Mena's Muzik


MusicPlaylistView Profile
Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Friday 16 March 2012

I INVITE GOV ALIYU TO SHUT UP-lifted from Mallam El Rufai's facebook wall

This is a long but interesting read. I wonder how far we can go as a nation if we cant accept the truth and generate ideas to improve our economy and by extension our lot!

Enjoy




Wole Soyinka did me a great favour recently. To put it in the language
of today's online communities, he did a little trolling. He provoked the
thoughtful sections of the Northern political and media establishment -
and establishment spokespersons they are though they may not be aware of
it nor pleased by it - to speak their minds. Some of these turned out
calmly rational as seen in Mahmud Jega's or predictable as seen in
Mohammed Haruna's or very suitably unfounded as exemplified by Sam
Nda-Isaiah's. Some others offered very ugly words like those written
with a quill pen by Adamu Adamu or the dismissive put-down as was the
one tweeted by Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim.

In an essay published in Newsweek and a series of interviews granted the
media, Soyinka essentially charged that Boko Haram is plainly an
instrument in the hands of those Northerners no longer in power looking
for a way to reclaim it. He did not found any real supports for his
claim which is what made Nda-Isaiah's equally unsupported response a
like-for-like match. But he sprinkled a lot of the usual saw dust that
gets into the eyes of Muslim Northern Nigerians like Ibrahim; a certain
contempt for their religion, and an equally dismissive attitude to what
he makes of their culture. No reader of Soyinka's recent comments could
fail to get the impression that these are really people whom he does not
like at all. His words very deliberately underscore the common
perception of Northerners as unproductive.

Each time that matter has been raised Mohammed Haruna has written a
column. It is always the same old same old: the North, through its
agricultural produce, contributes more to the country's GDP. He is
right. But he will soon be wrong. In Lagos throughout the 70s, all the
rice consumed in our household came from Baro and all the groundnut oil
from Bida, both places in Haruna's Nupe Kingdom in Niger State. Today
our oil comes from Singapore and our rice from Thailand. Tomorrow our
rice will most likely come from Ikorodu in Lagos State because right now
as Governor Babangida Aliyu, the gasbag of Niger State, heckles for a
larger slice of the Federal dole, Governor Tunde Fashola in Lagos, bless
the man, is hard at work toward self sufficiency in rice production.

It is said that those who are always talking have no time to listen.
Just the other day, Governor Aliyu declared that he knows the sponsors
of Boko Haram. In other words, he claims to know those who have
sponsored widespread murder and terror. How can we take him seriously,
or not consider him complicit, when he has irresponsibly failed to say
who they are? I invite Governor Aliyu to shut up. If he does so, he
should be able to listen and think. He has complained that what his
State gets is largely spent on salaries. Tough luck. How about a plan
for paying salaries from revenues and taxes derived from a once again
vibrant Bida economy? How about self sufficiency in groundnut oil
production? Does he ever go to Bida where - as I saw last year -
abandoned oil mills are all over the place? No. Governor Aliyu is always
on the Minna-Abuja road, a route defiled by no less than fifty fat
billboards which speak to his megalomania as opposed to the so-called
Chief Servant they crudely announce. Where is Chief Aliyu's plan for oil
and rice exports out of Baro, a port on the now partially dredged River
Niger once productively linked to the hinterland by a busy railway line?

It happened just two months ago so no one has forgotten but additional
money from the partial removal of the fuel subsidy has now come to Niger
State. Why won't Governor Aliyu release a transparent plan to show the
poor people in Agaie, Zungeru and Awuru and the elite in Minna whom he
says he serves exactly how it will be utilised, what new jobs it will
create, what better teachers it will employ? The same applies to the
other governors. Why haven't they come up with their subsidy
reinvestment programmes similar to what the Federal Government has now
clearly made a commitment?

When I saw in Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala's SURE programme a
commitment to spending 60 per cent of the funds earmarked for
investments in Information Technology "in the relatively disadvantaged"
North, I contacted two Northerners in the field and urged them to study
the document with a view to seeing what they could do to get our people
to make the most of that opportunity. The depressing response of one of
them who is employed by a leading international firm is highly
instructive. This is what he had to say:

"I'm disenchanted. Why so? I am expected to sell technology to
Northern States (among others) yet they are the most uninterested
customers. Yes young tech businesses are there. Without the primary
patronage of their own governments, how can they show their mettle
and make others turn to them? I wonder if you saw what the Urban
Shelter guy said about how Fashola helped to approve and exceed
their request for land in Lagos, without having to meet them;
because he wanted to support a Northern owned/based company wanting
to do business in Lagos.

"Sadly it seems to me that Northern Tech would be best served
growing their business outside Arewa."

Remember the latter half of that last sentence. In a recent discussion
with a highly successful Northern businessman engaged in industry and
agriculture in a couple of States in the east and west ends of Southern
Nigeria I got to understand exactly why he is located there:
indifference, disinterest and obstacles every time he has approached a
government in the North despite his good brand. Haruna will soon be
wrong.

Is it any surprise that poverty is the wages of that Northern attitude?
Is it any surprise that other Nigerians like Soyinka have become very
impatient with the North and its self-inflicted woes, the depth and
ugliness of which has now resulted in an endless chain of massacres and
daily disruptions to people's lives?

Adamu Adamu mocks Soyinka's Yoruba pronunciation of a Kanuri word. He
has forgotten that it is the sighted that lead the blind, and hasn't
noticed how the Yoruba are taking control of his own Hausa such that a
Hausa word suya, which means deep frying can go into Yoruba, assume a
different meaning and make an entry back into Hausa with the corrupted
meaning adopted. He hasn't fired up Google Maps and seen the Yoruba
imprint in it, in the way that Hausa street names have been spelt. He
has forgotten the globacom ads and the biannual greeting Barka de
Sallah. Has he compared the Yoruba wikipedia with the Hausa, Kanuri or
Nupe versions? Unlikely, because he hasn't realised that as Muslim
Northerners have neglected Western education, those who have embraced it
the most are the ones defining the age in which we live.

Shouldn't anyone looking at recent State-by-State breakdowns of School
Cert and JAMB results wonder whether it really makes any sense for the
child who has consistently come bottom of Class 1 to be promoted to
Class 2A rather than be made to repeat it or put in Class 2B or Z where
he can move at the pace of his equals? Isn't that what the argument for
a restructuring or a dissolution of Nigeria into more manageable parts
about? The awful truth is that Muslim Northern Nigeria has held
Nigeria's progress back or put another way Nigeria has inhibited the
progress of Muslim Northern Nigeria.

Yes. Re-read it. I said it. Go and think about it. Compel Governor Aliyu
to think too, and act.


by Shehu Dikko
shehuspen+paper@gmail.com

5 comments:

A-9ja-Great said...

These are the kind of people i like discussing the issues of this nation with.He really thought deeply before writing this and i must say he did a very good job.Bravo!!!

Anonymous said...

Why are you aginst Gov. Aliyu? As if you havent had your own piece of cake.

WHY BOKO HARAM PERSISTS.. said...

The Convener of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, said the Boko Haram menace has persisted because the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has failed to listen to suggestions on how to curtail it.

He also said it is too early to presume that Senator Ali Ndume, who is standing trial for alleged association with the dreaded sect, had a deal with Boko Haram leaders.

He said the travails of Ndume have made some Northern leaders to stay away from finding solutions to the Boko Haram insurgency.

Ciroma, a former Minister of Finance, broke his silence on the Boko Haram insurgency in a no-holds-barred interview with Newsdiaryonline.com.

He said: “Security matters and security issues are always problems which government has got to deal with. The Boko Haram and the spread of this insecurity, in my view, originated from how parts of this country were mismanaged. The mismanagement, I believe, has spread and the resultant insecurity has also spread. So, it is for government to find solution for dealing with this insecurity.

“When the issues began to be serious in Borno, the elders and leaders of Borno advised the government that they should talk to these people, that they should withdraw the troops from the streets and that they should find a solution to ameliorate the complaints of the Boko Haram elements. A spokesman of the government dismissed their recommendation.

“Since then, similar recommendations have been made in Kano and elsewhere and they have been equally dismissed. The meaning of this is that the government has stuck to its position, in spite of the advice being given from various parts by citizens who want to see peace and security.

“So, the government has to learn how to listen to people because insecurity is a problem which government has to deal with. It affects people in their normal day-to-day life. So, the number one issue is for government to listen to what people are saying because their present policy so far has not succeeded.

“Two, the Boko Haram issue has been related to poverty and other things which affect the well- being of the ordinary people. This issue of poverty has been repeated several times in official circles. Government has got to deal with that.

“Three is about the state governments. They are always having ceremonies and talking about issues but they have not dealt with the problems of education, health, agriculture and other things which affect the ordinary man actively on a daily basis. The state governments have got to deal with this matter in a way which everybody can see that some results are being achieved.

WHY BOKO HARAM PERSISTS.. said...

“Every time people compare, what is happening today, they compare with yesteryears. What they are saying is that yesteryears with less resources than we have now were better managed than the present. The government has got to think very hard about it and to do what is right in order to eliminate the problems which people are talking about.”

Ciroma explained why most Northern elders have stayed away from finding solutions to the Boko Haram menace.

He said with what happened to Ndume, Northern leaders decided to tread softly on the insurgency.

He added: “The problem with security matter is that as an ordinary man, if you start intervening, the government people will accuse you of creating the problem. Look at a senator who was part of the Borno Elders who were handling the matter. Now, he is being charged to court for involvement in Boko Haram. So, that is why individuals have got to be careful what they do because government can accuse them.”

Asked if Ndume had no dealing with Boko Haram, Ciroma said: “Well, he is only being charged; you cannot say that he is guilty.

“And for somebody who is a member of the Senate, even if he is talking to someone, he is a member of the Senate; he must always use his contacts and information for the benefit of society. If you arrest him, other lesser people must be more careful.”

Pressed to comment on the political situation in the country, the elder statesman said: “I have no comment to make (A little pause).The general political situation is very confusing and the parties are not well organised. The organised party is the PDP but even the PDP; generally people don’t believe it is doing well.

“So, Nigerians, in my view, want better organised parties that are accountable for what they do and are intended to assist the country move forward.”

On the deteriorating level of governance nationwide, he said:

“It is for Nigerians to elect people who they think can do the job. If they elect people who can do the job, then at the next election, they should choose those people who can do it. You have to keep on doing it until you get it right. That is what democracy means.

Concerning the allegation that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo might be goading President Goodluck Jonathan to seek another term, Ciroma simply said: “I don’t want to talk about Obasanjo.”

Regarding the plot by the PDP to manipulate the opposition, he said: “The PDP is there to gain power; it has gained power. It is trying to retain its power. There is nothing abnormal about that.

“It is for other people who do not agree with what the PDP is doing or how the PDP is doing it, to make their effort in order to succeed where they failed and PDP succeeded which is to have the chance to exercise power. We hope this will be for the interest of the ordinary people.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/41885-why-boko-haram-persists-by-ciroma.html

Hughes said...

Why are you aginst Gov. Aliyu? As if you havent had your own piece of cake.