Opinion

By Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi

The success stories emanating from the Boko Haram epicentre in Nigeria’s north-eastern states, particularly Borno and Yobe, must not be separated from the combination of unwavering military operations and the assistance given by the tactically planned Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF). CJTF is a local group founded in 2013 to support the Nigerian military’s operations against extremists and defend local populations from attacks like the ones currently taking place in Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina.

Recent events in Nigeria reveal that the region’s indigenes primarily carry out terror activities. The Northwest is no exception. To put an end to this brutality, the authorities in the Northwest should take a page out of Borno State’s book and organize a local militia to work alongside the military. Locals know their communities’ lows and highs, nooks and crannies way better than military personnel. Therefore, involving them would boost the chances of conquering non-state actors and their partners in crime.

The people of Hausa land have a history of bravery and, if given a chance, many will volunteer to work in the task force to bring respite to and rid their community of murderous bandits. On this note, Nigerian authorities should give Northwest people a chance to work with the military and salvage the region. In addition, the loose group should possess basic weapons and must have female members to help with handling women and children. When this is done, I’m optimistic about having Borno-esque results.

The going is now rough in the Northwest, and the people are willing to fight back, but the constituted authorities don’t allow that. This region is densely populated. Every state can recruit at least thirty thousand vigilantes and pay each member a twenty-thousand naira incentive per month. Notwithstanding, authorities should be very observant during the recruitment of this recommended vigilante group to avoid engaging the bandits’ Trojan horses.

Gathering intelligence would be easier with the CJTF in place. The locals hired would quickly identify criminals and their enclaves, resulting in more successful security operations. Apart from increasing security, another positive aspect of the CJTF concept is that it provides people with temporary jobs to keep them occupied and provide food for their families. Instead of governments and individuals paying large sums of money as ransom to bandits, the money could be utilized to pay vigilantes a monthly stipend.

Adamu Bello Mai-Bodi writes from Azare, Bauchi State. He can be reached via admabel86@gmail.com.

By Auwal Umar

The books of history and religion are replete with facts of many apostles of Allah, their companions, their followers, other great personalities, as well as some pious predecessors who audaciously confronted the most brutally imposing rulers of their times. Prophet Moses’ Pharaoh is the most prominent example from the time immemorial to date. Two days ago, an erudite Sokoto-based Islamic scholar, Prof. Mansur Sokoto, chose that path of honour that commensurates with the position of Islamic scholarship regarding the tear-shedding condition of insecurity and unprecedented carefree attitude about the general plight of the masses.

In the lecture, the Islamic cleric gave an overview of the multifaceted ways the occupant of the number one seat, the assumed Messiah, betrayed the mandate entrusted to him by the Nigerian masses. You may recall how President Buhari shed tears each time he was on the losing side at the polls and showed sympathy with our plight during the previous dispensations. Due to his long-standing and seemingly unfading popularity, people from every nook and cranny in the North supported him.

Prof. Sokoto recounted how an old woman of 100 years or thereabouts was optatively praying: “O God never take away my soul, lest I die without voting for Buhari to the presidential seat.” Some in the North died due to wild celebrations for his success. He commented on the support he enjoyed from some Islamic clerics, with some of them publicly invoking the wrath of Allah upon those that refused to vote for him. These bespoke the unalloyed love President Buhari enjoyed.

During the lecture, Prof. Sokoto brought to the fore some of the campaign promises Buhari used to make. He always assured the northerners and Nigerians in general that he would equate the value of Naira to a Dollar, improve the quality of education at all levels, reduce the pump price, among many other sugarcoated promises. Before Prof. Sokoto went on squarely to shed light on the height of insensitivity of President Buhari, he commended his efforts for restoring peace in the North in his first tenure before the worst came to worst. Specifically, the following are some key takeaways from Prof. Sokoto’s lecture.

Discriminatory and lopsided treatment against the North

As highlighted in the lecture, despite all the support president Buhari received before and after getting elected, he scrapped the pilgrimage subsidy. On every predicament that befalls the South, the President and his aides will quickly make a press release and take necessary actions but act quite differently when there is a similar occurrence in the North. Recently, 42 passengers were ruthlessly burnt down to ashes by bandits, but their lives were not worth a word of sympathy from the President. On the following day, ignominiously, the President headed to Lagos for a book launch by Bisi Akande. Ironically, there in the book, many blows of satire were landed on his face, which he might be unaware of. Again, bandits launched a series of attacks for four consecutive days, killing an APC gubernatorial candidate. A Kaduna state law-maker and a Katsina State Science and Technology Commissioner also fell victim to the same fate. Additionally, the former President, Shehu Shagari, lost his life, but President chose to go to the funeral of late Abiola’s wife. Even Prof. Ayo Banjo, treated with reverence, was quick to disown some facts credited to him in the book that seemed to be more important than the lives of charred passengers.

Misplacement of priorities

Buhari’s government is very good at misplacing its priorities. He borrowed a large sum of billions to share with some ghosts and nonexistent beneficiaries. Such funds can be used appropriately to address many problems bedevilling the nation.  Had the amount, vainly shared with less visible economic impact, been channelled for the general fixing of the power sector, the impacts from all its veins would have been visibly seen. Resident doctors’ lingering problem of strikes can be a thing of the past if just four billion naira would be dedicated to their cause. That is without talking about the flashy presidential weddings that gulped many billions in a day.

Failure of the government to address cattle rustling dilemma

The cleric hints at a crucial point that needs special attention. He lamented that many Fulanis’ cattle were stolen with no action taken against the theft, and the entrepreneurs of doom and downfall might have capitalized this. In other words, the problem of banditry is probably the result of retaliation by the aggrieved Fulani youth whose cattle were rustled, and the government failed to call the culprits to book. Such instances of “I don’t-care attitudes” by Buhari’s government can’t be numbered. If the government were seriously proactive on the issue, the chances are that we would not be in the present situation.

Wrong advisors and mediocrity

Despite the inexplicable delay of six months to appoint ministers, President Buhari picked one of the worst sets of cabinets, some of whom are unheard of even in the mass media. The President neither gave room for workable advice nor appointed competent hands to handle the job. Moreover, he does not listen to the voices of the experts, journalists, activists and Islamic clerics.

The cabinet goes unchecked

Once you are appointed to serve in Buhari’s government, you can do whatever you like because no one would hold you responsible for your actions or inactions. Buhari hardly gets his cabinet reshuffled because he does not care for accountability. If you were to assess his cabinet by any reasonable standard, the result would surely be awful. As a result, his cabinet members are often unruffled and well aware that they would be sacked only if they clash with some untouchable cabals.

Corruption, impunity and an unworkable justice system

Prof. lamented the high level of corruption in the government, with government officials routinely stealing public funds, with no fear of facing the consequences. He labelled the justice system under this administration as unworkable. Unfortunately, the arrests of kidnappers, bandits and insurgents always resurface on social media, but you never hear of them being sentenced. More often than not, some criminals confess their crimes not under duress but because of frailty in the justice system. And yet, they still go scot-free.

Yawuri students still in captivity

A responsible government can never be in peace when just one of its citizens is in danger.  One cannot begin to imagine the unspeakable horror of being held captive by those filthiest beasts, rapists and defilers. The worst thing now is that government does not even talk about them, much less of their potential release from their captors. These innocently helpless students have been in captivity for five months in this horrific condition. There are other similar scenarios in Niger and many other northern states.

Powerful task force on security

The cleric recommended that the government set up a team of presidential task force similar or even more robust than the Covid-19 task force to tackle insecurity head-on. The team should include experts, intellectuals, journalists, traditional rulers, elder statesmen and politicians to provide strategic advice and technical know-how.

State governors should be granted the power to act on the security of their states

Although state governors nominally bear the ceremonial titles of “Chief Security”, their power to act on security issues is limited. Thus, Prof. Sokoto advised that laws should be enacted to enable governors to act and direct the security agencies at their disposal. However, it is a bitter truth that no matter how willing a governor of a crisis-ridden state is, he is not much different from his poor citizens. 

The need to be more pious

Finally, the Islamic cleric emphasized the need for the President and the rest of us to be more God-fearing in all our doings. May Allah reward Prof. Mansur Sokoto for his invaluable words concerning the reality and the sorry state of the nation, amin.

Auwal Umar wrote from Kano. He is a graduate student at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano.

By Abdelghaffar Abdelmalik Amoka

There was this piece of trending news over the last week on a certain ranking from the National University Commission (NUC) where the University of Ibadan was the best, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University came last. The ranking received a lot of reactions. While there were jubilations from the graduates and students of the relatively younger universities (TETFund Universities as they are popularly called) as they were highly rated on the ranking, the students of some old universities (allegedly living on past glory) were not pleased with the ranking, especially those that were ranked very low despite their gigantic structures. On the other hand, some new universities without research infrastructures were reported to have high per capital google scholar index. Not sure how that was achieved, though.

While the argument was going on among the students about the ranking, ASUU members were having meetings across the universities on another looming strike. The ASUU NEC was reported to be in a meeting this weekend to decide on the looming 2021 strike. While we are awaiting the outcome of the meeting, the students seem to be more concerned with the ranking than the state of the universities and the ASUU strike.

I have been trying to imagine the merits and demerits of the NUC ranking but still trying to figure out one. All the public universities are in terrible shape. Is the ranking based on the best among the chronic underfunded public universities? The 2013 NEEDS Assessment committee of the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, chaired by Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the then TETFund Boss and currently the INEC Boss, revealed the terrible state of public universities and their lecture halls/rooms, and students’ hostels. Some of the hostels occupied by the students were reported not fit for humans.

Has all that changed in 2021? What are we ranking? FG is still dragging the revitalisation of public universities and releasing crumbs to the universities whenever ASUU barks. What are we ranking? Research is not adequately funded in public universities, younger universities have no research structure, and most of us are publishing papers just for promotion’s sake. What are we ranking? We can’t address several challenges from the university, a supposed hub for solution development. We can’t even develop solutions to solve our own challenges within the university. So, what are we ranking?

Who is NUC ranking the universities for? The government, with their deep poverty of sincerity on education, political class so that they can start patronising the universities rather than taking their kids abroad? The parents/students who care not about the quality but certificate, the few committed lecturers or the meal “ticketers”, or the International communities? If we have a structure to rank, there won’t be anxiety over another ASUU strike just a year after the suspension of a nine months strike.

Rather than expending resources on a ranking that changes nothing, the commission should have rather diverted the resources towards putting up a structure that will make the universities rank-able. We must develop strategies to fight both external and internal aggression.

The owners terribly underfund the Universities (Federal and state governments), and the academics are dreadfully paid with an Assistant Lecturer earning a net salary of about N115,000 per month and a Professor on the last step earning a net salary of N416,000. The quest for proper funding and better welfare has resulted in uncountable strike actions. However, I still maintain that if we define our priorities well, there is the fund to provide quality education for Nigerians.

Meanwhile, we also have internal issues to sort to improve the system. For example, we have Civil Engineering, Building, and Architecture departments in the universities where we train Civil Engineers, Builders, and Architects. Yet, we have awfully built new buildings and poorly maintained old buildings. We are training leaders in the universities but have terrible leaders in the universities who behave more like local politicians. We are training business and financial experts, but we can’t help the universities manage their resources and can’t help the universities to make money from the resources within the universities. We are training researchers to develop solutions for the world, but we can’t develop solutions for our challenges within the universities.

While the universities need proper funding, we have a lot to do internally to make the university work. Else, no matter how much money is injected into public universities, without responsible leadership to properly utilise the available resources for optimum impact, without academics (not meal ticketers) that are prepared to make things work and will objectively perform NUC accreditation, the funds will never produce the desired result.

Let’s do the cleanup, and everyone will be eager to see the ranking of our universities. You will see healthy competition where universities and departments compete to outperform each other.

Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik writes from Zaria and can be reached through aaabdelmalik@gmail.com.

By Ibrahim Siraj, PhD

One must start by giving thanks and praises to Allah the Almighty for the peace being enjoyed in Kano. Like the Prophet time Quraysh, Allah has made our city a peaceful sanctuary while people are “being snatched all around us”. Known proverbially as tumbin giwa, Kano is not only northern Nigeria’s commercial hub. It’s also a bastion of manufacturing and industrialization, notwithstanding efforts to cripple it by successive governments.

For several decades, Kano has maintained its cosmopolitan status, housing Nigerians from all across the country. Kano is also home to many expatriate communities, many of whom have come to accept it as their first if not the only home. Analysts and historians have attributed Kano’s development to this welcoming and all-embracing posture. In trade and business, education and scholarship, politics and governance, media and entertainment, Kano has provided a level playing field for everyone (indigenes and non-indigenes alike) to prosper, with non-indigenes often making it at the expense of the indigenes.

In Kano, you do your things without fear of discrimination. Once your contribution is adjudged to be positive, you are as good as any bonafide Bakano. Unless, of course, it is realized that you are going to bring a bad name to the state, that’s when you risk being quickly disowned. There and then, you will be reminded that you are not “a son of the soil”. “Ba ɗan Kano ba ne” will now be the chorus around town.

The security situation in the country is so bad and pervasive that many think no place is safe. Innocent people are killed in towns and villages by marauding and murderous gangs of merciless armed men. Kidnapping for ransom has become a daily occurrence. Travellers take the roads not sure of reaching their destinations as many have had their journeys cut or diverted to bushes where they were subjected to the highest form of human humiliation for no sin committed. Such is the sad reality of the North-Western states with the only possible exception, apart from Kano, being Jigawa.

Amidst this terrible state of affairs, Allah has protected Kano from those assailants and made it largely peaceful. Not only is Kano peaceful, but it is also bustling. New businesses are springing up in various corners of the city. So are small and medium scale industries. Rice mills (big and small) are being established in almost all the industrial areas leveraging the Federal Government’s policy of encouraging local food production.

Many new millionaires and a handful of billionaires have been produced among the business class, don’t mind the much-touted poverty and widespread hardship in the country. In Kano, it is a case of “mutuwar wani tashin wani”, i.e. one man’s poison is another man’s meat, so to say. Or, as the Arabs would say, “masa’ibu qaumin inda qaumin fawa’idu” meaning what’s a bad situation for some is a good situation for others. While the poor masses are crying, this new super-wealthy are either smiling to the banks or busy spending lavishly on big houses or malls.

Indications have emerged recently that people from the troubled states in the North, especially Northeast and Northwest, are taking refuge in Kano with reports of several secret relocations. Politically exposed people from those states are alleged to have engaged in buying or building houses in the state with the intention of moving their families if they hadn’t done that already.

Alhamdulillah, Kano is now the place to be by everyone in search of peace and prosperity. Even the so-called bandits are believed to be relishing the peace in Kano. They are alleged to be sneaking into the commercial city to do business and return to their enclaves undetected. Although not confirmed by the intelligence community, this cannot be quickly ruled out given the large number of people coming to Kano daily from that part of the country.

Recently, someone suggested that one of the biggest mistakes of Boko Haram was attacking Kano. He reasoned that a safe and peaceful Kano would have been in their own nefarious interest as they could have exploited its vastness and used it as a cover from where they coordinate their insurgency activities. This may not be entirely correct, though, as we have seen recently, Kano has become the end-of-the-road for many high-profile criminals who wanted to make it their haven. Wadume readily comes to mind here.

The peace enjoyed in Kano is by no means absolute. The state has a myriad of sundry security challenges it is grappling with. Incidents of phone-snatching often with deadly consequences, thuggery fuelled by political actors, pockets of poorly organized abductions, and drug abuse are becoming a major security threat. Kano still has unresolved cases of kidnapped and sold out children, with many more still being reported missing. Yet, the absence of any large-scale acts of insecurity, the kind of which was witnessed during the dark and inglorious years of Boko Haram bombings or the sort happening in our neighbouring states, is giving us a cause to be thankful.

Many people have been wondering what could be responsible for Kano’s relative peace. Is Kano the so-called “God’s own” state? What are the people here doing that others are not? Or what are they not doing that others do? To whom goes the credit? How could the peace be maintained? For me, it’s only the wish of Allah and His mercy for Kano to enjoy this level of stability. As far as I can see, Kano is no less a sinful society than others facing security challenges. Of course, we have good people here, but we have our share of bad and notoriously evil ones too. Apparently, neither is it due to any conscious effort by security agencies – though not belittling their contribution – nor is it the making of government for some unscrupulous politicians to claim the credit.

But as it is often said, Kano is fortified by the blessings and prayers for peace and prosperity courtesy of those pious, sincere, devout, God-fearing and saintly scholars. They either resided in or visited the city several decades ago. It is believed that their remnants are still available, praying fervently though quietly for peace to reign in Kano and for the state to achieve economic prosperity. Their sacrifices and devotions – and not the deceptive shenanigans of those money-mongering, spiritually empty, morally bankrupt, ostentatious prayer merchants parading the corridors of power today – that are keeping Kano safe and secure.

Whatever it may be, maintaining the peace in Kano is in our own collective interest. We must, therefore, play our own roles. We must sustain prayers and shun sinful behaviour as much as we can. Let us all contribute in whatever way we can to preserve the peace. Let us cooperate with security agencies by providing them with the support they need to discharge their responsibility. Let us continue to pray for the quick return of peace and security to all troubled zones in the country and the world.

May Allah continue to make Kano more peaceful and safer. May He continue to protect it and make it more prosperous!

Dr Siraj writes from the Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano and is also a reporter for The Daily Reality.

By Salisu Yusuf

Have you read Tewfiq Al-Hakim’s play Fate of a Cockroach? If yes, the Egyptian playwright has aptly satirized Nigeria’s current socio-political mood and reality. Though the play is deliberately written allegorically as the characters are cockroaches, they have fully depicted the inconsistency with obvious truth, the absurdity and folly of man in the 21st century when reasoning ought to replace emotion. From the King Cockroach, the Queen, Minister, Savant to the poor cockroaches, they have reflected and caricatured the careless attitudes of the leaders, the cronies, the upper class, and ordinary Nigerians.

The play opens with a problem bedevilling the majority of cockroach populations. If a cockroach slips on its back, an army of ants will round up the cockroach and take it to their house as food. And the cockroaches can’t have the gut to overcome the tiny ants. The ants are insignificant in the cockroaches’ world, yet, they prove to be integral in deciding the fate of the cockroaches. Hence, the title of the play: Fate of a Cockroach.

In Nigeria, the same scenario unfolds itself; a tiny group of bandits terrorizes the majority, kills and robs them of their possessions. The small armed group controls the fate of the majority.

From the beginning, King Cockroach blames the Queen for seeking to undervalue his authority and worth. While the King says that he tolerates the Queen because she’s of the weaker sex, the Queen argues that she’s more knowledgeable and reasonable than him. In addition, she complains that an existential threat posed by the ants is in the offing. However, the King can’t solve them because he’s weak and surrounds himself with wrong cronies.

In Nigeria, the same drama unfolds itself. The wife of Mr President, until recently, was at loggerheads with her husband. Can you remember when the president criticized his wife during a trip to Germany? The (in)famous “she belongs to the kitchen, my living room and the other room” is still fresh in the minds of Nigerians. The heated argument reached a boiling point when the wife said she might not back her husband at the then approaching elections. The president’s remark centres on his wife being the weaker sex (as declared by King Cockroach). Therefore, her role is limited to mothering, cooking and ‘the other room’ function.

Moreover, King Cockroach and the Queen quarrel over each other’s appearances. The King incessantly looks into a mirror and admires his long whiskers (the whiskers are the symbols of authority). He numerously says that his whiskers are longer than any other cockroach’s. This obsession with whiskers reflects the attitude of our president with power and the presidency (remember that he doesn’t go to funerals or ceremonies for fear of Corona that can wrench the presidency from him if he dies). In addition, he’s also obsessed with elegance and posing for pictures.

The Queen also looks at the mirror, admiring her beauty, and she tells the King that her whiskers are more beautiful than his. The Queen’s obsession is similar to that of our First Lady. Can you remember her long robe that was said to have cost some huge amount of money, which also generated social media arguments?

“Kitchen Cabinet” is also portrayed in Fate of a Cockroach. The trio of Minister, Savant and the Priest suitably reflect Nigerian cronyism. Minister Cockroach is suitable for his job because he proposes ‘disconcerting problems and producing unpleasant news.’ Can you also remember the allegation that some people shield Mr President from knowing the scorching Nigerian reality?

According to King Cockroach, the Priest is there as his priest because of the incomprehensible things he says. In Nigeria, some Northern Islamic clerics play the same role Mr Priest plays in Al-Hakim’s satire, of depending the morally undependable. They play the Public Relation role to the government.

The Savant in the play, on the other hand, is talented because he brings ‘strange information that have no existence.’ In Nigeria, he plays the same role as the president’s media team.

When the ants kill Minister’s son, he calls his death a ‘national catastrophe’, and King Cockroach declares a ‘public mourning.’ Since the infiltration of BH and banditry in Nigeria, many a death is greeted with silence. But when a relative of the upper class is affected, the power swiftly sends a federal delegate, or the president goes in person to mourn the bereaved. The King Cockroach is full of rhetoric, so is our Mr President.

When Queen Cockroach presses her husband for solutions to ants’ attacks, King Cockroach says he can’t be single-handed for a long-time problem. This can be equated with the ruling party’s reference to the previous government as the architect of BH and corruption. In other words, Nigerian leaders are always looking for a scapegoat.

In the play, the cockroaches look at themselves as superiors in knowledge to ants. So they reason that ants only know how to source and eat food, yet despite their superiority in knowledge, their collective fate rests with the tiny and minority ants.

In Nigeria, this is the same expressed mood; while the Fulani bandits are considered inferior, uncivilized and unknowledgeable, they hold the others’ fate. Where’s the knowledge then if you’re under the grip of the minority?

Those BH and bandits are in our midst; we know them, know their families, know their place of domicile, yet we can’t do anything against them.

As in “Fate of Cockroach,” where the cockroaches can’t come together and fight a common enemy, the ants, so are Nigerians who are divided by tribal, religious and sectional loyalty, giving way (like the cockroaches) to an armed minority group (like the ants) to destroy us. As in Al-Hakim’s satire, the ball is in the court of the bandits because they hold our collective fate.
Salisu Yusuf writes from Katsina.

Salisu Yusuf wrote from Katsina. He can be reached via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

Firstly, the military has been stretched doing other ‘peoples’ jobs’  the military is tackling the terrorist bandits at the ‘surface’- see and kill, while the root causes still remain. The military is not a policing institution. The Nigerian Army is under intense pressure to fill security gaps. Security experts say, globally military involvement in crime-fighting is problematic practically because they are not trained to do so.

Secondly, the police which are trained to uproot the causes of this kind of criminality, deal with it at the surface & seal the seals, are handicapped beyond tolerance level- the police are underfunded, ill-motivated, under-equipped, and neglected. If the Nigerian police can get half of what it needs, they will tackle the bandit terrorists from end to finish. The police are superb in gathering intelligence from primary sources because the police are everywhere and trained to do so.

Thirdly, it seems, President Muhammadu Buhari is so much relying on a bulk information-first line of information ( service chiefs) he should also get information from the second and third levels- field commanders and local communities dwellers. If he is doing it, he should seek more. Though, the presidency on December 12^th, 2021 said “Alongside military force, the government is seeking to address the violence at its economic source. Massive infrastructure projects like the coastal rail and new train from the southern coast through the north-east to our neighbour Niger, aim to expand employment and opportunity across the country, bringing hope to our more remote and poorer regions where bandits and terrorists thrive”

Fourthly, Governors, security votes and benefits- some officials of government who in one way or another benefit from the opaque security vote system will always work hard to make sure bandits’ Terrorisms continue- it’s a business. some state governors are doing their best, but some of their officials may be sabotaging their efforts.

Fifthly,  communities social disorder- abject poverty, the death of community-living, everybody for his own has also contributed in oiling recruitments into the banditry business- this problem was as a result of one thing- the hijack of the local government system by the governors and state legislators. LGAs are the best sources to cater to the need of local people- when this source is no more, local people start searching for new sources to survive. Though, sheer criminality and materialism among some Fulbe including the international proliferation of small arms are also factors

According to a report by American Security Report (ASP)-  ‘Banditry in northwest Nigeria has become an appealing method of income in the region where weak governance, youth unemployment, poverty, and inequality have left people with depleted options for livelihood. Security services are often understaffed and lack the proper resources to effectively combat banditry. Vast areas of unregulated forests allow for easy concealment, and police and military forces have difficulty penetrating the rough terrain. In addition, under-policed borders have aided the proliferation of small arms and light weapons’ amongst bandit groups’

Bandits Terrorisms have reached the red level- the problem now requires a holistic approach – new and already established effective methods must be implemented to tackle the problem from the root causes. For example, academics and security experts have done some excellent research on the cause of banditry in the northwest and other regions, the intelligence community can use it for early warning and intelligence gathering.  Furthermore, the firing angle must be backed by more funding of the police by the federal government. Intelligence, accountability, selflessness, and national interest must also be a priority as well.

With pain and anguish, I decided to make this communication with your soul, which I believe is resting well. I must confess that I do not know you personally, as I was not born when you held sway as the Premier of the defunct Northern Region. However, I have heard so much about you from my late father. He narrated stories about how you conducted your political activities geared towards our region’s progress.

Today, things are no longer at ease in Arewa. The land of our great ancestors is in chaos and anarchy while life has become nasty, brutish and short. Arewa has been turned to a killing field by terrorists with the blood of innocent people crying for vengeance. The elites that took over the mantle of leadership from you have destroyed all that you laboured to build. They live in luxury and great comfort while most people are dying in poverty and hunger. Their children study in Ivy League schools in the West with public funds and return home to take the best jobs while the children of the poor are roaming the streets and eating from the dust bin. Many families can no longer eat three meals per day, as good food has become a luxury. The cost of living has continued to rise with stagnant wages.

Sardauna, you are known as a warrior who strived hard during your era to emancipate the poor by ensuring that parents sent their children to school, which was free those days. Your late daughter Hajiya Aishatu, whom I interviewed at her residence in Sokoto in 2013 during my stint with THISDAY Newspaper, spoke extensively on how you carried all along and worked tirelessly to ensure unity in the north irrespective of tribe or religious affiliation.

It is no longer at ease at the moment. The children of the poor that you trained free with the resources of the Northern region before Nigeria’s independence, and those who came after them, have ruined your efforts. They have become feudal lords and turned out to enslave us. They have sold all the assets that you and other great northerners toiled to build over 60 years ago, while organisations you set up like the New Nigerian and textile industries in Kaduna, among others, have all collapsed. They not only mismanaged these organisations but also destroyed your legacies. Many people in northern Nigeria have been homeless and are currently in IDP camps, frustrated and dehumanised. They have been sacked away from their villages by terrorists while vast agricultural lands have been left fallow without any farming activities.

Today our region is littered with many orphans and widows whose husbands have been hacked to death by bandits. We have so many children (Almajiris) roaming the streets without any future while the elites do not care. Some of the Almajiris, neglected by the society, lack basic education and opportunities, unleash terror on the society that neither cared for them. Your grandchildren no longer have access to what the people you earlier trained free in some foreign institutions enjoyed a few decades ago. Today the children of the poor no longer have access to quality education, as they study in dilapidated primary and secondary schools. At the same time, the political elites send their children to study in private schools both locally and overseas.

The painful aspect of this is that they now packaged a man without empathy and presented him to us as a messiah in 2015. Our people heeded the call and voted him into power, believing that he would usher us into prosperity. Since then, our region has never known any peace. Bandits have taken over our major roads in the north, especially Abuja-Kaduna road, kidnapping people for ransom. Families have been compelled to sell their properties to raise money for ransom. These hoodlums kill their victims, especially those whose families cannot pay the ransom, while their remains are thrown away in the forest.

Similarly, our farmers in rural areas can no longer go to their farms in peace for fear of being killed. Those who managed to plant their crops could not harvest them, as the crops were set ablaze by these urchins. The agricultural foundation of the region is being destroyed while those at the helm of affairs do not care.

Inequality is at its peak in Arewa. The political leaders are using politics and religion to balkanise our society. In fact, as a journalist who worked in the region for over a decade, I had it on good authority from a reliable source that some politicians are behind the killings in Arewa. I am, indeed, aware that you did not amass any wealth before your death. But the people that came after you have stolen our commonwealth and used the funds to purchase mansions and exotic houses in London, New York, Paris, Switzerland, Malaysia, Dubai and other top cities in the world. They do not care if our region goes up in flames because they believe they have a place to hide in case of an outbreak of war.

Today our people are being killed daily by primitive herdsmen while our women are raped indiscriminately in remote communities. The political elite in cahoots with the traditional rulers have neglected a large segment of the society. The clerics who are supposed to serve as a beacon of hope for the masses have been compromised. They have become silent and afraid to speak out for fear of the unknown. Those Islamic scholars, who had the courage to speak, admonished our youth not to protest but engage in fervent prayers. Allah will come down to fight our battle if our youth refuse to take action.

The painful aspect of this is that even the activists who protested a few days ago to create awareness about the ongoing genocide by Fulani bandits in rural areas of Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Nigeria and other northern states have been threatened by the officials of the Department for State Security Services (DSS). So, who will fight for the poor and downtrodden and fight for the orphans and widows?

Our people have become hopeless. The issue that has been bothering me is what the Arewa dream is? Of course, it won’t be easy to answer at the moment. An average Arewa youth is just focused on marriage. That is the dream for many of our youth. Illiteracy, drug abuse, unemployment has become recurring decimal. Is our society on the brink? Are we heading towards a state failure? Who will rescue our people and wipe away our tears? Should we take the law into our hands or hearken to the voice of reason? What is the way out of this misery?

History will always be kind to you, Sardauna, as all and sundry adore you due to the sacrifice you made for the development of Arewa. However, history will not be kind to the present crop of leadership in Arewa, as they have mismanaged your legacies and our patrimony, thereby plunging millions of our people into misery. May you continue to rest in peace, and I pray Almighty Allah to forgive your mistakes and grant you Aljannah Firdaus.

Yours sincerely,

Aminu Mohammed

The writer is at the school of Sustainability, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel Schleswig Holstein, Germany. He can be reached via gravity23n@gmail.com.

By Rabiu Muhammad Gama

For a start, protest is something that you do to show publicly that you think something is wrong and unfair. Protest is an expression of disapproval; it’s done in different forms and on any day; it can be verbal or physical or via social media. In a democratic society like Nigeria, protest is an effective and legitimate tool, usually the only tool, that citizens can use to express their displeasure concerning some government measures or policies publicly. For example, when the government fails to discharge its duties, the citizens can hit the streets to register their grievances against the government. The nagging question, which this article sets out to answer, is: must people get a permit from a state governor or the Police Commissioner before convening a protest?

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), is the fundamental law of the land. It is the law on top of which there is no other law. It is over and above any law, body or authority. It has been aptly submitted that the Constitution of any country, and don’t forget Nigeria is still a country, is the embodiment of what the people desire to be their guiding light in governance – their supreme law – the “grundnorm” of all their laws.

By virtue of Section 1(3) of the 1999 Constitution, any law, and that ‘any’ does mean ANY, that is inconsistent, or in conflict with a provision of the Constitution, that law is invalid and utterly useless due to its inconsistency with the Constitution. Please, permit me to draw an analogy; whenever there is a boxing match in a ring (read: court of law) between the Constitution and any other law, the referees (judges) always rule, and will undoubtedly continue to rule, in favour of the Constitution. No law can knock out the Constitution, no matter how strong and powerful its muscles are. The Constitution always prevails.

The Constitution provides for Fundamental Human Rights, precisely from Section 33 to Section 44, and these sections are in Chapter Four of the Constitution. These Fundamental Human Rights are simply those Rights that every human is entitled to simply because he is human. Therefore, these Rights cannot be taken away or restricted except in full compliance with Section 45 of the Constitution and some other relevant provisions therein.

Section 39 and Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution provide for the Right to Freedom of Expression and the Right to Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly, respectively: merging these two Sections gives us the Right to Protest. In the light of the foregoing, it is safe to submit that Right to Protest is a Fundamental Human Right that is clearly guaranteed and enshrined by the 1999 Constitution. Hence it cannot be restricted by anybody, including the DSS or the Police, or rather particularly the DSS or the Police. It is only the Constitution that can restrict that Right.

Before 2005, there was one undemocratic federal law (Act) that was dripping with dictatorship and some leftovers of colonialism mentality, the Public Order Act. The Law (Act) was initially promulgated as the Public Order Decree 5 Of 1979, and it later became an Act of the National Assembly under Section 274 of the 1979 Constitution. Sections 1 (2) (3) (4) (5) (6), 2, 3 and 4 of the Act required intending protesters to get a permit from the Governor (he can delegate the powers to the Commissioner of Police) of the state where the protest is to be held before they can protest. When the Governor, or the Commissioner of Police as the case may be, thinks that the protest is likely to disrupt public order, he can refuse to issue the permit.

However,  in the celebrated case of IGP v. ANPP (2008) 12 NWLR 65 when Malam General Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) and his then political party, the ANPP, lost the presidential election in 2003 to Olusegun Obasanjo, requested the Inspector General of Police (IGP) by a letter dated 21^st May 2004, to issue police permits to their members to hold unity rally throughout the country to protest the alleged rigging of the 2003 election. The request was refused.

General Buhari and the rest of them organised the rally without the permits. As a result, there was a violent disruption of the rally organised in Kano on 22nd September 2003, on the ground that no police permit was obtained as required by the Public Order Act. The Federal High Court invalidated the provisions of the Act that required a Police permit before a protest is staged on the ground of their being inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, particularly Section 39 and 40, and Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights ( Reification and Enforcement) Act, Cap. 10, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1990.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal also affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court. Right from the Federal High Court, the learned trial judge relied on the decision of the Supreme Court of Ghana in the case of New Patriotic Party v. Inspector General of Police (1992 – 93) GBR 585 – (2000) 2 HRLRA 1 where it was aptly submitted that:

“Police permit has outlived its usefulness, statutes requiring such permits for peaceful demonstrations, processions and rallies are things of the past. Police permits is the brainchild  of [the] colonial era and ought not to remain in our statute books.”

That was how the Court sent those unconstitutional provisions of the Public Order Act to their eternal grave. By the way, it may interest you to know that by virtue of Section 83 (4) of the Police Establishment Act, 2020, where a person or an organisation CHOOSES to notify the police of his or its intention to hold a public meeting, rally or a procession on a public highway, the police officer responsible for the area where the rally will take place shall mobilise personnel to provide security for the rally! The police or the DSS have no powers whatsoever to stop or restrict the Fundamental Right of Nigerians to freedom of expression and assembly once those rights are exercised within the ambit of the law.

As the law stands today, no police permit is required before staging a protest in Nigeria. The right to protest is a Fundamental Human Right given by the Constitution, which cannot be taken away or restricted except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Rabiu Muhammad Gama is a Law student from Bayero University, Kano (BUK). He can be reached on 09061912994 or via rabiuminuwa327@gmail.com.

Ahmadu Shehu, PhD.

It is true that the large chunk of Nigeria’s export comes from oil and that Nigeria depends to a great extent on this commodity for economic survival. However, this situation results from economic laziness – one of the many curses that came with crude oil to our country.

Pre-oil era, Nigeria was faring better, leading in many aspects of social and economic endeavours, especially agriculture and technical skills. This diversity of resources made our economy very resilient. Those were the days when Nigeria was a role model to the developing world.

Speaking of livestock and animal husbandry in today’s Nigeria leads to misleading insinuations that some supremacist ethnic group domiciled in the bush wants to hijack the “southern-oil-money” to rear cows.

These claims are not only wrong, but their makers are also pathetically ignorant of national and global economics. The fact is that, all over the world, animal husbandry is mainly economic and not ethnic, religious or regional. It is a matter of income, survival and sustenance. Data from butcheries, ternaries, restaurants, etc., in Enugu, Lagos and Port Harcourt can confirm this.

However, I do not squarely blame the proponents of these narratives for their lack of understanding of the fundamental economic outlook of this country. Instead, I assume that this kind of utter ignorance is also one of the curses caused by crude oil in Nigeria. Just as it killed all other viable sectors of our economy and transformed our political leadership into a set of docile, sit-and-wait set of people, it has succeeded in destroying our intellectual discourse. Today, all socio-economic conversations are viewed from the narrow prism of petrodollars.

Thus, our socio-economic and political conversation is now bereft of ideas and far from our social realities. It is sad to see many people failing to appreciate the glaring fact that six decades after the discovery of oil at commercial quantity, this country did not only fail to develop but has moved backwards in all indices of human and social development.

The topmost hierarchy of political leaders, policymakers, and civil society has failed to learn one simple, practical truth: our country’s strength, resilience, and prosperity are not in oil. They are right there under our feet and noses, at the backyards, waiting forever to be harnessed and utilised. Nigeria can take a cue from our mates, ala Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, India, etc.

Now, back to the “oil-money” narrative. Are herders and cattle breeders asking for “oil money”? No. In fact, herders do not care – or are not interested in crude oil in Nigeria.  Secondly, those of us advocating for the development of the livestock sector do so for the economic advancement of Nigeria, in general, and not just the herders, or “Fulani”, as would say the bigots.

For one, agriculture (livestock and crop) is the largest contributor to Nigeria’s economic growth. It contributes 40% of economic activities, employing over 60% of our country’s population – that is, one hundred and sixty million Nigerians.

You may think that the livestock sector is economically barren and that governments and other sectors of the economy do not benefit from it. You may even argue that only the “malams/awusas” benefit from the economic resources in this sector. But, you are dangerously mistaken, and I will show you why.

In Nigeria today, livestock is a multibillion-dollar business sector. Estimates by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture show that each year, Nigeria produces (and consumes) at least 18.4 million cattle, 43.4 million sheep, 76 million goats, 180 million poultry birds, among other things. Multiply these numbers to any amount of years and see the contribution of the livestock to the Nigerian economy.

For demonstration, let’s assume each of the 18.4 million heads of cattle is valued at $200 only. What you get is a staggering 6 billion dollars – three trillion naira per year – i.e. about ¼ of the country’s annual budget.

My experience in cattle businesses tells me that governments at all levels make a minimum of 10% direct revenue on each cattle, ranging from the market, local government, state, transportation, etc., levies that trail the cattle market chain.

But, this is just for cattle. These numbers multiply exponentially when other varieties of livestock come into the equation. Now, consider additional extended revenues on factories and sub-sectors that rely solely on livestock, such as leather, meat, and dairy.

While doing the maths, please remember that these raw and food materials serve Nigeria, one of the largest markets in the world, the most populous African country and the largest economy on the continent. Thus, the economic resources and taxations derived from this sector are massive!

Therefore, the question that naturally follows this arithmetic is: How much is Nigeria’s budget for the development of this sector and the millions of people it employs? 

As Nigerians, we are aware of the 12% derivation to the so-called oil-bearing states at the expense of other equal federating units. The basis for this disparity is to enhance the development of the immediate oil-bearing communities.

Similarly, a large chunk of the oil income is reinvested in the oil and gas industry development. Businesses and individuals in this industry benefit tremendously from these incentives and investments.

On the contrary, the Nigerian budgetary allocations for agriculture, particularly the livestock sector, have been very meagre and far below the lowest AU benchmark of 10%. For instance, from 2015, the allocations for agriculture have been below 2% of the budget, receiving a paltry N160 billion (1.37%) in 2020.

Obviously, this is far from commensurate to the economic and financial contributions of the sector in Nigeria’s GDP. It also negatively affects the lives of the majority of Nigerians whose livelihoods depend on agriculture.

While the government’s spending on agriculture is pathetic, the situation is even worse in the livestock sub-sector. For instance, under “promotion and development of animal production and husbandry value chain”, the 2020 budget proposes only N546, 156, 792 for the whole livestock sub-sector. Note that this amount was not budgeted for just cattle, sheep, or poultry but Nigeria’s entire livestock value chain. And that is just a proposal, not actual spending.

This, given the resources, financial and material contributions of the sector, is an insult on the human senses of any keen observer. Moreover, juxtaposing this estimate to that of the crop value chain makes the economic injustice against livestock producers even more glaring.

Therefore, it appears that livestock production and development are grossly marginalised across all three tiers of government and even within the agricultural sector. I had hypothesised elsewhere that this disparity is one of the major causes of the setbacks in Nigeria’s efforts at agricultural development.

Now, in this socio-economic reality, the governments and other Nigerians outside the economic chain of livestock anticipate a quick, sufficient, and even elegant modern livestock breeding system in Nigeria.

Worse still, the government expects these people who suffer from this severe lack of financial support, access to social development and political representation to be absolutely immune to the social consequences of this economic inequality and injustice.

This, without fear of contradiction, is an impossible mission. For, we have learned from the works of the philosopher-king, Emir Muhammad Sanusi II, that every economic situation bequeaths social reaction(s), as humans are not only social but also “economic animals”.

The points derived from the previous discussion are that herders and livestock breeders do not need oil or its by-products to grow livestock. They do not also ask for money accrued from the oil and gas industry to be invested in developing the sector.

What the livestock needs – which is legitimate and necessary – is the reinvestment of a fair portion of the wealth it creates back into the sector and the social development of the herding communities.

By and large, herders are not asking for “oil money” because the cow does not need oil to prosper. We are only saying that the money accrued from the livestock sector – a small portion of our contribution to the nation’s economic basket – be reinvested into the very sector that produces it as is done for other salient sectors of the economy. Full stop!

Dr Ahmadu Shehu is a herdsman and academic. He can be reached via ahmadsheehu@gmail.com.