Muhsin
Ibrahim
Kano
is the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria, a region now known for its
illiteracy and poverty with millions of children roaming its streets in search of food. The rate of
ethno-religious conflict rises side-by-side with kidnappings along highways. Boko
Haram also still attacks rural areas of Borno and Yobe states. The ills
bedevilling this one-time prosperous part
of the country are too many to discuss in a quick, brief and, perhaps, poorly
organised article like this one.
Nigerian
political leaders do not make things any better
for the populace. Corruption remains
their frailty. Generally, though, bribery and corruption have been firmly instituted
in the country. They have eaten deep into our everyday life. An Al-Jazeera
English journalist interviewing the then-presidential
candidate Muhammadu Buhari in 2014 said that Nigeria and corruption were
synonymous. Disturbing as this sounds, it is a truth. Mr Buhari unseated a
sitting president Goodluck Jonathan to win the 2015 election. The electorates
wanted him to achieve two principal goals, among others. One, to crush Boko
Haram insurgency. Two, to fight the menace of corruption head-on. Thanks to his
records as the military dictator in the 1980s.
Today
President Buhari has effectively failed to meet those
above two primary objectives. He
has, doubtless, degraded Boko Haram by retaking most of the territories they
once occupied and so on. However, many Nigerians thought as if he had a magic
wand to ward off the country’s several challenges. Some observers, however,
alleged that he does his best, only that the damage his predecessors did to the
nation is too much. Others said that he was unprepared.
Still, some pointed out that he was incompetent and cronies have hijacked the government. Be it as it may, the recent
emergence of some video clips of the Kano State Governor Dr Abdullahi Ganduje
collecting “bribe” from contractors is a test for Buhari’s commitment to fighting corruption.
Kano
has been Buhari’s vote powerhouse. He has consistently won elections in the
state since his foray into politics in 2003. Therefore, the President must, or rather should, have been
carefully calculating the situation. How he approaches it means so much. Against all the odds, no one doubts the massive
goodwill he still enjoys in the state. Regardless
of how he handles it, he stands a perfect
chance to win it in the 2019 election. But that is not all. Where is the trust
of millions of faithful voters in him?
The Kano State House of Assembly (KSHA) has begun a probe of the videos. They invited
the journalist-cum-publisher, Jaafar Jaafar who released the videos in his Daily Nigerian online newspaper. He
courageously went and answered questions under tight security. Following the
hearing session at the assembly, two entirely
unrelated issues surrounding the whole saga hunt me since then.
First,
though not a lawyer, I am sure the KSHA is not the best institution to
investigate the matter. The governor enjoys immunity, however, establishments such
as the DSS, EFCC, even the police are the ones known to have experts on crimes like this. The KSHA
are lawmakers, not law enforcers. Therefore, if they genuinely mean business, they should hire people with technical know-how on videography, forensics, etc. Additionally,
some of the members of the house are already subservient
to the governor as is the case with many assemblies in Nigeria. Ganduje reportedly
bought posh cars for each one of them about two or three years ago, among other
incentives that must have been exchanging hands between the two arms of
government.
Second is the way some reckless teachers forced innocent,
underage schoolchildren to demonstrate against the
journalist’s appearance at the KSHA. In the pictures being shared on social media, the children looked mystified and
oblivious of what was happening. They were supposed to be in their classes attending
lessons as their mates elsewhere. The
witlessness of this action is too gross and, thus, every well-meaning person
across the country should unreservedly condemn it. We are better than this. Governor
Ganduje's political force’s confusion should not infect unsuspecting boys and
girls. They lack an ounce of idea on how to fight this video hurricane. What
they did now is one of the lowest actions in the history of Nigerian politics.
To be fair to the embattled governor, however, he might
not be aware of this show of shame. It could be a work of supererogation by
some zealots. Whatever it is, I strongly
condemn the sheer stupidity. I call on NGOs and others concerned about the
wellbeing and education of children to launch and sustain pressure groups until
the perpetrators of this insanity are punished.
The government already performs very poorly regarding
education in the state. The backlash over the children’s ‘protest’ is
significant, because it exposes the government’s contempt for, if not an abandonment
of, education.
Frankly,
Ganduje’s government is anti-education. Early this week, the BBC Hausa reported
that Kano state-sponsored students in Cyprus were still languishing in penury after several calls on the government to pay
their fees and stipend have fallen on
deaf ears. Now, they do face not only expulsion from their universities but also eviction from their residents.
Worse still, some cannot even buy flight tickets to return to Nigeria. It is
all the more worrisome because the majority
of them are women.
Engr. Rabi’u Kwankwaso, the immediate past governor of
Kano, scrapped fees for all schools for
the state indigenes. That was done
without a comprehensive financial model. He also sent students abroad without, as
alleged, much feasibility study and prioritisation considering the imminent recession the country experienced. Still,
Dr Ganduje’s take on both cases are defective and politically wrong.
Ganduje misplaces priority by doing needless infrastructural projects like
flyovers. If he cannot sustain the free education for all, it should remain so
at least for the girl-child. Moreover, the governor should instead bring back those overseas students and
get them placed in our local universities. Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal
did the same. That is way more honest than abandoning them to fend for
themselves or die in limbo.
Beyond the “kickback” collecting video imbroglio, the
truth of which I pray will eventually surface, and
the culprit(s) punished, we need to respect and prioritise education, especially
of our future generation. Else, we continue to lag in every facet of
development. We now top the list of virtually everything negative. It is sad.
Comments
Post a Comment