Federal Government of Nigeria

By A. A. Bukar

Let me preface this with the caveat and confession that part of the reason I recently slow down hobnobbing with professors is my increasing abhorrence of this culture of excessive bootlicking and kowtowing that is creeping into academia and eroding the ideals of independent thought, spirit of free inquiry and detachment that hitherto characterise intellectual discourse. The radical critique of issues and events for the betterment of humanity and irradiating the society is slowly taking a wing, supplanted with overt politicisation of minor issues (and even non-issues). Today, young academics, like myself, are becoming increasingly afraid to express even simple admiration of who they consider as the IDEAL TYPE among their teachers and mentors in academia because of “interpretations”. For this, you can even be reported to the enemy of such a scholar to possibly victimise you “sabida ai yaron wane ne! Ku kyale shi, ai zai zo defence, ai za’ a kawo papers dinsa for assessment”. And on and on. Such pettiness and vendetta. Hence, many – out there – see  Nigerian academics as the worst enemies of themselves and are happy with how FG is dealing with them.

Little wonder whether this culture is obtainable in other parts of the world. Departments are compartmentalised into cliques and camps a la political parties in the larger society. Professors are becoming like emirs fortified by sycophants, making them unnecessarily snobbish and covetous of flattery. PhDs are deliberately delayed or tactically killed because a candidate does not BELONG. A blind eye is turned to obvious wrongs, mediocrity, and crass injustice because “our oga” is INVOLVED. Entitlements and privileges (especially of the younger ones) are stampeded to settle SCORES.

A friend sent me a Jumaat goodwill message, a quotation from Rumi which reads: “Listen to silence; it has so much to say”. How many PhD/MSc candidates do you know writhing in silent pain of frustration? Prof sirs and mas: listen to our silences and that shy smile that says “ba komai sir”. When I was an undergrad, I once overheard my teacher, Dr Gausu, talking about one of his colleagues in Economics, Business or Accounting (I can’t remember exactly) who’d become agoraphobic and almost schizophrenic because of PhD manhandling from a senior colleague. Of course, then I was too inexperienced to understand the heck that was about. They sarcastically even refer to the initials as “Pull Him Down”.

Whether this augurs well for generation, production and dissemination of ideas and knowledge typical of the Ivory Tower, I leave it to your imagination.

For these and more, many ideal intellectuals are on the lookout for escape windows from the suffocating atmosphere of poverty and frustrations taking over academia like a thick cloud on the horizon. Many are “diversifying”, hence diverting their attention from the absolute commitment ideal scholarship demands. Others are increasingly becoming nonchalant – that I-don’t-care attitude of: “if the department or unit fuels the generator set, fine, otherwise I teach the SPSS or Word Processing on the whiteboard”. Elsewhere blackboard. So Nigerian hospitals are not alone; medical practitioners are just a cohort.

Despite all odds, I love being at the University. It is a place where I feel I naturally belong. And our campuses are still dotted with the IDEAL TYPE (just as there are IDLE TYPES who do not “profess” any knowledge) that constantly bring back to one’s memory my favourite: Edward Said. Critically engaging. Highly unassuming – like Mazrui. Passionate about nourishing the mind; concerned with the public good and Humanity as a whole. People who will unconsciously make you feel you are far from arriving without making you feel embarrassed. I have recently met and enormously admire one such intellectual is Professor Abubakar Mu’azu of the Mass Communication department, UNIMAID.

Interpret this one too the way you like. Report me anywhere. Land me into trouble. I no longer care. But Allah knows whether this is coming from the bottom of my heart or elsewhere. Such as an attempt to curry favour.

After all, what use is admiring people if you cannot tell them or others you do? Or should we hold on till they are no more? Wouldn’t that serve as a token of encouragement to maintain the course and tempo against all odds?

I have earmarked a few other similar intellectuals I will write about in due course on this space. I will unburden my heart about people I feel positively towards. Yes, I will specify those who fit my definition of the ideal intellectual. Part of this is, of course, honesty. Wallahi, no matter how engaging you are, you are out of the equation once it comes to the light you are dubious and too self-centred. If you’re extorting money or sex from your vulnerable students, you cannot be my model. But again, I am not looking out for an angel.

Back to the subject, I have met with Prof Muazu only a few times. One was when he came as an external examiner to my thesis in April 2018 and some months earlier as an accreditation team member for the college I taught in Yobe state. The last, some weeks back. Each, he left me with nothing but admiration and deep respect.

When I phoned my referee and supervisor at undergrad, late Prof Maikaba, to congratulate him on his last promotion, he typically enquired about the progress of my thesis. I told him then, “I was done with viva yesterday and effecting corrections now”. Curiously, he returned with a finder about the examiner. When I replied that it was Mu’azu, he said: “kace an sha aiki”. Toh Bukar. PhD beckons. You can’t wait, especially for one in this business. He admonished me as usual; I giggled, thanked and said my goodbye.

I don’t know whether it’s appropriate to reveal this too. Some hours before the viva voce, my supervisor, Dr Binta Kasim Mohammed, called alerting me “to prepare very well. Because the external examiner brought is extremely thorough and critical”. Sir, you are appreciated and held in high esteem not only by nonentities like us but also by your colleagues. But my assessment of you from afar is that: these things matter little to you (if at all) – out of humility.

From both you and the late Maikaba, I graduated with distinction. But each time we met, you left me feeling inadequate, making me wonder ‘when will I arrive?’. Parts of this are the books you recommend, which I never read, or know not exist. But somewhere in WHERE I STAND, Sheikh Gumi has opined along this line that knowledge is such enigmatic that the more you learn, the more you realise that you know very little. I wonder whether you feel something similar sometimes. Yes, despite the accomplishments. In just your last visit, you recommended, as the situation warranted, many texts. Among these are Peter Winch’s THE IDEA OF A SOCIAL SCIENCE AND ITS RELATION WITH PHILOSOPHY. Then the POSITIVIST DISPUTE IN GERMAN SOCIOLOGY. The latter is such a rare collection – in fact, my first time to meet Adorno, Habermas and Karl Popper in one place. Both books remind me of similar stuff I read from the staple of Claude Ake and Yusuf Bala Usman of blessed memory.

In this vein of characteristic modesty, you specifically asked me to read Ben Bagdikian’s MEDIA MONOPOLY after the viva voce in order to steel my argument on the influence of profit drive in media content production. A copy of my thesis still carries your adorable handwriting suggesting the title and other points. But little wonder you never drew my attention to the fact that you have written extensively on media in peacebuilding until my curiosity took me to the internet and a bookshop where I stumbled CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND THE MEDIA IN NIGERIA  – a book coedited by you and Gani Yoroms. This was despite your awareness that my thesis is squarely about this matter of controversy. Quite recessive indeed.

With the crisis engulfing Nigerian Universities (the worst I have ever seen) and academics running helter-skelter for greener pasture, I equally wonder what becomes of the academia after the few of you that remain out of passion pass on to something else or the inevitable great beyond. And especially if this maddening ill-treatment continues from the federal government. Allah Ya kiyaye, amin.

Bukar teaches Mass Communication & Journalism at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

By Muhammad Sabiu

By Mujahid Ameen Lilo

When in 2015, the then incumbent president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, called to congratulate his opponent ahead of the announcement of the election winner, it was hailed as a heroic act. The act further cemented the country’s democratic maturation and avoided the imminent disintegration of the country had the president not accepted defeat. Moreover, it ensured a stable and successful government transition in a country on the brink of war.

The former president of the Niger Republic got the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership because he respected term limits. Yet, nobody was found worthy of the award for eight years, which points to African leaders’  disgraceful culture of disregard for term limits and bastardising of democracy. What’s more annoying, though, is the culture of celebrating the few ones that respect the term limits.

When we understand that it’s the moral imperative of our leaders to bow to the people’s will, to respect the constitutional authority that put them there and dictate their term limits. Until then, we wouldn’t rush to make a big deal of it and lionise them, present them with awards, among other things. We tend to forget and forgive their misrule. The great disenchantment with the previous administration’s sadistic leadership style made Nigerians ready to go to any lengths to vote out that party. People were prepared for war if the election got twisted. So it’s the morally and politically correct thing to do, that is,  handover.  Most of these leaders leave behind enormous debts, worsening insecurity, cases of corruption and so on.

The recent coups in Guinea and Chad and the foiled one in Niger indicate the frightening facts that the West African countries are far from political stability. Military intervention hardly change matters. It shouldn’t be the response to a faulty democracy. The West African subregion should thoroughly shake itself off the yoke of any military powers. The democratisation of the whole subregion would go a long way in stabilising it. Not that democracy is perfect per se (what with her so-called upholders violating one of the fundamentals: periodic election), but that we can and should practice it most purely, quite distinct from the military system. There should be an atmosphere that’ll facilitate proper reforms of democracy.  A stable system of government will guarantee peace and also bring about the desired developments.

It’s on this premise that I’d now address another factor that is damaging to our democracy, threatening what little peace and stability is left in the region: electoral processes.  In my country Nigeria, once it’s time for elections, people who live away from their states of origin start rushing back to their hometowns because elections have been synonymous with violence leading to the death of many people. There should be peace for people to exercise their fundamental right of voting. Instead, thugs are paid to violate the process. Many people believe in the quote that ‘our votes do not count; otherwise, they wouldn’t let us vote’.  However, that is not where the problem lies.  I believe that we’re capable of holding free and fair elections as we’ve done in the past. We can cite many examples with Nigeria as a case study. The fourth republic election in Nigeria that put Chief Obasanjo into power was relatively free and fair. The two elections that put Buhari into power were also pretty free and fair. We cannot forget the annulled election of June 12, 1993.

I was born in the early 2000s. My generation is called the ‘golden generation’ because the Nigeria we’re born in is democratic, free from colonial and military powers. But my generation suffers from a collapsing education system (most have to attend private schools because the government ones are total craps), from frequent strikes in universities to insecurity devouring our lands like an inferno. This semester, I was looking forward to fieldwork we are supposed to go on in a literature course but have to resort to what our lecturer calls ‘mental research’ because nowhere is safe. This generation is so angry – a wave of anger manifested in the Endsars protests.

On days like this, independence day, I sit and reflect on the happenings in my nation while my fellow teenagers are out having fun, draping their bodies in the country’s colours and posting things like ‘happy independence’ on social media. Yet, the ghost of Achebe and Gimba surrounds me as I struggle to intellectualise my thoughts, building it on Achebe’s dictum (the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership) and the Gimba’s theory that differs from Achebe’s.

I am a lover of columns. As a child, I was very socially and culturally conscious, reading my dad’s dailies. On my shelf, I have a collection of columns: Gimba’s Why am I Doing This, Tundes’s Nigeria: A Thousand Cries, A Thousand Laughs, Nda Isiah’s Nigeria: Full Disclosure, and Victor’s Excuse Me. The writings there span Nigeria from Obasanjo’s first tenure to the eventful short tenure of Yar’adua and Goodluck’s tenure. Presently, I read Kakanda, Bulama and Abubakar,  whose columns are about the present administration. All through, there is rage. There is a disappointment. These essays echo in my conscience, making it hard for me to celebrate not only Nigeria’s birthday but those supposed champions of democracy, that after much damage, step aside and respect term limits. Like Jonathan. Like Niger’s Muhammdou, winner of Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.

Mujahid Ameen Lilo is a winner of the Wole Soyinka Essay Competition and a student at the Department of English, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

By Muhammad Sabiu

All is set for the launch of the copy of the Nigerian constitution (1999), which was translated into Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba by Prince Ade Ajayi Foundation Centre for Constitutional Literacy and Civic Education.

President of the foundation, Mr Ajayi, made the disclosure to journalists in Lagos on Friday.

He said that the translation work into the three languages, whose launch is scheduled to be held on the 25th day of November, took them six years.

According to him, the task aims to promote unity, national orientation.

He added that a book titled ‘I Love Nigeria, My Country’, would also be launched in the hope that national cohesion would be enhanced.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted him as saying: “Of 4,000 Nigerians randomly sampled in urban areas, over 80 per cent had never seen or read in whole or part, a soft or hard copy of the 1999 constitution.

“Of those who had, more than half could not recall what they had read. The statistics in rural areas are abysmal, largely due to literacy levels.

“We believe that the first step in national orientation is adequate civic education. This cannot take place where citizens do not have access to the one document that can most wholesomely, inform them.”

By Bature A.

Initially, it appeared that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Project for Agricultural Coordination and Planning (Fmardpace) had come to help farmers and enumerators. However, the ministry has nothing to offer; it has lost focus and all the promises made have turned out to be deceptive.

When India championed and succeeded in the Green Revolution of the 1960s, it was not grounded on propaganda, delay in payment and late distribution of inputs, withholding extension workers allowances, deceit and misleading publications.

According to the Premium Times online report (June 29, 2020), the ministry targeted 2.6 million farmers, while N600 billion was earmarked for the farmers’ fertiliser subsidy, grant and non-interest loan. However, despite its early approval, the program’s impact is yet to be felt by the farmers and enumerators.

The ministry promised to help reduce the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural production in Nigeria. Recall that AFJP was launched in Funtua Local Government of Katsina state on July 23, 2020, as reported by Daily Trust and Vanguard. The formal commencement of the program took place at the home town of the chairman House Committee on Agriculture.

Agricultural inputs such as fertiliser, pesticide, herbicides, seeds and motorcycles for extension work are displayed to the attendants and reporters. However, after the occasion, the displayed items are nowhere to be seen or heard of again.

A well planned Agricultural support program should be ready to reach beneficiaries by April or mid-May. Although some ABP companies draw their funds from or liaise with the CBN/Nirsal Plc, they distribute inputs early than the government’s ministry itself. It took Fmardpace almost two years to finalise data capturing, reconcile data and initiate distribution of inputs. Many enumerators miraculously escaped snakes’ bites, kidnapping, robbery or being lynched by angry farmers. Enumerators have crossed through the thick and thin weather[s] to carry out their duties. Manual mapping and data capturing, for that matter.

Enumerators suffered rough handling from the Fmardpace. Initially, the ministry promised to pay for the work done weekly after verification of the Surveys done. Subsequently, it takes months to process despite working as an influencer, Orientation and Mobilization agent.

The first and worst of all, maltreatment is the delay or withholding of payment. The second is, invalidating enumerators surveys without sufficient explanation.  Some surveys were rejected without transparency on what makes them invalid. Thirdly, the complete failure to initiate the distribution of inputs to qualified farmers on time.

In addition, enumerators have carried out soil sampling exercises/collections between May 10 to 26, 2020. However, some enumerators managed to collect the samples without being provided with the due equipment. In the plan, the soil sample collecter would get a hoe, shovel, bucket, and a small bag. However, only the bag was provided.

This is a program that had been moving forth and back without progress. On May 26, 2021, the ministry stated that the second level validation for surveys carried out in June and July was completed. On June 30, 2021, the ministry confirmed that the federal government had approved the Fertilizer Subsidy Grant to farmers whose BVN was validated by the NIBSS. On July 2, 2021, the ministry confirmed that payment processing of the first batch of the fertiliser subsidy grant to qualified farmers had begun. 

Enumerators have raised concerns over certain decisions by the ministry. For instance, when Fmardpace said their agents from Abuja would be calling farmers for verification, they were urged to consider some factors, which I’ll list below.

First, the majority of the farmers are rural dwellers. So they may not be able to speak English (which FMARD agents use). Secondly, there was network scarcity in rural areas. If the ministry uses phone calls, then over a half will be disqualified. Thirdly, when the contractors of inputs distribution came, they came with strangers that are afraid to get to the villages or remote towns to verify farmers, which may automatically disqualify farmers.

It’s fascinating to note that enumerators were doing their work patriotically until when mistreatment of the workers worsened. Then, the faces of enumerators and farmers became wallowed in the mud: no payment, no reply, mainly robotics/programmed responses from the situation room computers.  

Enumerators have since submitted to the formalities of the ministry. Seventeen (17) months of the program, the remaining balance of 50% per cent payment, after the second level validation of the surveys, is not being processed. There’s no specified date for it or helpful insight to it.

Enumerators need a clear statement from the new Minister of Agriculture on why their payment was withheld. Fmardpace should take note that there are damages incurred on enumerators for violating the initial arrangements of the payment. The collective wishes of the enumerators, master trainers and farmers is that the new minister should be different from his predecessor.

I recommend that when the next Fmardpace is to undertake farmers surveys, they should build an app that the enumerators can see right away on the screen of their mobile phone when surveys are valid or otherwise. Meanwhile, transparency is enhanced.

When there’s an exercise to be carried out, the ministry should not send people to the field without having their payment voucher on the ground. Adhoc, part-time or extension work should not be like capital projects that would have to be included in the annual budget before payment could be made. Besides, where is the yearly budget of the ministry?

They should also make sure the application they’re building contains all the necessary steps for the required information that NIBSS and CBN need from every beneficiary to be qualified. There’ll be ease of (extension workers) stress of recollection and reconciling of data. 

Furthermore, farmers need agricultural loans the most between April, May and June to prepare in advance. Therefore, if the ministry is genuinely concern and working towards revolutionising Agriculture in Nigeria, they should act on these issues as soon as possible.

Bature A. writes from Kaduna. He can be contacted via glitzinkreviews@gmail.com.

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.

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 Khadijah Tijani

I have read many reactions to the recent trend of young and vibrant Nigerian doctors leaving the country for greener pastures. I also saw the interview with the minister who said the doctors are free to go because “we already have too many of them”. Some people even blamed these “selfish” doctors for refusing to stay after benefitting from “ridiculously cheap” medical education, blah, blah.

Oh well… Maybe I missed it, but I don’t know if anyone has talked about what these doctors are paying in exchange for their right to leave. Where these funds are going is another question begging for clear answers. 

For you to get a new passport or renew an old one, you need to pay something between 35k and 70k depending on the number of pages and the validity period. But you also need to tip some officers so that your passport can be issued on time.

Some universities do not issue your final certificate until years after graduation. Transcripts are not available online. You need to travel down from wherever you are and go to your university to make a request. If you are lucky, you will get it after several weeks. And yes, they will also charge you a not-so-little administrative fee for that.

Suppose you are asked to send a source-verified copy of your credentials to a regulatory body, for example, Saudi Council for Health Specialties. In that case, you need to pay up to 30k for each document to be verified and additional fees for courier services. Moreover, since many universities still don’t have functional emails or reachable phone numbers, you still have to travel down to get it done or pay someone to do it for you.

Talking of regulatory bodies, they also want to be sure that you are a good doctor and have never been in trouble while practising in Nigeria. So, they will ask you to submit a certificate of good standing, which goes for 66k. Some will also ask for detailed medical checks and police clearance certificates – more expenses. You have to pay for the medicals even if it’s where you currently work. 

When you are done with all that, and you finally move out of the country, you will still get yearly reminders to pay your dues to remain a licenced doctor in Nigeria. Of course, some people stop paying, but I know many doctors who still send their 10 to 20k annually. They even mandated us to pay 40k contributions towards the new NMA building last year.

Every university and medical college have their respective association of alumni in the diaspora. They contribute millions of naira to their alma mater each year. In addition, they send expensive machines to help in-patient care and loads of materials to aid in medical teaching. Unfortunately, some of these supplies might become sabotaged by the killjoys within the institutions if there is no direct supervision and maintenance. 

I have not even mentioned the off-record funds you have to send to family and friends back home every month. Or the huge amount of money that doctors have invested in small to large businesses in the country. Or the free medical and surgical services many have provided to the people whenever they come home on vacations. Or the big hospitals many have established to create employment for the people, among other things.

I am worried about the brain drain, but I am also concerned about the people who do not understand the pain of an average doctor who wants to leave. They think it is easy to wake up one morning and jump on the next flight. And oh! Flight ticket and all the hurdles you need to pass through before you cross the border… Phew! 

Since they think we are too many and can be exported like cash crops, we also need to ask them where the money from the foreign exchange is going. Are they building more hospitals or renovating the old ones? Are they providing enough medical supplies to work with? Are they paying the salaries of the few or “just enough” doctors left behind? 

We need answers, please.

Khadijah Tijani is a medical doctor, she writes from Ibadan, and she can be reached be through Askodoctorkt@gmail.com or @AskDoctorKT.

By Adamu Usman Garko

The 61-year celebration of independence by Nigeria in 2021 will be a celebration of faux independence as Nigeria has yet to emancipate herself from the shackles of slavery fully. This slavery, however, isn’t covert but overt; it isn’t manifest but subliminal. Before the independence in 1960, that slavery was manifest. However, the contemporary form of slavery is reflective in the abysmal display of patriotism on all fronts and regards. 

If, in 61 years of existence as an independent nation, Nigeria has yet to boast of policies that favour her citizens confidently and can only boast of policies copied from her colonialists hook, line and sinker, then what independence is there to celebrate? If we have yet to absolve plagues like ethnic rivalry, corruption, the proliferation of theft, among other issues, then these calls for recourse in our actions. These are calls for a pictorial representation of the kind of Nigeria we want and deserve. Maybe that way, we would be able to plan towards the actualisation of our dream Nigeria.  

As a millennial, the first archetype I nurse is a Nigeria that appreciates creativity and innovation; there is no gainsaying that we are people blessed with talents, innovative and creative abilities, clarity of vision, resilience, and other virtues. Yet, the sickening reality is that these virtues are not duly apportioned the appreciation and support they deserve. Because of this, hordes of talents have been silenced and/or lost to countries where they are well appreciated. But, if schemes geared towards supporting and motivating the innovative abilities of young minds are instituted by the Federal Government of Nigeria, I believe that this subtle form of intellectual slavery will be absolved. 

Second, a Nigeria controlled by leaders who nurse a burning desire for recourse and restitution is what I desire. Young minds like myself have, over the years, witnessed so many transitions in government, but these transitions influence nothing; there is a continuum of hunger and pain despite the transitions. 

Leaders elected into public offices are elected on the grounds of financial strength, not on the grounds of shown community service, not on displayed prestige and honour, not on the grounds of brilliance and zeal for change.

During election periods, contestants for public offices litter our streets with faux promises only to be elected and trail the path of their predecessors. So, I want a Nigeria controlled by patriotic, sane, brave leaders who are not afraid to take the bulls of change by the horn. 

Also, a peaceful Nigeria is everything; a Nigeria devoid of violence, one where the insurgency is a word found in the pages of history, not on the daily newspapers, one where the safety of lives and properties is guaranteed. I am honestly tired of embodying fear in the crevices of my body, fear of being kidnapped, fear of leaving home whole and getting back unwhole, fear of losing all I’ve gathered as properties to the hands of thieves or the hands of ruins because this fear cripples the creativity of young minds like myself and this conversely affects our individual contribution to the development of the country. 

A peaceful Nigeria is not the only key to development but also key to the solidification of whatever changes occur. So I want a Nigeria devoid of favouritism, one other cankerworm that has eaten deep into the sinews of all fronts, even the healthcare system, even the judiciary. 

I want a Nigeria I can call home, and a home is a place of respite. I want a Nigeria that is kind. A Nigeria brimmed with people who are open and ready to embrace diversity in culture and language, choked with humane, open-minded people who see life as a commonplace for collaboration and not one for unhealthy competition. 

I want a Nigeria that can boast of being a giant, a Nigeria that isn’t a phoney or paperish giant but one that is living up to the giant tag by being the cheerleader of progress and development on the continent. A Nigeria that is clever in her use of raw materials, one that wouldn’t be exporting crude oil to other countries and rebuy. 

Until the Nigeria I described above is actuated, we would continue celebrating decades of independence without knowing that we are still enslaved in regards stated above; intellectual slavery, financial slavery, mental slavery and even developmental crippling.

Until we have a structured model out in place to actualize the kind of Nigeria stated above, I am afraid we shouldn’t be celebrating independence. And, we need not wait any further, for the future is now. 

Adamu Usman Garko writes from Gombe. He can be reached through poetadamu@gmail.com.