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Kano and Prado Jeeps of insensitivity By Kabiru Inuwa
No matter how hard someone tries to be indifferent to the happenings in our contemporary societies, the feelings of frustration, anguish and dejections amidst flagrant abuses of privileges by the so-called political office holders will readily come to mind. The reason for this however is not far-fetched, since the so called leaders more often than not, betray a clear lack of patriotisms and good judgements which is a prerequisite for responsive and purposeful leadership in accordance with the sacred oath of office they have sworn to jealously guard and protect; thus demonstrating clearly their lack of proper understanding of the clear distinctions between personal fortunes and general common wealth. And the Kano electorates like their counterpart across the country having defied environmental hazards in anticipations of a clean break from the unruly dictatorships that typified the last dispensation are now unfortunately saddled with a more deadly monster represented by a buffoonish figure head amidst political wolves whose legendary capacity for mischief and ability to devour people's resources new no bound. Ba'a mugun sarki, sai Mugwayen fadawa. Indeed, Kano citizens have every reason to protest what they saw as glaring misapplications of privileges against the backdrop of the excruciating poverty that has become second nature to majority of them. And this partly, can be the reason why all the initial hoopla, hype, hopes and dreams that follow the initial triumph of the incumbent ANPP administration at the polls in 2003 and 2007 sadily and tragically end in disillusionments. For those who for one reason or the other may not have the true picture of the pathetic situation in the ancient Hausa kingdom; the deeply entrenched poverty conundrum bedevilling Kano has assume a frightening dimension courtesy of crass insensitivity of the political stakeholders who are completely disconnected from the reality of our pathetic existence thereby allowing the raging scourge to continue to take its tolls on the hapless citizens. But endemic poverty is a function of so many factors such as qualitative and functional education to all manner of people irrespective of status or creed; sound health system; portable drinking water supply for both domestic and industrial usage; adequate and nutritious foods; shelter and other backbones like electricity; good road networks and employment opportunities. And these are basically the essential requirements expected by every citizens of Nigeria which our elected politicians woefully failed to accomplish out of sadism and insatiable greed. Instead of addressing the crisis confronting the people, Shekarau is busy dancing on the grave yards of miseries that have thoroughly engulfed and subdued the people by concentrating his attentions on frivolities. At this point in time for goodness sake, how do we rationalised a situation where over seven hundred million naira (N700, 000,000) was wasted in the purchase of 57 prado jeeps for onward distributions to traditional title holders, members of the state and federal legislatures which helps to aggravate the already precarious situations of the people. What more do we need to know about the apparent lack of focus and insensitivity of the Kano ANPP mal-administrators? I am very sure that wherever former governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is, must be having the last laugh, considering the disappointments and gnashing of teeth that Kano citizens have to endure against the backdrop of the flagrant contempt and abuses of opportunities by the current political office holders who are busy globe-trotting around world capitals in search of so-called foreign investment. This singular act of sabotage of the people's mandate has finally put paid to whatever remains of the vestiges of credibility and respectability that accompanied the elections of Mallam into the Africa house. In a lecture titled: "The role of government in poverty eradication", delivered at the federal university of technology Minna Niger state, the senior special assistant to the president and national coordinator of national poverty eradication programme (NAPEP), Dr. Kpakol stated that: "the number of poor Nigerians could be put at an estimated figure of 70 million with north central, north west and north east having 67%, 71.2% and 72.2% respectively". The critical official poverty statistics which revealed the endemic nature of the scourge in the North can partly be explain by such wasteful spending and lack of proper vision to articulate sound policy framework geared toward uplifting the living standard of the people as demonstrated practically by the insensitive Kano ANPP government. And this led to the current tense atmosphere which has enveloped the state giving rise to the rumblings and misgivings about the absence of good and pragmatic policies tailored toward empowering the people. How unfortunate! In another development, the 2007/2008 international Human Development Index, HDI ratings, has placed NIGERIA at 158th positions out of 172 countries among which are countries that have just begin to recover from civil wars and naturally induced calamities. In the same vein, the minister of Agriculture was widely reported to have corroborated what Dr Kpakol and Soludo had said earlier regarding the poverty status of the citizens of Nigeria north of the Niger. According to him, over 71% of Nigerians are grossly underfed and this confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt a prior United Nations survey that categorised average Nigerians among those unfortunate souls whom a combinations of bad policies, corruptions and wastage by insensitive leaders had condemned to living on less than a dollar per day! It is pitiful really to acknowledge the fact that kanawa and indeed Nigerians are today totally disappointed by the insensitive Shekarau administration which over the years chose to place high premium on misplaced priorities and projects that have no direct bearings on the general well beings of the people. Akwai ranar kin dillanchi, ranar da hajjar me gari ta bata!!! Kabiru Inuwa Tsakuwa Hausawa bawo Road, Kano.
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