Local

By Tijjani Ahmad

Before banning the use of commercial motorcycles, popularly known as “Achaba”, most of us couldn’t imagine life in Kano without them. At that time, most Kano metropolis residents relied on Achaba as a means of local transport. 

The business of commercial motorcycles was booming and popular during that time, known for its lucrative nature, employment generation and ease of use to residents. 

Suddenly, the then governor of Kano State, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, announced the ban on 22 January 2013. The government explained that many crimes, particularly attacks on security operatives in the Northern Nigerian state, were carried out by men on motorcycles.

Even though there was no specific arrangement for the alternative means from the government’s side, the ban was effective and gave birth to the rise of the tricycle popularly known as “A-Daidaita Sahu”.

A Daidata Sahu was not new in Kano because it was first implemented by the then Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, in 2005 but was not popular because of Achaba. 

However, immediately after Achaba, investors started diverting their investment to A Daidaita Sahu. And residents accepted it since there were no alternative means of transport. It was reported that most of the Achaba riders also followed their investors and started trooping the streets of Kano.

For almost a decade, A Daidata Sahu has been found wanting in many offences, from criminal to civil. On that account, the government took many decisions to regulate the operation of commercial vehicles generally in Kano.

Unfortunately, the purpose of these decisions has been defeated by concentrating on the monetary aspect of most of the policies meant to curb insecurity and regulate motorists’ activities within the state.

Now, Kano State Government placed another ban on A Dadaita Sahu – restricting its operations at night, from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. The question is, how sure are we this will solve the problem of insecurity?

Kano, one of the largest cities in Africa – known for commerce, agriculture and industrialisation, is becoming more sophisticated as its population grows, new businesses emerge and naturally expand. Therefore, whatever policy we bring, we should consider the consequences on the populace, businesses and the environment. 

Despite these, it seems like proactive measures are not what we are interested in; we are instead scratching the surface. That’s why it is always quick banning, restrictions, curfew and many more reactive moves. 

If we are indeed serious, we don’t need to borrow money and install CCTV in the name of curving insecurity. All we have to do is regulate the activities of commercial vehicles within the state and block the leakages of revenue generated from their activities. This will go a long way in checking the crimes and improving the overall revenue of the state.

Three years ago, my friend, a key player in the industry, asked my opinion on whether the government should ban it due to insecurity.

I said this could be done through an effective and efficient database where all the players within the industry, from owners, riders, sellers and service providers, and warehouses. The data must be linked with BVN and NIN. To be part of the industry, you must comply with the requirements. 

By doing so, no motorcycle or any player within the industry should be seen on the street or within the city without registration. Furthermore, each person’s number or tracking ID should be placed on the bike and should correspond with what is in the database. So that whenever any player perpetrates a crime, all you have to do is to know the tracking number. 

This can be used to know the owner and the rider of the motorcycle used to commit that crime. My friend is trying to implement this within their company. Where all their riders can be tracked in real-time using GPD enable tracker. Thus, this is all we need: regulation, not reactive measures such as banning.

Tijjani Ahmad wrote from Kano via ahmatee123@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Aminu

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Kano office has pasted names of governorship candidates that will participate in the forthcoming 2023 general election without the candidate of the court-backed faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The electoral umpire pasted Sadiq Wali and Yusuf Bello Danbatta as gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial candidates of the PDP in Kano.

It can be recalled that intra-party conflicts and litigations following parallel leadership structures troubled the PDP, which led to factional primary elections in Kano.

However, a federal high court gave a favourable judgement in favour of Hon. Shehu Wada Sagagi-led faction that produced Mohammed Abacha as the governorship candidate of the party.

The other faction of the party, led by Sen. Bello Hayatu Gawarzo, who is the North-West vice chairman of the party, produced Sadiq Wali as the governorship candidate of its faction in a parallel primary.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kano, Prof. Riskuwa Shehu, had earlier told journalists in Kano that INEC recognized Mohammed Abacha as the rightful candidate having produced by the faction that was recognized by the court of law.

Reacting to the development that creates confusion in the PDP in the state, INEC Public Relations Officer in Kano, Ahmad Adam Maulud, said the commission at the Kano office submitted the results of the primaries it had monitored to the headquarters of the electoral umpire in Abuja, but they were sent the list they pasted on Friday.

“Whoever wishes to seek any clarification should contact the national body of his or her party for any information,” Maulud said.

Nigerians studying overseas are being urged to return home and help their country to recover, according to Titilayo Solarin, a permanent secretary of the Lagos Education District I.

On Thursday, Ms. Solarin issued the notice during a one-day conference. Oluwatoyin Akindele, a district director who was Ms. Solarin’s representative, said that Nigerian students who had the opportunity to study abroad must return to their own country.

She was quoted to have stated: “The best still for all Nigerians studying abroad is to come and give back to their own country. After studying abroad, we need to develop our own country. Those countries over there, if they were not developed, no one would desire to go over there to study.

“We should get to the point where we, as citizens of Nigeria, should learn how to take good care of our own country and build it up so that our country will be one we will be proud of.”

“Who will build our own country if they (our children) remain over there? Who will take care of Nigeria if our children remain over there?,” She enquired.

By Aisar Fagge

Population explosion can be a boost or a doom. If resources are not well managed in a country with rapid population growth, illiteracy, divisive politics, unemployment, hunger, crime, insecurity, poor standard of living will be the topics of discussion.

Dr. Musa Muhammad Bello, a community physician consultant and also a lecturer with Bayero University, Kano, mentioned this during a maiden monthly seminar organized by the Community Health Organization (CHR) in collaboration with Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Disease and Social Vices (YOSPIS), held on Wednesday, 20th July, 2022 at CHR’s conference room, Kano.

In his paper titled: “Rising Population and Demographic Transition: Effect on Health and Sustainable Development” Dr Bello said “If Nigeria’s population continue growing at this pace, by 2050, it will double to over 400 million. Nigeria will become the 4th largest country on Earth.”

“There is a cause for alarm because, population increase or explosion can be a boom or a doom.”

“If the population is rapidly increasing and resources are not well managed then it will greatly affect the availability of these resources across all sectors – health, water, education, security, etc. It will stretch them to the extent that majority of the population will be suffering in misery – there will be poverty, hunger, starvation, malnutrition, there will be unemployment and poor living standard.”

“All sectors of life will suffer. Take for example Kano State government’s decision to ban tricycle movement from 10 pm to 6 am is an effect of population concentration. The rate of crime has increased. Phone snatchers are everywhere. Some of us here are their victims,” The speaker lamented.

Speaking about the preparation for 2023 census in Nigeria, Dr Bello said, “Census is very important. In fact, according to a United Nations Economic Council, the population census should be done in every country every ten years. But unfortunately in Nigeria, the last census we did was in 2006. So we are far behind.”

“Census gives you the exact number of people and ther demographic structure: gender, age, education, income, location, etc. and that will be a very good tool for planning development in the country. Lack of this statistics will negatively affect the government planning.”

“When it comes to health, you first look at it from disease possession. When there is a population explosion, there is increase risk of disease. People will interact with the environment, their daily activities will pollute the environment; air pollution, water pollution and so many other things. So there is likely going to have increase in disease that are transacted through air because of over crowding,” he concluded.

One of the discussants of the paper, Musa Abdullahi Sufi argued that “Nigeria is not over populated because of its available vast resources.” He urged the academics to do more research to engage policy makers. Another discussant, Zainab Nasir Ahmed countered that “Nigeria is over populated because the resources are in the hands of few people” while majority of the population wallow in squalor.

The seminar received both physical and virtual participants ranging from academics, health workers, journalists and members of Civil Society Organizations (CSO).

By Muhammad Aminu

No fewer than seven cases of rape were reported with some involving minor in various parts of Kano State in the month of June alone.

This was revealed by the Gender-based Violence (GBV) monitoring team of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) during a press briefing on Thursday, 21st July, 2022 in Kano.

CITAD’s GBV project manager, Zainab Adamu said there are reported cases of various Gender-Based Violence on the increase in the State.

She said online harrassment, sexual abuse and harrassment have significantly increased in June when compared with reported cases in May.

“Rape cases were 7, Online Harassment 22, Sexual Blackmail 8, Sexual Harassment60, Sexual Abuse39, Wife Battering 3 while School Violence1, she noted.

She stated that the data collected for the month of June showed “In comparison with the data obtained in previous months, GBV cases are still on the increase. 140 cases were reported via our GBV App for the month.”

According to her, CITAD’s GBV App and Sustained awareness creation have increased people’s reporting of the GBV hence the need to have perpetrators brought to justice.

“The GBV Offenders database which the government adopted recently will go a long way in curbing the menace as offenders will rather desist from the act than to be publicly shamed.

“As much as we continue to monitor and report, we will like to appeal to parents, relatives and others to always report cases to the various agencies handling GBV cases. Keeping silent will not protect the victims who suffer. It encourages the perpetrators to take this silence as a stamp of acceptability, she added.

She reiterated CITAD’s call to Kano State Government to create Special court for GBV related cases and monitoring units in schools to help check GBV in schools to enable students particularly female students to be protected from abuse.

She appealed to all other stakeholders and the general public to lend their support and cooperation to combat Gender-Based violence both physically and virtually.

By Aisar Fagge and Uzair Adam Imam

The House of Representatives has urged the federal government to come to the rescue of Darazo community in Bauchi State affected by a devastating flood a few days ago.

The Daily Reality gathered that the devastating flood disaster destroyed more than 200 houses, farmlands and other sources of livelihood.

The lawmakers made the call through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and other relevant agencies.

However, reports disclosed that this was coming Wednesday at the plenary after the adoption and passage of a motion moved by the member representing Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency, Mansur Manu Soro.

Soro expressed deep concern over what happened in the community that the flood had displaced thousands of citizens.

Therefore, The House has called on the NEMA to provide support to the victims and to also engage the Bauchi State Government with a view to resettling those who were displaced by the flood disaster.

By Aminu Muhammad

The personnel of Kano Road Transport Agency (KAROTA) have allegedly stabbed a Point of Sale (POS) operator and brutalised many others, including women in Kano, during the recent Eid-l-Kabir Durbar in Kano.

The victim, identified as Radiyuddin Tahir, who operated a POS service in the Sabon Titin Mandawari area in Gwale of Kano State, was watching durbar before his shop when the incident happened.

Radiyuddin sustains injury in the abdomen and is currently receiving treatment at Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano.

Eyewitnesses said the KAROTA personnel became furious when they alleged that onlookers yelled at them while they were following the entourage of Kano emir.

An eyewitness, a relative of the victim, Salahuddin Nams’aiki, narrated how the incident occurred: “the emir had passed while KAROTA were in the last part of the entourage rallying with their vehicle and weapons. They headed toward onlookers, and we were watching in front of our shop. They just came and started hitting people. That was how they stabbed him and injured other people, including women.” 

Another eyewitness said men of the KAROTA were passing in their vehicle rallying when some people yelled at them and started mocking them, which infuriated them to start beating people indiscriminately around the area, leading to stabbing the victim.

The young man’s parents have accused the KAROTA personnel of stabbing Radiyuddin with a knife in his business environment. 

Malama Balaraba Shehu, the victim’s mother, said the unfortunate incident traumatised her because Radiyuddin has been an essential family supporter, saying, “By Allah, he [the victim] has been supportive to the family and me. My child isn’t a thug. He doesn’t smoke. Why would they beat him like this? I pray God to come to our aid.”

KAROTA Public Relations Officer Nabulusi Abubakar Kofar Na’isa, who confirmed the clash, said they were yet to get the formal report because KAROTA and other security agencies were involved in the incident, which he said was not led by KAROTA.

He stated: “There was a clash, but it was a joint task force operation which included KAROTA, NSCDC, FRSC, Police etc. not KAROTA alone is involved in the operation. And it is not KAROTA that was leading the team. 

“Just like he was injured, KAROTA operatives and others were also wounded. Four KAROTA officers sustained injuries; three of them were hospitalised, but they were discharged earlier today. So we are waiting for the report of the incident before taking any action. We cannot say anything now.”

A legal practitioner in Kano, Barr Abba Hikima, said carrying weapons by KAROTA operatives contravenes Nigerian laws, adding “we often receive complaints from people on how KAROTA operatives hit people or people’s vehicles. There is no law that allows them to wield a weapon of any kind. It contravenes Nigeria’s laws. Commissioner of Police should arrest those carrying weapons because it is against public order.”

Police Public Relations Officer in Kano SP Abdullahi Kiyawa neither answered several calls to his mobile phone nor replied to a message sent to him.

The Police, however, in a statement by the spokesman Abdullahi Kiyawa said the Sallah celebration was peaceful in the State, but 85 thugs were arrested across five emirates of the State.

By Kabir Musa Ringim

I took my pen to write on this topic with mixed reactions: on the one hand, it is indeed a welcome development to have the number of media houses increasing at a fast rate in Northern Nigeria, but on the other hand, it is worrying to listen to or watch most of the new breed of journalists on several FM radio and TV stations, majority of which are newly established.

I refer to myself as an accidental journalist because I am a Computer Engineer, and I hold MSc in Information Technology and work as a polytechnic lecturer. But all my life, I have been a lover of media. I was an ardent listener of radio since childhood. I can still remember with nostalgia how I used to ask my mother to wake me up when it was time for BBC Hausa’s morning and late evening program at 8.30 pm, followed by VOA Hausa’s 9 pm program. I just couldn’t afford to miss listening to the likes of the late Hindu Rufa’i Waziri and Elhadji Diori Coulibaly.

My love for radio influenced my passion for journalism and the media profession. I started going to media house after I finished my Diploma in Computer Data Processing and IT in 2005. Furthermore, I wrote my project on the impact of radio with a case study of Freedom Radio, Kano. Thereafter, after graduating from BUK in 2011, I joined Freedom Radio Dutse as a voluntary staff working in the newsroom. I later opened my blog (ringimkabir.wordpress.com) in 2015, where I share news articles after translating them from English to Hausa. Now, I’m a freelance editor with Sawaba FM, Hadejia and SkyDaily online newspaper.

I narrated my brief sojourn in the media profession to pave the way for my moral stand and justification in talking about the dearth of intellectual, intelligent and hardworking personalities in the majority of our media houses in Arewa. A vast number of our media personalities are those that find themselves studying mass communications or languages by accident, lazy and unserious individuals with no passion for media, no love for radio but masquerading themselves as journalists to earn a living through meagre salaries or brown envelope journalism that has become the order of the day.

It is really frustrating to listen to most radio stations, especially in big cities where there are many, like Kano and Kaduna. The grammatical blunder, the mispronunciation of names of VIPs, national figures and important towns, and the incorrect voicing of arithmetic figures, dates and even times are unforgivable. The newsroom culture is dead; no intellectual discussions and arguments concerning news reports, and there is little or no investigative journalism being practised. Just copy and paste, edit, translate and cast on air or publish.

Media plays a vital role in educating, entertaining, enlightening and informing the people. It is the voice of the voiceless, a pathway to freedom for the masses and, above all, the fourth estate of the realm. Media houses, most especially radio stations, have been second to none when it comes to news dissemination in Arewa since the pre-independence period. The power of radio in Northern Nigeria is enormous.

In my view, the problem that caused the scarcity of intellectuals in the media profession originated right from universities and other higher institutions. Our institutions have been churning out thousands of half-baked graduates year in, year out. I really wonder how someone can graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications but cannot speak or cast news in English. The majority of journalists in newsrooms cannot translate news from English, the language of instructions, to Hausa, the mother tongue.

Finally, despite the sad situation I elaborate on, I still believe we can get it right. The human brain never stops learning, provided deliberate efforts are being made to learn new things. With hard work, courage and determination, we can be like our predecessors in the media profession.

I have no intention of remaining in the media profession for long, but I will forever love radio. As such, I found it an obligation for me to speak up and energize my fellow journalists to stand up to the challenge and make a bold statement about becoming better every day. I still hold the belief that if someone can do something, I can do it too, and you can do it as well.

Kabir Musa is a lecturer at Binyaminu Usman Polytechnic Hadejia and writes from Ringim, Jigawa State.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The North East Zonal Secretary of the New Nigeria People Party, Babayo Liman, attempted to suspend Alhaji Sani Shehu Sanin Mallam, the party’s state chairman, in Bauchi.

However, State Working Committee of the party rejected the move. The suspension was announced yesterday and was alleged to result from the chairman’s efusal to accept the query issued to him.

Speaking at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Secretariat in Bauchi on Wednesday, Barrister Mohammed Mohammed, the Party’s State Legal Adviser, said that the Zonal Secretary’s action was invalid and in violation of the party’s constitution.

He said “Liman and his cohorts didn’t follow due process”, and had no constitutional right to suspend any executive council member.

“If any member of the State Executive Committee of the party is accused of any wrongdoing, a disciplinary committee must be set up to investigate, give the accused [a] fair hearing by giving him the opportunity to defend himself and submit recommendations before taking any action and they didn’t do anything like that.

“Since nothing was done to authenticate their action, it is null and void we the executives are with our chairman and we will not allow unconstitutional action of any member to cause confusion in the party,” Mohammed said.

He reiterated that Sani Shehu Sanin Mallam remains the Chairman of NNPP in Bauchi State.

By Muhammad Aminu

The Kano State Police Command has arrested a 24-year old ex-convict for burglary alongside his accomplices in Tudun Murtala Quarter of Nasarawa LGA in the State.

The Police said at least 32 phones had been recovered, mostly Android phones, from the suspect.

According to a statement from the Police Spokesman Abdullahi Kiyawa, the suspect, 24-year old Umar Salisu who had been previously convicted for similar offence, confessed to breaking a shop and stealing the phones.

The statement said: “Sustained efforts coupled with intelligence-led follow-up resulted in the arrest of the principal suspect, Umar Salisu, ‘m’, 24 years old, of Tudun Murtala Quarters Kano.

Two other suspects were arrested for buying thirteen (13) of the stolen mobile phones from the suspect, with an effort for more recoveries.

Kiyawa said “He was arrested two years ago for theft of ten (10) Mobile Phones, charged to court and sentenced to two years in the correctional centre without an option of a fine, where he served for the period and was recently released.

“He begged not to be charged to the same court because the Magistrate warned him.”

According to Kiyawa, the Police has earlier received a complaint of burglary in the area where around 40 mobile phones were stolen.

“On receipt of the complaint, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, fsi raised and instructed a team of Detectives led by SP Abubakar Abdulmalik, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Zango Division to trace and arrest the perpetrator(s).

The team immediately swung into action,” it added. Kiyawa said that the suspects would be charged to the Margistrate Court that once convicted him after discreet investigation. He called on the residents to continue supporting the Police in discharging their responsibilities diligently