Opinion

By Mallam Musbahu Magayaki

It is no longer news that flooding has washed away about 1,567 farmlands on Tuesday 10 August 2021 in Jama’are Local Government Area of Bauchi State. According to reports by Daily Trust, there were seven villages affected by the menace.

However, Jama’are River, also known as the Bunga River in its upper reaches, starts in the highlands near Jos, Plateau State, Nigerian, and flows northeast through Bauchi and Yobe States before joining the Hadejia River to form the Yobe River. Therefore, if and when over flooding occurs, the resultant effect would undoubtedly lead to the loss of countless lives of peoples’ and destroy their farmlands because of its wide range.

Furthermore, mitigating flooding hazard is one of the responsibilities of ecological fund management by funding the projects to alleviate and manage social-ecological knots. And by extension, the management concerned can liaise with the state government witnessing devastating and uncontrollable flooding risk.

Remember that almost 80 per cent of Jama’are dwellers are farmers where they find it too difficult to get their farming crops for sale in the market when flooding occurs. People from various regions of this country are struggling in Jama’are to buy farming materials. As a result of continuous flooding each rainy season, there are attendant of loss of farming produce.

The government is negligent in mitigating the flooding menace. As the federal government fully knows all the areas submerged by flooding in the rainy season, the government should do the needful before the season.

Advisably, the government should set up committees for monitoring flooding affected areas by observing the type of works that the site needs.

In a nutshell, ecological fund management and state government should, in a matter of urgency, collaborate with World banks flood protection projects to seek their assistance because the projects are capital intensive.

Mallam Musbahu Magayaki writes from Sabon Fegi, Azare, Bauchi State. He can be reached via usbahumuhammad258@gmail.com.

By Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani

Every four years, the whole world assemble in the biggest celebration of sports in the World, the Olympics. Right from the strenuous preparations, several months of intense training, which number up to 47 months and some weeks for a legion of athletes. The Olympics offer pure, undiluted enchantment that has the entire world spellbound. Nothing eclipses it in terms of an array of amusements at display that thrills the spectators. 

This is just the minor aspect of it. It has far-reaching essence for all the nations that participate in it. It is not only the festival of sporting excellence at the highest level but also it brings much more to the table: pride that comes with winning the bragging rights, the ecstasy of athletes succeeding, and the joyous moments which leads to the pure jubilant mood in any nation that gets to reach the podium. 

It appears no nation goes to the Olympics to make up numbers. So it seems in principle, but in reality, the reverse is the case. Any country that flunks inadequately preparing for the most significant sporting events has sufficiently orchestrated to fail deliberately. There aren’t two ways about it. 

Nigeria, my beloved country, has been going to the Olympics for years. However, with all due respect to the athletes, we have yet to attain our potentials. We ought to have done much better as a nation endowed with seas of talents in every hamlet. With this established, I will dwell on our recent Olympics performance where we finished as 74th on the medals table with a solitary silver and a single bronze. That is two medals for a country of over two hundred million citizens that sent 55 athletes where ten were expelled even before it commenced. It is woeful, abysmal, and beyond the pale. Nigeria deserves much better. 

Some may make excuses for Nigeria’s dismal performance because of our vast population, while some may use that as the reason we have done better. But here are some facts for us to use and judge fairly. First, Nigeria’s name is missing on the gold medals table because we didn’t win gold, which is understandable. But on the entire medals table, I have seen some making excuses because of our vast population or otherwise for winning or not winning medals: we did even worse on the per capita table of medals won in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

San Marino, a country with a tiny population of 33,931 citizens, is far less than my local government of Gassol. In short, roughly the population size of my Ward, Wuro Jam: average a medal per 11,310 of her citizens because of the three trophies won. Bermuda, a British overseas territory is second with one medal won. This means a medal for every 63,918 of her population. It must be noted Bermuda isn’t even an independent nation, though it has its Olympics delegation. With a population barely the size of my local government, Grenada won a single medal in the Summer Olympics: 393,244 on average, a medal per 196,622 of her citizens. With 20 medals and a population of 4,82 233, New Zealand averages a medal per 241,111 of her citizens. This completes the top 5. 

With 71 medals won and a population of 144,1096,512, Russian Federation has a medal for every 2, 029,532. This makes it the number 41 on the table. The United States was the overall winner of the Olympics with 113 medals, and a population of 331,002,652 has a medal per 2,929,227 of her big population. Brazil, with 21 medals and a population of 212,559,417, has a medal for every 10,121,877. Astonishingly, even China, the most populous country globally, with a population of 1,439,323,776, has a medal per 16,355,952 of her citizens because of her 88 medals won in Tokyo.

Indonesia, with a population of 273,523,615, sits 91 on the table with five medals. This makes it a medal for every 54,704,723 of its citizens, which is also ahead of Nigeria. Nigeria with two medals is only above India on the log: Nigeria’s 206,139,589 estimated population has a medal per 103,069,794 of her citizens. This makes Nigeria 92nd on the list. With seven medals and a population of 1,380,004,385, India has a medal per 197,143,483 of its citizens. This is a sample of how the per capita table looks.

However you look at it, Nigeria ought to have done better and must do better. There is no room for excuses. We must decisively work towards a greater future for our dear country. To argue otherwise would be suicidal or rather a fatal blow to the aspirations of an ebullient, cerebral, and talented nation that should be aiming for the pinnacle half of the overall table. Once we are successful in doing that: Nigeria’s claim of being the giant of Africa will be valid, especially in sports. 

Talking about the giant of Africa, I believe it isn’t in sports. But if you have a good look at the medals table, most of the most prominent economists and most developed nations are at the upper part of the table. So it is saddening to see the ‘Giants of Africa’ languishing far behind in the world and not among the top 5 in Africa. Kenya had one of her worst performances in recent years for even the best in Africa, with ten medals won in the just-concluded Olympics. 

Hence, we can’t use them as a model of success. Indeed, it is not enough to be the best in Africa or 19th in the world if your performance is nothing to write home about. I followed Facebook posts where many Kenyans bitterly complained about their nation’s dire performance despite being the best in Africa. Yet, I felt that it is how an ambitious and visionary country should behave. Not the revelling of mediocrity for political sake or any other reason.

Do not get me wrong. I don’t mean our athletes shouldn’t be rewarded. On the contrary, all our Olympians should be rightfully taken care of. For donning our national jerseys and deriving joy in representing our country: they deserve some accolades. But that should not deter us from being accountable for our nation’s performance. It is the right thing to do for any country that craves excellence has to do the proper thing. You don’t become the best by wishful thinking. Concrete efforts have to match with ambitions for us to reach our targets effectively. 

From now on, Nigeria needs to plan to succeed deliberately. The fire brigade approach in Nigeria’s preparations for the Olympics must be discarded immediately. It has not yielded any positive results. It will never do. Nigeria’s desire to perform well at the Olympics should go with meticulous plans on the ground. 

We must commence from the basis. Nigeria’s policy of education has to create room for sports right from Primary school. Physical and Health Education must not only be on paper. Today, it exists in most schools, even in urban areas on the paper. There is no corresponding example in reality. If we cannot get it right here, there is little chance of getting it right at bigger stages. The government at all levels must provide ample funds for the execution of a lot of projects. 

In the recently concluded Olympics, Nigeria competed in 10 sports: Athletics, Badminton, Canoeing, Swimming, Basketball, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Wrestling, and Rowing. There are sports that Nigerians are pretty good at. There are sports that we admire as Nigerians. There are sports that we have prospects for but have completely ignored. We must identify all these and put these sports to where they belong. 

Once this is done, the next thing is to provide funds for building sports complexes, stadia, or any sports grounds based on our sporting priorities which must be rooted in sporting preeminence. Then, with that completed, we should hire coaches, or rather trainers. And be sure there are sufficiently catered for, given all the assistance for advanced training in tackling the tough and highest level of sports: all these must be adequately funded for effective execution of these plans. 

Funds are scarce these days, with the Covid-19 pandemic, terrorism, kidnapping, inter-tribal crisis, dwindling oil revenue, and other factors in Nigeria. This shouldn’t be the reason not to seek ways to sponsor such a laudable plan, though. We could do so by using all options, plans, or partnerships to get the desired result. All Nigerian sports enthusiasts, policymakers must make spirited efforts and corporations to deliver the intended result. 

Alternatively, to save cost, we could use the existing sports infrastructure to conduct inter-house sports competitions, inter-local government sports contests, interstate sports competition, youth sporting events, National Sports festival and other sporting events that will produce promising athletes that will become great Olympians, who will, in the end, stand proudly on the podium, medals strapped on their neck, the green, white green flag flying high on the sky. The bottom line is that government must encourage more participation in sports in a conducive atmosphere. All these are doable, with a state-backed programme to salvage our dear country and set her on course for its glorious days. She manifested potentials shown with the right policies, the political will to do it, and implementation achievable.

Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani writes from Turaki B, Jalingo, Taraba State. He can be contacted via abdulrazaksansani93@gmail.com.

By Abdelghaffar Amoka, PhD.

Have you ever wondered why I blink rapidly while talking to you sometimes? Welcome to my world, the world of stammerers. I realised I was a stammerer while growing up, and I tried to devise ways to handle it. It is there, but I think mine is not very chronic. I tried to adopt some steps to cope with it. For example, while in primary and secondary schools, I avoided asking questions in class. Though, considered a good student, I avoided getting involved in school debate competitions, etc. Until recently, I do not ask questions in large meetings and gatherings; I instead keep quiet. Sometimes, I wondered how my voice sounds to the hearing of the people. I was afraid of listening to my voice for fear of losing my words while talking, I tried to talk fast, and I got used to it.

I was in a lecture theatre teaching Physics sometime in 2007 or so and trying to explain a concept. Then I observed something strange after talking for a while, and I stopped. Everyone was looking at me. I was like, what is the problem? Then, one of the students said, “Sir! You can rap.” And, the students and I started laughing. I honestly didn’t realise I was talking that fast, and I was glad the student was bold enough to point that out.

I didn’t realise the challenges of stammering till sometime in 1986 (I was in Primary 6) when I had an issue with my classmate, who was also a family friend. We were called to narrate what happened, and I was so angry that I lost my words. The words got stuck and refused to come, so I could not tell my own side of the story. I opened my mouth several times, and the words refused to come. I find myself smiling each time I thought of that incident. I still find it unbelievable.

Stammerers in childhood are very concerned with other people’s opinions about them. In some cases, they fight to free themselves from bullying. They have difficulty in letting go of their speech. That introduces emotion into their character. Emotional responses to situations and events exist in most humans, but they are triggered more easily in stammerers. They have a great deal of misinformation about what constitutes acceptable speaking behaviour. It is seen as okay for someone else to speak forcefully and dynamically. Still, when the stammerer speaks with any aliveness in their voice, they are perceived as coming off too strong and too overpowering.

I have this colleague who always judges me before listening to me. He is always like: “Abdel, your problem is that you are too emotional”. To him, it is always my fault even though he was not there and emotions were not involved. Even at this, the passionate ones fight the frustrations and still want to be heard at all costs. 

Stammerers see life as a performance. This is related to their need to please others. They are afraid to make mistakes because of how they might be judged. That made it difficult for them to take up responsibility. Just like me, they run away from it. Even with all the emotions surrounding stammering, I hate to pick up a fight. Not for fear of getting beaten but as a child, I don’t want to get into a fight because I do not want to get into my dad’s trouble. As an adult, I don’t want to get into a row being a bodybuilder. I am not sure of what the built arm could do! So I express the way I feel, air my opinion, and it ends there.

Academia is a place that brings about all classes of people, and among them are stammerers. It is one unique society that brings together great minds. The beauty of academia is that there is always an idea to discuss with the great minds around you. While I was at NTNU, Trondheim as a research fellow, the research group members (Elkraft) come out to eat together during (lunch) break. The Professors, Research Fellows, and the PhD students of the research group eat together at the same table.

I initially don’t join them because I was not used to having lunch by 11 am, their lunch break. They expressed their displeasure not seeing me at the table, and I had to join their 11 am lunch. I use to make pancakes that I take out for lunch. I found eating together fun. That is the only time they discuss topics outside academic and research. And there is always something new to take away after lunch. That is the power of associating with great minds.

This quote is commonly attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt: “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people. While the academia in Nigeria is blessed with some great minds, small minds also found their way to that society meant for great minds. Rather than discussing ideas, they make their colleagues their subjects of discussion.

For example, I know I am a stammerer, and I know I am naturally emotional. I know I talk forcefully with an accompanied facial expression. It is OK if you don’t like it. As a matter of fact, you don’t have to like it. But we should talk about it as colleagues if you don’t like it rather than making it a subject of discussion elsewhere. We also have cases of lecturers blackmailing their colleagues to younger colleagues and students. They find reasons to demonise them. Why getting involved in character assassination when you can easily reach out to the colleague to engage him. Your perception and what you heard about him maybe a misconception.

Dear colleagues in academia, you are working with people of various backgrounds and characteristics to pursue truth. We don’t have to like each other. We don’t have to be friends. But we must respect each other and work together to achieve the mission and vision of the university. That is the ultimate goal. Let’s engage ourselves with an open mind; society looks up to us to shape the world. Try to know a bit about your colleagues. Stammerers have difficulty in letting go, not just in their words but across the board. They have difficulty in letting go of what they feel and in what they are willing to risk. There are other people around you with other specific characteristics. You need to understand them.

To colleagues and friends with unique characteristics like stammerers, don’t give in to bullying and blackmailing at the workplace and everywhere. Believe in yourself and your capabilities. Side talks in a place like academia are disappointing, but never let it bother you. Please take it as a part of life. Don’t join words with small minds. Be the great mind that you are supposed to be.

Dr Abdelghaffar Amoka is a lecturer from the Department of Physics, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

Let me give due credit to a deserving personality. In contemporary Africa, it’s rare to find a man like Dr Jamilu Gwamna, who works behind the curtain to upgrade the living condition of other people. 

Jamilu Gwamna is a household name in Gombe State for obvious reasons. However, personalities are remembered for two reasons, either good or bad. For this particular person, the former is the case, not just for anything, but his vision and sacrifices on his people.

One of the gratifying achievements one can ever be proud of is investing in the life of others, knowing fully well that a bright future awaits his community and his state. You bring honour and dignity to them. Indeed, you’re an invaluable asset to the people by investing your wealth in the youths, who are the nation’s backbone.

Someone that uses his wealth to develop the minds and inculcate the spirit of youths deserves to be praised and encouraged by all and sundry. This extraordinary gentleman uses everything at his disposal to develop, direct and move Nigerian youth forward. Jamilu’s fashion for educating youth irrespective of their religion and tribe was borne out of the idea to prepare experienced young minds, retrain them, and upscale their skills to become the desired human capital for the greater good of their country.

Jamilu Gwamna is a kind-hearted, altruist and chummy gentleman that everyone wants to associate with. His gesture cannot be easily forgotten, especially in the eyes and minds of the less privileged. Indeed, he has given hope where it’s needed most. He belongs to the minority class who believes this temporary world isn’t where to lay your hands and stay, a believer of the rewards of the hereafter and leaving a legacy that benefits yet unborn generation.

This amiable patriotic Nigerian has paid his dues as a true son of Gombe soil; he deserves a standing ovation by his philanthropist work. Every human being is at liberty to spend his wealth on himself and immediate relatives, but, Jamilu chooses to give free scholarships to children in every nooks and crannies of his state, and the most beautiful aspect of it is that he doesn’t discriminate, both Muslim and Christian are beneficiaries of his gesture. The majority of sons and daughters of Gombe State are happy and delighted with his tireless effort. Contributing his quoter to the development of the people.

He shows his compassion towards uplifting the people to attend their full potentials; if not for a kind hearted gentleman who has the wherewithal to send young folks abroad, with his own money to study in different fields? He belongs to a school of thought that believes the best you can do to the youth is invest positively in their lives to stand on their feats.

I was highly impressed by his careful selection and intelligence in handling people, a sound understanding of ideas and facts. But, it’s only a tenacious, dogged somebody who has the ability of positive thinking for future generations, with the expectation of nothing in return.

Sir! You gave shoulder to cry for those that needed it. Not only that, being in contact with those people while making sure they lack nothing that would stabilise their psyche is the highest form of generosity. 

History will certainly be kind to you, as you endeared yourself to the people and won their respect. Indeed, you will be remembered for many years as someone who builds the future for yet unborn generation and one of the most honourable philanthropists who has made a difference in standing up for positive virtues.

Never in the history of Gombe had anyone done the kind of work that this extraordinary gentleman is doing. Therefore, may God, who knows the wishes and aspirations of his servants, fulfil all your heart desires, both in this world and hereafter, amin.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmoud Street, Kasuwar Kaji, Azare, Bauchi State. He can be reached via sen.taju@gmail.com.

By Ishaq Habeeb 

The issue that allegedly triggered the recent violence in Jos was that a fortnight ago, men believed to be Fulani militia attacked the Irigwe community and killed 40 people, burnt down an unspecified number of houses and as is their style, vanished into thin air shortly after.

A fortnight later, the aggrieved Irigwe youth decided to block a road, stopped cars, cherry-picked Muslim passengers and slain them in cold blood in reprisal to the ‘Fulani attack’ on their community. 

Now one of the secondary dangers of this barbaric culture of reprisal that’s since become a norm, in Jos, southern Kaduna and other places, is that often, innocent Hausa Muslim travellers and remote village dwellers, where few Fulanis also reside (not the actual Fulani militia), end up as victims of such Fulani militia attacks on random villages at various times for whatever bad blood they must have against such places and also of the eventual reprisals by residents of the attacked communities.

The major reason for this silly idiosyncrasy isn’t far-fetched. For the ignorant, vicious, islamophobic residents of those villages, Fulanis and Hausa are mutually inclusive, since to them, the two appear culturally and religiously homogeneous. Hence, they must share the same agenda; the common denominator here is Islam. But, other than that, I don’t see how Hausa could strike any, as Fulani, physiologically and traditionally.

The shocker to this age-long madness of confusion has now added the Yoruba Muslims to the equation, seeing that as news has it, some of the slain motorists in the Irigwe community were Ondo Yoruba Muslims who were only in Jos for a quick visit.

The sick irony in all of this is that some Fulani pastoralists are only Muslim by birth and name. That aside, the only real religion they have is ‘Fulani’ itself and the real god they really worship and can kill and die for, any day, anytime, anywhere and whoever, is their cow (“nagge“). Their cattle is what they live for and the primary essence of their existence; mess with that and win yourself a lifelong enemy.

Now one easy way to put my theory to the test is to wait until any Hausa community dares to kill or rustle Fulani cattle the way some members of those attacked communities do sometimes – whether as revenge for having their farmlands devoured by the herd or simply for evil intent as is mainly cited. Then, you would see how the Fulani militia will unleash their wrath on such Hausa community in like fashion; the Islam identity you think we share becomes immaterial.

Thank God the Hausa people are not as half as vengeful as the Fulani and those other tribes could be. Otherwise, considering the numerical strength of the Hausa people, then Nigeria as we know it would have long been history by now.

May Nigerians have a sense,
May the Nigerian government grow a conscience,
May peace take over Africa and the world.

Ishaq Habeeb can be contacted via simplyishaqhabeeb@gmail.com.

By Misbahu el-Hamza

What is the major setback for peace efforts in Jos? Is it negligence from the governments? Or the ineffective or unsustainable strategies of the security forces on the ground? Could it be that God has forsaken the city for the crime of spilling innocent blood for decades? What have we done wrong, and how can we make amends?

I think the worst thing that ever happened to Jos from September 2001 to date is the systematic and deliberate disappearance of the once cherished plural community settings into a more homogeneous cultural make-up. Even though this is a product of various influences over the historical line, the major one, inarguably, is the episodes of collective violence for two-decade now in the city.

If you’ve ever been there, the communities in the city of “Home of Peace and Tourism” are now separated based on ethno-religious identity. When a particular group began to dominate another in a place, the minority will sell or evacuate and abandon their houses to move further away to avoid being surprised during crises. Everyone now has their schools. There are few to no Muslim students in the famous schools of St. Murumba College Jos and Demonstration School Jos. There are no longer Christian students in GSS Gangare Jos (save those who come to register and sit for WAEC). Some government secondary schools, which used to house students from different cultural and religious backgrounds, are now left to no use or serve their neighbouring communities. The state authorities have (in)directly invigorated this problem: it has for long forsaken the structures;  allegedly, a Christian staff is only sent to a Muslim community as ‘punishment’ and vice versa.

The most frightening thing about this systematic separation of communities is anyone who deliberately, or by mistake, finds themselves in a neighbourhood other than theirs in times of unrest might likely not make it alive. This is happening in almost all the communities in Jos. I, for instance, escaped death in 2010 when I took a passenger from Terminus Market in the heart of Jos to Satellite Market in Rukuba Road. There wasn’t any crisis going on at the time; it was the ‘usual’ ambush on anyone who enters the ‘other’ territory. Okada/Achaba men like me and travellers who do not know the city well are the usual victims of such ambushes.

Ours isn’t like the Kaduna-Abuja highway disappearance where, if you don’t hear from your relative again, you will be praying and expecting a call from his abductees. No, in Jos, as a Muslim or Christian, you spray mats and begin to welcome people as you mourn the lost person in absentia. It’s this terrible.

The actors in all this? Mostly the youth. The youths who we always sing to be the “leaders” of tomorrow. The tomorrow that’s yet to come in Nigeria. Could one be right to ask how Jos could ever find peace if this is the path it has chosen for itself?

Despite all this sad reality, we all meet up in the marketplaces (basically the ones at the borderlines, which are easy to escape should the devil blow the horn) during the day. We enter the same busses to and from Bukuru. We meet and interact in the banks. Surprisingly, our boys and girls meet up during the weekends to party. In some instances, boys take girls home for further profligacy after partying. Somehow, we all agree to live like this. We only disagree with sleeping with our eyes closed as neighbours, devoid of any quarrel.

Posing the question of whether we truly need one another in Jos, earlier this morning, a school principal, Abubakar Nasiru, made the following point on his Facebook page:

“The mai ruwa, mai nama, mai gwanjo, etc., are hawking in areas like Gada Biyu, the Jentas, Rukuba Road, Apata, Busabuji, rendering their services to those communities every day – non-Hausa, non-Muslim communities. [On the other hand] The mai doya, mai atile, mai masara, mai tumatur, etc., carry out their petty businesses in places like Bauchi Road, Dilimi, Gangare. Rikkos, Nassarawa, and Anguwar Rogo – Muslim communities.” These people spend the whole day in those communities and cannot hesitate, if guaranteed safety, to spend their nights there.

In 2006 when I was in SS3, my community leaders recruited able youths, including myself, as Ƴan Sintiri (watchmen), to serve under the Banga (a mispronunciation of “Vanguard”) group, which has its history from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Our task then was to defend our four borders against any intruder during the night and to prevent the harassment of non-community members during the day. So we worked in batches to substitute other groups. This significantly helped, and in no time, other communities adopted the strategy. This gave birth to today’s form VGN in most districts of Jos. (VGN has been a registered semi-official citizen policing organisation with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission since 1999, though.)

But does the VGN give us the peace and courage to live under the same roof or as neighbours? Certainly no. The separation of communities based on ethno-religious identity will continue to hinder any peacebuilding effort in the tin city.

We cannot have peace until we tolerate each other. We cannot tolerate one another until we accept to live as neighbours. We need to respect our identities and use our diversity as strength just as we used to be 3 – 4 decades ago, to sleep with our eyes closed without an iota of fear that my neighbour will set my house on fire.

For years now, we’ve been deceiving ourselves with so-called programmes for peace, only to gather, quench our thirst for partying and separate back into the borderlines. This, too, must stop.

Plateau state government must be sincere in its dealings. It must engage honest stakeholders from all communities to drive its mission of restoring peace on the Plateau. Schools must be treated equally, so much as every perpetrator must face the consequences of their actions without consideration whatsoever. There must be sincere and rigorous campaigns to rebuild Jos to its past glories; Jos people must co-exist as neighbours irrespective of ethnicity or religion. Otherwise, Plateau is, in general, no doubt a failed state!

Misbahu el-Hamza is a freelance journalist based in Kano and can be reached via misbahulhamza@gmail.com.

By Ahmadu Shehu, PhD.

There is this misleading argument that the government should not support cattle breeding and animal husbandry and that public funds cannot, and must not be invested in any way, to develop the livestock sector in Nigeria. The protagonists of this opinion argue that livestock production is a private business, and as such government should not invest “taxpayer money” to develop the sector. They hold that other citizens provide everything to run their businesses, often citing examples with shop owners, mechanics, transporters, etc. Therefore, in their minds, livestock producers – and millions of Nigerians engaged in the sector – should not receive any form of incentives from the government – financial or material – to enhance their businesses. Well, I know that for most dispassionate and well-meaning Nigerians, the faults in this line of argument are crystal clear. However, as illogical, naïve and vividly absurd as this argument sounds, there’re still Nigerians who believe in and are continuously promoting it, hence the focus of this article.

The whole argument advanced in this line of thought is often faulty, funny, and absurd. For instance, the people fighting against this would be found complaining severely of the government’s failure to provide enabling environments, such as electricity, convenient shelters, and other critical facilities necessary for their trades and businesses. But, the same people deliberately refuse to accept that it is equally the responsibility of the same government to provide enabling environment for all sectors of the economy – including livestock – to thrive. That is the extent to which the Nigerian public discourse is polarised.

Such people feign ignorance of the fact that government spends billions of naira to subsidise and support crop production, which is in the same category as animal husbandry. For decades, the federal government has been sinking billions in fertiliser and agrochemical subsidies and providing single digit loans to farmers and stakeholders in the crop production sector. It is common knowledge that these sub-sectors complement each other and that they are not mutually exclusive. The serial failures of successive governments’ agricultural policies may not be unconnected with the dislocations caused by this partial approach, as the livestock sub-sector heavily influences the Nigerian agricultural sector. Interestingly, however, the self-acclaimed defenders of the free market do not agitate against the government involvement in a “private business” of farming, as if all the farms in Nigeria belong to the government.

Moreover, our darling oil and gas industry is, unfortunately, one of the cruellest beneficiaries of government interventions and subsidies. For many decades, Nigeria has provided a conduit for oil marketers to make billions out of public funds in the name of oil subsidy, without recourse to the economic (dis)advantage it portends. Similarly, the industrial sector engulfs billions under the Bank of Industry and CBN interventions, where producers, factories and businessmen and women are supported to do business. Similarly, the aviation industry consumes billions from the government every year and uses airports and facilities provided 100% from the public purse. Moreover, all Nigerian ports and rails on which business people feed fat are provided and maintained by the taxpayer money. We can go on and on. 

I assume that people adamant on this argument are not actually against the government’s intervention in any economic sector. Their actual grievances are the particular target sector and the perceived beneficiaries of such investments in Nigeria. It is motivated by the social ills of hatred, provincialism, ethnic, religious and regional chauvinism that define the Nigerian social space and the highest form of ignorance. If the hatred is for the cattle, the livestock sector is not all about cattle. Similarly, if the envy and malice are towards the Fulani – the perceived cattle owners – the cows are actually not Fulani. This line of thought is also evidently illogical, uninformed and oblivious of what an economy is all about. That is because it fails to recognise that a sector of an economy cannot exclusively benefit only a section of the population. It may be true that cattle are the central concentration of the Nigerian livestock and that they are identified mainly with the Fulani, but the truth of the matter is that the Fulani are not the most significant economic beneficiary of cattle. They are, in fact, at the bottom of the list. I will explain.     

The Fulani might be the initial owners of the cattle (assuming they are not just employee-herders), but they are not the dealers at the cattle market. While they had spent years growing cattle, day-in-day-out, a dealer trades off the cattle and earns a decent living. Another dealer buys and transports it to other parts of the country, such as the southeast, and makes a profit upon selling it to local cattle dealers, who also earn their living by selling to consumers. The Fulani do not own the trucks that transport these cattle; neither are they the drivers, or other employees working in the transportation sector, all of whom are beneficiaries of the cattle value chain.

The Fulani are not the local butchers whose livelihood depends on the cattle produced by the Fulani that they love to hate. While cattle are the source of the multibillion-naira leather industry in Nigeria, a Fulani has no business being a tanner, skin dealer or exporter. The Fulani produce cattle, but they do not sell bones, blood and other minerals derived from cattle. They are not the owners of the local companies in Port Harcourt, Warri, Enugu or Lagos that use the beef, dungs, skin and other raw materials extracted from cattle. In the dairy sector, the Fulani may produce milk and even sell it out, but they are not the owners of the dairy companies littered all around this country.

Yes, the Fulani love the cow, but they do not own the businesses within the cattle economy. They are unaware and genuinely do not care who makes what out of the cattle they spend many years growing. But for bigotry and subjectivity, these facts are not difficult to grasp. The whole scenario should not be too difficult to understand. Still, let me borrow the language of the cynics to boldly say that given the raw material and mineral resources inherent in cattle, and the role of the Fulani in cattle production, several sectors of the Nigerian economy as well as the billionaires controlling those sectors depend on the Fulani to thrive.

Furthermore, the Fulani provide a whole chain of employment, from the herders to the traders, transporters, butchers, restaurants, and other giant industries. Yet, they are erroneously assumed to be the only beneficiary of this endless economic chain. I do not know a single ethnic group in Nigeria that could match this contribution, and at the same time, bear the brunt of negligence, alienation and even aversion from the society they serve and the economy they support.   

When people argue against investing taxpayers’ money into this sector, I wonder what tax they are precisely talking about. If this is a result of ignorance, let me highlight the tax chain obtained within the livestock value chain. Apart from the taxes paid during herding, cattle are taxed at all markets by the governments; the cattle transporters pay taxes; butchers, tanneries, factories, etc., that deal in the value chain pay heavy taxes to the governments. There are very few sub-sectors that generate this kind of taxation within the Nigerian economy. Therefore, to argue that the livestock sector cannot be funded by “taxpayers’” money is to betray logic.

The preceding discussion shows that even though the Fulani are in love with the ancient traditional human occupation of herding, they do not do so because they are the biggest economic beneficiary of the trade. If anything, the Fulani subsidise the beef and dairy markets, create and sustain millions of jobs, and maintain an extensive value chain, which is crucial to the Nigerian economy. Therefore, if you hate the Fulani, please know that the cow is not Fulani. 

Dr Ahmadu Shehu is a nomad cum herdsman and an Assistant Professor at the American University of Nigeria, Yola. He is passionate about the Nigerian project.     

By Najib Ahmad, PhD

Some remote jobs require intermediate or advanced skills, such as machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. These need you to have a good understanding of some areas in mathematics to solve computational problems. Design and analysis skills in Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Building and Architectural disciplines also require one to have adequate skill in learning-related software such as Matlab, Simulink, Ansys, Autodesk AutoCAD, StormCAD and ArcGIS, 3D Studio Max, Blender, among others. Besides all these, adequate knowledge of computer programming skills is essential. Always utilise the opportunity for an internship or industrial training or student industrial work experience schemes assigned by the school because they are good places for learning and engagement.

Skills acquisition does not only stop in science and tech-related areas, as I earlier mentioned. Whatever major you study in school, there is a skill to gain in it! So grab the opportunity while you still can. Everyone you admire now started somewhere. For instance, if you major in social sciences or arts and related disciplines, acquiring effective communication skills, excellent writing skills, and outstanding data analysis skills can take you to places you never anticipated.

And most importantly, from any discipline, you need to possess sound knowledge synthesis and critical thinking skills. There are good websites to look for a job that matches your skills, such as www.fiverr.com, www.upwork.com, www.freelancer.com, and www.flexjobs.com. The point is: whatever you study, there is a skill to add to it! Just be damn good! The ways to learn them are lengthy yet straightforward. For some, you may need up to six months of dedication or even a year or more to master a particular skill. What matters is, put your best effort as you usually do to pass your university/school courses exams.

In some cases, some people want to advance their careers, and these are all for you. And always remember that age does not matter in this journey. Even if you find yourself somewhere in mid-life, it’s not too late. So many people have had a rethink about their choices and goals in life much later and still make it.

Earlier I remarked that these skills are for everybody who wants to do good for himself. School education (higher education) and skills acquisition are not mutually exclusive; you can blend and achieve both at once. You may have seen that some people argue about which is better between the two, especially in times of uncertainty like now when jobs are scarce. Their point can only be substantiated when the goal was to compare learning a particular skill for a single purpose through extensive training or vocational training education and the school education system in Nigeria. However, you can begin to craft different skills at any level of your study because the current curriculum limits and is not in tune with the current reality about jobs. Hence, I titled this piece ‘Skills Beyond School’.

Arguably, most people wrongly perceive that skills, perhaps largely if not all, are intended only to be technical (Tech skills), and it is for technical people. That is a wrong, misleading impression. ANYONE can learn and master a skill in (or out of) their field of study. It is not rocket science. The energy you use elsewhere – or on social media – can be channelled to where you would surely benefit, even if not for financial gain, but knowledge gain.

For instance, anyone can learn entrepreneurial skills. But, in this case, do not seek short-term rewards! Even the owners of Microsoft, Google, Tesla, and Apple and most likely other ‘big names’ in this field you hear in your locality started their entrepreneurship journey by learning computer programming and other skills. So, begin something somewhere; no matter how little it might be, the change would surprise you one day.

And as you are reading this, I know you are thinking about the possibility of acquiring the skill desirable to get these kinds of jobs and finally be able to work for someone who didn’t even know you, especially outside Nigeria. The fear is normal – many people have shared this doubt at the beginning. I have friends (yes, my friends) who are currently doing remote jobs and cashing out monetary rewards in different fields of skills! Huh, I sound very promising. Because I believe you can also do it. One of these friends is managing a big project remotely. Isn’t that interesting? Imagine in this economic phase, and you have an extra job that provides you with additional benefits, considering that they are all employees of other sectors. FYI, students or graduates like you in southern Nigeria have been enjoying these remote jobs for ages. So, wake up.

What if you believe that everyone doing an online remote job is a potential criminal? In that case, the thing is, you are deceiving yourself. It is particularly irritating for me to see that we like to excuse our premeditated and comforting laziness (pardon the word). Besides, learning some skills can even give you an upper hand in applying for a master’s or PhD scholarship worldwide.

Finally, to reduce the gap or, in other words, to balance the economic growth between men and women, particularly in the North, we need to encourage girls to join the do-it-yourself kinds of skills acquisitions right from secondary school. If I am to be candid, I would tell you that we are left behind in everything. However, it is not too late for us to change the situation for the better. Don’t forget that life goes on even if you do nothing, and it is up to you to catch up. Just wake up!

Dr Najib Ahmad is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Shandong University, China. He can be contacted via namuhammad03@gmail.com.

By Najib Ahmad, PhD

Thanks to the existing curriculum in Nigerian schools (its directions, objectives, and preferences), students who wholly rely on this system hardly possess any tangible skill, which would prepare them to become self-directed or independent or job providers. They can also barely avoid queueing the assembly of youths whose over-dependence on the government-provided jobs is noticeable countrywide. Any thoughtful country that cannot provide jobs for its youth population knows the gravity of its future, which may be bleak. Fortunately, this is not a lonesome fight for Nigeria. It is a common challenge bedevilling the world today from the Far East, West to the far South Mediterranean countries, including developed and developing parts of the world.

There is a lack of adequate jobs everywhere, possibly for several divergent reasons. It is shared treachery, especially with the continuing world’s economic meltdown due to many seen and unseen factors. So, as a Nigerian, please do not take it hard or shudder; imbibe water and relax a trifle because we are not alone in this mess. There may be an advantage to every saddle moment.

Since the beginning of Covid-19, some countries have imposed total or partial lockdown–longer or shorter. These changes in our lives have handicapped the economy of nations and shattered peoples’ economic stability. On and off, many countries are still struggling with lockdown, which eventually forces people to work from home. From reports, you can say that the pandemic exposes the profound weaknesses and causes alarming panic in many countries previously seen as organised and the superpowers (aka God’s own nations). As a result, many people lost their jobs even in those powerful countries. Schools, universities, laboratories, markets, factories, and businesses were all closed, places of work and worship across the world were abruptly shut.

Consequently, different governments and policymakers have realised how vulnerable conventional job systems are. Thus, they are implementing strategies and gradually understanding the need for robust, better approaches to tackle these unprecedented changes. Policymakers have recommended and implemented novel ideas to impact schools, business owners, and entrepreneurs in countries affected by this negative development to make the economy viable and uphold the economic stability of their citizens.

For instance, several schools and universities have switched to remote instruction, in other words, digital learning. Due to the compelling need for endurance, human beings are social creatures who resiliently adapt and quickly learn to familiarise themselves with any given circumstances. People with different essential skills grabbed advantages from the emergent changes. They include but are not limited to computer skills that allow you to carry out remote jobs–working from non-typical office space. Besides, they are the kinds of do-it-yourself skills; they are not the specific skills you can learn from the traditional vocational training school. Suppose the government has plans to train people in such specialisation through vocational training school. In that case, it is a potential task and could easily invigorate people’s economic stability and prepare youth for the path of independence.

Here are a few examples of remote jobs that you can do from any place: (a) Computer programming/Coding; (b) Web development/design and Android or iOS developer; (c) Data science; (d) Content writing, copywriting, copyediting, transcription, and translation; (e) Graphic design; (f) Digital marketing; (g) Video editing; and Virtual assistant, and so forth. Of course, these jobs existed before COVID-19. However, they took a new turn and became enormously popular since the onset of the outbreak, thanks to their necessity and worth in our everyday lives. Thus, the everlasting need cannot be trammelled.

And every person who has no prior computer science/technology diploma or degree can master these skills. It does not matter whether or not one is from science or non-science-based disciplines. All you need is an android/iOS phone, while some require a desktop or laptop computer. Above all, you also require determination in learning and mastering any of these skills. And the good thing is, they are now taught in many online learning platforms for free or for a cost as either certified short courses or nano-degree programs.

The paid access courses are not very expensive if you compare them with the value of what you will learn and its advantages afterwards. Sponsored by the tech giant companies and other government sectors like Microsoft, Google, European Commission, and Universities, platforms such as Udacity, Udemy, FutureLearn, and Coursera offer massive open online courses (free).

YouTube is similarly often graded as the best platform for learning anything; you can use the platform to learn any skill you wish. So if you are a book person, look for the best ones in your field, learn, and practice. Even some establishments from Nigeria are taking part in this skills acquisition training program for the youths, but you hardly see these opportunities discussed in northern Nigeria’s cyberspace. Recently, I encountered another scholarship announcement for a Nanodegree scholarship in many essential skills in varieties of disciplines, which Access Bank, Nigeria will sponsor.

Dr Najib Ahmad is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Shandong University, China. He can be contacted via namuhammad03@gmail.com.

By Umar Haruna Tami

We have already lost count of how many times kidnappers came and abducted people from different locations in Funtua. Still, the ease with which they carry out their operations day by day is alarming. The two successful kidnappings that occurred in the past weekend – Saturday’s in a single house near GRA, Sunday’s in mass in Sabuwar Abuja – symbolise the fragility of the security agents that are meant to protect the town and its people from these monsters.

The security agents and the residents of almost every community have already been defeated through fear. Even a rumour of kidnappers’ presence sends fear around the town and that with a single gunshot, everyone would end up running for their life. Even the “‘Yan Karota” volunteers’ confidence to confront the monsters has since been defeated upon realising that the machine guns the kidnappers carry cannot, in any way, match the plug-bulleted ones they have. Thus, they too run for their lives, even though what they do defines good citizenship.

So a city as big as Funtua, with routes linking it to many towns and villages from East, West, South and North, is under security threat. These links make it easier for the kidnappers to make away with whoever they have successfully carried with little chance of being tracked and attacked. This also makes their operations tricky to thwart in poor-populated areas.

They failed to conduct only two operations that targeted Rabe Sale’s children and that of NAK’s family. But the abortions of these two kidnap attempts have anything to do with the connection between the would-have-been victims and the reserved soldiers brought to the town for special operations simply because they are aristocrats.

But what would be the fate of community members that have already been defeated by the fear of being potential victims of kidnappers even when they shut and lock their doors but have no connection to the soldiers for emergency aid and one of those elites happens to not live among them? The latest kidnap of over ten people in Sabuwar Abuja at only 10 pm — thank God that the captors released them — signifies nothing bolder than the community’s vulnerability and the limited chances the sophisticated security agents have to abort their operations or exchange fire with them. But, on the other hand, they now have the assurance that it wouldn’t cost them much to do whatever they want and at any time!

What Funtua communities need now, just as the other Northern communities need, is making available the reachable lines of those special forces for emergencies. Second is the provision of more of these agents—both the soldiers and policemen — with weapons they can use to repel the kidnappers’ attacks in areas not far from where their help could be needed in time. Third we, the community members, need to reduce the extent of our collective fear for the kidnappers that we can stand up to them, not always run away. It is time for us to start being responsible for where our political choice has landed us.

Umar Haruna Tami wrote from Funtua, Katsina State. He can be reached via umartami1996@gmail.com.