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‘Yar’adua: The Face of Hope
By
Aliyu A. Ammani
I ask you, fellow citizens, to join me in rebuilding our Nigerian family, one that defines the success of one by the happiness of many…Let us set aside cynicism, and strive for the good society that we know is within our reach. __President Umaru ‘Yar’adua (Inaugural speech)
A basic characteristic of our world today, which due to
giant strides in technological advancement is referred to as the
Global Village , is rapid change. Our system is changing rapidly
that before we become adjusted to new ideas in one phase, major changes
occurs in another, and there seem to be no break in sight for this rapid
pace. In fact, futurist predicts that our current pace is relatively
slow compared to what the future will bring in new social, economic,
political and technological innovations.
Sadly, this faster than light train of rapid
socio-economic change has left behind, perhaps at the station, the bulk
of Nigeria’s families who actually live from hand to mouth. Ritchie
Calder would have said that most Nigerians are in a merry-go-round of
poverty, because they are poor they are undernourished; because they are
undernourished they under produce; because they under produce they are
poor; and because they are sick, poor and hungry, they are ignorant… and
because of poverty, these Nigerians are condemned to live like animals
and they breed like animals.
The Philadelphia Declaration of 1944 states “Poverty
anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere” . And
according to some experts about 70% of Nigerians are living below
poverty line. What is done to check this seemingly rampant decadence in
the living standard of the Nigerian masses?
Most policies of nearly all the past Governments, either
by omission or commission favours the urban elite , as we will
see later, at the expense of the majority of the population living in
the rural areas. One of Nigeria ’s vicious cycles is at work here:
government policies degrade the rural resource base; degraded rural base
produces little of economic value. It is an indisputable fact that a
nation in which the majority of the population plays a little role in
its cash economy will have difficulties developing economically.
The industrialized nations which aid and advice Nigeria ;
also lack sincere motivation for a purposeful change. The existence of
barriers to a successful transfer of technology posed by the self
interest of the advanced countries cannot be denied. When western aid
agencies lend for the sort of steel and concrete projects which former
European development Commissioner Edgard Pisani dubbed Cathedrals in
the Desert they do so in the knowledge that western goods, equipment
and expertise will be used. Consequently, western economies receive a
direct economic boost. Were aid agencies to invest in the sort of
grassroots community participation rural development so badly needed,
there would be little economic kickback because such form of development
programmes requires little or nothing from western construction and
manufacturing firms. Conceivably the following example will drive this
point home.
In what may be viewed as an open policy dispute between
Alhaji AbdulKadir Balarabe Musa during his tenure as the Governor of old
Kaduna State (1979-81) and the then Federal Minister of Agriculture over
World Bank participation in the Integrated Rural Development Programme
in the State, the Governor listed, in the New Nigerian of Thursday 20
th November 1980; the demands of the World Bank which he had
opposition to. Among these, according to Oculi, were a list of
conditions or remuneration for consultant and managers:
(i)
The salary
of each World Bank official will be about N40,000.00 ( $53,333.33) per
annum tax free and paid in foreign currency, in foreign banks
(ii)
They shall
each receive, in addition, 78% of the gross salary as cost of living
allowance
(iii)
N733.00(
$977.33) per annum per dependent as dependent allowance
(iv)
25% of the
gross salary as “Post Allowance”
(v)
75% of
their children school fees to be paid abroad in foreign currency
(vi)
Free air
conditioned and chauffer driven vehicle
(vii)
Free air
conditioned and “furnished to taste” housing
(viii)
Free
electricity and water supply
(ix)
Free trip
return air ticket to anywhere in the world for annual vacation
(x)
Forty
working days leave per annum
As the statement added, the value of this technical
experts being sold by the World Bank to Kaduna State “would cost
about N12 million ($16 million) per annum”. The project was to cost N100
million ($133.33 million). Dollar equivalent added to give a much better
estimate of the cost.
Different policies have been put in place by various
governments in Nigeria to fight the war against poverty. We now know
more than ever before that neither the past Governments nor the
industrialized first world nations and their agencies, under
whatever guise, had contributed effectively towards breaking “the misery
goes round of poverty” to which the bulk of the population are
subjected.
“If you want to understand the causes that existed in the
past” says Shinjikan Buddhist Sutra “look at the results as they are
manifested in the present. And if you want to understand what results
will manifest in the future, look at the causes that exist in the
present”. Perhaps, the human factor of favouritism and nepotism is the
bane of all previous Governments attempts at poverty alleviation. Even
at village level, usually community development workers aligned
themselves with traditional village elite. There was little
attention given to assuring that benefit from community development
programmes accrued to the rural poor. Here in Nigeria , passed
experiences showed that in the allocation of anything government’s
(credit, fertilizer and recently more importantly poverty alleviation
packages) the rich had the foremost privilege and, of course, the basis
of one’s support to the ruling party. Through the years, these elite
at every level of the society has used the state machinery as instrument
of bolstering their selfish aims in all spheres: agriculture, commerce
and industry. This means that the
privileged does and can still turn the whole village or local community into a political and economic block serving their own interest at the expense of the poor elements who are, needless to say, in the majority.
From this sea of despondency, emerge hope. The hope is in
the President’s antecedents, words and dreams. The hope of setting free
the poor and less privilege Nigerians from economic, social and
political constraints so that they can be able to “express themselves,
plan their future and take their destiny into their own hands.” One can
see no future for any war on poverty that is to be fought with the
elite as its field commanders. From the 7-point agenda of the
‘Yar’adua’s administration, one can see the tripod upon which the war on
poverty will be effectively decided: Electric power, Education and
Security. These, coupled with a zero tolerance on corruption forms the
panacea to poverty in Nigeria , as Mr. President noted in his inaugural
speech “corruption is itself central to the spread of poverty”
This write-up is a clarion call to all Nigerians, to
rally round President ‘Yar’adua, and give him the necessary support, for
indeed the Servant-Leader will take us to the Promised Land. The
just concluded nationwide strike is a testimony of ‘Yar’adua’s Marxist
labour friendly disposition. I can picture a younger ‘Yar’adua telling
his students at the KCAST that the prerequisite to the attainment of the
dictatorship of the proletariat is that workers everywhere must unite!
For without a doubt, the Nigerian organised labour has never had it
better.
Aliyu A. Ammani,
U/Shanu Kaduna .
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