Beneath the rioting protests, the North is threatened by two faceless enemies, poverty and illiteracy. They acted as the commanding officers of the rioting youths, who wreaked enormous havoc on the vulnerability of the region. We must protect ourselves before we are consumed by these artilleries of destruction.

    •   Abdullahi writes via aaringim68@gmail.com
  • Why the North needs power devolution

    Why the North needs power devolution

    It has become well known by now that the North has been a burden on Nigeria for over a century and its leaders a burden on their region since the inception of self government (see The Northern question again: Facts unknown or ignored, The Nation, June 26, 2024).

    However, there was a short period of possible grace for the North, when Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, was the Premier of the Region between 1954 and 1966 (see Suleiman A Suleiman, The North in tatters, Daily Trust, July 1, 2024). Mindful of the huge gap between the North and the South at the time, Ahmadu Bello instituted various economic, educational, and political policies, aimed at putting his region on a path of development in order to catch up with the Western and Eastern Regions. During this period, agricultural boom in the North was typified by the ubiquity of groundnut pyramids in major towns just as cocoa and palm oil were rampant in the Western and Eastern Regions, respectively. I still remember visiting Premier Hotel in Ibadan in 1967, a year after it was built, and finding bowls of roasted groundnuts served freely in the reception areas and in the hotel rooms.

    Unfortunately, the military coup, which took Ahmadu Bello’s life in January 1966, put an end to the developmental strides he initiated. While cocoa and palm oil production continued till today in the South, groundnut pyramids continued to disappear in the North. The incursion of the military into governance in 1966 coincided with, and rapidly promoted, the shift in production from agriculture to oil. This shift, which was put in high gear in the 1970s and 80s, completely decimated groundnut production in the North as military leaders, mostly from the North, focused on resources from the centre, which they shared as they liked but without developing their region. As if to facilitate ready access to the centre, northern military leaders moved the seat of government from Lagos in the South to Abuja in the North. This focus on resources from the centre to the neglect of the North has continued under democratically elected northern Governors since the return to civilian rule in 1999 (see How much shame can Northern Governors endure? The Nation, July 10, 2024).

    Read Also: FG approves new measures to combat malnutrition, food insecurity in Nigeria

    If today’s Northern leaders pretend not to be aware of the backwardness of their region, credit must be given to their predecessors for displaying full awareness of the wide gap between their region and the rest of the country. In fact, one major reason Northern parliamentarians opposed Chief Anthony Enahoro’s proposal in 1953 that independence be granted in 1956 was their awareness that they lacked the resources to face the challenges of self-governance. Here’s how elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, once put it: “This was because as of 1953, the entire Northern Region … had only one graduate. At the same time, the South had thousands of graduates from different fields of expertise … about 90 percent of the public services manpower in the North were made up of expatriates or Nigerians from the southern part of the country” (Why North rejected Enahoro’s 1956 independence motion, The Punch, December 31, 2020).

    Incidentally, in their persistent opposition to the devolution of powers, Northern Governors and their federal legislators have been playing the same opposition script that their former leaders played against the proposal for independence. The difference is that, while their former leaders were playing for time to catch up with the South, today’s Northern politicians are opposing the devolution of powers for selfish reasons and out of fear of losing largesse from the centre.

    What they do not seem to realise, however, is that, if the devolution project goes well, they will have more access to resources than they even have now. Effective devolution involves the transfer of substantial powers, authority, and finances from the national to subnational governments. This will give more money to subnational governments and enhance their ability to source funds through tax and exploitation of natural resources within their borders (subject to the payment of agreed taxes to the national government). They also will be better placed to implement policies geared to the specific needs of their local communities. Moreover, states will be better able to defend their territories with state police, who would have better local knowledge of their environment. Such an arrangement will leave the national government primarily with defense and security, monetary and fiscal policies, social welfare, foreign relations, and overall policies on shared goals in education, agriculture, commerce, and so on.

    India, the largest democracy in the world, and the United States, the oldest presidential democracy in the world (which provided the model for Nigeria’s presidential system), are successful models for the devolution of powers and finances to subnational governments. While the devolution of powers was central to the formation of the United States from the beginning, India worked hard at it through the executive and legislative branches. And India is still working at it. But devolution had come to stay to the point that Indian states are now the ones resisting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to interfere with the process. This would never have been possible had devolution not been initiated and taken root in India.

    This puts the burden on the Nigerian President and the legislative Houses at Federal and State levels. It is unclear what’s on the National Assembly’s agenda for constitutional review. What we do know is that the Committee in charge was given two years to complete its work, which takes the process to election season, when the President would have become a lame duck as is historically the case. This means that the time for President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to act is now. This could take the form of an executive bill and/or intense negotiations with the leadership of the National and even State Assemblies. Fortunately, such a bill is not difficult to draft, given the records of two National Conferences, focusing on the reorganisation of the country, and the January 2018 report of the el-Rufai Committee on True Federalism, which was established by the APC government in 2017.

    The bottomline is that this country cannot continue with business as usual, without some deliberate attempts to change the structure of governance at federal and state levels. One of the major reasons President Tinubu’s economic policies have been slow in effecting desired change is precisely because business is still being conducted as usual at federal and, particularly, state levels. The time to initiate change is now.

  • How the North made peace kiss Nigeria goodbye

    How the North made peace kiss Nigeria goodbye

    Northern Nigeria is not developing its human capital. It also does not have the time to do so anymore. Therefore, it is now ill-equipped to fit into either the knowledge-driven world of today or the new world of tomorrow. It needs at least 20 years to become significant in any way. But, rather than wake up to this benumbing fact, there is the pursuit of the illusion of dominance. Meanwhile the people of the region lack the skills for tomorrow, as majority of its youth lack everything that could make them part of a 21st century world. I think we are not doing ourselves much good by the way we are living, and by refusing to educate our children. We rather produce and send them to the streets to beg for what they will eat, neglecting their character and learning.” – the highly regarded elder statesman, Ahmed Joda in: ‘Attitudes North Must Change to Develop’ -There’s no way reverred Ahmed Joda could have attributed the spate of insecurity in the North to unemployment, as former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently did, because he knew what  proportion of Northern youths is actually employable.

    What is happening in the North today was foretold. Rather than act, successive governments, state and federal( North – dominated) preferred to treat crimes with levity with no criminal ever  made to have his day in court as long as he was a Northerner. Now the chick’s have come home to roost.

    This piece, substantially an old article, details the beginnings of banditry and other crimes which went unpunished in the North. It is aimed at correcting those lapses in the hope that sanity can still be restored, lest the North self – destructs.

    But more importantly, it should inform Northern leaders, now pointing an accusing finger at PBAT, that the remaining four point directly at them. It is a story of how ‘absence of government’ and preferential treatment of Northerner offenders by federal security agencies, especially the police, enabled killing and kidnappings on industrial scale, to boom and blossom.

    In addition to their menace, some  Northern politicians were alleged to have, in 2015, brought into the  country some foreign Fulanis who exponentially increased insecurity in Nigeria.  The article, captioned as above, and published 20 December, 2020,  reads as follows, with slight additions, here and there:

    “There were a few people who foresaw what we are going through today in Nigeria with regards to insecurity, especially in Northern Nigeria where, in the last three weeks, 300 persons, mostly school children, were kidnapped.

    One such person was Chief Obafemi Awolowo who severally warned that by denying western education to a large proportion of their people, the North was sowing the wind, and was certain to reap the whirlwind. But prescient as he always was, not even Awo could have foreseen the present level of horrendous  insecurity. Below is Professor Adebayo Williams on Awo’s capacity for such clairvoyance. He wrote  in ‘The Titan and The Titanic: Awolowo in and through History’: “This is a man we thought we bade a final goodbye 17 years ago. If it is so, it must be the longest goodbye in history. For at every tragic turn, at every miscue, be it at the level of the structural deformities of this unfortunate nation, its suffocating and stifling unitarism, its economic malaise, its educational  collapse, its spiritual bankruptcy, its corrupt and  thieving political class(budgeting N193M as cost of a single borehole in 2024), and its gradual descent into the anomie of ungovernability, we are confronted by the figure of the man with the  horn-rimmed glasses. And until we come to terms with many of his ideas, either by transcending them through superior political engineering or working through them through a more rigorous intellectual engagement, the piercing eyes behind the lens will continue to haunt us, reminding us of our inadequacies as intellectuals, as philosophers, as politicians and as a nation”.

    But Awo was not alone in drawing the attention of Northern leaders to the ugly grass that was growing under their feet. Another person who was  uniquely positioned to do so, being a Northerner, was Dr Abubakar Siddique Mohammed, the Director, Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training, Sango Shanu, Zaria who, together with his team, did such stupendous research work on the subject of insecurity in the North that were successive Northern governments alive to their responsibilities, insecurity there would most probably have become history by now.

    Let me quote, at some length, from a thoroughly illuminating  interview Dr Mohammed granted in 2019 on what has since become ‘the Nigerian nightmare’, accounting for a total of  no less than 17,469 Nigerians, according to the Civil Society Joint Action Group, kidnapped between 2019 , and now.

     Four years ago,  you warned that unless urgent steps were taken to stop the crisis in Zamfara, the whole country could be consumed. With what is happening now, it seems you were prophetic. We are 20 years into democracy and Nigerians are wondering why insecurity has become such a big issue.

    Four years ago when we first did our studies, it was farmer/herders conflict. What I am going to talk to you about is what is happening today in the North-West, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara, which is the epicentre of insecurity in the North. This conflict has been on for more than four years. It started as farmers/herders conflict but it degenerated into something else. Some years ago, there were armed robberies in the North-West. In the Zamfara area, some Fulani boys were alleged to be the major culprits.

    In the areas we studied, there were so many ungoverned spaces: No electricity, telecommunication and local governments existed only in name. You could hardly see anybody when you go there. Over a long period of time, traditional leaders and Islamic teachers were the ones dealing with the crisis. There was no presence of the state. (Yet, every month, Northern states harvested billions of Naira from the Federation account in the name of Land Mass). The roads were extremely bad and the people left to their fate. So when the armed robberies persisted, people took it upon themselves to bring about law and order, they formed vigilante groups.The vigilante groups were quite often not trained. So they went beyond their limits whenever they went on operations. In the Dansadau area of Zamfara, they identified some boys, who also happened to be of Fulani stock. They attacked some of them and killed them. They were very brutal. They wanted to stamp out armed robbery in the area. They were the police, the prosecutor and judge. They did not stop in the towns and semi-urban centres. They pursued the Fulani deep into the forest and, in the process, killed so many innocent people. This was the immediate cause of the conflict.

     Ethnic coloration

    Those who organised the killings happened to be Hausa and those who were killed were the Fulani.  When the attacks on the Fulani became generalised, some of them withdrew, went and re-organised and came back to those localities where they were attacked, identified those who organised the attacks and sought revenge. Those whose kids were of fighting age were forced to donate their kids or provide money.

    In all the areas we visited, there were no banks. People kept money at home. These bandits will break into a man’s house and insist that he gives them all his money. In some cases, they will rape his wife and daughters in his presence. It was a terrible situation. 

     What was government’s reaction to the worsening security situation?

    M. The government in Zamfara was not serious about the challenge, ab initio. From fighting rural banditry by the vigilantes to the retaliation by the Fulani, the challenge morphed into generalised rural banditry. At this stage, the farmers and pastoralists became victims of a superior force. The pastoralists lost their herds because some other forces had come in and subjugated both the pastoralists and farmers.

    A third force then emerged which dispossessed the pastoralists of their cows, dispossessed the farmers of their savings which they kept at home, and drove them away from their lands.

    In the areas we studied, virtually all the cattle had been rustled by bandits. From rustling the cattle, they moved to kidnapping. When the crisis degenerated between the bandits and the vigilante groups, it escalated. In one town in Zamfara, the vigilante group there was meeting to discuss how they could deal with the rural banditry. The bandits heard about the meeting, they attacked the town on a market day and killed about 200 people. When we got to the town shortly after, it was like a ghost town. There were no human beings in sight. When these youths lost their cattle, they had nothing to do anymore. But, surprisingly, they started seeing some of their rustled cows with some of the rich people around the area and that is what triggered the kidnappings. They could not get to some of the rich people because they had their own security guards armed with AK 47 rifles or police protection. So what the criminals did was to also acquire AK 47 rifles as a balance of terror. I have not spoken about land.

    All that time, there was a Zamfara state governor who was, more or less, operating from Abuja. And as at that time, no Emir remembered to send alarm bells to Abuja claiming  that they could no longer control their youths.

     The crisis in Zamfara is multi-dimensional.

    Some years back, the Zamfara government, under Sani Yerima, decided to drive the Fulani out of their ancestral land to pave the way for big farmers. These were people who had lived there for over five hundred years. Overnight, they were pushed out and their land given out to the rich,  with many of the Fulanis having to relocate to other parts of Nigeria or other parts of Zamfara which, in turn, heightened conflict with farmers.

    Read Also: Obasanjo to Nigerians: Don’t lose faith in the country

    The Fulani were dispossessed, first of land, and later of their cattle. Violence was used in both instances. Many of the boys operating around the Abuja-Kaduna highway are from Zamfara.

     Q. What was government reaction to your study which was made public four years ago?

    M.We made it known four years ago that this thing will get out of control. We recommended that concerted efforts should be made to stop the crisis.

    You cannot solve the problems in Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto without dealing with the situation in Zamfara. (Only last week, the school pupils kidnapped in Kaduna state were ‘warehoused’ in Zamfara and the state governor, Dauda Lawal, has not stopped shouting about his helplessness with no Northern leader offering a helping hand. They would rather blame Tinubu.)

     Q.How can the situation in Zamfara be tackled?

    M. The Zamfara situation has gotten out of control. The security architecture we have in the country cannot deal with the crisis. It is going to be with us for some time to come. Take for instance the police. Let us say we have 370,000 policemen. How can they effectively cover the 774 local government areas and tackle the different security challenges in the country? We are certainly under-policed. The police cannot deal with the situation. They can only do their best but they cannot deal with the situation.

    Everywhere you go in the country, there is one form of crisis or the other; so the police are overstretched. Same goes for the army. They have also been overstretched. We need to expand the armed forces and the police”.

    The above tells the story of how the North socialised insecurity in Nigeria and turned the  country into a no man’s land where killers roam, anyhow, raping, kidnapping and killing at will.

    As a result Nigeria is now ccomparable only to the likes of Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia and Libya where there is no discernible head of state.

    Being in your house, or on your rice farm, in school or on the Abuja – Kaduna, anywhere in Birnin-Gwari,  or on the Lagos – Ibadan expressway, no longer guarantees your safety, even your life.

    As things stand in our country today, it is everybody for himself and God for us all.

    It is hoped that everybody or agency  concerned with security in Nigeria – the Feds in particular – will have some take aways from the article and go on to do the needful, such as  creating state police and substantially increasing the number of our armed forces personnel, far beyond what we presently have.

  • Ningi only trying to exploit north’s Multi – dimensional angst against PBAT

    Ningi only trying to exploit north’s Multi – dimensional angst against PBAT

    No school is safe until Government negotiates with bandits” – Sheik Gumi.

    With this coming from a leading Northern cleric, in a region with over 15M out of school children, and in a society riddled with grinding poverty, why would these killers not mushroom in their thousands?

    Distinguished Senator Abdul Ningi is not a foolish man. He only miscalculated. Badly too. His intention was to ride the Northern angst against the Bola Ahmed Tinubu government to effect  what he reckoned would be a seismic change in the country. And where else to start, if not the  National Assembly, crawling with a preponderance of Northern legislators whose  support he, and his co – conspirators had, a priori, believed they could take for granted.

    Afterall, not only have many Northern politicians tried to rubbish the  government just as its royalty has not lagged far behind in the same quest. Nor is the ‘Miyetti Allah- Free Bodejo Brigade’, now massing on Abuja without schemes of their own as Nigeria no longer looks like a country gifted Fulanis by Allah as the Fulani Nationality Movement  (FUNAM), never ceases to announce on rooftops, even without a wink from the Nigerian security forces.

    Recall too that a  President of Southern extraction once said that there were Boko Haram sympathisers right within his Executive council and you can begin to suspect what’s presently afoot. 

    Consider also, the fact that unlike during the ancien regime, Northerners are no longer the Chief executive officers of nearly all government agencies just as it will not be far fetched to believe that some must be rueing  their inability to, any longer, buy dollar from  the CBN at their own price.

    All these are now ancient history, and are more than enough to stir the mother of enemity towards the Tinubu government.

    So distinguished senator Ningi knew exactly where he was headed when he added the icing on the cake to his budget padding allegation, i e – his ridiculous claim that the 2024 Appropriation law was skewed against the North. It was all aimed at coalescing the Northern anti – Tinubu ensemble.

    Fortunately,  patriotism prevailed and saw his fellow senators, bar an errant one, abandon him, leaving him hard and dry, to face his comeuppance,  a 3 – month suspension.

    Meanwhile his state governor, Bala Mohammed, who sees him as a”beacon of  truth”, can root for him all he likes.

    Read Also: Speaker Abbas, Deputy mourn Olubadan

    The pity in all these is that the North has nobody, but itself, to blame for the present state of affairs in that part of the country, especially the indescribable insecurity currently convulsing the entire region. It is the result of favouritism, double standard and impunity.

    On no occasion during President Muhammadu Buhari’s entire 8 years were bandits, aka  killers and kidnappers, ever brought to book. Even when they attacked in numbers and killed in hundreds, as happened in Benue and Plateau states, burning houses and banishing their victims from their ancestral lands, never to return, hardly was any of them  arrested.

    Things got so bad, Lt. General T. Y Danjuma, a respected elder statesman, wondered aloud, claiming that some security men were working in cahoots with these ethnic cleansers.

    In the meantime, insecurity in the North has ballooned exponentially. While over 200 of the 276 Chibok girls kidnapped in  2014 remain in bondage, Nigerians again woke up this past week, to hear that another  280 students  have again been  kidnapped in the Kuriga community of Chikum Government Area of Kaduna State.

    That is not all, either.

    In the past ten days alone, close to 400 people are believed to have been kidnapped,

    according to a report. The kidnappers are now asking for N1Billion, 11 Toyota Hilux pick-up vehicles and 150 motorcycles as ransom for their release, to which President Tinubu has said an emphatic no.

    Nobody in the North can claim they were not warned well ahead of these torrid happenings.

    They sowed the wind, now they are reaping the whirlwind.  For  too long, every attempt to nudge the North into educating its youth, and opening up its feudal society to the modernising effects  of western education was bad – mouthed and treated as excoriation by what they pejoratively  called 

    the Lagos-Ibadan press because the Press did not let off, especially during the Second Republic when the Nigerian problem, according to a Head of state of the era,  was not money, “but how to spend it”.

    Not a few warned the North that if it regarded education as expensive, ignorance was going to be far more expensive as we have all come to see. Unfortunately, it’s not only the North, but the entire country, which is now on the receiving end of that whimsical negligence with Nigeria presently spending billions fighting insecurity in the North, rather than pouring same into  education, healthcare, road infrastructure etc.

    That is aside the  deaths, the human dislocations and the general ruination of the country occasioned by insecurity.

    Although escalation in the activities of Boko Haram was attributed to the  gruesome murder of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf,  the causes  would better be traced to mass illiteracy,  pervasive poverty, rampant  corruption and the odious opulence  of Northern  politicians and their royalty who prefer to feed the people from their individual largesse – rankadede style – rather than see government positively impact their lives. 

    The  current state of affairs in the North was totally unexpected because, for a very long time, it cornered most of the country’s resources. The North has no reason, whatever, to be poor; not with its huge natural resources and the volume of the country’s resources going there.

    For instance, each successive North- dominated military government, in their whim and caprice, ensured that the North, solely on the basis of  land mass  – now mostly the habitation of kidnappers and terrorists as ungoverned spaces – was allocated a disproportionate number of Local Government Areas. Ordinarily the huge monthly allocations to these Local Government Areas,  which by far outstripped what goes to the South, should have been made to  impact positively on lives in the North but  corruption and an easy lifestyle completely vitiated all that.

    Rather than invest in the  education of their youth,  the state governors looked askance as the kids were herded into the Almajeri conundrum where they are made to carry begging bowls daily, in search of arms. 

    When, once in a while, the governors wake up to do something for their teeming youth population – mostly the children of the poor –  they buy thousands of  okadas and ship them – boys and bikes, enmasse, in trailer loads, to Lagos  where they  become more famous for the accidents they cause daily.

     Apart from federal allocations to its states, the North also, through a near monopoly of federal power, cornered a huge chunk of national resources which did not reflect in development in the region.

    If  a sizeable portion of these  stupendous amounts of money had been devoted to life impacting interventions, neither the North, nor Nigeria itself, would be sinking into fighting insecurity a quarter of what they presently do.

    It is a pity, as I recently wrote on these pages, that the North is always in search of quick fixes, especially in regard to matters that will profit it alone,  as against aiming for the well- being of the country. That was why an eminent Northern monarch, claiming to be sending the First Lady to the President, said they could no longer  restrain their angry youth. Those ones quickly got the message and were soon on the streets in some towns in the North.

    I conclude, therefore, that it was as an agent provocateur that Senator Abul Ningi spoke, not to his colleagues within the red chamber, but on the streets, so that those to whom he was primarily sending a message could mass up against the Tinubu government and make the country ungovernable.

    While my Senator, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, CON (Ekiti Central Senatorial district) might be right in thinking that Senate President Godswil Akpabio was their target, I believe that Ningi and Co, indeed, aimed much higher.

    But whichever, his howler was neither the way of peace nor the mark of statesmanship.

    Enough of these coy invitations to anarchy from quarters least expected.

  • The “North” as ultimate bogey

    The “North” as ultimate bogey

    Want to sight the human Pavlovian dog?  Just drop a whiff of scandal in Nigeria!

    The journalist would swoon.  The analyst would whirr in bliss.  Even the market folks would shun frenetic haggling to soak in the latest gist of rot in town!

    That very much marked the “budget padding”, courtesy of PDP Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central), chair of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF).  The tale — hope not by the moonlight? — spoke of a N3 trillion budget padding in the 2024 Appropriation Act.

    Now, link rot with regional bogeys, and viola! You’d see ethnic champions creeping from under the woodworks.  It’s just how conventional Nigerian politicians are wired — North, South, East or West!

    Senator Ningi alleged “padding”.  To boot, that “padding” was skewed against the North — perhaps because a southerner was Senate president?

    Without noticing the in-built alarms in the story — alarms already addressed by the Presidency and three among the northern senators Ningi claimed to protest for — a section of the media was already out in the streets, searching out fire-belching analysts; and specialists defining budget padding: pros and cons!

    Read Also: Northern Senators dissociate selves from Ningi’s budget N3tr padding allegation

    That itself isn’t bad.  The media must think on its feet.  Yet, it’s amazing how strong self-loathing is here — so much so that the rule of thumb is always believe the worst!

    Budget 2023 — as the Presidency has reminded everyone — was well publicized, from when the National Assembly got the estimates; to when the Parliament passed it as Appropriation Bill.  Why then didn’t these specialists refresh themselves with the facts before joining the “padding” fray?

    Well, budget-making is not unlike sausages.  What you snacked on so, so sweetly was a mesh of mess — literarily speaking — though so, so comely on the palate.

    On the National Assembly floors, the budget must have been a product of give-and-take. So, a few porks here or there come with the territory.

    But to suggest a widely reported document still harboured a “padding” of N3 trillion seems to push the love of scandals far too far! 

    When that is linked to allegations of being skewed against the “North”, from an opposition senator using the regional body he chairs as opportunistic front, then mischief — for whatever motive — might not be so far off.

    Still, for all it is worth, let everyone come clean on the matter — Parliament, the executive and even the senator(s) making the allegations.  Until then, however, let those eager to comment keep their peace. 

    Commentary without hard facts is nothing but din that distracts.  As sectional champions, the North — or the South, for that matter — is more than a mere bogey for mischief.

  • How to make North secure, by leaders

    How to make North secure, by leaders

    • Ending insecurity our goal, says Shettima
    • Abdulsalami, Sultan, Ogbe, governors suggest way out

    North leaders yesterday called for a multi-dimensional approach to tackling insecurity.

    Also, Vice President Kashim Shettima restated that ending insecurity remained top on the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration’s agenda.

    A former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, said Nigerians must unite to tackle insecurity.

    They spoke at a two-day roundtable on insecurity, with the theme: “Multidimensional approach to tackling insecurity in Northern Nigeria.”

    It was organised by the Coalition of Northern Group (CNG).

    Abubakar said: “Investing in education and economic development can address the root causes, ultimately fostering long-term stability. 

    “Also, synergy among the security agencies, state and federal authorities is key to effectively combating terrorism, kidnapping, and banditry.

    “Our shared goal is to foster a secure environment that enables the prosperity and well-being of the people of the region. 

    “Therefore, let us use this platform to pool our knowledge, experiences, and insights, fostering collaboration among various stakeholders.

    “Together, we can work towards a safer and more stable northern Nigeria, ensuring a brighter future for generations to come. 

    “This will have a ripple effect on other regions within the country; thereby transforming the security landscape for the greater good of the citizens of our dear nation.”

    Shetima, represented by his Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Yusuf Adejia, said providing safety was one critical agenda of the government, hence the increase in budgetary allocation to security.

    He stressed the need to address the disinformation warfare being waged against the government.

    The Vice President maintained that no region will be left unattended to, as evident in the critical projects being carried out in all the geo-political zones.

    He acknowledged that no meaningful result can be achieved in a divided society and therefore called on all Nigerians to be more united to find lasting solutions to the menace.

    Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, backed the multi-dimensional option.

    He said: “For us in Zamfara, we also believe that a multi-dimensional approach is the way to go.

    “In tandem with our border states, we have resolved to work together and tackle the issue using a regional approach and not operate solo.

    “This will enhance synergy among the affected states in combating the insecurity challenges.

    “Community engagement in the fight against banditry and related crimes is gaining momentum.

    “This synergy becomes even more imperative as joint operations and intelligence sharing are essential.

    “Just like Katsina has done, we are also commissioning our community protection guards, backed by law and a formal structure, who the military and the police authorities have adequately trained to act as first responders.

    “We have also set up a security trust fund like others in the region, to mobilise, manage, and deploy funds to complement government efforts in restoring security.

    “In Zamfara, we are also tackling the identified hydra-headed fodder that feeds insecurity: the denigration of education and high unemployment, especially among the youth, by targeted interventions in those sectors, amongst others.”

    A former minister of agriculture, Dr Audu Ogbeh, warned against the mix-up of the roles of the army and the police.

    He said: “Because of insecurity, the army has to be called in. The army is not the police force. A country that abuses its army by using it as a police force is running a risk; you’re destroying that army. 

    “Soldiers are not policemen, and policemen are not soldiers; we are mixing the two up; that’s another danger we have to deal with if we can.”

    He also made a case for a working local government system, noting that development and progress must begin at the grassroots.

    Read Also: Those aiming to pit north against south behind FCT relocation claim — Presidency

    Former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof Atahiru Jega, said insecurity has been allowed to fester too long, hence the expansion of the activities of the insurgents.

    He believes it was important to adopt a multi-dimensional approach to tackling insecurity.

    He urged the government to take a very responsive role devoid of politics.

    According to Jega, to have effective control over the war, there must be targeted efforts towards reaching all communities.

    He underscored the need to promote unity and professionalism amongst all the security agencies.

    National Coordinator of CNG, Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi, called for decisive action, as “speeches alone cannot secure the region”. 

    He said: “Accountability is crucial to the collective effort, and leaders are urged to act to protect innocent citizens.

    “The roundtable is not just a meeting of dignitaries, but an opportunity for tangible change where actions speak louder than words. 

    “Urgent and tangible solutions are needed to safeguard the education of younger generations and prevent future conflict.

    “The era of empty promises must come to an end, and actions will be the measure of success. 

    “Together, a journey fueled by compassion, solidarity, and collective determination can rewrite the narrative of Northern Nigeria and weave a tapestry of hope and opportunity”.

    Director of Publicity and Advocacy/Spokesperson, Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, stressed the significance of bringing together critical stakeholders to address the security challenges that have plagued the region.

  • NAF reactivates C-130H to tackle insecurity in North

    The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Monday relaunched its newly refurbished transport aircraft, the C-130H, into its fleet and deployed same to supply weapons, others to battlefields in the Northeast and Northwest.

    The relaunch followed an intensive Periodic Depot Maintenance (PMD) at the Aircraft Maintenance Depot (ACMD) in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, the first of its kind since the acquisition of the American four-engine turboprop aircraft in the 1980s.

    The NAF had attempted an in-country PDM when Nigeria suffered international embargo on the supply of military hardware.

    Relaunching the C-130H yesterday, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar said he was happy that the intensive PDM was concluded successfully within a year and some months.

    Aside the huge foreign exchange the NAF saved the country by doing the PDM locally, Abubarkar said it also enhanced the capacity of personnel of the unit who took part in the exercise.

    He said: “In-country maintenance is very important because it is all about building capacity. This is the first time in the history of the NAF that we conducted a very successful PDM within Nigeria. It sends a good message that though we have technical partners, we also have Nigerian technicians who participated to ensure the PDM was conducted locally.

    Read Also: Fight against insecurity, collective efforts – NAF

    “It has saved us foreign exchange. If we were to carry this aircraft to outside Nigeria, we would have to pay for cargo. For it to be moved, it would have to be dismantled and then we would have limited number of personnel that would be sent abroad for that.

    “But now that it was done in Nigeria, everybody in that unit had the opportunity to really be part of the process. In that wise, we are so excited.

    “We have just flagged the PDM of the second one, which is 912. The Pakistani Air Force is here with us because they fly the same aircraft and have the capacity we believe we can tap from. In Kano, we did life extension of three fighter aircraft locally and in Port Harcourt, we are perfecting one of the helicopters.

    “So, overtime, I see us having the right capacities to conduct these things locally by ourselves. This aircraft will be deployed immediately to the Northeast and Northwest.

    “Without this C-130, you cannot have a successful operation. How do you carry bombs, rockets? Which aircraft will carry them? It is the C-130 that carries them. Apart from that, how do you discharge food materials? Because of the shortage resulting from conflict, distribution of food items is done by the C-130.

    “Outside Nigeria, we were in Gambia during the crisis and it was the C-130 that carried our troops, including the Army and Navy personnel. So, it is a very critical machine when it comes to conduct of war.”

    Noting that the C-130H brought to 20 the number of refurbished aircraft in the fleet of the NAF, Abubakar said gradually, the 910 and 914 would also undergo PDM locally.

    He added: “The C-130H fleet in particular has been one of the key fulcrums in providing sustainment to our troops involved in the current internal security operations through airlift and movement of troops, equipment, armament and other material.

    “The C-130H has also been critical to NAF’s response to emergencies or in fulfilling Nigeria’s responsibilities to international peace keeping operations and ensuring stability…”