Opinion

By Idris Hamza Yana

Allah knows I love and revere Shiekh Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami – I prefer addressing him as Sheikh than Dr. I am not sure if the Sheikh can remember me or the encounter that brought our paths together. That encounter, however, left a lasting impression on me about him. Most of my friends, online and offline, know that I support and defend him in many issues, especially since he became a minister. This does not, in any way, mean I am looking for validation, acceptance or favour, from the learned Sheikh. I am also not a blind supporter.

Besides, I want to say a few words regarding the news of his promotion to the rank of professor, which has generated a lot of controversies. However, before dwelling on that, I want to unequivocally state that Sheikh Pantami’s academic excellence is beyond a reasonable doubt. He is an academic par excellence, just as he is an Islamic scholar. There is no doubt about that. Being promoted to the rank of professor, however, goes a bit beyond academic excellence. Some things (have to) complement one’s academic excellence to guarantee one’s chances of becoming a professor. I will mention the crucial ones.

Specific criteria qualify one to be a professor in Nigeria. They include obtaining a certain level of education, engagement in teaching, research and community service, and scholarship assessment. A doctorate is mostly a requirement, except for medical sciences who recognise a professional fellowship. According to each university’s Condition of Service, teaching for some years, including engagement in other academic activities such as supervision, are part of the process.

Community services refer to both academic and non-academic positions held (such as Head of Department, Dean, Director, etc.). A professorial candidate must also present his scholarly works, which relevant scholars in the field will assess. Candidate’s works are usually submitted to three people, and they can only be promoted to the professor rank if at least two out of the three recommend that.

Active service is another crucial component for promotion to the rank of professor. One must be actively teaching in a university at the time of their promotion. Another option is at the point of appointment from one university to another. If a person presents proof indicating he meets the requirement for a professorial chair in a university they are applying for a job, the committee responsible for his appointment has the prerogative to appoint him with a rank of professor even if he was not a professor in the previous institution he was working.

Therefore, looking at the above criteria, it is improbable for Sheikh Pantami to become a professor in his current circumstances. He is currently a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Part of the conditions of his appointment as the minister is that he had to take an unpaid leave from the university he was working for in KSA. This shows that he is not in “active service” with an institution of learning.

The purported reports about his promotion to the rank of professor say that it is a university in Nigeria (Owerri to be specific) that promoted him. This is very unlikely because the university cannot promote someone that is not its staff. Obviously, Sheikh Pantami is not a staff of that university. Since there is no “honourary professorship,” like a doctorate, we can conclude that the university has no power to do that. Though in Nigeria, anything is possible.

This, however, does mean Sheikh Pantami will not be a professor in the future. There are countless examples of academics who joined public service at some point in their lives and later went back to academia to become professors.

For now, we can only wish Sheikh Pantami more enviable successes as a minister, a safe landing and a prosperous academic future.

Idris Hamza Yana is a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. His social media handles are:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/idris.yana/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Idrisyana

Like the mid-1960s, the early 2020s has been heated and filled with war rhetoric. This rhetoric has been well oiled by claims of nepotism, corruption and everything that has been proverbial fertilisers for conflict in post-independence Africa. From Freetown to Kinshasa, the story has always been the same. And intriguingly, the results have also been similar. Deaths and more deaths, reconciliation, then business as usual. Hardly any lessons learnt!

Let’s retake this: the science of war in Africa is essentially a story of frustration, then misinformation, then delusion, then deception, then destruction, then reconciliation and finally rehabilitation. But, except maybe for places like Rwanda, the root causes never get addressed, the warlords never die, the corrupt politicians/soldiers mostly come back wealthier and more confident to assume the mantle of leadership. And the masses who fought and killed one another are further plunged into disillusion and poverty.  

Why then does this story keep repeating itself if data tells us that the investment always ends in red and that the returns are always intertwined with regrets? Here are a few observations, supported by both learning and experience:

Violence is a Political Statement

The old saying that where gentility fails, brutality prevails holds true today as it did in Nigeria’s 1960s, Liberia and Sierra Leone’s 1980s, and Rwanda’s 1990s. Politicians have basically two tools: debate and violence. In climes where one ceases to be effective, the other is automatically activated. And because both do not really take much from politicians by way of casualties, both have been greatly valued assets in their political estates. To change this, the citizens must be enlightened enough to see beyond the rhetoric. And usually, this mass education has to be ultimately championed by concerned and more enlightened citizens outside the political class.

The War Mongers Mostly Have a Contingency Plan

Suppose the chances of death for both leaders and masses in a civil conflict are equal. In that case, the apparent possibility is that wars will hardly be fought, and misinformation will get as little funding as possible. Unfortunately, the truth is that leaders usually have collaborators outside the borders of their countries and these collaborators typically stop at nothing to rescue their friends when things get worse. So, with this in mind, leaders at both ends of the divide beguile their cannon fodders to get the job done while they await the desired if ominous outcomes.

War Promises Freedom and other “Sweet” Things

History is replete with people taking the path of violence and war to regain their freedom. And beyond freedom, war promises access to places, bodies, resources and positions that were otherwise inaccessible. In a strange turn of things, Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone rose to a position almost as powerful as the President after his rebellion that led to the loss of reportedly 50,000 lives, including hundreds of Nigerian and other ECOMOG/UN Peacekeeping forces.  He committed the crimes, then, for the sake of peace, got rewarded with laurels! Who is going to bring back all those lives, especially those of his loyal foot soldiers? Most of these people willingly took arms because they dreamt of enjoying what only Sankoh could enjoy, while their ultimate lot was destruction. War promises a lot of prosperity, ironically, but delivers a lot of destruction in reality.

The Crux of the Matter: it’s Difficult to Find a Suitable Alternative to War

Not that people want to lose routine or the calm of home. Not that they like to see the hacked body parts of loved ones or wade through the blood of a beheaded or gunned down neighbour in search of safety, not that they like to be refugees and be treated as slaves in strange lands, just that in the heat of the burning issues, with the accusations and counter-accusations and the mutual acrimony that ensues, it’s “difficult” to find a suitable alternative. Or better put, the other options have been abused and exhausted. Elections and coup d’état are the usual alternatives to war in our postcolonial political dispensation, but the two have hardly ever provided the desired outcomes. Therefore, it is safe to say the fault is not in our enemies; the fault, rather, lies in us. People are willing to change evil until they become beneficiaries of such evils. And how quickly do their fans often forget this fact!

In the final analysis, people plan for wars, heat the polity, sponsor misinformation, make promises of victory, but then war is so creative that it hardly subjects itself to anybody’s plans. And when the gruesome scenes of death and destruction start being plastered all over the media, and mercenaries and warlords start gaining unfettered access to national resources and the treasury, when hunger subdues the strongest amongst us and ruins the future that is so dear to us, when ammunitions are in short supply, and the enemy forces are about to be in total control, that’s usually when it becomes clear that it is not really the war we wanted, but the promises it offered from a distance. Too late!

AF Sesay is a writer based in Lagos. He can be reached via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com.

By Mohammed Zayyad

Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is one of the best performing governors in Nigeria. So far, he is the best Governor of Kaduna State in recent times. However, Mallam lost his polling unit and ward in the local government elections conducted by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission on September 04, 2023.

Governor El-Rufai voted at Unguwan Sarkin polling unit 001 in Kaduna North LGA of the state. Mohammed Sani, the presiding officer, announced the final results: Unguwan Sarki Ward 007 Kaduna North Chairmanship, the People Democratic Party (PDP) scored 1,235 votes while the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) scored 948 votes, while for the councillorship position, PDP garnered 1,405 votes while the APC was behind with only 804 votes.

Unfortunately, though, the election witnessed low voter turnout and challenges in some polling units as the wrong machines were deployed. El-Rufai himself expressed disappointment about the low turnout of voters in the council polls. He said: “What worries me is that I noticed that people didn’t turn out much,” This could be one of the reasons the APC did poorly at Governor El-Rufai’s unit, the party may say.

The big questions are: Why should a performing governor’s party be rejected by the people at the governor’s polling unit? Why should a performing governor lose at his polling unit and ward? Are the people angry with the governor, his party, including his government? Are the people not happy with the way the beautiful Kaduna Urban Renewal is being handled? Is the current insecurity the state is witnessing a significant factor? Is it the issue of the sack of workers? Is the Kaduna state government out in touch with the real ordinary people? So many questions require answers because the result is a big political statement from the people to the governor,  his government and his party.

Some political pundits believe that Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s major error is that his government is not doing well in balancing policies, development, and politics. The pundits further said this is a reminder that development in a poor society must and should always consider the people’s survival first. An example was the former governor of Adamawa state, Muhammadu Umaru Bindow, who did very well in constructing roads, bridges and hospitals. Still, the people denied him and his party the APC a second term because Bindow failed in workers’ salaries and human development.

Nevertheless, El-Rufa’i is still the best governor Kaduna State has had so far. APC may go on to win the majority of the local government councils as the results come it. Still, some pockets of the results have given the opposition more strength to fight more and take advantage of areas the government is lagging. One simple example is how one of the governorship hopefuls, Honourable Ahmad Tijjani Umar, is smartly mobilising the youth and building bridges while taking advantage of the government’s weak areas. It seems it is working well for him and his party to win support from the ordinary people.

Governor  El-Rufa’i should be commended for conducting a free and fair election and using modern technology to advance democracy. Furthermore, the governor’s polling unit and ward results have given the governor some clues and the need for readjustments and adjustments for future politics.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja, zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Mallam Musbahu Magayaki

The Federal Government of Nigeria has ordered Zamfara state’s communication lines to be disconnected, ostensibly to thwart bandits’ heinous crimes, following bandit attacks in Zamfara State that resulted in the abduction of school children in the state governor’s home town on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, and similarly in Niger and Kaduna states.

Simultaneously, the governments of Zamfara, Niger and Kaduna states have ordered the closure of all weekly markets in the state as part of measures to address the state’s deteriorating situation.

However, the federal and state governments should look into the possibility of providing palliatives for state citizens, as some, if not all of them, maybe unable to put food on their tables due to the closure of their occupational practices.

Furthermore, the government must make immediate efforts to re-energize intelligence gathering regarding terrorists’ plans and use all legal channels available to prevent and prosecute terrorist activities and private sources of support.

According to reports, one kidnap kingpin has threatened towns, stating that everyone who follows the government’s strategy of closing markets and prohibiting the sale of gasoline will be assaulted at any time. As a result, more troops should be deployed to these towns if the government wants the residents to follow official policy.

According to one expert, no one will disobey terrorists he knows will kill him without the government’s help.

Nevertheless, we expect that the measures taken will provide a lasting solution to the high rate of banditry and kidnapping in these states. And the government should be cautious about its choice because these hoodlums could go on to other lanes and cause further havoc in the impacted neighbourhood.

Moreover, to overcome the country’s dreadful condition, inhabitants should completely cooperate with security. If we work together, we can eliminate the country’s threat of instability. Thus, everyone has a part to play in the situation.

In conclusion, traditional rulers in all the affected states should work closely with security forces to combat the security situation in their states because these terrorists are branching out into some of their villages. Residents wouldn’t tell security organizations about them for fear of being attacked or killed by bandits.

Mallam Musbahu Magayaki writes from Sabon Fegi, Azare, Bauchi State.

By Habibu Maaruf Abdu

Since its inception, the Hausa film industry, aka Kannywood, has not been cinema-oriented. This is primarily due to the filmmakers’ lack of technology to make cinema-compliant productions and the negative perceptions of the cinemas by the industry’s immediate/target audience (the Muslim Hausa populace). Therefore, video film media (i.e. cassettes and CDs) became the cinema equivalent in Kannywood and remained its sole market. However, the industry later crashed due to the scourge of piracy, and the emergence of online video-viewing platforms like YouTube forced video and film media out of business.

Subsequently, many reputable production companies had to close shop or remain practically inactive. In contrast, some low-class and Chamama (comedy) producers kept on as their films are mostly cheaply made and targeted the masses who are less conscious of modern viewing facilities. It wasn’t until the establishment of Filmhouse Cinema at the Kano Shoprite that the film business began to sprout again. Big-budget Kannywood movies, made with state-of-the-art technology, began to overflow the only multiplex cinema.

Also, as people accept and patronise the cinema more, comes a realisation of the need to enhance film shows. Thus, the industry signed a deal with certain cinema owners in Kano to screen selected films during the 2018 Eid festival. However, there is a more profound development recently. Platinum, another multiplex cinema for screening Kannywood movies, was opened in Kano.

The emergence of these multiplex cinemas is a welcome development for Kannywood. We all know that it’s on the cinemas that film industries stand. If the mighty Hollywood and Bollywood, for instance, still retain cinemas as the prime platforms for releasing their films, there is no other way for the embattled yet up-and-coming film industry. TV stations and online platforms (Netflix, Amazon Prime, iRokoTV, Northflix, etc.) should be more beneficial for the audience in Diaspora, as proposed by a Kannywood scholar, Muhsin Ibrahim.

In addition, it’s high time we disregarded our anachronistic views against cinemas. These newly opened cinemas are, after all, modern and standard for all and sundry. Nor is it for thugs and whores. There is no smoking or drugs. They are multiplex, with each room having stylishly arranged rows of comfortable padded seats. They are peaceful places to get entertained and have fun in a completely different way from the open-air, single-screen ones we had before.

Our religious clerics should stop denouncing these cinemas. They should instead promote Kannywood in general to attract more decent, educated people to the industry. Their bashings, often based on unfounded rumours, will never help matters. Kannywood has come to stay, and it’s better to have them in Kano, a more Islamic city, where the government can regulate their activities than elsewhere.

Finally, I emphasise what Muhsin Ibrahim suggests to our big men: instead of building a state of the art filling stations all around Kano, why don’t they construct cinema(s)? The market is there. They should conduct some feasibility research and invest in this business.

Habibu Maaruf Abdu writes from Kano, Nigeria. He can be reached at habibumaaruf11@gmail.com.

Ahmadu Shehu, PhD.

Once upon a time, the Fulani were the aristocrats of West Africa – the wealthiest, most intellectual hegemony in the West African sub-region. They were and still are the traditional rulers, Islamic scholars, leaders of the black civilisation, a melting point of the Arabian and Western cultures assimilated into the river of African traditions. These are the most physically appealing, Caucasian-like Africans; skinny, silky-haired, relatively light-skinned and tall. These were the kings of Africa, founders of the Sokoto, Futa Jalo and the Masina empires.

Back in history, the Fulani conquered kingdoms, took over cities and established polities across the region, for those were the days of war and conquests. But, they have also found cities that are capitals of states and nations, which have become business enclaves of all kinds, and for all Nigerians, nay Africans. From a barracks, they founded Sokoto; from a valley, they created Gombe, and from a hill, they established Yola. They went across mountains, and on the rocks, they found Jalingo. In the deserts, they founded many other cities, talk of Niamey, the capital of Niger, Maroua, Garoua, Ngaundere, etc., in the southern end of the Fombina empire. In these urban centres lie the fortress of fortunes for the Igbo, employment for the Yoruba and civilisation for the Hausa. From these cities comes the livelihood of all Africans, education for everyone and sustenance for all folks. The Fulani provided beef, the manure on which most of the Nigerian crop production relies. These are the employers of millions of people, teachers for many and mentors for others.

The triumvirates and their disciples, such as Nana Asma’u, bequeath West Africans the richest traditions of scholarship, the most valued native literature and a civilisation that has been resilient for centuries. This academic scholarship bequeaths northern Nigeria a space on the world map, drawing global scholarly attention, indigenous metalanguage, indelible history and a proud place in the comity of nations. At inception, the Fulani were the key and lock of the sub-Saharan economy, providing, subsidising, protecting and developing Nigeria with all that was needed. Like other ethnic groups, the Fulani gave their lives for Nigeria – Premier Ahmadu Bello, who inspired Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Murtala Muhammed, the Yar’adu’as and Shehu Shagari, to mention a few of the Fulɓe folks who served this country with distinction.

They served as the first line of defence for cities, the defenders of our religions and traditions. Even today, they are the leaders of most local security outfits that lay their lives to protect Nigerians against Boko Haram, kidnappers, armed bobbers and other terrorists bred by the failed Nigerian justice system. They are found at most gates of the elites, protecting the lives and property of Nigerians from Sokoto to Port Harcourt and from Maiduguri to Lagos. They are trusted with arms and ammunition to defend their Christian Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba bosses and are brave enough to lay their lives for the unknown passersby. 

But where are these people today? How did they become the villains in the lands, cultures, civilisations, nations and economies they helped build and sustain? The answers to these questions lie in the historical injustice, failure of leadership and sustained discrimination and demonisation of the most essential, most conservative section of the Fulani population. The travail of the herding Fulani began right at the peak of the Fulani empires. First, the hegemony created centuries ago recognised this category of its population for being good at military matters. Then, subsequent traditional administrations continued on the same lane, deploying the same people for warfare and nothing more. The results? They continued in the traditional ways of life and became even more sophisticated at combat.

The colonial rulers neglected this population, focusing only on the taxes, which they significantly contribute more than anyone else. Instead of the native authorities to reinvest these taxes in the integration, education and socioeconomic emancipation of this population, they squandered the resources. So, for our grandparents and parents, and indeed our brothers and sisters still on the cattle routes, nothing has changed in their lives since the 1900s. For us, no change has happened!

Then came the natural discord between herders and farmers, regardless of ethnicities. Then population explosion; sixty million people became two hundred million in sixty years, cohabiting the same 923768 Km², sharing the same forests, water and other natural resources.

Again, climate change and environmental degradation took over most parts of the Sahel. Major grazing fields and waters, such as Lake Chad, have dried up, and herding folks have multiplied by dozens. Ethnoreligious crises have overtaken much of the Lake Chad region, pushing herding populations down south, searching for water and green pasture. Over there, farms have encroached all lands, including major highways, food insufficiency, joblessness, and economic degradation have forced families into the deeper forests in search of livelihood. Resource control sets in, and crises become inevitable.

Unfortunately, no one came to our rescue on time, as our sedentary brothers moved to modernity, leaving us at the mercy of the forests. Although we are one ethnic group, bound together by language and traditions, the socioeconomic and modern (dis)advantages have created a strong barrier; distinct kinship emerged, often leading to animosities and hostilities. They got the power, wealth, knowledge and resources. But, they have disassociated from us, laughed and called us Mbororo, “the unenlightened”, as stories of our perceived naiveté go viral in cities and communities.

Our closest friends – the farmers – with whom we enjoyed cordial relationships due to mutual economic interests have become enemies of necessity. Just as our lives depend on our herds, their own lives depend on their farms. Call it the clash of economic interests! With this, crises set in; lives lost, and livestock diminished. The large, vast country becomes a small spot, as we were chased away wherever we went. Our cattle were rustled both by our own impoverished, unemployed youth and neighbours. For any slight provocation or disagreement, our means of livelihood – the livestock – are targeted and killed, often leading to reprisals.

But, this situation has been stage-managed until governments in some northwestern states began ceding ancestral grazing lands to farmers and urban development. When herds diminish, herders settle down to crop farming. Thousands of people came out of this economic depression but woke up to landlessness without notice. Add this to the historical aspects, social deprivation and economic dislocation, you find that criminality is the natural turn of events. As usual, the Nigerian governments are ad-hoc, simplistic, never interested in long-lasting solutions and even scared of reality. Instead of addressing these issues head-on, criminals were made political thugs, monies and weapons provided, all for political greed.  

The natural promise land for such a criminally profitable business is more membership, innovations, and recruitments. Similarly, the natural candidates are those with similar backgrounds, social and cultural affiliations and mental dispositions. In this way, the Fulani folks are made the majority in the ongoing banditry and kidnapping. Therefore, the old circle is repeated.

Evidently, the fire-power in the hands of these bandits is far beyond their reach. The economic strength, resources and sophistication are not the kinds obtained by mere herders in the bush. That says a lot about their masters in cities, higher places and strong networks from other ethnic and social backgrounds. So, like they were deployed as foot soldiers for warfare centuries ago, and then as a conduit for taxations and money-making in cooperate Nigeria, they are today deployed as the bush soldiers, arm-bearing, front-raw men in the terrible enterprise that is kidnapping and banditry in northern Nigeria.

Look at it this way. If the billions made in this wicked trade were to be traced, they indeed wouldn’t be found in a ruga or a Fulani settlement. They might, instead, be found in dollar, pounds and naira accounts held by the very ethnic groups that are so quick to demonise millions of the herders’ kinsmen.

When it is elections circle, politicians would turn to the criminals, deploy them and win elections, and promise afterwards, to end them. When the security agencies arrest them, their bosses and other beneficiaries pay huge monies to get them released, damning the justice system and the nation’s well-being. Therefore, the truth is that just like Boko Haram are not Kanuri, Maitatsine not Hausa, IPOB and drug pushers not Igbo, Yahoo-Yahoo not Yoruba, these criminals are NOT Fulani. They are Nigerians and must be treated as such. Because we, the Fulani herders, are not terrorists. We are victims of socioeconomic circumstances. 

Dr Ahmadu Shehu is a nomad cum herdsman, an Assistant Professor at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, and is passionate about the Nigerian project. You can reach him at ahmadsheehu@yahoo.com.

By AF Sesay

The internet’s primary role is to connect the world through an interconnection of devices. After many years of building, testing, deploying and repeating the process, we have reached an epoch wherein we have billions of humans living one click away from one another. What a fantastic feat!

Yet, the journey to a better world is far from what we envisioned. With the rise of Fake News and the acerbic toxicity of views and counter views on the internet, we are yet again at this crucial juncture: What do we do next to better the lot of humanity, and how can the internet help?

While I don’t boast of an answer to any of the two, I dare say the crux of the job is shifting the paradigm from the internet of believers to the internet of thinkers! Something like a ‘thinkernet’, you know!

The internet, while very transformational, paid little attention to re-education, which could have been a core mission. And with the realisation that it could be a veritable tool for making money, things took a worse turn. So we are here now: a world where ad sense determines what truth gets told and what gets suppressed, a world where influencers can share the most foolish things and get a million humans taking actions in the next second, a world where the most erudite are kept at the margins of conversations because the nature of their jobs leaves them with little time to establish and maintain massive followership on social media.

We all know something has to be done, but we are unsure what needs to be done.

One way I have always thought of is to leverage and massively scale technologies that make it easy to reward truth and suppress falsehood on the net. This is difficult, considering the thousand or more-year-old dialectics on what is true and what is false, who is right and who is wrong and blah blah blah.

I wouldn’t really want to go that path because it is likely the deepest rabbit hole humanity has ever dug. So what I will rather ask us to do is to venture on the path of classifying contents consumed on the internet from the least harmful to the most harmful. Harm, in this case, is anything that has the propensity to cause loss of human life, not as compensation for another loss or greater evil.

And this could first be applied to the news that gets shared and the ones that get suppressed. Just the way we decentralised news breaking and sharing through social media, it’s high time we decentralised news verification and suppression of harmful content through a combination of simple technologies like the effective use of spreadsheets and emerging technologies like Blockchain. We have to create means to identify and reward truth whilst suppressing fake news.

Closely related to this is seeing this as a behavioural issue and not completely a tech problem. Therefore, massive design of new materials and Curriculum aimed at rewarding truth and fighting fake news are necessary.

We have got to do this work together—all of us and right now.

AF Sesay is a writer based in Lagos. He can be contacted via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com.

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

Let me draw the attention of the listening Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Muhammad, to the nail-biting hardships of Azare New Market, Katagum LGA, on the urgent need to construct rural roads in the said area for the economic development of the zone and beyond.

Azare is the Bauchi state’s second-largest city and is also the headquarters of the Katagum zone. It is bordered on the east by Damban LGA and Potiskum, Yobe state. On the south by Misau local government and Jama’are local government in the west; and on the north by Itas/Gadau LGA. All these towns rely heavily on the Azare market for their commercial activities. That’s why Azare economic viability is very significant, particularly in the state and northeast in general.

Remember that the former Central Market was destroyed by fire on June 18, 2018. This caused traders and business people to relocate to the new market built during the military administration of Theophilus Bamigboye. Though recently, the market was expanded, and new shops were erected with the donations made after the inferno of the old market. Unfortunately, this new market lacks a rural road that would facilitate the transfer of goods and farm produce from rural areas to markets with significant concentrations of demand.

Unfortunately, the fire that destroyed the ancient market spread due to a lack of access roads for fire engines. The lack of roadway pavement in the new market, God forbid, could exacerbate the situation. Also, the government should checkmate, as a matter of priority, new allocations of shop spaces by local government administration, particularly around the current access road, to avoid repeating previous mistakes.

The new market is situated off Kano road. However, lack of access road delays in conveying farm products and movement of people to acquire their daily demands. In the same vein, people find it very difficult, especially during the rainy seasons. Moreover, drainage and flooding cause severe hardships to the people. It looks like a pond, especially after rainfalls. 

Governor Bala has made infrastructural development a top priority without a doubt. This has transformed the narrative. Necessary infrastructures are essential for growth. As a result, we’re appealing to our state’s workaholic leader to come to the people’s rescue. Internal Revenue will perhaps increase due to this because the inflow of goods and services will be greater than before.

For Bauchi to become the envy of other states, good infrastructure must be put in place, which would, indeed, attract investors to inject their resources into the state. We’re all aware of how insecurity has drastically retarded development in the northeast. Thank God, Katagum and Bauchi are relatively peaceful, which made them a destination for economic activities. But, without good roads, the gains made, would be diminished.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmoud Street, Kasuwar-Kaji Azare, Bauchi State.

By MA Iliasu

When the self-acclaimed experienced butcher of Malam Abubakar Imam’s famous tale, “Dan Hakin da ka Raina” in Magana Jari Ce, Anunu, aimed to manoeuvre the pagan who came to sell his bull, he thought he was outwitting a villager to his own gain. But when the pagan burst his bubble by returning the favour in the most brutal way possible, he realised karma had no menu.

However, beyond such simplistic arguments on karmic justice lies a cogent spill-over effect that people like Anunu, who are the very people in our contemporary societies and the ones this piece addresses, never care to understand. Superior logic has proved that from the time Anunu cheated the pagan, the probability of his coming back to the market narrows very small despite drawing the score. And from that day, he may never trust another trader in any market ever again. This means Anunu had ridden off a valuable trader for his cattle market. And equally important is the fact the more Anunus there are in the society, the more pagans who boycott markets and cultivate trust issues will exist. Unfortunately, the effect will be an interactional rigidity in which people lose confidence in one another, significantly hindering the flow of socioeconomic activities in any organised society. And that’s among the major threats we’re facing in our contemporary societies.

Recently I attended a training in which an expert was hired to teach a skill. At the first encounter, the primary concern of the host was that how trustworthy was the trainer. Because the last time they hosted a similar training, the trainer developed a method that would save high cost, to which they applauded, but to which they had also later come to cry. The man accumulated and embezzled what was saved at the very realisation of his ability to do so and disappeared. And when he was reached out for an explanation, he asked for the accounting evidence, which didn’t exist. So, he got away with it like Andy Dufresne did the prison warden in Shawshank Redemption.

The behaviour along such a pattern of thinking is bedevilling the core of our existence. The primary underlining concern is the rising population of people who grew up admiring, and therefore imitating the cunning in the accounting prowess of Mr Duffressne without realising the gravity of the factors that forced his hands into the action. And so they do it all the time, everywhere and in anything. Unprovoked and with an ignoble feeling of conquering expertise. From bankers who manoeuvre their books to launder money, real estate agents who double-sale plots of land, marketers who sell lower quality products, pharmacists who exploit monopoly of knowledge to overcharge patients, bricklayers and mechanics who drag small work into big, borrowers who run without repayment, hire-purchase and leasers who sabotage the asset intensionally, to even students who charge their parents higher school fees than the demands of the school authority.

More discouraging is the pace with which the behaviour is fastly growing and sadly veiled as a skill that shall be integrated into the conduct and norms of polite society. It’s devastating how an individual identified with an outstanding ability to plot an ignoble moral hazard can be in high demand. The intriguing dimension is that more people are becoming more interested in milking the last bit of everything they wish to exchange, regardless of the moral and legal rights to do so—courtesy of poverty of contentment, lack of good moral upbringing and basic fear of God.

The emerging bracket of youths is so obsessed with what Ibn Khaldoun called “an unnatural way of making a living”, possibly because the output of the natural ways are too slow and demanding of patience, hard work and endurance that they don’t have. And along with that rising collective behaviour, we’re being left at the mercy of a society in which nobody trusts anybody, largely because nobody is trustworthy. The negative aspect of which dilemma causes the death of confidence between individuals and organisations that riddles the conduct of every socio-economic endeavour. Consequently, it often perpetuates the groundwork of the crises that are assassinating the prospects of our major micro industries.

The mass media is jam-packed with reports of crime and unemployment. This has a strong correlation with how the youths demand wealth to come quickly. Therefore, they get methodically radicalised. Likewise, how the middle-aged are giving up hope, thus, resenting moral hazard. Or how the capital owners fear the behavioural infidelity, therefore, save their cash, and, finally, how the three components suffocate the economy and culminate into such an unfavourable avenue of investment. Many are retreating into the fear of market individuals like Anunu and organisational drivers like Andy Dufresne, even though the people may constitute the larger aspect that considers the same action, which rounds up the gravity of our comedy of errors.

The best way to reverse the situation is to reflect and reconsider. It’s beyond certain that if individuals do not understand the advanced consequences of their actions, mediocre moves and poorly-conceived individual actions will keep being mistaken for skills. And when they’re considered skills, they’re being rewarded. At the same time, the effect of reward is encouraging further action of similar magnitude. So indeed, the best solution is mitigating our individual actions. Only that way, we can have a stable ecosystem and social platforms that’ll enable prosperity.

MA Iliasu writes from Kano. And can be reached through his email: muhada102@gmail.com.

By Adamu Saleh Maidalibai 

While the economy is down, school fees higher, poverty increases, many families lost hope that their children could not afford tuition fees. As a result, many families become hopeless, yet many students in Jigawa State manage to survive and get their legs in tertiary institutions across the country.

I know many students that solely depend on scholarships to settle their annual school fees. I know many students who lack food and rely on the same scholarship to get their tummy intact. I know many students who use scholarships to buy materials to improve themselves academically.

Thousands of Jigawa state students become excited when their phones ring, thinking it is a credit alert every day.

I can vividly remember my terrible struggles two years ago when I led a team of thousands of students. Then, we struggled for our betterment (scholarship), and it bore a fruitful outcome. In those days, I proved to myself that yes, I’m a comrade, a student leader with capacity, who could stand for Jigawa state students not only before them but before the government. It has been two years back today. Since then, the Jigawa State government has never listened to students anymore.

I often use to ask myself some questions: Does the Jigawa State government forget about students? Is the government aware of students problems? Are there any students leaders in the state? Do Jigawa state students have a voice? Why can’t they air their concerns? These and many questions cross my mind, but I was ashamed of both the government and the students.

Dear Governor Badaru, part of your manifestos is that students’ betterment will be part of your top priorities. Wouldn’t you fulfil that promise, please?

Leadership is a burden, not an enjoyment. Please do the needful before it’s too late. Then, you will stand before the Lord and be accountable for all that you did. On that very day, what would you tell the Lord (Allah) when you’re asked about students?

Adamu Saleh Maidalibai writes from Kazaure. He can be reached via salehadamu90@gmail.com.