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IGBO PRESIDENCY: The mystery of a ‘forbidden’ aspiration

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The constitution of Nigeria stipulates the criteria for becoming the president of the country. It never forbids any region or tribe of the country from mounting the seat of power.

Going down memory lane, since the advent of the 4th Republic, different individuals from different ethnic climes have been elected presidents. Late Umar Yar’adua, Mohammadu Buhari of the Northwest region, Olusegun Obasanjo of the Southwest, and Goodluck Jonathan of the South-south have all been democratically elected to become Nigerian presidents.

The Ibos are aggrieved, claiming to be marginalised for having not produced a president to lead the country. Why the grievances? Has any aspirant ever been disqualified from contesting for the presidency for being Igbo? Have the Ibos themselves spoken with one voice? Have they ever been serious with such aspiration? How have the Southeasterners fared with other tribes or regions? Is such grievance genuine?

The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is in tandem with the Federal Character as a way of promoting equity, justice, and fair play, and giving every constituent of the Nigerian society a sense of belonging.

The 1979 Constitution states “the composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or any of its agencies” (Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution). Under this, the appointment of Ministers shall reflect the Federal Character of Nigeria…the President shall appoint at least one Minister from each state who shall be an indigene of such state. (section 147 (3) 1999 Constitution). Appointment to the offices of the Secretary to the Government, Head of Service, Ambassadors, and Permanent Secretaries shall have regard to the federal character (section 171 (5) 1999 Constitution). However, no section of the constitution disenfranchises anyone seeking elective positions to incorporate federal character, so the grievance may be watery.

Choosing the flag bearers for the 1999 presidential election, the scheming never favoured the aspiring Ibos, because the Yorubas were seemingly being appeased over the June 12, 1993 injustice – Obasanjo emerged as PDP’s candidate, having enjoyed the support of the northerners the more, while Olu-Falae was to fly the joint ticket of AD/APP. Towards the presidential election, the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere had shown much commitment, backing the Alliance for Democracy which won all the 6 states of the zone. Such was never the case in the east! In 2003 when the ballot was thrown open to all and sundry, Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu threw his hat into the ring but even the Ibos did not reckon with him. The ballot had 6 different other Ibos apart from Ojukwu, splitting the fortunes of the zone:

Ojukwu (APGA) 1,297,455

Jim Nwodo (UNPP) 169,609

Arthur Nwakwo (PMP) 57,720

Emmanuel Okereke (ALP) 26921

Kalu Idika Kalu (NNPP) 23830

Iheanyichukwu G. Nnaji (BNPP) 5,987

Harmonisation of efforts then could have proven a point but it was like the people of the region did not know what they wanted. Rather, all the 5 states of the region voted for the candidate of the ‘Fulani-owned party’, the PDP.

How have the Ibos fared with other regions?

The Ibos have appeared so inimical to the rest. The tribe remains the only one that has gone into civil war with the federation in a failed secession bid. To an average Ibo man, who is oblivious, ignorant of, or mischievous about the generational fold of events in the country, the Yorubas are forbidden traitors, the Fulanis, useless cows, and the Hausas, intruding parasites,…

At the inception of the country’s self-rule, in 1959 precisely, Nnamdi Azikwe orchestrated the grip of power by the Fulanis over other tribes – the 12th December 1959 parliamentary election was with no clear majority to form a government: Zik’s National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) polled 2,594,577 with 81 seats; Awolowo’s Action Group (AG) had 1,992,364 with 73 seats; Ahmadu Bello’s Northern People’s Congress (NPC) came third, polling 1,922,179 votes with 134 seats. An alliance had to be formed to form a government. Approaching NCNC, Awolowo humbled himself, accepting the slot of Deputy Prime Minister or Finance Minister, ceding the position of Prime Minister to Zik’s NCNC, for having secured more seats and votes. Zik called for coalition talks between the 2 parties in Asaba, the diameter of the Southwest and the Southeast. While awaiting the NCNC delegates in Asaba, the AG heard in the news that Zik had gone ahead to form an alliance with the Northern People’s Congress. Zik ceded the position of Prime Minister to Tafawa Balewa, accepting the figurehead position of Governor-General. He had cunningly outsmarted Awolowo by distracting him from going into alliance with other minority parties ahead of him. Zik justified his action in his autobiography, where he referred to an issue he once had with some Yorubas, including Olufimilayo Ransom-Kuti, Prince Adeleke Adedoyin, and Dr. Olohunnimbe, in the NCNC. Then, he had the resolve that the Yorubas would never rule the country. He had thought he could easily manipulate the Hausas/Fulanis, which could not easily do with the sophisticated Yorubas.

In what could be described as being vindictive, Zik, historically, manipulated Tafawa Balewa to arrest Awolowo in 1962 and get him jailed in 1963. He also influenced Balewa to remove from the Western Region, Edo, Itsekiri, Western Ijaw, and Urhobo which account for 70% of the oil wealth of the country, and create for them, the Mid-West Region. Zik’s hatred for the Yorubas, no doubt, gave the Fulanis, the impetus to lord over other tribes.

When it was discovered that the Fulanis were even smarter than they thought they could be, and they no longer could be tamed, the Ibos resorted to the 1966 coup, the first-ever in the country, tagged ‘Igbo Coup’, in which numerous Northern and Southwest leaders were brutally killed while many Igbo leaders were spared. This was the remote cause of the civil war which was also initiated by the Ibos.

The Ibos’ hatred has always been so deep that, believing the direction of the Yorubas, they have remained conservative. In 1993 when in the then two-party system – MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa were the flag bearers of the Social Democratic Party and National Republican Convention respectively, the Ibos, as usual, went their Fulani way, giving block votes to Tofa, jettisoning a co-southerner. Even as MKO won convincingly in some Northern states, including Tofa’s Kano State, the Ibos never spared a state for Abiola, as the whole 5 states went to Tofa massively. In the 2019 election when two Fulanis, were the major contenders for the presidency, the Ibos massively threw their weight behind the one that had less backing from the Yorubas. It was believed that Bola Tinubu, a leader in the Yoruba Race had much stake in the APC so Atiku Abubakar of the PDP got 100 % victory in the entire 5 states of the east.

The Yorubas might be waiting, one day, for a pound of flesh, paying the easterners back in their coin. Though a sociocultural group, Afenifere, of the Yorubas has frequently drummed support for an Igbo presidency the question to ask is ‘How relevant are such clamour and the group clamouring?’ Tinubu’s political empire has recently thrown the group into oblivion. The group is understandably having personal beef with Tinubu, and as such, it has always been antagonistic to his aspirations.

The post-Zik/Ojukwu era generation Igbo, in most cases, has seen the Hausa/Fulani or/and the Yorubas as their predicament. They see the Northerners as being domineering, clinching on to power. They see the Yorubas as those who have been harbouring the northerners, aiding them to win elections. In this era of social media, the ‘battle’ is widely discussed. A good example, as observed in an empirical work are archived tantrums of Nnamdi Kanu and Simon Ekpe, agitating for Biafra:

These criminals cannot be stealing money belonging to everybody. These same men cannot be responsible for the length and breadth of the depth….”

Facebook: (Nnamdi Kanu, 2014.)

“They have no sea but they are in charge of all seaports in the south.

They have no single drop of oil but they own all oil wells in the south and are in charge of NNPC.

“They score lowest in every exam, yet they are Chief Justices, AGF, Supreme Court Judges, and Army Generals.”

Facebook (Nnamdi Kanu, via Inside Biafra, May 25, 2021.)

“The more you keep supporting evil in the zoo

The more your land will be taken from you;

The more your daughters will be raped and abducted;

The more your sons will be slaughtered in cold blood.”

Facebook (Nnamdi Kanu, addressing the Yorubas, via World Around Us, June 2, 2021).

“Oduduwa must now understand that the war is real. 6.6.2021.

NSA orders dismantling illegal security outfits nationwide to enable Fulanis to overrun Nigeria.

Okonjo Iweala is now a target as Fulani accused her of IPOB.”

Facebook (Simon Ekpa, June 6, 2021).

“Since the killings by Fulani terrorists, sponsored by the presidency has now spread across Southern Nigeria with the latest massacre of Oduduwa People in Oyo State, the acting president, Garba Sheu is hereby banned indefinitely from entering Southern Nigeria.”

Facebook (Simon Ekpa, June 7, 2021).

Also in another work, it has been documented that 62 % of those who post share like; or pass consenting remarks on such inflammatory ideological outbursts are from the Eastern region. All these have, of course negatively affected the trusts reposed in the easterners by other regions, seeing them as secessionists who could not be trusted with power.

Is the marginalisation grievance of the region, Southeast genuine?

A peruse of the archive may shed some light:

The North-West Region has produced the late General Muritala Mohammed, who was the military Head of State from 29th July 1975 – 13th February 1976 (6 months, 15 days); Alhaji Sheu Shagari, 1st October 1979 – 31st December 1984 (4 years, 61 days); Late General Sanni Abacha, 17th November 1993 – 8th June 1998 ( 4 years, 203 days ); Umar Yar’adua, 29th May 2007 – 5th May 2010 ( 2 years, 341 days); Muhammodu Buhari, 31st December – 27th August 1985, 29th May 2015 – 29th, 2023 ( 9 years, 239 days).

From the North-Central, there have been General Yakubu Gowon, 1st August 1966 – 29th July 1975 (8 years, 362 days); General Ibrahim Babangida, 27th August 1985 – 26th August 1993 (7 years, 364 days); and General Abdulsalam Abubakar, 8th June 1998 – 29th May 1999 (355 days).

Down the south, the South-West has General Olusegun Obasanjo, 13th February 1976 – 1st October 1979 & 29th May 1999 – 29th May 2007 (11 years, 8 months and 12 days); Late Ernest Shonekan, 26th August 1993 – 17th November 1993 (83 days).

The South-South has Goodluck Jonathan, 5th May 2010 – 29th May 2015 (5 years, 25 days).

The South-East has Late Nnamdi Azikwe, 16th November 1960 – 1st October 1963, & 1st October 1963 – 16th January 1966 ( cumulatively, 5 years, 61 days); General JTU Aguyi-Ironsi, 16th January 1966 – 29th July (194 days).

Lastly, the North-East has nobody, and as such, has ruled for 0 day!

Going by this, the only region that should be aggrieved is the northeast, which is the only region that is yet to produce a head of government either as a civilian or as a coup plotter. The South-East had Nnamdi Azikwe who willingly settled as a titular head and Aguyi-Ironsi, the first coup plotter in the country, who though never lasted being in power.

Will the Ibos ever right the wrongs?

The destiny of the Igbo Nation is lying right before them! They should be bold enough and mould their future. If is still secession that they desire, they should get so serious about it, realising that the process is not as easy as bread and butter. They should also realise that violence may not be productive as proven by the outcome of the 6th July 1967 – 15th January 1970, which they activated. They should also be mindful of the fact that social media is not the avenue for a referendum. Making unnecessary enemies is not the best option.

The leadership of the zone should put mercenaries in place to curb the incessant violence, killings, and civil unrest currently being witnessed in the zone; the menace has only been counterproductive so far. In a recent video’ that went viral, the IPOB miscreants went as far as killing Ibo men at the INEC registration center for having flouted the Monday-sit-at-home-order.

The Ibos should for once, prove that they are sincerely consequential by speaking with one voice. They should at this point forget about party politics, harmonise efforts, produce a widely acceptable candidate, and unanimously present them, seeking the blessings of the other zones rather than seeing any as enemies. At present, several Igbo political gladiators have shown interest in running in the 2023 presidency race, and history has it that they have always been divisive.

More importantly, the region should bury the hatchet of hatred lingering since the days of Late Zik as such has always boomeranged, inflicting on them and their aspirations.

This panacea is all that could solve the puzzle of that presidency debacle.

 

 

Kola Adebiyi writes from Ibadan, Oyo State

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Opinion

NASS Pensioners: How Akpabio, Abbas Should Not Treat The Elderly

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On Monday and Tuesday last week, workers and political operatives within the precincts of the new Senate building in the National Assembly complex, Abuja, were treated to a replica of the Theatre of the Absurd. This type of drama originated in Europe and later spread to America in the 1950s. It was influenced by existential philosophy and Albert Camus’s essay The Myth of Sisyphus.

In that work, Camus captured the fundamental human needs and compared the absurdity of man’s life with the situation a figure of Greek mythology, Sisyphus found himself, where he was condemned to repeat forever the task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, and repeatedly sees the same roll down the hill as he approaches the top.

He, thereafter, juxtaposed life’s absurdities with what he called the “unreasonable silence” of the universe to human needs and concluded that rather than adopt suicide, in frustration, “revolt” was required.

82-year-old Dr. Muhammed Adamu Fika, former Clerk to the National Assembly and former Chairman, of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), who calls himself the “smaller Adamu Fika,” must have come across the Camus essay in deciding to lead an emergency meeting of the Council of Retired Clerks and Secretaries of the National Assembly on November 18. The emergency meeting, which was jointly held with members of the Association of Retired Staff of the National Assembly was meant to salvage the pathetic plights of the National Assembly retirees.

Eighty-two-year-old Fika can hardly gather the pace to navigate round the corners of the National Assembly, but he insisted on making the trip to enable him to preside over the meeting as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Council of Retired Clerks and Secretaries. As his retiree colleagues, many of whom are far younger, saw him struggling to walk the required distance from the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Library, originally fixed as venue to the new Senate building, they had to provide some shoulders to lean on. At one stage, an office chair was converted to a wheelchair to ensure the elderly Fika got to certain locations. It was a sad tale, especially if you look at the essence of Fika’s trip to the National Assembly. He was there to preside over a meeting to press home the need for the payment of the entitlements of National Assembly retirees. An alarm had earlier been sounded on the different Whatsapp platforms of the retired workers of the National Assembly to the effect their members were dying in numbers. It was revealed that no fewer than 20 retired workers had died awaiting the payment of their entitlements in the recent past. Another set of retirees numbering 12 were said to have been bedridden in different hospitals across the land. That alarm was more than enough to prompt Fika and his retiree colleagues to an emergency meeting. But the sight of an elderly man, fighting a just cause on an improvised wheelchair was more than absurd.

Payment of the entitlements got stalled after former President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the National Assembly Service Pensions Board Act, 2023, which mandated the National Pensions Commission (PENCOM) to hand over assets of the staff of the National Assembly in its custody after the passage of the National Assembly pension law.

In the beginning, there were no signs that things would go south on the implementation of the Act. Three months after the National Assembly Service Pensions Board Act came into effect, PENCOM had written the management to convey its decision to hand off the pension assets of the staff of the National Assembly, while requesting the National Assembly management to provide it with account details to remit the accrued funds. The 10th Senate and the House of Representatives also provided hope for the retirees by providing a take-off grant to the tune of N2.5 billion in the 2024 budget. However, the NASS management could not comply with the request from PENCOM because the Pensions Board had not been inaugurated. Months after months, the retirees waited. Those who were already enjoying their benefits when PENCOM was administering had the payments terminated, while the waiting game ensued.

In trying to fast-track the implementation of the Act, Fika, as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Council of Retired Clerks and Secretaries had forwarded a letter to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, intimating them of the council’s recommendations for positions in the National Assembly Service Pensions Board.

Fika said in the letter, dated February 27, 2024, that “Considering the pathetic health conditions of our retired colleagues, Your Excellency will agree with me that the establishment of the National Assembly Pensions Board is overdue five (5) months after Mr. President’s assent.” He said that his letter was premised on the provisions of Sections 2 and 17(3) of the National Assembly Service Pensions Board Act, 2023, which indicate that the presiding officers of the National Assembly shall make the appointments subject to recommendations of the Council of Clerks and Secretaries. But some persons are insinuating that the undue delay might have been instigated by two strange bedfellows-politics and money. Where the two are involved, simply things hardly follow a straight course. However, nothing justifies the nearly 20-month delay in inaugurating the Pensions Board.

At the end of the emergency meeting on Monday, further meetings were said to have been scheduled at the instance of the Senate President, Akpabio, his deputy, Jibril Barau and others but there were no conclusive steps, yet.

A communique released after the meeting indicated that the retirees observed that the National Assembly Service Pensions Board Act, 2023 went through full legislative process in the 9th National Assembly and was assented to by President Muhammad Buhari. It further noted that the delay in implementing the Act has caused undue and untold hardship to the retirees who are unable to access their retirement benefits, adding that while a number of the retired Staff have died, many others are bedridden due to sufferings occasioned by the non-payment of their entitlements.

According to the communique, the meeting decried the pains the retired staff have been subjected to and recalled that appropriate recommendations as per the composition of the Pensions Board have been made to the Presiding Officers of the National Assembly, in line with the enabling Act.

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The Fuji Music House Of Commotion

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Like every lover of Yoruba traditional music, language and culture, I have of recent been inundated with requests to lend a voice to the newest raging fire in the Fuji music genre. Since the passage of Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Balogun, popularly known as Ayinde Barrister or Agbajelola Barusati, there have been longstanding tiffs on whom of the trio of Ayinde Omogbolahan Anifowose, KWAM 1; self-named King Saheed Osupa (K.S.O.) and Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, was the “King.”

These musicians’ recent quest for supremacy is not new. From time immemorial, supremacy battles have been part and parcel of Yoruba music. Apparently now tempered by modernity, in the olden days, the battles were fought with traditional spells, incantations and talisman aimed at deconstructing and liquidating their rivals. Mostly fought on genre basis, I submit that pre and post-independence entertainment scene would have been livelier, far more robust than it was but for the acrimonious liquidating fights of those eras.

In the Sakara music, Abibu Oluwa, a revered early precursor of this Yoruba musical genre, who reigned in the late 1920s and 1930s, had Salami Alabi Balogun, popularly known as Lefty Salami, Baba Mukaila and Yusuff Olatunji as members of his band. Oluwa praise-sang many Lagos elites of his time, especially Herbert Macaulay to whom he sang his praise in the famous track named “Macaulay Macaulay.” In it, he sang the foremost Nigerian nationalist’s alias of Ejonigboro – Snake on the Street and prayed that he would not come to shame.

Sakara also produced the likes of S. Aka Baba Wahidi, Kelani Yesufu (alias Kelly). It was sung with traditional Yoruba instruments like the solemn-sounding goje violin whose history is traced to the north, and the roundish Sakara drum, beaten with stick and whose appearance is like that of a tambourine. Sakara music is often called the Yoruba variant of western blues music because of its brooding rhythm though laced with a high dosage of philosophy.

When Oluwa died in 1964, he literally handed over to Lefty who, born on October 1913, died December 29, 1981. Lefty, a talking drummer under Oluwa, churned out over 35 records before his demise, one of which was a tribute to Lagos monarch, Oba Adele (Adele l’awa nfe – Oba Adele is the king we want) and another to the Elegushi family. I dwelt considerably on Sakara because it is believed to have had considerable influence on other genres of traditional African Yoruba music, especially Apala and Fuji, with the former sometimes indistinguishable from Sakara.

Apala music, whose exponent is said to be Haruna Ishola, originated in the late 1930s Nigeria. Delivered with musical instruments like a rattle (Sekere) thumb piano, (agidigbo) drums called Iya Ilu and Omele, a bell (agogo) and two or three talking drums, Apala and Sakara are the most complex of these genres of traditional Yoruba music, due to their infusion of philosophy, incantations and dense Yoruba language into their mix. Distinct, older and more difficult in mastery than Fuji music which is considered to be comparatively easy to sing, Ayinla Omowura, Ligali Mukaiba, Kasumu Adio, and many others were Apala leading lights of the time. The three genres have very dense Islamic background.

The latest entrant of all the three genres is Fuji. Pioneered by Ayinde Barrister no doubt, for an Apala musician biographer like me, I am confused that Omowura, as far back as early 1970s, asked listeners in need of good Fuji music to come learn from him – “Fuji t’o dara, e wa ko l’owo egbe wa…” Sorry, I digressed.

While KWAM 1 emerged with his Talazo music from the ashes of his being a music instrument arranger for Barrister’s musical organization in the early 1980s, the feud in the house after Barrister’s death erupted when narratives allegedly oozed unto the musical scene that KWAM 1 referred to himself as the creator of Fuji music. He however promptly denied the claim. For decades, Osupa and Pasuma were locked in horns over supremacy of the Fuji music genre. In August 2023, the two however seemed to have decided to thaw their feud as they shared stage with Wasiu Ayinde, at Ahmad Alawiye Folawiyo, an Islamic singer’s 50th birthday celebration in Lagos. KWAM 1 glibly acted as their senior colleague at the event.

As an indication that they are no bastards of the teething and recurrent supremacy battles that emblemize traditional Yoruba music, the three Fuji music icons seem to have gone into the trenches again. It first started with Taiye Currency, an Ibadan-based alter-ego of Pasuma picking a fight with the musician who self-styled himself Son of Anobi Muhammed’s Wife. In a viral video, Currency had disclaimed reference to Pasuma as his “father” in the music industry. In another video not long after, KWAM 1, like some kind of father figure, was shown asking Currency to apologize to Pasuma.

A few days ago, a video of Osupa went viral. Therein, he was chastising a particular hypocrite he called “Onirikimo” and “alabosi”, who is “stingy and is ready to shamelessly collect money from those under him.” Osupa also claimed that this “shameless elder” had strung a ring of corn round his waist and should be ready to be made fun of by hens. Watchers of the endless tiffs among these Fuji icons swear that KWAM 1 was the unnamed Fuji musician Osupa was casting aspersion on.

The trio of Sakara, Apala and Fuji music also witnessed such petty squabbles. While many claim that the fights were promotional gambits aimed at having their fans salivate for their hate-laced musical attacks against one another, some others claim that the rivalries were genuine. In the Apala music scene, Haruna Ishola and Kasumu Adio fought each other to the nadir, with Adio, who sang almost in the same voice and cadence as Ishola, suddenly vamoosing from the musical scene. Rumours and speculations had it then that a mysterious goat bit Adio and rendered him useless. While Ayinla Omowura also fought Fatai Olowonyo, Fatai Ayilara, among others in the Apala genre, the duo of Yusuff Olatunji and S. Aka also feuded till their last days. This is not to mention the interminable fight between Kollington Ayinla and Barrister.

If the tiff between the trio of KWAM 1, Osupa and Pasuma is about age and Yoruba traditional respect for elders, KWAM 1 would easily go away with the trophy of the best of the three. However, if philosophical depth, musical elan, research of lyrics and deployment of Yoruba language are at issue, none of the other two musicians can unbuckle Osupa’s sandals. Osupa began his musical career in 1983 as a teenager and has gone through the mills, his late father being a musician, too and Awurebe music lord, Dauda Epo Akara’s musical contemporary.

Unlike their predecessors, the three Fuji musicians are literate and should thus address their musical issues in more mature manner. Osupa even recently bagged a degree from the department of Political Science, University of Ibadan. One thing they should know is that, whether one is supreme to the other or not, their fans will readily queue behind the brand that delights them.

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Almajiri: Why Northern Leaders Must Look Themselves in the Mirror

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Two incidents happened during the 1994/95 NYSC service year, which I was part of in Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State, and they gave me profound culture shocks that I still remember till today. I would equally say that those incidents probably justified the Federal Government’s decision to float the scheme.

 

We were told that part of the reasons General Yakubu Gowon floated the NYSC was to ensure national integration, cohesion and exposure of young Nigerians to cultures of other parts of the country other than where they were born.

First was the shock of seeing a director that I was attached to in the then Government House, who had just taken a new wife, and sat among drivers, gate men and other junior staff to dine. I saw them seated round a huge iron pot of Koko, a local delicacy, exchanging one big spoon made of calabash, as each took turns to use the spoon to eat the delicacy. It was as if I was witnessing a scene where children of a big family were struggling to catch a portion of food or where people were eating Saara, as they say it in Yorubaland.

As I walked past the noisy crowd, I was transfixed seeing the newly-wedded director among the lot. He saw me standing still, as I couldn’t comprehend what he was doing there, and he got the message. ‘Taiyo, (as he used to call me) you won’t understand,’ he said as he waved to me to keep going. When we later saw, he explained that what he just did was a way of assuring the commoners that ‘we are all one,’ as they felicitated him on the new bride. But I could not fathom how the occupant of a ‘huge office’ as that of a director in a Government House , would sit among “commoners” on a tattered mat to share a single spoon and eat in public.
The other incident was quite pathetic. My friend, Tunde Omobuwa, was posted to a school in Yauri, in the southern part of the state, for his primary assignment. But he found the place boring on weekends. So, he arranged to always be with me on weekends.

One such weekend, we decided to take a stroll round the streets near the Government House. We took off from the place of my primary assignment, the Federal Information Centre; bought corn beside the office, and started ‘blowing’ the ‘mouth organ’ as we strolled. We were too engrossed in our gist and the sweetness of the corn to note that some young boys were trailing us, praying that some leftovers of the corn would drop for them to scavenge. Somehow, the two of us dropped the corn cob almost simultaneously. We were more than taken aback by a commotion that erupted at our back. Four eight or nine year-olds had descended on the supposed leftovers and broken the corn cobs into pieces. I was again transfixed as if one was hit by an electric shock. Remember that feeling when you play with electric fish?

I was moved to tears as I had never ever seen a group of children scavenging on nothing as it were. I beckoned to the kids and offered them N20, which was the highest denomination at the time, and with some smattering Hausa words told them to go buy their own corn from the same place we got ours. As they left, heading to the corn seller, I couldn’t erase that ugly sight from my mind. Was it really possible that some people scavenge on nothing this way? I was later to see incidents of children swarming around restaurants and pouncing on near empty plates.

These incidents told me clearly that the North was a different place and that the life of the boy child is not only risky and endangered but sold to stagnation and deprivation, unless you are one of the lucky few.

Having benefited from the free education policy of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) between 1979 and 1983, when the Second Republic was terminated, I knew that there is a lot the government can do in educating the children. In my secondary school days, I was the Library Prefect at one point, and so I saw an excess of books supplied by the government to our school. So, I was an example of the feasibility of free education. It was the same way the Action Group government had handled education in the years preceding Nigeria’s independence and the First Republic.

So why can’t the state governments in the North declare free and compulsory education for the young ones out there? Why should children be made to scavenge on empty corn cobs just to see if they can find pieces of seeds left over?

And why was my director giving drivers and gate men in the Government House false hope that they were all the same, instead of him to challenge them to seek to lift themselves up the social ladder?
I think there was no excuse for the North not to have adopted a free education policy, just as Chief Obafemi Awolowo did in the South-West. And if we say the North needs to look itself in the mirror, you again remember the efforts by President Goodluck Jonathan to educate the multitude of Northern children through the Almajiri Schools. That government built more than 400 of such schools, which were abandoned because it could upset the oligarchy. The oligarchs forgot the truism that the children of the poor they refuse to train today won’t let their children sleep peacefully.

But the governor of Borno State, Prof Babagana Zulum, appears to have got the message. Last week, I was thrilled to see him organise a summit to reform the Almajiri system.

The Almajiri education system is a traditional Islamic method of learning widely obtained across states in northern Nigeria. Through that system, which is tied to Islamic teaching, youths, especially boys are kept out of the formal western education system. I don’t know why the teachings by Islamic scholars cannot go alongside that of Western education as it obtains in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and other Islamic countries that are doing well economically and in the world of science, technology.
While addressing the summit, Zulum had mentioned the need to address the root causes of insecurity through the provision of education for citizens of Borno, adding that improper teaching of Islamic studies has contributed to the emergence of Boko Haram insurgents in the state.

According to him, to curtail whatever is the adverse effect of Almajiri education; the Borno State Government has established the Arabic and Sangaya Education Board to introduce a unified curriculum for Sangaya and Islamic schools. He said that the reform would include establishing Higher Islamic Colleges to cater for Almajiri children and blending the religious teachings with the secular curricula as well as skills.
He said: “The Sangaya Reform is a great development. It will give Almajiri a better chance in life, particularly the introduction of integrating western education, vocational, numeracy, and literacy skills into the centres, which are also described as Almajiri and Islamic schools.

“Distinguished guests and esteemed educationists, government’s intention was to streamline the informal and formal education systems to quality integrated Sangaya School for admission into colleges and universities.”

One would have thought that governors with radical postures like Nasir el-Rufai and others before him would have proposed this type of reform, but it is better late than never. Zulum should be supported to get something out of this.

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