The recent implementation of this ridiculous threat by mass sacking over 788 medical doctors by the Raji Fashola/ACN government clearly underlines the high level of contempt which pro-free market ruling elites in Nigeria of all shades hold the poor and working masses. In order to break the fighting spirit of the doctors, the government went ahead, in an action reminiscent of the military jackboot absolutism, to eject the doctors from their quarters – an action that runs contrary to government’s own tenancy law. This action of the Fashola government is a direct affront on the working and poor people, who have borne all the anti-poor, pro-rich policies of the Fashola/ACN government and its big brother Federal/PDP government. Consequently, all genuinely progressive forces including the labour movement, pro-labour organizations, civil society groups and other professional groups must intervene in the current struggle of doctors in Lagos State. This is not the struggle of the doctors alone, but indeed that of the soul of social service. If the Lagos State government is allowed to have its way, aside this opening the floodgate for massive onslaught on the working and poor people, it will definitely lead to collapse of health service, which is already in precarious state in Lagos State, while engendering brain drain and further destruction of social service across the country.

Merely looking at health statistics in Lagos State alone, the flagship state and shining star of ACN – which has been ruled by ACN party uninterruptedly since emergence of civil rule in 1999 – will reveal the shameful character of Nigeria’s ruling elite, in particular the Fashola/ACN government. The total population of public sector medical doctors is around eight hundred. If we add an extra 700 private practitioners and those on and federal government employment, then we will be having around 1, 500 medical doctors in the state. Given the average population of 15 million, this will mean a doctor to more than 10, 000 persons. This is ten times the WHO average standard. We should not even mention other comparative statistics like number of medical beds to the population. Thus, when a supposedly progressive government embark on mass sack of doctors, not because they committed murder, but for seeking a modest improvement; then we should start to examine so many things about the governance in Nigeria.

The government and its town criers in the media have premised this ignoble action on the so-called flouting of the Hippocratic Oath of the medical profession by embarking on warning strike. But for a government that claims to be ‘guided’ by rule of law (please read rule of pocket), one expected it to refer such to the appropriate professional regulatory bodies to decide or go to court; and not to turn itself to the accuser and the judge at the same time. In the real sense, this is just a pretense, the reality is that the Fashola/ACN administration aim is to divert public fund away from public use for the pecuniary interests of the ruling cabal in power. It is the hypocritical government officials and politicians, who continue to line their pockets with public resources, who are making provision of safe public health a mirage in the country. It is on record that the doctors have used all known administrative, friendly, and even conciliatory means to resolve the issue for the past two years, but the Fashola/ACN government had always met these initiatives with threat and brutal repression. One of this is the sacking of the leader of the Medical Guild two years ago and physical repression of other members of the guild for daring to effect a similar on similar issue. Thus, it is highly hypocritical for anybody to claim that workers have no right to use all democratic and civil means to protect their welfare interest against the recalcitrant and irresponsible ruling elite.

According to the Medical Guild, what they were simply asking for is the reversal of the obnoxious and undemocratic demotion of its members under the guise of paying salaries. This means that majority of the doctors will see as much as four-year demotion with the government’s contemptuous and treacherous implementation of the wage scale for medical doctors. Correcting this will only cost the state around N10 million a month, a tiny fraction of what the state spend on frivolities such as salaries and emoluments of political officers, shows, festivals, wasteful spending on shindigs of party bigwigs, etc. The other demand is the payment of teaching allowance for medical personnel on house jobs. These are graduates, who undertake enormous work in hospitals, but are paid like casuals. While it is true that they are learning through such process, the reality is that based on the collapse of the health infrastructures and huge deficit in medical personnel as highlighted above, these young minds have become the casualty of the irresponsibility of the political class in uplifting health infrastructures. This has made working environment frustrating for upcoming doctors. It is only just for a responsible government to remunerate these young professionals adequately, at least if only to mitigate the huge brain drain in the system. It is a known fact that past governments, despite earning lesser revenue than current governments – utilize incentives like bursaries, scholarships, improved allowances to attract more people to professions that are vital and dear to the society.

The excuse that state government cannot be stampeded to pay a wage policy of the federal government is most cynical. Why has the same principled not applied to the salaries of public and political office holders in Lagos State, who are consuming the same obnoxious and fraudulent emoluments as their federal colleagues. How can this set of people claim that workers who do most of the work for which they get the credit should not demand for a minimal improvement in their conditions? The excuse that there will not be enough resources for development if workers are adequately remunerated is blatant falsehood. In the real sense, the so-called development is elite oriented. For instance, the so-called road construction projects of the Fashola government have been at best one-sided.

While some roads are constructed, the fact is that, on the basis of the fraudulent contract system that ensures multiple inflation of contracts, such projects do not correspond with the huge wealth at the disposal of the state for the past five years (over N3 trillion). In addition, the projects are lopsided with most of the community and local roads abandoned by the state and local governments. Aside this is the bankrupt concession/public-private partnership policy which hand over public properties and infrastructures procured with public funds to private big business to make huge profit. The Lekki-Epe toll road and the BRT projects are immediate examples. Take the housing policy; it is the same fraud: building public housing that an average worker cannot dream of purchasing in years, which are then handed over to middlemen and bankers, at public expense. We have also seen the bankruptcy of the Fashola government in the education sector. The story of Lagos State University (LASU), the only state owned university, where fees are hiked by over 750 percent is still fresh. For several months, the academic staff in the institution had to take on the state government for a minimal increase in their wages, leading to closure of the campus. The recently displayed media picture showing the Lagos State governor, Raji Fashola casting vote at a dilapidated public primary school depict clearly the manner of‘education reform’ the government is undertaking.

Therefore, the current attack on medical doctors for demanding proper implementation of the an agreement is part of the holistic policy of the Fashola/ACN government to undercut funding for social and public service with a view to handing the resources to a handful of big business and party bigwigs. One of the ways of achieving this is by attacking strong sections of the organized working class. While leaderships of most of the workers’ unions have been cowed or bought over, the Lagos State government feels that it can isolate leaderships of some unions that stand up to it to prevent others from waking up. If this attack is successful, it will embolden the Fashola/ACN government to launch full-scale onslaught on workers and poor people, who are already reeking in pains. This will not be limited to Lagos State but will cut across all the states of the federation, as governors are competing vigorously in setting pace for anti-poor, anti-worker policies. Indeed, there is no fundamental difference among these ruling pro-big business political parties (PDP, ACN, CPC, LP, APGA, etc) – they are all anti-poor and corrupt.

The Medical Guild in Lagos State, while must be commended for its steadfastness, must take the struggle beyond the realm of mere administrative strike, they must engage the state government in direct social struggle. This will mean a mass campaign amongst the masses of Lagos through educative materials and mass rallies (in conjunction with genuine pro-labour and labour activists). This should also link the struggle with call for massive improvement in health facilities in the state. For instance, from a conservative estimate, committing two billion naira into health sector in the state will employ and pay annual salaries of over two hundred new medical doctors and over four hundred medical staff. An extra one billion naira, if judiciously utilized will expand health infrastructures (more hospital beds, functional hospitals, etc). This is merely three billion naira, which is less than 15 percent of Lagos monthly revenue. If the Fashola government (which is expending energy and resources on repression of doctors in the last three years) had done this in the past five years, the health system in Lagos would not be in its current mess.

Moreover, the Medical Guild and NMA must also reach out to other unions in the state, especially in-house unions in the health sector. A newspaper recently reported a plan by other medical workers in the employment of the state government to embark on strike over non-implementation of CONHESS – the health workers’ salary scale. Also, federal government health workers in the state are currently on strike. These struggles need to be coordinated, especially among state employed health workers and medical doctors. This is vital in order to avoid a divide-and-rule policy of the Lagos State government. Quoting one the leaders of Medical and Health Workers’ Union (MHWUN), Mr. Rashid Bamishe in an interview, he had said, “Nobody should see our action as sympathy to doctors’ strike. We have issues that are known to the world, and which even the doctors are aware of. But they (doctors) have not included our issue in their strike. How will anybody think of sympathy?”(Guardian, May 12, 2012). This is unfortunate. Agreed that the leaders of the Medical Guild did not include other health workers’ demands, that is not an enough reason to try to isolate the medical doctors. The proper thing for the health workers’ union leaders is to, while fighting for their own demand, show solidarity with the medical doctors. More than this, they should have called for joint action of the unions to win collectively.

The Medical Guild and the NMA should also raise demands of other health workers. While the doctors were correct to have issued educative materials on May Day, they need to take this forward by openly calling on the generality of workers and the poor in the state to intervene in order to save public health, which the Fashola/ACN government does not care a hoot about. It is unfortunate that the labour unions, especially the leaders of labour centres have kept sealed lips. Working class activists and ordinary workers must compel them to act in the long term interests of workers and the poor in the state, who have been at the receiving end of the Fashola government’s irresponsibility.

Ultimately, what the Fashola government has display is a reflection of the cynical attitude of Nigeria’s retrogressive, pro-rich and anti-poor capitalist political class, to the welfare of working and poor people. What the Fashola/ACN government is doing is no different from the anti-poor policies of the PDP and other ruling parties in Nigeria. It is thus no accident that most of the bourgeois political parties at best kept sealed lips. The ranting of the PDP has nothing to do with the party being pro-poor, but a mere opportunistic attempt to gain from the political backlash against the Fashola government, as the PDP, wherever it holds rein of power implement the same if not worse policies. The basic reason why all these parties undertake these anti-poor policies is that they represent the class of the rich and the exploiters. The more they spend on working and poor people, they lesser the wealth they have to loot. Yet, the working and poor people continue to vote for them every four years, as if there is no alternative.

This underlines the fundamental task before the working and poor people in Nigeria – the building of an alternative political platform, run and controlled by the working and poor people, with the sole aim of committing public resources to public services and infrastructures. This will mean putting the huge natural, mineral and monetary resources of the country under the democratic control and management of the working people organized from the factories, workplaces, grassroots and communities to the national level. This will mean public officers will earn the salaries of average skilled workers and their family members will utilize public facilities like every other citizen. This is the only way to end the regime of gangsters in power. The working people at all levels must put pressure on their union leaders take this road.

Kola Ibrahim (08059399178, kmarx4life@gmail.com)

Writer and Activist,

P.O. Box 1319, GPO, Enuwa, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

Today, I passed a church and heard several rhythmic chantings: “O God kill my enemies”, “Holy spirit silence my enemies”, e.t.c. A question immediately came to mind: Is God a hired killer? Is the holy spirit an assasin? I’m also aware that Prophet T.B Joshua said a club will win Champions league, and he even went as far as saying those who’ll score. I can’t but ask, Is anointing for this? What has exactly made us susceptible to these kind of people?

One thing i have come to realize is that we are like people sinking; we grasp whatever we can. I have always tried to think of reasons why Nigerians are so religious, and I can only think of one thing: because of the helplessness they feel about government’s oppression.

Have you ever asked yourself why some religious people in other countries with better conditions of life and work go to church and sleep off or even read newspapers while religious people here in Nigeria have to scream their hearts out in prayer throughout the service? Have you ever asked yourself why christians in developed countries mostly have Praise concerts, Hosannah singers, e.t.c, while in Nigeria, all we have are, Deliverance nights, Night of miracles, mountain of solution? Have you ever asked yourself why the largest places where you see the largest crowd in Nigeria are in religious houses, while in developed countries, you find the largest crowd in Stadiums and at cinema houses? Have you ever asked yourself why in foreign films, we often have sad endings, but in Nigeria, we MUST have good endings to films(i.e, if you enjoy at the beginning, you suffer at the end and if you suffer at the beginning, you enjoy at the end) or it won’t sell in the market? Have you ever wondered why we have so many atheists in developed countries, yet in Nigeria, almost everyone has a religion, both inherited and adopted?

The answers aren’t hard to see, Nigerians are suffering and they need assurance that the people oppressing them will still suffer too, hence the wide acceptance of the heaven and hell concept.

Having a religion and sticking with the ideals of that religion is not a problem, but the problem starts when we start taking things to the extreme. The problem begins when we start adding things to religion that the people who brought the religion to us did not add. The problem starts when we start killing ourselves in the name of advancing our religion. The problem starts when religious leaders start giving their members false hope in the name of religion. The problem starts when we start killing ourselves because of 70 virgins waiting in Alujanah. The problem starts when religious leaders start preaching false peace to avoid addressing national issues.

If there is anytime when Nigerians should rise up and open their eyes, it’s NOW. If there is anytime when we should start thinking for ourselves, it’s NOW. Enough of gullibly following the dictates of religious leaders. Enough of following leaders who have amassed a great deal of gullible followers who don’t care whether or not their leader addresses National issues.

Nigerians who truly love Nigeria should not sit by and do nothing. Enough of hiding under the cloak of religion. Yes, we know we are going to heaven and our oppressors are going to hell. Yes, we are aware that we have 70 virgins in Alujanah. But look at our pastors and Imams who keep promising us that, they travel to wherever they want whenever they want, they live in mansions, the drive the latest cars in town. Ask them if they don’t want mansions in heaven. Ask them if they too don’t have 70 virgins in Alujanah. Enough is enough.

Instead of hiding under religion, let us address national issues, let us demand better conditions of life, better conditions of work, transparency and accountability. Yes, religion is good, but it won’t solve our national problems. Remember, God won’t do for man what man can do for himself.

By Ogunjimi James Taiwo

by  Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

The road to Aisha was not straight. In fact, just an hour before I finally met her, I almost lost any hope of our union. But when I met her finally, the toil proved to be worth undertaking.
The first difficulty was caused by my fading memory. Before I could find her I had to find Tchima Illa Issoufou, the BBC correspondent in Maradi who aired the voice of Aisha in a report on food shortage last March. As I tried to remember her particulars which Tchima mentioned at the end of the report, I mistakenly thought she said Aisha came from Unguwar Hardo outside Damagaran.
So I set out for Damagaran – or Zinder, as the French call it – very early in the morning through Bauchi, Dutse, Gumel and then Babura. I crossed the border at Babban Mutum and reached Damagaran through Magarya an hour before sunset. The road was not good, I must say, though it was far better than what I am used to between Jos and Saminaka. The shallow potholes, though numerous, were filled with sand unlike the car-swallowing ones we have on some Nigerian roads.
At Radio Amfani in Damagaran, I was told that Tchima lives in Maradi, not Damagaran. A colleague of her was able to connect the two of us on phone. I then booked an appointment with her against the following morning. And so without much waste of time, I was out of Zinder chasing the sun on my way to Maradi, though the red star did not take time before it disappeared from my sight altogether. The road was perfect except for the bumps that are located at every settlement along the 300 km stretch. By the time I checked into Jangwarzo Hotel in Maradi around 9.00pm, I discovered that I have covered a distance of 930km that day.
The following day, as I was discussing with some officials at Universite de Maradi, Tchima called and together we went to pick a female friend of hers, Rakiya of Radio Amfani, who would later prove to be very useful in locating Aisha. Tchima would readily confess that she is not good with directions, something that her friend Rakiya does with fascinating ease. Tchima on her part could recall fine details of conversations and faces with an amazing accuracy, as we will see shortly. The two makes a perfect company for any one in search of Aisha under the prevailing circumstance.
Together we left Maradi that afternoon for Gidan Hardo Isa which is in Hawan Dawaki ward. We left the Maradi-Zinder road at Gazaoua (Gazawa) and drove along the quiet laterite road until we reached Hawan Dawaki, at every point guided by the good senses of Rakiya to whom we conceded defeat in any argument regarding direction. It was in this village that Tchima interviewed Aisha and her friends a year ago when they came in the entourage of the President. From there we were guided to remoter village south east of the Gazaoua-Maiadua road.
At Tuburtu, a person I thought was old enough to know Hardo Isa said there was nobody with that name among all the Fulani settlements around. I returned to the car and told my already tired co-travellers, “Il y a une probleme”. However, the old man was kind enough to direct us to a settlement where the oldest Fulani leader around lives. I left Tchima and Rakiya in the car and trekked about a kilometre away where I met Hardo Jibgau in his hat. He counted, and my heart started racing in despair, all the five hardos in the area and said there was only one Hardo Isa. Mentioning Isa immediately rekindled the hope of locating Aisha. He described the site for his son who volunteered to lead us there. After promising Jibgau that i will look for his sister Rabi, the mother of Hardo Ango at Gadan Maiwa in Bauchi state where he once lived, we returned to the car and drove through the narrow sandy path until we arrived at Hardo Isa quarters. Aisha must be living in one of them, we hoped.
The quarters are sparse. Like other Fulani quarters, they form a group of houses separated from one another by distances that could be as wide as 500 meters. Before we could even pull the brakes, there was Tchima at her best: from afar she amazingly spotted one of the women, Fatouma, that were with Aisha the day she interviewed them. We approached the woman who was processing some guinea corn in a motar.
First, the apprehensive Fatouma denied being at the spot of the interview that day. She did not even go to the event, she claimed. Tchima and Rakiya tried hard to describe Aisha to her but she declined knowing anyone like that. Aisha did not help matters either. She did not give Tchima her actual name during the interview. However, as the women realized that we were not there to bring any trouble, they opened up and named Aisha, pointing at her house, some 300 meters away. They sent for her and she arrived shortly. Tchima instantly recognized her. As she sat on an empty mortar to answer Tchima, the clear voice of Aisha as it was aired on BBC hit my ears unmistakably.
Aisha is middle-aged, dark, slim and medium in height. She is a guest every journalist would like to host. She is not shy to speak her mind, eloquently and frankly. Yet, when she spoke to Tchima about the food shortage they were facing last year, she was kind enough to acknowledge the effort of government in distributing foodstuff even though she was yet to receive any personally. What was more interesting in that interview was how she kept on entrusting her hope in God, “E. Ana rabawa amma mu Allah bai ciyar damu ba tukun”. What a good citizen! And God did not fail her. He did not wait much after the interview was aired to answer her prayer as well as that of others around her in Gidan Hardo Isa.
The following forty minutes we spent there before we started our return trip to Maradi were among the happiest moments one could experience in life. It is fascinating to see other people happy, especially when something good visits them unexpectedly. A unique blend of joy and gratitude remarkably changed their faces before us and I had to fight hard to suppress the tears their happiness instigated in my eyes. God is gracious. Very gracious. Whatever little aid we took to them was from Him. We remain grateful to Him for the opportunity.
We bade the residents of Gidan Hardo Isa farewell amidst the joy that surrounded their homes. You would think Zaytouna, the teenage girl of Aisha, would jump into the car out of sheer happiness. As we drove back to Maradi, the eastern sky had better news for the inhabitants of that region of the Sahel. Rains fell just before sunset. And by the time I went to bed in Maradi, they have arrived at the regional capital in considerable quantity to make the rest of the night enjoyably cool for our sleep.
Throughout my visit, I was delighted by the development and orderliness of Niger. If the Ghana I saw in 2007 had given me the hope that Africans can achieve good governance different from what obtains in Nigeria, Niger brought that message closer home because of its proximity and our cultural affinity. Niger is no longer a country of hunger and underdevelopment as the media portrays it. Of course, shortage of rains will contnue to be a problem in the Sahel but the country is increasingly becomng adept in facing the challenge.
What is more interesting is how the contrast with Nigeria would bring out Niger as a true jewel of the Sahel. Right from the first village after the Babban Mutum border, one cannot fail to discern the difference. “With their opposites, things become clear,” said Al-Mutanabbi.
Their primary schools, except those built by communities – and all public buildings for that matter – are built to an impeccable standard. The nearest types of structures in Nigeria to which one could compare the official primary school buildings I saw in their villages are those built here by professional companies like Julius Berger. Even their very large and numerous agricultural stores have defied the instable earth and violent winds of the Sahel. They stand rigid and intact. Contrast this with the subhuman standard classrooms in both our public and private schools, the vandalized and empty stores that were mercilessly stripped of their fittings and roofs by the gluttony of thieving officials, etc.
The student/teacher ratio is small in all the schools I visited. I have not seen any classroom holding under shade. The same children go to school morning and afternoon, including Saturdays as it used to be here in the 1960s. There are sufficient instructional materials and the standard of learning is really high compared to ours. The Primary III children I met at Gurguji, some kilometers away from Magarya, were reading and writing composition in French. On the other side of the border, it is not uncommon to find Nigerian children in SS III who cannot make a single sentence in English – after 12 years of seducation.
The comparison is the same even on matters of governance. Nigeriennes – commoners and elites alike – that I spoke to are unanimous on one point: that ‘doka’ – or rule of law – is the fundamental difference between their country and Nigeria. Niger is where one can say nobody is above the law and readily win a nod. Officials do not engage in the bizarre corrupt practices that take place in Nigeria with impunity. They have a genuine patriotism for their country.
Officials in Niger have direct contact with their people and they show remarkable concern for any plight that might visit them. Officials, including the President, convene ‘town hall’ meetings even in the remotest areas. In fact, the reason why we learn about their food shortage is precisely because the government is concerned about the welfare of its citizens. There are millions of Nigerians under similar circumstance but I have never heard of any effort by government to provide food for them and their livestock. Who cares in Nigeria if you or your cow would die of hunger? Even the “fuji” or cattle vaccinations exercises that were common up to the 1960s have completely disappeared. And when the vaccinations are done in order to patronize a party official, they are counted as a favour to the herdsmen.
Millions of our children are malnourished in Nigeria; we lose hundreds of thousands of cattle to hunger annually. But the world does not know about our hunger for two reasons: one, hunger is the last thing the world would expects to exist in a leading OPEC country and, two, Nigerian officials are too wicked to give it a damn. By contrast, government in Niger knows that its population would take it to task on any lapse, more so if there were reports of animals dying of hunger. The government too is responsive and does not pretend that it is rich. If a cry would bring assistance from donors, it is ready to do it loudly. And it does not wait for them. Along the way to Hawan Dawaki, Rakiya keenly showed me what they called “demi lun”. As the name applies, these are half moon basins which government pays villagers to dig on vast areas and plant them with drought tolerant grasses. The ones we saw along the way to Hawan Dawaki were still not harvested, indicating that the cattle, as we saw them, will escape the lethal effect of the drought this year.
The present government in Niger is particularly doing well. Throughout the regions of Zinder and Maradi, there is a common sight of trucks carrying food and animal feed to stores and people in the hinterland. A journalist that is critical of the regime confided in me that if this dry season passes without significant incidents of human and animal deaths, he would lead a delegation of his colleagues to commend the President in Niamey. President Mohammed Isoufou is not waiting for them. He is already trying his best to fulfill his campaign promises. He promised building 2,500 classrooms annually throughout his tenure, for example. In his first year that just ended, he has built 2,800. This is remarkable in a country with just a population of 15 million and which is regarded among the poorest in Africa. At the peak of the recent fuel subsidy crisis, by contrast, the federal government in Nigeria promised to put thousands of buses on the roads of Nigerians cities. Nothing came out of that simple promise. How much would it take to buy a bus in a country that receives billions of naira daily as rent from oil companies?
The result of the responsiveness of government and its resolve to institute rule of law is the prevailing atmosphere of security and peace. The governor of Maradi, Sidi Mohamed, drives around his capital city freely. I saw the richest person in the region, Umaru Laouli Gago, driving in the city alone in his car. And when night falls, I am sure both will go to their houses and sleep quietly. Nigerian governors cannot dare drive around their capitals without a coterie of hostile and trigger happy security personnel. In fact, mine is reported to have requested his House of Assembly to allow him officially relocate to Abuja. It refused. If he would come to town, it may be once a month or less, since Boko Haram placed him on its hit list in spite of his apology. In the Southeast and South-south, the rich have resorted to residing in hotels, for fear of abduction by kidnappers or attack by armed robbers. Of what worth is our wealth?
Now, there are no go areas even for the Nigerian president, like Eagle Square that is just a kilometre away from Aso Villa, many places in Abuja and security risk states like Borno. By contrast, the President of Niger travels to very remote areas to meet his people and pass the night along with his ministers in mobile tents pitched in open air. I remembered the story of Kusroe’s (Persian) messenger who was shocked to meet the second caliph, Umar Bin Al-Khattab, taking a nap under a tree in the outskirts of Medina, alone without any guard, when his domain had already encompassed the entire Arabia, Syria and Palestine. He said, “I wish my King will enjoy the same level of tranquillity!” I also wish to see President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign train in Tilde one day where he will pass the night in a tent at the foot of the Shere Hills. Hahahahaha…
As a result of rule of law also, Niger is one fo the democracies to beat in Africa. Tchima told me that if there is any manipulation, it could only take place before balloting. But once the ballot is cast, nobody can change the result. Results are announced instantly at polling station and agents are given their copies of the return sheets. Every party collates its results independently at its situation room. Immediately the pattern shows the winner that would emerge, Tchima assured me, other candidates would call that candidate on phone to concede defeat and congratulate him or her. “Shi ke nan,” she said, waiving her hands as we drove towards the Jibiya border.
That is Niger, with its scant resources and population. And here is Nigeria, with over a hundred billion naira spent on elections, with a PhD as President, with hundred times more policemen than those in Niger, with thousands of election officials that include numerous professors and PhDs as returning officers, with thousands of magistrates and justices, and with thousands of lawyers. Yet, we cannot afford to be honest enough to conduct a single credible election. What a shame!
The reason is simple. The Qur’an says, “Say, the bad and the good cannot be equal even if the quantity of the bad has amazed you. So fear God, Oh people of talent, such that you can succeed.”
It was then I realised the stupidity in the idea I put across to Aisha back in Gidan Hardo Isa the previous evening. I asked her why they would not just cross over to Nigeria where there is enough grass for their cattle and arable land to grow crops. She said they prefer to remain in Niger in spite of the difficulties. “If we leave, to whom do we abandon this place: these huts, this fence, this land? Let our men go and search for whatever they could get for us. But here we shall remain.”
More oil is discovered in the Sahel. Definitely, Niger will get rich in the next two decades. I told Tchima that I am afriad that the grip of the state on the affairs of the country may become loose. She disagreed, averring that more resources will be committed to law enforcement comensurate with the challenges. After two days of discussion, I conceded that Niger will face the challenge of wealth squarely, given the long experience it has in French style of administration and the blessing of learning from the bad experience of its ‘oil rich’ southern neighbour.
In the end, I returned home pleased with my union with Aisha and her people, and, more importantly, with the first hand knowledge that our northern neighbour is not as poor as we think. It is developing fast; its riches are increasing by the day; and its people are proud of it. Its people are Africans too, except that they believe in rule of law. With it, their future would certainly be better than ours. I cannot help but wish them success.
If any of my readers, any student of law or any Nigerian official wants to breathe the air of rule of law, he or she may not need to visit far away Europe or America. Niger is closeby. That was the prayer of the late Mamman Shata before his benefactor, the late Emir of Daura, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar. Hear him in the famous LP, Kwana Lafiya Mai Daura:
“In kasar waje ta yi nisa Mamman Nan kusa ma kamar nan Nijer In ga Magarya, jikan Abdu Kai ni Damagaran, dan Sanda Sannan sai ka kai ni Maradi In kwana in gaida Sarki Buzu.”
By sheer coincidence, not by the design of my pocket – unlike Shata, this was the same route I took in search of Habiba few days ago and forty-one years after I heard that song for the first time as a primary school child.
As I bade Tchima farewell at the border and thanked her for her invaluable help, I was immediately greeted on the Nigerian side before I drove into Katsina by sights of blown roofs of newly built classrooms, by a large acreage of firewood bales (not a single piece have I seen sold by the roadside in Niger), by police and soldiers soliciting for tips even under the current security situation, by bare walls of stores that used to harbour tonnes of fertilizer and other agric inputs, and by a people each left to his own devices. I was definitely back to Nigeria, my one and only country, the land of religion without faith, of nothing amidst plenty, of poverty amidst wealth, of ignorance amidst knowledge, of impunity amidst laws, and of dictatorship amidst democracy.
Bauchi 8 May 2012