Northern 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 Muhammad Sabiu

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday meet with the security service chiefs.

Femi Adesina, a presidential spokesperson, announced the meeting today in a statement via his Facebook account.

According to Mr Adesina, the meeting, which will be held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, will focus on the recent security achievements across the country.

He said, “The security forces have in the past few weeks taken the battle more robustly to insurgents, bandits, and all other criminals troubling the country, and they are now surrendering in droves.

“The President will be brought up to speed on developments at the Thursday meeting, while plans to bring a decisive end to the challenges will be formulated.”

Recall that recently Boko Haram/ISWAP fighters in their hundreds have surrendered to the Nigerian troops in the northeastern part of the country, thereby marking a tremendous development in the fight against insecurity in Nigeria.

This is coming a few days after the president returned from the United Kingdom, where he spent 18 days during which he attended an education summit and had some check-ups.

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.

By Sumayyah Auwal Usman

The Kaduna State Government says it will conduct another competency test for all public primary school teachers across the 23 Local Government Areas in the state.

The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Permanent Member, Human Resource Management, Christy Alademerin, announced this through a memo to the Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) in the state.

It will be recalled that the state government had in September 2017 conducted a similar test for the over 30,000 primary school teachers in the state, following which 21,780 who failed to obtain 70% pass mark were sacked and replaced with newly recruited 25,000 teachers.

The date for the competency test has not been slated, but LGEA’s were urged to sensitise teachers in their local governments about the forthcoming exercise.

By Abdul-Hamid Abubakar Zubair

The ungovernability, which is crystal clear, toward the act of showing contempt and lack of reverence to sacred religious deity/deities is imminent and very alarming. If not seriously challenged and tackled by the constituted authorities, especially at the federal level, that may, unfortunately, aggravate severe tension even to the dogmatical secular democratic doctrine, believed to be a workable formula that has an answer to all national issues. 

It holds true, you like it or not, the fact that religion matters in Nigeria. Most people are firmly bound to one of the two major faiths, Islam or Christianity, and thus, it is a duty call for any person in power to uphold, respect, and support people’s various beliefs. The people have the right to practice their religion. Blasphemy is unacceptable and is punishable even according to national laws in the criminal codes as enshrined by both customary and Shariah laws. You can’t shift secularism to this place – at least, it is not yet the time.

Observing closely how cascades of blasphemous thoughtlessness and rashness have been unravelling in recent times, you can sense new dimensions and order of hidden treacherous agenda, purportedly insinuated by servile demonic elements. It is not by mere serendipity but a carefully thought out and planned memorandum.

In the North, there are more than four blasphemy suits filed in courts. The two trending cases include Yahaya Shariff Aminu, 22, a musician, and Umar Faruk, 16, both in Kano. The latter has been overturned and acquitted, and the former has been sent for a retrial by the Court of Appeal.

Another classic take-away example was the just concluded dialogue that features the controversial Shiite scholar, Abdul-Jabbar Nasiru Kabara, following his deliberate inciteful utterances and wrong interpretation and exegesis of Sunnatic traditions (Hadith), and after his request to the Kano State government to do justice and convene a physical dialogue with other Kano Islamic Clerics from the Salaf, Tijjaniya and Qadiriyya Sects. The aftermath of the conversation proved the bitter truth that was heavy and unfavourable to the eccentric Shiite cleric. 

I heard of a similar ordeal from Sokoto. A man allegedly made similar blasphemous utterances against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). However, we were supposed to be brainwashed by the excuse that he was suffering from temporal madness. Meanwhile, dementia was his alibi.

Taking a close look at these, one may ruminate over some questions and conclude that all these are not coincidental but planned.

Insecurity is a current social issue at hand. It has perturbed the entire nation. A lot of societal menaces are happening.  This trending problem of blasphemy coupled with insecurity will produce a severe stale. If it finds a place to stay, it will add salt to an injury, and the pain will be intolerably excruciating. 

There should be no room for apology for a deliberate blasphemous act. Anyone found guilty must be seriously punished and his actions thoroughly condemned. The same thing goes for all media outfits. Through that only, peace can prevail. 

Some personalities and deities are insurmountable, untouchable in major religions that should be demarcated by the power authorities and declared as a “no-go” zone. In strong terms, it should be stipulated that anything the Christians, Muslims, or any other religion recognised by the authority; within the Nigerian Province, which is considered alien or goes against the standard teachings – especially blasphemous utterances must be punishable. The government should get a grip on these with a strong and clenched fist.

The government should seize the day while it’s still dawn and make hay while the sun shines before things turned out of hand.

Abdul-Hamid Abubakar Zubair
Federal University Gashua, Nigeria.
E-mail: ibntaimiyya@fugashua.edu.ng
Phone no.: +2348138171001

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Barely thirty hours after The Daily Reality online newspaper published an article on the need to include Kannywood filmmakers in the Netflix Naija written by one of its editors, Muhsin Ibrahim, the streaming service has finally considered the adjuration made in the said article.

Muhsin Ibrahim, a PhD student at the University of Cologne, Germany and a teacher at the same institution, wrote an article titled “Dear Netflix Naija, there are films and filmmakers in northern Nigeria.” It was a reminder to the streaming service that Nigeria is of different cultures and religions. Therefore, according to him, it should not be treated in such a way that only films from a section of the country would be included in the streaming giant.

“Nigeria’s diversity cuts across many things, chiefly cultures, ethnicities, religions and regions. […] Due to these complexities, the country is a house to two significant film industries—Kannywood and Nollywood—with many smaller ones operating under these brands,” Ibrahim wrote.

Making his plea on behalf of the Kannywood filmmakers, the PhD candidate added, “I am not an agent of division, not at all. I am, instead, an advocate of fairness and inclusion of all, regardless of their culture, ethnicity, region, religion, among other diversities. Therefore, northern Nigerian filmmakers and their films should equally be aboard the ship Netflix captains in Nigeria.”

What were Kannywood filmmakers’ reactions?

A few hours after this newspaper published the article, Falalu A. Dorayi, a famous Kannywood member, took the entire article’s screenshots to his Instagram account, with the caption“A very good write up! Thank you very much for speaking on our behalf. @muhsin2008 Ibrahim”. The screenshots generated about 2.3k likes and over a hundred comments.

Also, Ali Nuhu, another prominent member of the Kannywood film industry, posted screenshots of the whole article with the same caption, under which several other members of the industry commented, including this:

@rahamasadau: “Hmmm, I wish I can [sic] add to this article…🤔👀”.

Acceptance of the Adjuration by Netflix Naija

Confirming the acceptance of the adjuration made in the article, Mr Ibrahim wrote on Facebook, “Sequel to the publication of my article on The Daily Reality last Saturday, Netflix Naija contacted a Kannywood director whose work they ignored for nearly a year. Thus, we shall soon watch a Kannywood production on Netflix. Nothing is more delightful to a budding writer.

“My informant, a Kannywood heavyweight, expressed his happiness, adding that “see the impact of writing”! He doesn’t know that I am probably happier. The Daily Reality is here to make a difference.

“May Allah help us, bring back peace to our region and country at large, amin.”

Kannywood, a predominantly Hausa-Muslim, Kano-based film industry, produces movies mainly in the Hausa language. The cinema has been facing tough challenges that revolve around its members’ handling of religion, culture and the likes.