Northern Nigeria

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

A person who sponsors and takes good care of a single orphan is assured of a mansion in the choicest quarters of Firdaus at the centre of the Prophet’s Estate, enjoying their eternal life as a neighbour to the Infallible Master (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam). In the Hadith of Bukhari, the Prophet says, “The caretaker of the orphan and I will enter paradise like this, raising (by way of illustration) his forefinger and middle finger jointly, leaving no space in-between.”

A community flooded with orphans and vulnerable children with no access to food, clothing, shelter, education, and medicare; orphans whose neglect aggravate their vulnerability to all sorts of socio-economic dangers; should prioritise taking care of them. If competing in building mosques even where there is less need is to get paradise, why not also invest in this sure way to Heaven?

And, why not consider endowments for fighting hunger also? When a person asked the Prophet, what is the best act in Islam, the Prophet mentioned two actions: “To feed (others) and to greet those whom you know and those whom you do not know” (Bukhari). And the Prophet also counted “feeding others” among the surest ways to paradise, alongside spreading salam, strengthening kinship ties and night prayers. Why not, then also emphasise in our society, making endowments for feeding the needy and the millions of the malnourished and unnourished children as a guaranteed path to paradise? 

My honest opinion is that rather than rebuilding or redecorating some mosques, we need to invest more in empowering our imams and their followers. We can all see how the “imamdom” is gradually being saturated with incapable scholars leading ignorant followers in prayers within well-decorated mosques. As if we have forgotten that giving quality education and “beneficial knowledge” to people is itself a sustainable afterlife investment, one that may even often have more multiplier effects and trickle-down effects in terms of fetching rewards perpetually and building the Muslim community progressively.

If one sponsors a young man to become an Islamic scholar and imam, anytime this trained scholar preaches and teaches, the sponsor has a reward commission. And when the students of the imam teach or use the knowledge, the sponsor is assured of a commission. It continues in that way till “the end of history”! So, if the search for reward is what makes us race in building worship places, then so should building qualitative worshipers. We should, in fact, see the creation of generations of qualitative Muslims as a “blue ocean”; a virgin and highly underexplored otherworldly investment opportunity.  

Some may remind us that the Prophet’s first thing after hijra was to build a mosque. True. But that was first because there was none. And secondly, this mosque, as a primary symbol of Islam, was built for companions who were well educated in Makkah before migration, plus the Medinan community that was also educated by no other scholar than the great Mus’ab bin ‘Umayr.

In any case, the Prophet built the mosque because it was a priority by all standards; there was a need. And so immediately after that, he also paid attention to other developmental matters, including socio-economic priorities like establishing the Medinan Market (Suq al-Madinah). He also immediately began calling companions to “purchase” homes in Jannah through addressing human needs. That was how Uthman got an edifice in Jannah by purchasing the well of Ruma and dedicating it as waqf. That was how Abu Talha got Paradise by committing a waqf of his garden to benefit the needy and his poor relatives.

In fact, as recorded, most rich companions got their direct entry admission to Jannah through spending on human needs; Uthman bought and did waqf of the Ruma well, Umar dedicated the Thamqh garden for the poor, wayfarers and the rest, and the list goes. Little did we remember that in addition to doing a waqf of his mosque, virtually all the other waqfs of the Prophet were for welfare and socio-economic empowerment. 

We need to discuss whether building the Muslims and making them self-sufficient should continue to receive our philanthropic priorities or building mansions in the name of mosques – even where there is less need – which would mostly be populated by undedicated, hungry, dirty and largely ill worshippers. Building worship places is undoubtedly required, guaranteed key to paradise, ceteris paribus. It is, however, one of many means to getting admission to paradise. Why, then, should we not start to amplify other keys to paradise, especially those in some contexts such as ours that may appear weightier on the scale of Muslim priorities?

It is not in the interest of Islam to have dirty looking Muslims attending multimillion naira mosques. Islam wants educated, neat, tranquil, self-sufficient, qualitative Muslims whose worship is knowledge-based. So, when some philanthropists focus on building worship places, others need to invest in other equally rewarding endeavours. Wherever we have no worship place, it is a collective duty upon the community members to initiate one. However, where we already have one, we must prioritise other joint obligations; taking care of the orphans, the poor and widows being one of them. We can do it through building revenue-generating waqfs that can perpetually help the poor and everlasting generate rewards to the donor.

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido is the Chairman Zakah and Waqf Foundation Gombe, Nigeria. He can be reached via lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido

Alhaji Halilu is a popular, wealthy businessman. Famous for his continuous investment in constructing mosques, people in his town, surrounding villages and neighbouring states came to know him as Alhaji Mai-Masallatai (roughly, the Mosques Builder). His main motivation is the authentic hadith that promises a house in paradise for anyone who builds a mosque for Allah.

Thus, whenever Mai-Masallatai is approached with a request for mosque construction, he gives an automatic positive response. Alhaji dedicated all his philanthropic budget to building mosques, with virtually zero allocation to any other act of charity. He never says no to a mosque request. Within some time, he had constructed mosques for almost all the communities within his town and neighbouring villages. His ultimate goal is to own wonderful castles in heaven, and, Alhamdulillah, he has got a guarantee for that in constructing mosques from an infallible mouth. 

Now, three things happened. One, as there are not many communities lacking mosques, people started requesting him to repair the mosques he built for them last five, ten or seven years; to rebuild their mosque, repair it, or buy them new sound system, new carpet for the mosque, electricity generator, or “solar” and so on. Mai-Masallatai gradually transformed into Mai gyaran Masallatai, from building mosques to redecorating and making existing mosques “befitting” and ultramodern.

The second trend then followed. Since Mai-Masallatai is not the only aspirant for paradise, other wealthy persons joined the mosque construction endeavour. As a result, the number of mosques increases – two or more mosques in an unnecessarily close distance. A  community that needs one mosque would request a second one for flimsy reasons; we have Sheikh XYZ, who should be an imam and has no mosque; why not get one for him so the society would benefit from his imamship! And any rich man who builds a new house would ensure that a mosque is embedded from the inception of the architectural design. So, each neighbourhood or street, and almost each “big” house, has a mosque attachment built by a person who wants paradise. Soon the third issue began to arise; imams scarcity.

It is noteworthy that Mai-Masallatai and all his emulators live and do business within a Muslim community that has thousands of orphans who live in hunger, disease, illness and squalor. They coexist with hundreds of widows who survive in shabbiness, battling the spiritual ills, psychological traumas and socio-economic vulnerabilities associated with poverty, ignorance and starvation. They reside in neighbourhoods bedevilled with noise, air and dirt population, with zero consciousness of environmental challenges; where people often urinate and defecate in the open, at public passages and places as crucial as mosques and marketplaces and stadia. They live in communities that use firewood as an energy source but with near-zero interest in planting trees.

Mai-Masallatai builds mosques for communities where well above 80% of the people cannot correctly recite the Fatiha and are mostly ignorant of the basics of purification, ablution and prayer. The worship places are beautiful, “befitting”, and “ultra-modern”. But the worshippers are ultra-ignorant, extra-hungry and super-poor. While the mosques are decorated, the mosque attendants are neglected.

The community severely lacks qualified imams and doesn’t have a plan to train religious scholars or imams. Nearly all are accidental scholars and imams. Most imams are less qualified, semi-qualified, or simply unqualified. Those with minimum requirements have no access to any “on the job training” and retraining. They have no grounding in jurisprudence nor appreciation of the complexities of their time and place. They might know a little of actually elementary Islamic texts, but not of their context. They continue to recycle their khutbas, reading for their congregation – often with a lot of mistakes – imported sermons presented for the 20^th-century audience in Egypt or Morocco or Saudi Arabia or Algeria (depending upon the inclination of the imams), which are compiled in a collection of sermons or al-khutab al-minbariyya. The sermons are in Arabic, reread for an audience dominated by over 90% of people who do not understand Arabic except, perhaps, “Allahu Akbar”!  

Dear reader, to what extent is your community better than Mai-Masallatai’s? Should building worship places take priority over building the worshippers? Should we continue to construct “befitting”, “ultramodern”, and “world-class” mosques for largely poor, ignorant and confused Muslim communities? Should we, while, of course, building mosques where they are truly needed, not also prioritize producing a Muslim population that is religiously educated, morally upright, intellectually sound, socio-economic dignified and religiously conscious. What better serves the essence of the mosque as an Islamic institution: a beautiful building or an educated congregation? Should building mosques be the only priority in a village where there is not even a single person learned in the Qur’an and the jurisprudence of purification, ablution, prayer, fasting, and other rituals?

More questions are begging for answers. For example, what will be more critical between saving people’s faith through addressing their basic needs of life, thereby shielding them from the onslaughts of evangelism and other anti-Islamic missions on the one hand, and mere building a mosque where there are no qualified imams and scholars to teach them creed and worship on the other? Should we continue to have “comfortable places” for ignorant and hungry worshippers rather than building conscious and educated worshippers? 

Given the current religious and socio-economic realities of Muslims in Nigeria, what should be the focus and priority areas of intervention in terms of philanthropy? Please don’t mistake my position. No Muslims will disagree regarding the centrality of mosques as Islamic symbol numero uno. Where there is no mosque, it is a collective responsibility upon the Muslims to build one to the best of their ability. What, however, may need reflection is the question of when, where and why building a mosque should take primacy vis-à-vis other Muslim priorities and when not. Is it not imperative, for instance, for us to begin to remind ourselves that much as we can get a shortcut to paradise through building mosques, there are other philanthropic acts that not only guarantee paradise but even assure of a choice area and unmatchable edifice in Jannah?

Abdullahi Abubakar Lamido is the Chairman Zakah and Waqf Foundation Gombe, Nigeria. He can be reached lamidomabudi@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Dangi USA Association of Northern Nigerians has lambasted the atrocities of bandits in Nigeria, voicing a clarion call on the government to remember its cardinal responsibility of protecting lives and properties.

The association reiterated that since bandits had transgressed all common senses, they should therefore be treated as an existential threat that must be eliminated.

The call which was in a release signed Sunday by the Director Public Relations of the association, Kabir lsa Jikamshi, disclosed the grievance over the incessant killings of innocent souls.

They said that it is disheartening to witness the ongoing despicable acts of kidnapping, ransom collection and gruesome killing of innocent men, women and children especially in the North-Western part of the country.

The statement reads: “This banditry, presently constitutes a transgression that does not allow room for any negotiation. No previous grievances can justify the wanton destruction of lives and property. 

“Therefore, no one, neither the government nor private parties should negotiate in any form with the bandits.

“We call on the government to remember its cardinal responsibility of protecting life and property. Insecurity is persistent only in an ungovernable situation; Please do not abdicate your responsibilities. 

“The government should do more by taking the war to the bandits and enact the necessary legislation that will allow individuals to defend themselves without any reservation.

“This is a collective responsibility and all hands should be on deck. Thus, the general public must also remember that they have a very important role to play by supporting the efforts of the security agencies. “if you see something suspicious, say something”.

“Informants and any other individual or group enabling the activities of the bandits should be treated as one them.

“The catch and release of some of these criminals without trial is totally wrong and must stop,” the statement added.
Dangi Association also commiserated with the families of the victims of these atrocities.

“We pray the Almighty Allah will offer solace to the victims and their families. We feel the frustrations and anger of the Nigerian citizens.”

“We empathize with you for enduring these harsh conditions of insecurity and constrictions in the liberty of movement and performance of other daily activities,” they added.

By Aisar Fagge

Surge Africa – a non-profit organization that advocates for policy implementation on climate change and resilience building laments how media in Northern Nigeria underreport climate change despite its apparent effect on agriculture which the North relies on as the major source for living for its people.

This was revealed on Thursday, December 23, 2021, at a workshop held at Chilla Luxury Suites, Kano. The workshop titled: “Media Workshop on Reporting Climate Change” brought Northern Nigerian journalists across print, broadcast, and online media to educate and sensitize them about the importance and necessity of climate change reporting in their respective media organizations.

In her presentation, Nasreen Al-Amin, the founder and Executive Director of Surge Africa, introduced participants to climate science and communication. She tasked them to spread knowledge on climate change, what causes it and its effect on the socio-economic activities of Northern Nigerians.

Another expert, Salihu Hamisu, who is researching how climate change is affecting the agricultural ecosystem in Nigeria, lamented, “Africa is not responsible for the climate change but suffers the most.” He recalled how in 1963, when Lake Chad was at its peak, over 30 million people from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Nigeria depended on it. But now, as a result of climate change, the Lake has less than 10% of what it has, with over 70 million people earning a living from it. Hamisu added that with the current pace of drought and floods, Northern Nigeria faces an imminent food crisis.

Also, Adejumo Kabir, multiple award-winning journalists, presented papers on “Climate Reporting: Shaping Inclusive Narratives” and “Media for Climate Justice: Developing Stories for Social Change.”

Some participants spoke to The Daily Reality about what they learned at the Workshop. Mustapha Hodi, said:

“As a participant, I have learnt a lot about climate change, particularly the fact that Africa is the one bearing the brunt of emissions from developed countries. As a journalist, the workshop has helped me identify key areas to concentrate on reporting climate change.”

“By and large, the training has become a wake-up call to me to be reporting climate change frequently in a bid to create awareness to the general public about its dangers and even the opportunities it creates.”

Hannatu Sulaiman Abba was another participant from Arewa Media who said, “This workshop has shaped my mind on climate change. It develops my passion to advocate for climate change in our community, engage the government in policymaking and sensitize the public on the effect of climate change. This is indeed a big milestone in my journalism career.”

At the end of the workshop, participants were grouped into three to brainstorm and write a report on improving climate change reporting. Misbahu El-Hamza expressed his satisfaction saying: “My expectations were sufficiently achieved. What’s, even more, was how we worked as a group to brainstorm ideas that could be effective in steering social and policy change. Through this workshop, I now am equipped with the know-how to see the dangers as well as opportunities presented by climate change in my region of northern Nigeria and how to engage the public to mitigate and get the best out of it.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yours sincerely,

Aminu Mohammed

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

Ahmadu Shehu, PhD.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity has plummeted to the lowest level since he took over as the country’s leader in 2015, according to the latest Vanguard for Good Governance Initiative (VGGI) survey.

Results of the survey compiled by VGGI, show President Buhari’s popularity has declined sharply during the past two months with his approval rating dropping from 58 percent to 21 percent.

On specific issues, the survey found Nigerians, especially northerners, were unhappy over matters of heightened insecurity. Moreover, concerns about the economy, especially the cost of living and rising inflation are now seeing the president’s popularity hitting an all-time low among Nigerians.

The survey also reveals that the IPOB activities in the South-East is crippling the economy of the region.

VGGI says its survey consisted of phone calls, emails, interviews and text messages over the past three months to slightly more than 150,000 people.

By Tahir Ibrahim Tahir

It is no longer news that on December 7, 2021, 42 innocent travellers were gruesomely burnt in a bus as they moved through Gidan Bawa village of Sabon Birni local government of Sokoto state. Thirty-five died instantly, and seven survived with very severe burns. May Allah shower their souls with his mercy.

The attack is one of the most horrendous and inhumane acts of the bandits that have since visited Northwestern Nigeria with an orgy of violence. I believe this barbaric act accounts more for Sheikh Gumi excusing himself from speaking on behalf of the bandits than the reason he gave – citing their proclamation by law as terrorists. This heartless, baseless and demonic act of burning a fellow human being alive has laid bare the true nature of what Nigeria has been fighting for so many years.

Fighter jets bombarded many enclaves of the bandits, east of Dumburoum forest in Zurmi, Zamfara, and also in Sokoto and Kaduna states, as well as ISWAP locations in far away Borno state, a day before this inhuman slaughter at Gidan Bawa. It is evidently a reprisal attack and an inadvertent confirmation of the nexus between ISWAP, Boko haram and Bandits – the same hydra-headed terrorism monster.

It is no longer news that northerners are moaning beneath the anguish of the mayhem that these ‘organisations’ have visited upon their people – annihilating human lives like they were crickets. More lives are lost to terror, and there doesn’t seem to be a decline. A 100 lives are lost in a week sometimes. Northerners are increasingly livid over the fact that PMB is a northerner. As President, he ought to secure his northern constituency – letting their governors, legislators, service chiefs and other top government functionaries off the hook for the bizarre and profoundly depressing situation of the North.

It is no longer news that the FG has made massive investments in security, purchasing no less than 60 fighter jets (fighter helicopters, FJ-17s, Super-Tucano, M346 Italian jets) along with battle tanks, MWRAPS, TAVORS, Armored navy vessels, and sophisticated surveillance systems. Bases have been positioned throughout the length and breadth of the war theatre. More boots are on the ground than ever, most definitely more than the civil war. All air assets have been deployed in the North to fight terrorism. So what in God’s name could be the problem?

It is no longer news that the weaponisation of poverty, in the long term, especially in Northern Nigeria, is mainly responsible for the hell pit we’ve found ourselves in. We watched our leaders dig us in and did us in while we egged them on for as long as it favoured us. We genuflected before them, made them take bows, applauded them – and allowed them to go scot-free. The masses and the village dwellers suffered this weaponisation with years of untold hardship, weeping blood. In contrast, we, the elite and the city dwellers, enjoyed all the blood money and whatever elitist pleasures therein. Now the shoe shiner is wielding an AK-47, so is the Maiguard. The herdsman is a warlord, so is the Vectra driver an informant. One of the Northern universities’ security chiefs is a kidnap kingpin, and a Hajiya in the village is the supplier of thousands of rounds of ammunition to bandits. The questions bang your scalp like the heavy August rainfall; who is not a bandit, or a terrorist, or an informant, or a kingpin or some helper of a sort to these terrorists? The North is hardly an image of its once prestigious self, now hunched with woes and barely a shadow of its erstwhile esteem. The hypocrisy screams to the high heavens, muttering sulky and morose invectives at PMB alone as the bane of our problems. Indeed.

It is no longer news that a foreign journalist, in an article titled, “The bandit warlords of Nigeria”, navigated the nooks, crannies and alleyways of bandits in the North, unharmed by these demons; inadvertently betraying the conspiracy of banditry in the North. He waxed politics with the bandits, claiming OBJ and Jona are far better than PMB, who the bandits say stifles Islam! Lord have mercy on our souls. He also erroneously put Fulani bandits as conquest driven Islamic extremists. This faulty description only further lumps Boko haram and Bandits together.

The news headline that should be etched into our consciousness is the reality of Nigeria long being marked as a state for Balkanisation. A proxy war is being fought out with our homeland as the battlefield. Eastern merchants versus western warlords are slugging it out, punch for pound. Islamic North, its idealistic and archaic ways are a thorn in their meal. As they carve their diamonds clean, our population suffers the brunt of their steel.

What is left for us is the Sunna of the Prophet (SAW), backed by his hadith, describing the bigger Jihad as striving for one’s cleansing and towing the path of righteousness – backed by Q22:78. The strange situation in the North is the duty of every northerner to un-knot, un-tie, and crack. Prophet SAW was the last one, so we have to be messiahs unto ourselves.

We must encourage ourselves to eradicate this phenomenon that has become the new Yahoo or money bet of the North. We must expose ourselves and fight ourselves by ourselves. No war ends with a gunshot. It can only start it. So we must sit together, back-benchers, frontliners, warts and all, voodoo if you like – and do the needful. As our faith is in our hearts, so is our fate in our own hands.

Tahir is Talban Bauchi. He wrote from Bauchi via talbanbauchi@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The governor of Ekiti State and a key figure of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr John Kayode Fayemi, celebrated the late Malam Aminu Kano over his patriotism, advocacy for education and support for the poor.

Delivering a speech on Saturday to commemorate the 21st anniversary of Mambayya House at the Sa’adu Zungur Auditorium Complex in Kano, Governor Fayemi said he was so delighted to be invited to give a talk at such an event, adding that “Mallam stood out in our entire post-colonial experience as the very anti-thesis of money politics.”

Mr Kayode’s speech partly reads: “Born on the 9th of August 1930, and as an early beneficiary of both Quranic and Western education, Mallam as he came to be known affectionately very quickly carved a niche for himself as the pre-eminent voice and champion of the talakawa – that mass of peasants, the urban working poor, and the déclassé.

“His emergence and growth into this role emanated from a deep-seated set of values that he embraced and honed at an early stage in his political career and held on to tenaciously for the rest of his life.

“Concerned by the reported excesses that were built into the colonially-licensed native authority system and convinced that the system needed to be overturned in order for the talakawa to be able to have a fighting chance to lead a decent and dignified life free of oppression, he committed himself to organise the mass of the people to exercise their agency to imagine and create an alternative political order.

“The principal agency through which he did this was the movement which he helped to found in 1950 and which was named the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). The establishment of NEPU was to mark a significant milestone in the history of political radicalism in Nigeria. The tradition of radicalism which it represented was carried over into the late 1970s and beyond by the Peoples’ Redemption Party (PRP), which Mallam Aminu Kano also led.”

Malam Aminu was a famous political figure, especially in Northern Nigeria. Public institutions named after him include an airport, a teaching hospital, and a college in Kano and other states.

Many dignitaries from around Nigeria graced the occasion. These include Governor of Jigawa State, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar; former Deputy Governor of Kano State, Prof. Hafizu Abubakar; Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Sagir Adamu Abbas, among others.