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Kano: Developments in Reverse Gear! By Kabiru Inuwa Tsakuwa
“Every onlooker, is either a coward or a traitor” Un-known.
The ancient Hausa kingdom of Kano with over nine million inhabitants according to the recent census figures was said to have been found more than one thousands (1000) years ago. And until recently, was the cynosure of all eyes in Nigeria and beyond. However, the enviable status has significantly begun to fade with the passage of time. The wheel of progress of the once prosperous and boisterous city has been bogged-down partly due to external forces and partly due to internal retrogressive tendencies.
Unlike before when it was among the frontline state that used to set the pace for others to emulate, the city is today unfortunately playing the second fiddles to other less historically endowed cities of Nigeria. It may not be an over exaggeration to state that, Kano no longer tick like it used to, in the economic and political permutations of Nigeria. And the once enterprising and vibrant business oriented people having been reduced miserably to a pitiable lot, are now engross in a spiritual contemplations, earnestly and fervently praying, albeit in a very feeble but nevertheless, decipherable voices for a providential succours out of the log-jam!
Today, some relatively smaller, but nevertheless more fortunate states, endowed with progressives, visionary and result oriented leaders, who are not the least afraid to step on powerful toes in the pursuit of justice and progress for their equally progress minded people, are gearing up to take over the enviable position of the ancient city in many aspects of life. The pertinent question therefore is: Are the theory of rise and fall of civilisations as elucidated by the great historian-Ibn Khaldun, coming to pass in our time and under our watchful eyes?
Apart from the unifying force of religion which mercifully holds the social fabric of Kano together, other factors that induce social cohesiveness, like social justice and economic equality, have today, become very scarce commodities. The city’s social milieu is increasingly becoming stratified and tense up, with the rich becoming richer and the poor-poorer.
The struggle for survival has therefore, reached a new crescendo whereby only the fittest survive. And if prompt action is not taken to nip the ugly scenarios in the bud, I’m afraid that, the economic down-turn ravaging the state may induce social cataclysm of monumental proportion.
Now, in order to discover the laws that led to social changes in our contemporary society, we shall try to reflect on the economic activities as well as other realities currently shaping the life and attitudes of average Kano citizens. Perhaps, we may understand the causative factors that induce the current cascading decline. And in trying to conduct a modest analysis, we shall confine our self to a very limited development perspective, since whatever is stated here can not do justice to the topic thoroughly. The public should therefore consider this, just as an effort and a mere scratching of the surface in order to generate healthy discourses.
Initially, Kano used to be the barometer by which the nations’ political pressure is measured and gauged. It reached a stage whereby, if Kano sneezes, the whole country catch cold! But today the story is totally different. The city once a home to the legendary Aminu Kano of blessed memory, and a champion of democratic humanism, is today enveloped by a cloud of economic despondency, underdevelopments and political rascality.
In the Aminu Kano’s school of political radicalism and progressive idealism, primitive accumulations of wealth were never accommodated. Unlike today’s politicians who invoke one form of ideology or the other, to short-change the hapless masses, as the current unfolding drama of graft and sleazes vividly portrayed!
And unlike contemporary leaders, Mallam Aminu was selfless, down-to-earth, courageous, down-right-honest and patriotic. To him, political office is a means to a noble end and an opportunity to influence life positively, for the collective good of the society. The pristine qualities and confidence that oozed out of this man of destiny is legendary. He was a man of great vision imbued with foresight, who ensured that peasant farmers took their children to schools. No wonder, his cherish memory has remain indelible in the minds of the people including those who were not opportune to see him alive.
The ancient city of Kano used to be the centre of trans-Saharan trades’ up-to-the first quarter of the 19th century. It continued in that capacity as the centre of trades and industries, second only to Lagos in terms of volume of trades and Manufacturing. The economic prosperities prevailing then were discernible to any casual observer. However, due to the paucity of selfless and committed leadership with the capacity to constantly evolve new aggressive measures to keep abreast of new trends in the constantly changing economy of the world; the city has lost that enviable status. The only semblance of business going on is the outdated trading (buying and selling) and even that, is base on commission basis as the products are being manufactured elsewhere. In essence, the city has been turn into mere distributions outlets.
Today, instead of the resourceful and enterprising business oriented people, what we have, are armies of jobless thugs who for want of what to do and with disillusionments vividly written on their faces, now frequent football viewing centres, clubs and ganja(wiwi) joints in order to ease tensions. The fore-boding air of despair has taken over the atmosphere such that, one can feel the impulse and suppressed anger and frustrations, occasioned by the negative vicissitudes of life all over the place today. And to add salt to injury, one can count the number of Majalisis (Joints) on a single streets where able bodied youth who under ideal situations might be in factories or other productive economic ventures or at-best in schools, idling away and ruminating over a future that hold no any particular positive promise.
Another disturbing aspect of the failure of leadership in Kano is the recent unknown phenomenon of women taking drugs! But, if what we read in a book titled: The Jewish Conspiracy”, is anything to go bye, then the new phenomenon is not the least surprising. Because, according to the book, “if you want destroyed the foundations of any society and subject it to moral degenerations and decadence, try to induce artificial poverty to it so that, in the impulsive desperations for survival, the society will tend to forget about moral values and social norms. Unfortunately, this is the reality of Kano today. The only difference being that, the Jews were none other than the indigenous Hausa-Fulanis, who are currently governing the state!
In addition, Kano used to be the gateway of Nigeria to the outside world. It holds the records of being the first among equals to welcome aeroplane on its soil in black Africa. The MAKIA was once the hub of the entire country and unarguably the busiest throughout West African Sub region. And before the recent decentralisations, the Nigerian pilgrims used to go to makkah via the international airport. But today, all that have change. The airport can not even get UN approval for the airlift of our gallant soldiers on peacekeeping missions. Now, if any body want go to foreign countries, he must pass through either Abuja or Lagos with all the attendant disadvantages and difficulties involved. What a change of fortunes.
If we consider agriculture which was the main stay of the economy of Kano, the famous groundnut pyramids have long vanished. The agricultural activity is still peasant based, with no any concrete plan to translate the farming methods into a mechanised one. Our impromptu approach to handling critical emergencies can therefore understood more clearly with the fire-brigade approach to the current global food shortages which shook the whole world to its bone-marrows. The solutions envisaged so far were a clear testimony of the level of mediocrity inherent in the types of sub-standard leaders we have. I believed that, this apparent shoddy approach to the current food shortage, may partly be the reasons why up-to-date, a comprehensive fertilizer distributions mechanism to reach the target beneficiaries is conspicuously absent.
In fact, the tragedy of our existence has reached a critical stage whereby; any drastic measures to change the ugly status quo may not entirely be out of place. Because instead of excelling on the positive ladder of development the state is alarmingly decelerating .For example, Kano has the largest concentrations of jobless youth in the country; largest concentrations of dead and moribund factories; largest army of Achaba riders; highest records of maternal and child mortality and morbidity; largest concentrations of divorce cases and several other first, whose mention, may not be palatable to the ears! And all these are the result of an ANPP government that shy away from its responsibilities.
Many people have attributed the problems of Kano to the vindictive temperament of the last president, who denied Kano the vital infrastructure of electricity for political reasons. However, to me, the blames for our pathetic conditions can be shared in the ratio of 20:80, with the state government taking the highest ratio. Come to think of it, through out the last five years, the federal allocations due to Kano state were never with-held like that of Lagos. And this is a state that received the largest chunk in the entire nineteen northern states. And despite the quantum leap in the allocations due to high oil price in the international market, it does not translate into any appreciable transformations of our lives.
Now, the questions are: did we vote the ANPP government for our lives to take a down-ward slide from bad to worst? Did we fight the PDP administrations of Engr. Kwankwaso to a stand still on two occasions, just for the new set of rulers to be junketing leisurely around the glove? Are glove-trotting and lavish expenditures and wasteful spending of state resources on frivolities, our chips of the bargains? Remember that, we collectively votes for positive transformations of our lives in every ramification in accordance with the initial campaign promises.
It is quit pitiful really, that, the problems bedevilling Kano which cause the current serious retrogressions in the socio-economic fortunes, is so insurmountable that, our contemporary corrupts and self-centred leaders can not by any stretch of the imaginations surmount them. Because, the selflessness, dedications, sacrifices, courage, incorruptibility, forthrightness and above all, the fear of God Almighty, necessary to halt the dangerous cascades and steep descends into the edge of the abyss, is terribly lacking under the present arrangement. Ina Lillahi, wa inna Ilaihir-rajiun, tears!!!
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