Prince Haliru Dantsoho Mahmud, the Dan –Iyan Kaiama, has represented Nigerian youth in various capacities as the Kwara state Coordinator for the 2million man march for late General Sanin Abacha’s re-election bid; and recently State youth Leader, Goodluck Support Group .Thereafter he was appointed Special Assistant to Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed on Chieftaincy Affairs but resigned. He was again appointed Special Assistant on Youth and Inter-Governmental Affairs to Minister of National Planning, recently. He spoke to UMAR BAYO ABDULWAHAB on various issues affecting the youth and his aspiration to represent his Kaiama /Wajube/kemaje constituency at the Kwara State House of Assembly
On challenges facing Nigerian Youth
What Kwara youths and by extension Nigerian youths are lacking is empowerment due to bad leadership. Government should come up with programmes and policies that without any lobbying it should capture the youth. Today Nigeria is graduating over 500,000 youths every year but there is no 50,000 job every year.
Why most of the things that are supposed to go the youths are being cornered by the elders, whatever position that is available they want to have it, even though they have children. So it is quite unfortunate, our youths today are being used as political thugs because they are jobless, they are idle and they need to make ends meet and they can do anything for survive and that is what is giving birth to the security challenges we are facing in Nigeria today.
So as a youth leader at various levels both at Good luck support group and as a state PDP I know the challenge, I know how struggled to get to where I am today ,there is no job I did do, they only thing I have never done in my life is one; I have never killed, I have never involved myself in any incriminating thing but I struggled, I did taxi driving there is nothing g I did not do to survive but to God the glory here are we today. So to my own perspective I should know what the average youth of Nigerians are facing.
Impact of Jonathan’s government on the youth
President Good luck Jonathan is one of the best Presidents this country has produced and is performing very well despite the security challenges. You sir ,our greatest problem today in Nigeria and the world is terrorism but ignorantly some people when they talk about terrorist ,they talk as if its synonymous to Nigeria and the type of President Good luck Jonathan, no. But despite all these security challenges, the man is trying particularly in the areas of youth empowerment.
The president Jonathan has really captured the youth by appointing them into various position into the federal executive council, but when you considered the number of youths that are unemployed from military regime up till date, no president can create vacancy to absorbed them at one e it has to be in sequence, it has to be a gradual process and president Goodluck Jonathan is doing that. We have the SURE-P programmes, so many youth empowerment scheme, we have poverty alleviation scheme, and I hope by the time he is re-elected in 2015, he will do his best. You see there is nothing you can do as a leader to satisfy everybody, some will criticised you and some will appreciate you .But our problem in Nigeria, it has become a tradition that nobody appreciate incumbents by the time he lives now people will start to praise him.
Plans for your constituency
One thing that is very important is that my people should be able to identify my responsibility as legislature. What are my functions as a legislature; my functions are one, making laws for my people at the state levels, passing motions, bills that will benefit my community ,my state at large, supporting motions that will be beneficial to the development of the state and other overweight functions to mention but few. These are mainly my responsibility, as a legislator, I have no allocation, I am not a local government chairman, I am not a state governor, I am not a president I will only make do with my constituency allowance and certain projects will be specify before you get your constituency allowance.
The only thing I want to assure them is that I will use my constituency allowance for my constituency project, I will pursue motions, I will support laws that will be beneficial to the creation of jobs, poverty alleviation, insecurity, insurgency, socio-economic development and what have you. So if people now identified that these are my responsibilities, they won’t expect more than I can offer so there is the need to enlighten our people, let them clearly identify and understand what your responsibilities are as a legislator before the make demands. Of course as a politician whether you hold office of or not, the essence of leadership is sacrifice, we do away certain thing that come to us as private individuals.
I will continue to do my best like I use to do and I will make my people proud, I will not support any motion that will be detrimental to my people,and I will stand tall against imposition, I will stand tall against arrogance and I will stand tall against any executive moves to steal the resources of the state.
Chances of winning election
Well, that is not a headache, as far as I know, eighty per cent of people of entire Kaiama local government are PDP and that is why the state government and the APC leadership have been threatened when the vacuum was created by the demise of the member of the state house of assembly representing Kaiama constituency one, my brother, Alhaji Baba Ahmed Idris ,alias commando.
The constitution specified that there should be by-election within three months of demise but they refused to declare his seat vacant up till this moment I am talking to you because they know that that particular local government and that particular constituency that is affected is the strongest hold of PDP in Kwara state and they know if we go to polls they will be defeated.
So I have no doubt we are going to win because we are the most disadvantaged in the state, the distance from Ilorin- Kaiama is about 162 kilometres ,when you get to Kishi is about 59 kilometres but you cannot ply it less than four ,five hours with a good car. Our people are dying day by day, people are being shot ,our vehicles, our body…you can’t even take an outsider to your village because of the bad road and this same Bukola Saraki had gone to Kaiama to campaign several times that if he gets there the road will be done up till know, so it is only a bastard child of Kaiama that will support Bukola’s leadership because we have not benefited anything from him.
When I say benefit, it’s not by making somebody commissioner, appointing somebody SA because somebody will say I was appointed SA, these are no benefits. These are individual benefit ,what I consider as benefit is what comes to your community as a people that is what we called core benefit, rural development, social infrastructure, economic development, human development.
Of course the General hospital is there, how do people get there? Because there are no good roads; if you are bringing a case of emergency before that person get there he is dead.
From Kaiama to Kosubosu, our neighbouring local government when you look at it there is even no sigh of road because it is completely cut- off, from Kaiama to wawa in Niger state ,it is completely cut off and Kaiam is a strategic local government in this state, it is the economic hub of Kwara, we are peasant farmers, we produce yam, guinea corn, everything for Kaiama, the food that feed Kwara, Oyo, Ekiti, Lagos and Ogun state ,some that go to the north are from Kaiama .What is the state doing to give us good road?, to ease the sufferings of our people? So what yard stick will you follow to vote for these people? That is why I said I will not do with the government again and that is why I am here.
So I want to assure my people whatever that has a beginning has an end , it is just four years or 8 years even if you spend 40 years on a position or on a throne, one day you will leave and legacies, good ones or bad ones, live after you that is the way I see it. So who ever you are voting for with the hope that he will do well, if he doesn’t do well leave him to God. There are so many people who have held so many positions in Kwara state who have not done well today they are begging, you will end up a beggar .For 8 years, they have not attracted any development to this state. You see the combination of PDP and PD is not the problem but who are the people that drives the party, it is the leadership so the bad crop in PDP before are now in APC .So we should vote against them.
