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PEOPLE AND POLITICS BY MOHAMMED HARUNA
Poverty in the North: Time for More Action and Less Talk During a recent seminar held in Abuja by the well-organised and powerful Association of Retired Police Officers of Nigeria (ARPON) on the role of the police in securing democracy in the country, a debate ensued about the usefulness of seminars and similar talk-shops for Nigeria’s political and socio-economic development. Participants were divided between those who said we talk too much and do too little and others who said there is no such thing as too much talk as part of the process of solving our problems. There is no doubt that we talk a lot in this country. There is enough talk in our legislative houses, in government offices, in our mosques and churches, in our schools, in our homes, on the streets, and of course, in the ubiquitous beer parlours, to cure all our ills if words alone could do so. However, the fact that the more we talk the worse our problems apparently get suggests that the argument is in favour of those who say we talk too much. Certainly there’s a lot more talk than action in this country. But then this is not unique to us as Nigerians. There is more talk than action out there as well for the simple reason that talk is cheap. So if there is any difference between Nigeria and other countries over this issue of dogon turanci – too much grammar, in local parlance – it is a matter of degree not substance. We may talk a lot more than we act, but it is, I believe, illogical to think it is possible to act sensibly without at first talking a lot. It is, after all, the power of words, spoken or written, rational or emotional, that prompt men to act. Words, in other words, can make us laugh or cry. They can make us fall in love or go to war. Besides, there is no universal yardstick for judging when talk is too much. Even then it is difficult to fault those who argue that as Nigerians we have talked too much and done too little about our problems. The problem, however, is not so much talking itself, even when, as is often the case, we talk a lot of bull. The problem is at least two-fold. First, as followers we often think our actions cannot make any difference. In isolation this may be true. But we often forget that together they add up. However, because we think in isolation, we often merely grumble and imagine that the solution to our problems will fall from heaven, or that finding the solutions and implementing them is the responsibility of our political leaders alone. We forget that as parents and teachers, priests and Imams, wives and husbands, etc, we are also leaders in our own rights because each of us is a shepherd over his watch no matter how small. Second, as leaders, especially those holding public trust, all too often we say one thing but do another, sometimes the exact opposite. All this is why we may continue to organise seminars and such similar talk-shops about our problems as a nation till the end of the world and still make little or no progress. Does this mean we should stop organizing talk-shops? Of course not. As I have said earlier, we may tend to talk too much and do too little but we must remember that without words to prompt us there can be no action. However, the fact that as followers and leaders alike we have generally become cynical about talk-shops is one good reason why we must all strive to begin to match our zeal for talks with a will to act. Take for example, the Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit (NEIS 2008), scheduled for this Monday October 6, at Abuja Sheraton Hotel and Towers under the umbrella of the Conference of the Northern States Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (CONSCCIMA). The summit is to be co-chaired by former head of state, General Yakubu Gowon and former president, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. The chief host is the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III. The keynote address is to be delivered by former Pakistani Prime Minister, Right Honourable Shaukat Aziz. This summit is obviously as high powered as it gets. Yet more likely than not it would provoke a long yawn instead of enthusiasm from the public for the simple reason that little has changed following similar talk-shops that have been held in the past. In the last eight years many summits, seminars and workshops, etc, on industry, education and agriculture have been organised by the Northern Governors' Forum and its equivalent of Northern senators and federal legislators. Other organisations like the Arewa Consultative Forum and the Arewa Media Forum have also organised all kinds of talk-shops. Yet our problems seem to get worse not better. Illogical as it may sound, the failure of these talk-shops to bring about development in the region is no reason to stop organising them. It is, however, reason to act more and talk less, especially on the part of the governors of the 19 northern states. If the governors are sincere about putting an end to the poverty that has attracted so much contempt for their region they know what to do beyond organising or patronising talk-shops. For a start they can strengthen the New Nigerian Development Corporation, at one time sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest indigenous conglomerate and the engine of the region’s industrial, agricultural, commercial and social development. Established in 1949 as a statutory corporation long before the region’s self-rule in March 1959 and Nigeria’s independence in October 1960, it became a limited liability company in 1976. The indigenisation policy of the military administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo at the time saw it grow into a conglomerate that rivalled the United Africa Company (UAC) in the scope of its investments in industry, commerce, agriculture and services. Today, the NNDC, like so many institutions the Sardauna established, is a shadow of its former self. But unlike most of its counterparts, it has remained viable and seems to have a management willing and able to restore it to its former glory. In the last few years, this management has planned and worked hard to expand the company’s portfolios into telecommunications, oil and gas and solid minerals. The last two have a potential to equal if not surpass revenue from oil and gas in the Delta region, a source of revenue has led to so much needless friction between the two hitherto friendly regions. What mainly stands between the NNDC and its development of these portfolios is its recapitalization. Its share capital at present stands at 500,000,000 Naira, which is roughly a little over four million U.S. dollars at current exchange rate – a miserable capital base for a company whose assets run into tens of billions of Naira and which would like to partner with big-time global giants like Gazprom, the giant Russian gas company, to develop the huge potential of the North in the extractive industry. Nearly three years ago, the company submitted a memo to the Northern Governors’ Forum for an increase of its share capital to 7.5 billion Naira. The governors accepted the memo and resolved to contribute 4.75 billion Naira for the company’s recapitalization. Accordingly all but two of the 19 states signed an undertaking with the federal authorities for the deduction at source of N250 million per state from their shares of the Federation Account to the NNDC over a period of eight months beginning from February this year. Nearly eight months on not one kobo has been paid to NNDC because the owner states appear, for some inexplicable reason, to have reneged on their undertakings. Yet it is simple actions like the recapitalization of viable companies like the NNDC and not dogon turanci that can bring about the development of a region whose level of poverty is the deepest compared to other regions in a country whose level of poverty is deep enough already. By all means, let’s organise seminars on how to end poverty in the region - and by extension in Nigeria as a whole - but we must accept the obvious fact that words alone can never solve our problems. A catastrophe waiting to happen If you use the Abuja to Kano highway frequently, as tens of thousands of Nigerians do every day, you will agree with me that there is a huge catastrophe waiting to happen at two spots along the route. These are Tafa, about an hour’s drive from Abuja, and Mararraban Jos, some fifteen minutes drive from Kaduna. Both spots are in Kaduna State. At both spots trailers and fuel tankers have turned the highway into dangerous bottlenecks. In the event of a fire accident or any other serious mishap, it is not hard to imagine the massive losses in lives, limbs, property and vehicles that will occur because of the lack of room for escape or for rescue operation. To prevent such a catastrophic eventuality, the Federal and Kaduna State governments should provide depots for these trailers and tankers to park well away from the highway. Actually, such a facility already exists at Mararraban Jos. What has been lacking is the will on the part of Kaduna State to enforce compliance in accordance with the demands of safety. On its part, the leadership of the trailer and tanker drivers must realize that choking the highway with their trailers and tankers poses a grave risk to everyone (including themselves) and to everything in the neighbourhood. They should therefore cooperate with the authorities and park their vehicles well away from the highway even before a permanent depot can be built for them.
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