The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Resolving

  • Resolving traffic gridlocks with non-motorised option

    With 6.5 million people walking from one destination to another in Lagos daily, a non-motorised system may have promoted itself as a viable means of beating the traffic gridlock for many in the mega city, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    Dateline September 22, 2018. Hundreds of hapless commuters mill around bus stops, between Cappa and Ikeja Along on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, which is increasingly getting notorious for its nerve-racking gridlock.

    Ahead, a long queue of vehicles stretched as far as the eyes could see. In some of those vehicles, especially the commercial ones, halpless commuters could be seen hopping and resorting to making the rest of the journey on foot. Whether by day (when people are rushing to work, or night, when they are returning home), pedestrians have made walking a pastime.

    Walking has become the next main means of transportation for many a Lagosian, and it doesn’t really matter whether you are rich, or poor.

    A professor with the Lagos State University (LASU), who prefers anonymity, narrated how he had to hop on commercial motorcycles to beat such menace recently. The don, who was coming from  Badagry axis, said he had to abandon his car and driver at Igbo Elerin, around Iba Local Council Development Area (LCDA) when the traffic locked down; and took three commercial cyclists, before he got to Ikeja GRA.

    Another commuter narrated how she walked from Oshodi to Ogba, when the route was locked down by a gridlock. She said she was used to such experience and would not consider it any pain to commute by leg, especially when it becomes impossible to execute the journey by motorised transport.

    Once seen as an option for the poor, gradually, non-motorised transport has wormed its way as a major option that can no longer be ignored as a cheaper alternative/means of transportation in a city said to have above national average of motorised transportation in the country.

    Over the last 17 years, easing travel experience has been behind the government’s road reforms, especially in Lagos.

    The Managing Director of Planet Projects Mr Biodun Otunola insisted the roads must be well-segmented to capture all users and delineated to ensure that it be made more friendly to pedestrians. Already, Berger area of Lagos stands as a testimony of how proper delineation, and reduction of human interactions could improve traffic flow and road usability.

    The Berger example is part of the reforms which has delivered wider roads. The opening of 144 inner city roads another 188 ongoing, the state roads have according to an analyst have become exclusive to motorised movement to the exclusion of other classes of road users.

    He therefore canvassed the government to come up with a policy that would share the road with n which other users as it is done in more advanced or planned economies.

    “Besides motorists, other road users must be safe using any of our roads. Lagosians must feel safe walking, or riding a bicycle, a tricycle, or jogging on our roads,” the analyst said.

    At a forum, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode admitted that more Lagosians have taken to walking as a means of moving, especially within short distances. He admitted that a little above six million out of her 23 million population now trek, while another 12 million use motorised means to move about in the city state daily.

    The need to capture all users and make the road users according to him remains the way to deflood the roads of gridlocks.

    Last year, the Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA) unveiled plans for a policy to promote safe non-motorized transportation (NMT). LAMATA was being helped in developing this robust intervention by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

    The UNEP might have chosen Lagos to flag-off its NMT initiative in Nigeria because of her population. In Africa, NMT is also being promoted in Nairobi, Kenya, and some other developed countries.

    Non-Motorised Transport, which involves walking and bicycle riding, has gained wide acceptance for its affordability. It is also environmentally safe.

    In a paper, ‘’The significance of non-motorised transport for developing countries: Strategies for policy development,” by Maurits Servaas, Project Leader for Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE), a Netherlands association, said though NMT is associated with poverty, walking has become an important mode in an integrated transport system.

    Walking, he said, is beginning to play an increasing role, albeit usually as a convenient and non-polluting mode in multi-modal systems, for a number of high-income industrialised countries like the United Kingdom (UK), US, Germany and France.

    In the report published in 2000, I-CE showed that while in Nairobi and Dar-es Salaam nearly half of trips are entirely made on foot, the remaining share of the travel is made on public transport.

    While walking is associated with poverty, the functions of bicycles differ widely between Africa and Asia. While in Africa, bicycle serves as a means of transport for goods and people, in Asia and Americas, cycling is essentially for recreation.

    His works were done in collaboration with the World Bank, which is concerned with ensuring the proper utilisation of the potential of non-motorised transport.

    In an online paper, Share the road: Prioritising non-motorised transport in developing countries, Sheila Watson, deputy director of Environment and Research at the FIA Foundation, a UK-based charity committed to promoting safe and sustainable mobility across the world, suggested a fully-integrative multi-modal transport system that must incorporate non-motorised transport. She said NMT appeared most suitable for short distance, while public transport or cars are suitable for long distance as it offers greater comfort and efficiency.

    According to Watson, the most- desirable and efficient modal mix depends on several factors, such as the pattern of land use, prices, travel needs, existing transport vehicles and infrastructure, among others.

    She canvassed that transport architecture must be planned around the people because they are the heartbeat of every city, adding that cycling has significant health and environmental benefits, and helps to reduce pollution and promote physical fitness.

    Unlike motorised road users, experts said pedestrians and cyclists are vulnerable.

    That’s why Watson insists on sharing the road. “There are strong indications” she said, “for the design of separate spaces for non-motorised transport. These spaces, in turn, must form part of an integrated mobility system that connects the users to mass transit options.”

    Studies showed that a uni-modal system, such as that of a state like Lagos, often leads to sub-optimal situation, with too many private cars or even too many bicycles leading to congestion and a reduction in average speed, compared to multi-modal systems.

    The FIA Foundation, which works with the UNEP, to help cities in developing countries to prioritise walking and cycling, said what kills NMT in most urbanised cities across the world is the vulnerability of the people.

    Though NMT has significant health and environmental benefits, in many cities across the world, pedestrian facilities have been poor and people aren’t safe crossing the roads, says the foundation.

    On the average, 80 percent of journeys in some African cities is made on foot. Watson said about 27 percent of the 1.3 million people who die on the road yearly are pedestrians and cyclists.

    A report by the International Roads Assessment Programme (iRAP) in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, also found that 95 percent of roads assessed had high pedestrian flow, yet only 20 per cent had pedestrian footpaths.

    The Nairobi City County Government had developed a NMT Policy, which was launched in March, 2015, after identifying that 70 per cent of the 723 road traffic fatalities in Nairobi in 2014 were pedestrians.

    The policy proposed a range of measures including lower road speeds, new infrastructure and traffic calming measures, as well as awareness raising activity, enforcement and financial commitments.

    The highlight of this policy is to “create a system focused on people rather than vehicles.”

    Another country, which has introduced such policy is Mexico City, which introduced a Mobility Law in 2014.  The law introduced a mobility hierarchy, with pedestrians at the top, followed by cyclists and then mass public transit, with private motorised vehicles last.

    However, other cities go further. Chennai in India has allocated 60 percent of the transport budget to constructing and maintaining NMT infrastructure. This is in line with its ambitious goals to achieve continuous footpaths on at least 80 percent of all streets.

    LAMATA’s ambition is to bring Lagos at par with this development, with a policy that aims at supporting walking and cycling.

    Just 10 per cent of countries in Africa has policies to promote walking and cycling, against 64 percent in Europe. In Kenya, Share the road’s work, with the Kenyan Urban Roads Authority, led to a policy change in 2011, which has integrated walking and cycling facilities on new urban road projects.

    Though the details of the NMT policy is still under wraps, LAMATA has left no one in doubt that it will incorporate walking and cycling into its new road projects.

    LAMATA said NMT remained one of the ways to make the roads more effective.

    LAMATA’s Managing Director Abiodun Dabiri said NMT was one of the main policy options and part of the institutional reforms that the state must implement to address traffic congestion and environmental pollution while ensuring public road safety.

    LAMATA’s conceived plan would, undoubtedly, be captured by the new policy transportation framework under works by the government.

    Dabiri said the draft NMT policy would aid the development of key infrastructure to facilitate pedestrian movements and community integration and complement the integration of multi-modal transportation dream of the government.

    The policy, when passed into law, he said, will involve three levels – community integration through the creation of a continuous pedestrian network, connection of pedestrian network with main public transport corridors and accessibility to the main transportation hubs and interchanges of the city with significant passenger demand.

    The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Transportation Dr. Taiwo Salaam described the NMT a a key component of the intermodal transport mix, adding that when fully on stream, all roads would have walkways and bicycle paths.

    “We are determined in Lagos State to begin to build roads that will cater to the needs of all classes of users. This will reduce traffic congestion and make the road safer for all,” Salaam said.

  • How Fed Govt is resolving power supply problem

    How Fed Govt is resolving power supply problem

    After a holistic examination of the power sector problems, the Federal Government is taking gradual but aggressive measures in short and long-terms.

    The incremental power policy initiated by the Minister of Power, Works & Housing,  Babatunde Fashola is the short-term solution. The mega projects, such as the Mambilla project expected to generate over 3000 megawatts (mw) is the long-term solution.

    To Fashola, it makes no economic sense to concentrate on building new power projects and abandon the idle completed but faulty power plants as well as those on the verge of completion but abandoned for one reason or the other. He said the country has over 12,000mw idle capacity.

    Fashola said: “Let’s get these idle megawatts on stream by making rehabilitation of the power a priority. Let’s make use of what we have first before looking for new ones, he said. It is this conviction that led to embarking on the incremental power policy.

    “We cannot have 12,000Mw installed and be concentrating on new ones without optimizing the existing ones  – Egbema and Gbarain power plants are not finished, Olorunsogo, Omotosho, and Geregu are not optimised because there is not enough gas.

    “In some places there are transmission problem. This is what the ministry is now tackling. The Federal Government’s focus now is on what will help on immediate contribution to increased power, whether it is on generation, transmission or distribution segment of the value chain. It is this priority that will determine the project government will award the contract.”

    “If it is transmission project, we will award the contract. It is the one that goes to a power plant that is ready to deliver power? Some have gas and the power is there, but they cannot evacuate. So, let’s build the transmission line. Some have the transmission facility but don’t have gas. So, let’s build the gas pipeline.

    “That is what is happening in places like Omoku plant in Rivers State. We will complete Omoku by March this year and it will give us about 270mw. We will finish Gbarain any time from now and it will give us over 115mw, Alaoji by June this year.”

    The minister went further: “We will get more power from Kaduna, 215mw.  We will get 10mw from wind plant in Katsina State this year. Zungeru project would have given us 700mw but was locked up in court for three years before we came on board. We have got the parties out of court but have lost three years. It will deliver by early next year another 700mw. Azura in Edo State, they refused to sign the partial risk guarantee but the Buhari administration has signed it.

    “Azura project is on track and will be finished in June this year and will give us 450mw. So, we have to prepare to evacuate Azura and I have submitted the memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to approve the funding. We have to quickly build a 14-km 330kv line so we can evacuate power produced there to the grid.

    “We are also trying to complete some rural electrification projects using Rural Electrification Agency (REA). There are many rural electrification projects from 1999 including various constituency projects. All of that will translate to more power.”

    At the last all-stakeholders’ monthly meeting in Kogi State last month, it was reported at the meeting that Geregu Power Plant owners whose majority shareholder is Forte Oil Plc, invested $94 million and raised the generation capacity from 414mw to 434mw.

    Stakeholders at the meeting acknowledged significant improvement on generation capability from what it was in January/March 2017, when it was constrained by gas and debts to GenCos and Gas Suppliers.

    They acknowledged that the N701 billion guarantee programme has helped in securing the production side of the value chain by enabling the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc to pay generating companies and gas suppliers.

    The running of the three turbines in Gergu I is part of the successes recorded by the intervention on generation. Only one out of turbines in Geregu I and II were running when the minister visited in 2016. The new challenge is that the turbine output is curtailed due to insufficient distribution infrastructure to take the power from the power plants.

    They said: “Available nationwide generation capacity has reached over 7000mw, which cannot be evacuated due to the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s (TCN’s) efforts to improve and complete transmission facilities with the support of state governments such as Kogi State. Distribution Companies have pledged to match the transmission capacity in order to deliver the additional 2000mw to consumers.

    “On Friday December 8, 2017, a peak generation of 5155mw to the grid was reached, surpassing the previous peak of 5074mw in February 2016, which was the product of team work from the Presidency, TCN, and all government agencies, as well as private generation and distribution companies and the support of the various communities, such as Ajaokuta, which plays host to our vital power infrastructure.”

    Fashola also held discussions with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and various chambers of commerce and industries in the states on how to deliver the unutilised 2000mw generated power.

    The Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) is also providing assistance to improving generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure. For instance, its intervention has brought tremendous improvement in power supply in Okene, Idah, Confluence Beach, Ankpa, Felele, Ohunene, and Ayingba areas of the state, among others.

    NDPHC noted that construction on Okija and Omotosho community connection project is complete and was planned for energization by December 31, 2017

    The Benin Electricity Distribution Company noted that all 36 communities in Ondo North are now connected after signing the Memorandum of Understanding with the DisCo, and that connection in Ode-Aiye in Benin DisCo in Ondo South will be completed early this year.

    The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company also confirmed that the 60MVA substation at Aba has been restored while TCN noted progress of projects in Obajana, Egbe, Kabba and Okene to improve supply in Kogi State. TCN is also proposing a 330kV line from Makurdi to Ayingba to ensure Kogi State benefits from the upcoming Mambilla Hydro project

    The GenCos, DisCos and TCN restated committed to improving customer service in the power sector by informing customers at least seven days in advance of any planned repair or maintenance outage of infrastructure to the affected communities.

    According to Fashola, the DisCos are behind other segments of the value chain – generation and transmission, even as he noted the government’s  effort  at boosting DisCos’ capacity.

    Fashola said: “The problem is that DisCos don’t have capacity to expand the way it is expected. We have talked about their challenges – exchange rate, liquidity and population growth, among others. The meter roll out that was expected has not happened in the way we expected it. Some have happened. The second problem is that most of the equipment they bought were old enough, nobody can dispute that. So, they must expand, that is the problem. But we will be able to know what each DisCo needs and what it costs. When get FEC’s approval, they (DisCos) will inject the idle 2000mw into the grid.

    The World Bank Group also acknowledged the efforts and improvements in the power sector.  The World Bank Group and the Federal Government after a two-day high-level consultation on the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP), reached some agreements. The PSRP is a comprehensive programme of policy, legal, regulatory, operational and financial interventions that will restore service efficiency and long-term power sector viability.

    The measures that will be implemented through 2021, are aimed at improving transparency, service delivery and re-establishing investor confidence, and hence, investment in the sector. Accelerating electricity access including through off-grid public private partnerships is an important component of the PSRP.

    They assessed progress in implementing the programme and followed on similar high-level talks that took place in Abuja in December 2016 and in Washington during the World Bank/ IMF Spring meetings.

    The Federal Government has prepared a financing plan to ensure financial sustainability of the power sector and included it in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper submitted to the National Assembly in October last year. The plan will be monitored regularly and incorporate contingencies should the sector shortfall deviate from the base case assumptions until retail tariffs are adjusted in line with improved service delivery to attain cost recovery by 2021.

    The PSRP envisages measures to contain costs and carefully manage contingent liabilities to ensure cost-reflective and affordable tariffs. In this context, it was agreed that existing generation infrastructure assets will need to be optimised before the sector assumes new financial obligations that could not be supported.

    The World Bank is committed to assisting the Federal Government with programme implementation, working closely with the PSRP Implementation Monitoring Team, which reports directly to the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

    The World Bank will continue the preparation of the proposed $1 billion Performance Based Loan (PBL) to support the programme. The Federal Government and the World Bank Group agreed on the necessary steps to present the PBL to the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors for consideration.

     

  • Resolving Gambia’s political impasse

    SIR: The current political impasse in The Gambia is a by product of a democracy-driven political contestation that has gone sour. It was a struggle for power and authority to control the highest office in the land, the presidency. The election in question actually produced a winner in the person of opposition leader, Adama Borrow, who defeated the incumbent, Yahya Jammeh, who is a legend of a sort now in the comity of long-serving African leaders or heads of state.

    The good news, until recently, was that the outgoing president, the defeated “father” of the nation, congratulated the in-coming president immediately after the election. However, when the opposition shouted on their rooftops that, the outgoing elder statesman and president will be comprehensively probed, the papa of the nation smelt a rat, revisited the done election, saw some holes, and shouted back – I will no longer accept the election as a free and fair one. The election must be nullified and a new one must be conducted. So The Gambia landed itself in a deep, still brewing political impasse that may explode the nation.

    All known and well-respected individuals including presidents of all the nations and multinational and multilateral organizations have denounced the volte-face of the out-going president. Some have threatened fire and brimstone. Surely, a war is in our hands. And what do we do as peace lovers and advocates?

    Number one fact is that the in-coming crop of leaders made a mortal mistake. The mistake is this; they began to eat their cakes ever before the cakes are given to them. Why announce to the whole world that the outgoing president will rot in jail? This is an error, The Gambia like most countries in Africa is a near failed state in transition, therefore, an incumbent should be settled/pampered/paid like brutal warlords with comparative advantage, to leave the stage.

    As a solution, the outgoing president, Yahya Jammeh, should be allowed immunity against all probes and prosecution as long as he lives. Former president of Ghana, J. J. Rawlings still enjoys a similar legal cover.

    War, cannot be an option in The Gambia. Let us avoid it. We cannot afford to take actions that would result in loss of innocent lives of ordinary poor Gambians. International terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, drug gangs and other war entrepreneurs such as the “developed” countries’ defence industries, will cash-in on the situation in The Gambia if we let it degenerate into a war.  The result will be a long war that may consume all of us. Therefore, let us together ease the big masquerade with all fanfare out of the village square.

    • Charles, Alfred (PhD)

    Federal University Wukari, Taraba State.

  • Resolving the LAUTECH tussle

    SIR: The Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso is a project that must not fail. The school which has once been the pride of old Oyo State must not be left to crash at this stage when the two partnering states have left the institution to rot.

    This school has produced brilliant minds but now it has turned to a virtual battleground where academic, non-academic staff and students have been rendered hopeless based on the tussle between the two states. The two states involved have no moral right to own other universities when this project cannot be sustained. The assets of the school should have been shared since the creation of Osun State- more so, the Teaching Hospital in Osogbo and the other arms of the University in Ogbomoso.

    The present predicament of the school is uncalled for; the students that have been locked out of the school for no just cause should be pitied. There are many young people in other nations of the world now that have left the shores of Nigeria during protracted industrial actions that are customary to the Nigeria educational sector.

    The Isiaka Abiola Ajumobi-led administration should look into how to resuscitate the university that bears the name of a foremost leader located in the historical town of Ogbomoso. The school cannot remain locked based on a deadlock between the two states. The Public Private Partnership investment that is being sought for the new technical university should not be to replace or be given priority over LAUTECH.

    A similar situation happened in the old Ondo State. Ondo and Ekiti states had the University of Ado-Ekiti and when Ekiti State was carved out of the old Ondo State, the university was ceded to the new state while Ondo State went to build another university. Incidentally, the Federal Government maintained Obafemi Awolowo University and the University of Ibadan in the old Oyo State, as such, the Oyo State government must be ready to keep nurturing the two universities concurrently without any rift.

    The children of the masses should not be totally denied access to quality education. If a state-owned institution rots away, then a large chunk of the society has been disenfranchised. The immediate past administration of Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala did everything to ensure that it takes ownership of the university campus at Ogbomoso from Osun State while the state takes ownership of the Osogbo Teaching Hospital but people felt it was because the governor hails from Ogbomoso but it is now obvious that it is for the collective good of the masses.

    LAUTECH must rise again. LAUTECH must keep training students. It should be fully shared amongst the two states and the alumni must continue to make Nigeria proud!

     

    • Olutayo Irantiola,

    Okeho, Oyo State.

  • Resolving the Senate crisis

    SIR: It is disheartening to note that the credibility crisis befalling the Senate may not be over so soon going by the latest confirmation by the police of an alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders used for electing the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The report, which was said to have been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, was said to have found the management of the National Assembly and the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa, culpable.

    Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi of the APC, the police had earlier quizzed both Ekweremadu and Maikasuwa over the allegation. The petitioner had claimed that some parts of the 2015 Senate Orders were different from the ones ratified by the 6th Senate in 2010, which was used by the 7th Senate as Standing Orders in 2011.

    Despite denial of falsification by the Senate leadership, some senators who served in the 7th Senate have disowned the 2015 edition of the Senate Standing Orders (as amended) just as members of the current 8th Senate across parties have denied being part of the amendment process. No doubt, the 8th National Assembly has been riddled with acrimony from day one thus affecting its credibility for a nation that is seriously yearning for good governance.

    The crisis in the Upper Chamber has created avoidable tension and wreaked havoc by putting the APC leadership in disarray, making it virtually impossible for the legislators to do any significant work since inauguration in June.

    We expect both the Senate President and his deputy to have stepped aside by now while further investigations continue since the police investigation has established that the rules used for their elections were allegedly forged. Unfortunately, politicians in this part of the world do not seem to be sensitive to such calls to allow for transparency and diligent investigation. Rather, what we heard after the police report was submitted was that the Senate unanimously passed a vote of confidence on its president, his deputy and other principal officers appointed by the various caucuses of the chamber following a motion sponsored by 81 senators from both the APC and PDP!

    The crisis in both chambers of the National Assembly could have been avoided if members had obeyed and honoured the arrangements put in place by their political party; afterall they were voted into the parliament on that platform. The principle of party supremacy should have faithfully been observed and upheld. What those who have decided to work against the instructions of their political parties fail to realise is that they are gradually destroying their political future in the sense that by such disobedience, many people would perceive them as being untrustworthy, inconsistent and over-ambitious. Hence, what looks like a temporary gain could actually be a colossal loss for them on the long run.

    As a way forward, the Buhari administration should ensure that those found culpable in the forgery saga are made to face the full wrath of the law within a reasonable time. The APC should explore a more decisive way to call their members to order in the interest of the nation as we cannot continue this way. The business of legislation is too sensitive, important and strategic to democratic governance that it should be sacrificed on the altar of mere party politics.

    • Adewale Kupoluyi

    Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

  • Resolving the Jos citizenship crisis

    Resolving the Jos citizenship crisis

    The struggle between the predominately Christian Berom/Anaguta/Afizere (BAA) ‘indigenous’ groups and the overwhelmingly Muslim Hausa-Fulani ‘settler’ group over the right of ownership of – or control over – land, power and resources has been the major driver of the Jos crisis. Scarce resources have generated fierce competition and, no thanks to unbridled and self-centred politicisation, cyclical violence. The latter has been defined and worsened by both local and national dynamics. Because of the country-wide indigene-settler question, inter-communal conflicts have tended to take on national character and expression. The Jos crisis, precisely because it is more a national than a local issue, will most likely be resolved only when the citizenship of all Nigerians is constitutionally guaranteed and faithfully implemented.

    Since 1994, Jos, a foremost ethnic melting point in Nigeria with its attractive year-round semi-temperate weather, has been rampaged – along with much of Plateau State – by identity politics overtly encapsulated by both ethnic affiliation and religious confession. The city’s long-standing and enviable cosmopolitanism which had, for decades, evinced a culture of intimate cross-cultural relations, including marriages, between Christians and Muslims lies, today, in tatters. Due to its apparent interminable cycle, violence has become tellingly more frequent and deadlier since September 2001 when the first major episode of inter-communal violence broke out.

    At the origin of the indigene-settler dispute in Jos are the claims and counter-claims to the ownership of the city on the basis of first migration arrival. Indigene-settler conflicts have appeared fiercer and more endemic in Jos because of the historic and bitter struggle between the two groups. Memories of deprivation, subordination and exploitation since the slave raids, between the 16th and the 18th centuries, by the Emirate North on the Middle Belt remain evergreen in the region.

    The BAA groups have been further aggrieved not only by the spirited attempts of the Hausa-Fulani group to subjugate them through the early 19th century, Usman dan Fodio-driven Jihad but by the perceived support of the Hausa-Fulani politico-religious elite by the British colonial authorities to establish its hegemony over the Middle Belt. Reclaiming their rights, as the indigenous peoples of Plateau State, has been the dominant narrative that runs through the BAA’s contemporary politics of reverse discrimination against their perceived ancient oppressors. Conversely, the Hausa-Fulani community has been aggrieved about its lack of access to power despite being the majority in Jos North, the city’s biggest, richest and most contentious local council. They also decry their disenfranchisement and perceived lack of political inclusion in Plateau State.

    The maiden 1994 crisis, during which long-standing disagreements over land and chieftaincy titles, stoked violence, pales into relative obscurity in comparison to large-scale inter-communal violence in 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2010. The uptick in bomb attacks, suicide bombings and bomb plantings since December 2010, a manifest indication of Boko Haram’s infiltration of the ancient tin city, has exacerbated existing inter-communal tensions. Increasingly well-trained militants, loosely organized along religious and ethnic lines, have proliferated. The internecine conflict has often been very bitter precisely because privileges and entitlements, guaranteed and under-written by the issuance and possession of the certificate of indigeneity, are a zero–sum game: the gain of one group is the loss of the other. Like other ‘settler’ groups across the country, the Hausa-Fulani community, bereft of this certificate, is deprived of meaningful citizenship. It suffers discrimination in recruitment into federal institutions, admission to most of the federal universities and education at military academies and access to schools and jobs. The door to effective participation in local politics is virtually shut against its members.

    Poor governance at all levels of government; economic deregulation (that hurts all save the thieving ruling elite and its objective and subjective allies) and rampant corruption have compounded ethnic, religious and regional fault-lines in Nigeria. The notion of national citizenship and its material manifestation on the ground, appear to have been largely abridged by both ethnicity and ancestry. By, thus far, demonstrating political weakness and unwillingness to holistically and decisively address this problem, the federal government and the Plateau State governments appear to sanction the perception, in informed quarters, that there is an elite conspiracy against peace on the Plateau and elsewhere. Yet, government alone, no matter how well-intentioned, cannot find a permanent solution to the crisis.

    Nigerian leaders – political, traditional, religious, civil society, community and others – working in tandem with informal peacemakers like elders, youth and women groups should urgently devise a calibrated response to the various challenges posed by Jos’ indigene-settler conflict. The onus is on the political elite to set the pace, tone and tenor both in general and specific terms. Their class interest – as well as common sense – should egg them on.

    At the general level, urgently needed is the construction of a template for proper, transparent and accountable management of public funds in Nigeria. There is the need to put to good social use, the country’s daily oil receipts, foreign reserves and the excess crude account. This will stymie the current practice of allowing a few villainous public officials to squander the billions of dollars involved. Governments at all levels have the responsibility to reverse “the notorious phenomenon of Nigeria being immensely endowed yet having one of the poorest citizens in the world”, as a Nigerian editorialist recently lamented. The governments should fully embrace genuine democratic ethos, reduce the physical, emotional and policy gap between them and the people and carry on in a manner that will convince Nigerians that their core interests – security and welfare, according to the 1999 constitution – matter to their leaders. They should develop, use and mobilize the country’s rich human capital and articulate and implement policies capable of enhancing equality, reciprocity and social justice across the board.

    At the specific level, the first thing the federal government should do, working with the Plateau State government, is to begin to reverse the entrenched impunity in the Jos crisis. It can do this by naming, shaming, prosecuting and jailing instigators and perpetrators of violence. Many of them – individuals and groups – have already been identified by the judicial and other commissions of inquiry set up in the past by both governments. Trials should duly observe the rule of law and be informed by the need for deterrence. The governments should bolster law and order without embracing an exclusivist physical security agenda. Operation Rainbow (OR)’s unique human security agenda on the Plateau, at the instance of that state’s government, needs and deserves all the funding and encouragement it can muster.

    An inclusive political system is arguably the best antidote to entrenched reciprocal fears between the two antagonistic communities in Jos – as well as in other parts of the country. Peaceful means should be used to promote political inclusion. Rights and duties should be allocated on the basis of social justice.

    The federal government should work with the National Assembly to give Nigeria’s acute settler problem a constitutional solution by replacing the moribund indigene provisions in the constitution with a common citizenship for all Nigerians based on residency. The National Assembly should quickly revise and pass into law the Residency Rights Bill sponsored in 2004 by a group of senators. Thereafter, the federal government should organize and fund a nation-wide civic education programme that would inculcate in Nigerians the significance and virtue of a common notion of citizenship, based on respect of ethnic and religious diversity, national unity and cohesion. All of the above should be capped by sustained political and cultural work in the many communities already torn apart by the indigene-settler dispute.

    • Professor Amuwo, a governance, conflict and development consultant, contributed this piece from Dakar, Senegal.