WHAT IS IN A NAME?

A very dangerous pattern is emerging in both the politics and socio-cultural relations of the people of Adamawa state that in my opinion will not augur well for the state if left unchecked. These days whatever action or inaction taken by either the state or federal government is given religious or tribal connotations. Failed politicians are running from pillar to post trying to convince a large segment of the people of the state to always look at actions of the various tiers of government with suspicion. Those who lost out in the political chess game systematically embarked on a deliberate campaign of hate against a certain group. Rather than retreating to re-strategize and fight another day within the civilised norms of political battle, they resorted to taking the Hutu solution for their perceived Tutsis. The conflagration that may be the consequences of this primitive approach may affect everyone when the shit really hits the fan.

People who should know better than to stoke the embers of ethno-religious hatred, unfortunately are at the forefront of this campaign. People that ideally should provide leadership to all, irrespective of creed or tribe – those who were once trusted with leadership positions, academics, technocrats, etc. – in trying to reinvent themselves, are the ones beating the drums of war and hatred on flimsy excuses, banking on our naivety and gullibility. My take on this is that, while holding public and civil service offices, these people never took a single decision that wasn’t coloured in either religion or ethnic sentiments. The current ethnicisation of issues in the state (in the open, anyway) began barely five years ago with the lost of power by some people and to them, the surest and easiest way of getting back to reckoning is to appeal to these twin primordial sentiments – particularly religion – which is a very emotive issue to all and sundry in Nigeria. Every single decision taken by any of the tiers of government, particularly as it affects Adamawa State, is interpreted to be in favour of a certain segment of the society not minding that it may not be in the interests of those perceived to be benefitting.

The recent renaming of the Federal University of Technology, Yola provided an opportunity for these opportunists to once again come out with the usual unthought-of rhetoric. The federal government decided in its own wisdom to rename its university in Yola to Modibbo Adama University of Technology, from the Federal University of Technology, in honour of the founder of the Fombina Emirate over two hundred years ago. The Fombina Emirate once extended to as far as the Cameroun and in its diminished form the foundations of the present Adamawa state. When the colonialists came to the area and discovered an administrative and judicial system that was at par with what obtained in their country, if not better than their own, they were so impressed that on the creation of the Northern group of provinces, the area was named ‘Adamawa Province’ in honour of Modibbo Adama. This was done without prejudice to any tribe or religion. It was purely done to give honour where it was due. His pioneering administrative skills were what were honoured by the colonialists and nothing else. The current emirate and chieftaincy system all over the state owe its existence to Modibbo Adama.

When the Babangida regime decided to split the defunct Gongola state into two, one was named Adamawa state and no one read any meaning into it. Before then, General Buhari had downgraded this same University that its renaming is turned into a matter of life and death for some, to a campus of the University of Maiduguri and named it Modibbo Adama Campus. Not a single eyebrow was raised because no political capital was to be made out of it then. It was the Babangida government with Professor Aminu as Education minister that upgraded the school once again and reverted to its former name of Federal University of Technology. Yola (FUTY). No one complained of any ethnic biasness. Why is it now that the federal government has decided to rename the school once more in honour of Modibbo Adama, the decision has suddenly taken such a nihilistic dimension? Why do otherwise cultured people, including academics, threatening thunder and brimstone for such an innocuous action by the federal government.

Institutions and other government establishments have been named to honour or immortalise certain individuals in the country since time and this was never done with any ethnic or religious biases, as far as I know. University of Sokoto is now Usumanu Danfodio University. We have Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Bayero University Kano, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nsukka, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi and so many other institutions of higher learning are named after individuals whom the government believed have contributed immensely to the development of the area one way or the other. Yet these names hasn’t improved or decrease the quality of scholarship of the institutions. In every state capital of this blighted nation roads, buildings, bridges and other important places are named after individuals not because of their religious or tribal affiliations. There is even a road in Bauchi named after Boni Haruna – I can’t fathom his contribution or connection to the town. I believe I have more claim to being honoured by the people of Bauchi – at least I attended the defunct Government Secondary School, Bauchi.

With the rumoured intention of the federal government to name the Yola International Airport as Aliyu Mustafa International Airport, the knives are out once again. For those who do not know, the late Lamido Aliyu Mustafa is the immediate past Lamido Adamawa and the father of the current Lamido. He died in 2010 after being the Lamido for fifty-seven years. His reign was firm, decisive and just. He had worked with administrations from the colonialists to the current Nyako administration. The late Lamido was a father to all and was never known to turn back anyone from his presence. His sense of justice and fairness was what endeared him to all that came to his court. That was why he was able to reign for such a long period of time without any problem. How can immortalising such a man be a threat to the peaceful coexistence between and among the people of the state? If there is any ulterior motive to this opposition, then we should know.

Resorting to ethno-religious ‘cold war’ will not move us forward but rather retard our growth. It can only endanger suspicion and mistrust among the people of the state. Those at the vanguard of promoting such will be well advised to stand before their mirrors and ask themselves soul-searching questions. Most, if not all, of them had the opportunity to write their names in gold and be counted when the time for counting comes but chose to write their names in charcoal. It was nobody’s fault that they are now footnotes in the developmental history of the state.

I just hope the common folk will wake up from their slumber to realise that ethnic irredentist always use them as cannon fodder for their politically motivated violent battles.

A "DOVISH GOODLUCK JONATHAN & A HAWKISH BUDGET

The budget presented by Goodluck Jonathan to the joint session of the National Assembly on Tuesday December 13^th, 2011 is exactly what Nigerians deserve as far as I am concerned, warts and all. What we got is a budget that is long on rhetorics and short on promise, though we shouldn’t have expected anything better from a government that is deaf and dumb as far as the problems of Nigerians are concerned. The people that went round the country begging for our votes six months back are now treating us like something the cat brought home from the streets. The oft repeated cliché that Jonathan never had a shoe to his name while going to school was to draw sympathy from poor folks who may expect empathy for their plight from a village boy who couldn’t afford shoes while a kid. Alas, what we got is a Jonathan who empathises more with the oyibo and their agents. What we got is a government that is more interested in taking out the small change in your pocket for their foreign junkets like birthdays in far away Australia or going to France to “seek for investors” when the French were hanging on the coattails of Germany for their economic survival. What we got is a Jonathan that always believed in good luck, a hostage to militants and their godfathers and a gullible man who is made to believe it is his destiny to rule Nigeria. Jonathan is a man without focus or any articulated agenda whose campaign revolved around the divinity of his mandate and Nigerians were swayed by primordial sentiments to “elect” him president. We all know this and accepted it.

The budget is in line with Jonathan’s provincial background and a mind set shaped by the militancy of the Niger Delta, led by the nose by the likes of Okonjo-Iweala, with her neo-conservative economic theories shaped by the American conservative establishment in charge of the Bretton Woods Institutions, and the hawkish group under the leadership of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Azazi. Here is a budget heavy on security (whatever it may mean) and wanting in all key ministries that is sure to engender security. While ministries like those of agriculture, power, education, health – critical ministries that will have direct bearing on employment generation and job creation are allocated measly amounts compared to security, Nigerians should be wiser as to why the government is bend on stealing the little money in their pockets by increasing the price of petroleum products. If we had a government worth its name, then they don’t need to be told that there is no greater security than a society fully employed and contented with life. A restive society is the greatest threat to peace and security, and this should be an elementary knowledge to any serious leader.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) a congress that is increasingly making itself irrelevant, will soon realise that the N18,000 minimum wage it threatened to bring down the country for, could hardly fuel their vehicles come January next year let alone put a plate on their tables. Jonathan and his promoters have promised us a “transformational government” in the run-up to the 2011 elections but we didn’t bother to find out the kind of transformation they were talking about. We are on the road to being transformed – only into a country of beggars.

Our crowd of environmentalists will have something to celebrate in the 2012 budget. With the anticipated increment in the price of petroleum products, there will be fewer cars on the road and still fewer generators to pollute the environment. I know it will be asking too much to know how the N921billion budgeted for ‘Security’ will be expended. But our docile legislators could not summon the courage to question the executive on the details of the allocations. The heightened state of insecurity in the country since Azazi became the National Security Adviser (NSA) needs to be interrogated. Is there a deliberate policy to generate fear among the populace in order to achieve a certain goal, part of which is the increment in the vote for security for some people to line their pockets? The allocations to critical sectors like education, health, agriculture and power says much about the direction of the government. Those who sold Jonathan as dovish and caring person may be forced to change their slogans before the end of the first quarter.

A whopping sum of N124billion is allocated just to the office of the NSA, what in God’s name does he need that for? What capital projects are we talking about under the office of the NSA that, to all intents and purposes, is just a clearinghouse for the other security agencies? Are they going to build barracks, state offices, buy armoured tanks, fighter and bomber planes, guns and ammunitions or what? Nigerians go to India and Egypt for ailments that, under normal circumstances, should be treated in our dispensaries because though the manpower may be available, our health institutions lack the necessary equipment. The kids of the rich and powerful go to other African countries like Ghana and Togo for elementary school because our public schools – the same system that afforded a poor kid from the creeks who couldn’t afford shoes to be educated up to Ph.D. level – have collapsed and the government is not ready to do anything about it. With a vast arable land and massive human resources to till the land, we still import the bulk of what we eat from far-off places like Thailand and Brazil. Power and potable water supply are luxuries reserved for only those who can afford a generating set and a borehole in their houses. Yet the total budgetary allocations to all the ministries concerned with the provision of these services are far less than what is allocated to security.

Has it not occurred to Jonathan and his praetorian minders that they are the greatest culprits in endangering the security of our lives and property? When there is no food or social security, how do you ensure “security”? coercion has never, ever guaranteed security else the Palestinians will have been long subdued by the Israelis or ‘Yar Adu’a won’t have bothered with the amnesty programme for the Niger Delta. Security cannot also be bought. If the government is serious about ensuring security in the country, they should address the social insecurity bedevilling the nation and not allocate huge sums of money that will ultimately end up in peoples’ pockets. It is not bought. It is achieved through good governance.