I believe it is not entirely late to get it right in this country of ours. We can make the next generations proud, but we need to make some worthy sacrifices.
This is a country endowed with so many great things—human capacities, landmass, natural weather conditions and resources. But we have failed to get the best out of all these, which is very unfortunate and saddening. Things in this country started to deteriorate when we all boycotted these gifts and started chasing after mirages and illusions in what other countries and their manufacturing companies are producing, while we kill our own. The amount of money going out of this country to purchase things from outside is enough to establish whatever company is needed for our continuous and sustainable development—talk more of the number of highly potential people and huge manpower available for any production.
But all this comes back to the government, from inception to date. Ideally, government ought to provide all the necessary mechanisms needed for production; land or space, licence or certificate, and financial supports. It should ensure the safety of these establishments by providing adequate security architecture in those areas. Loan facilities should be accessible with very low interest rates. The government must also enact policies that are friendly and reform existing ones where necessary. If this is achieved, no one will wander about what others are doing in their countries.
Coming down to the people—politicians especially—they should understand that the interest and well-being of the populace is greater and more important than their own interest. They must find a way to support good governance and leave elections and politicking for election periods. We must cast out the tradition of wanting rivals to fail just to feast on their mistakes, and reject the worst practice of sponsoring unrest just to make others look bad. When God created us differently, he did that so we may recognize our clans—not to use it as a reason to incite unrest against others.
Short memory—during the last administration of Late Muhammadu Buhari where Senator Saraki was Senate President, and because of their party differences, the latter thought the only way he could ensure his party’s supremacy was by rejecting whatever the executive brought for approval. Many PDP supporters celebrated Saraki ;one Northern politician frustrating another while forgetting the financial atrocities allegedly committed by Saraki and his family in Kwara state.
He is no saint and we all know it, but because it was Buhari he was fighting, his sins were suddenly forgiven and forgotten.
There was a time a friend of mine who is now a Special Assistant to Governor Uba Sani told me they were in a meeting with APC stakeholders in Abuja. She overheard Fashola, the then Minister for Roads and Housing, recounting an encounter with some Northerners who tried to dissuade him from completing the Abuja-Kano road construction so they could continue tapping from the allocated funds. He said they even used chants to take his mind off the project. But that’s not something he would come out and say publicly—those close to him know.
That is why I refuse to subscribe to the claims that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is favouring Southerners in his appointments or federal projects. The entire North was quiet when they held power for eight years. I support justice and dislike injustice no matter who is involved, but I will not allow myself to be brainwashed into believing the North is being sidelined. If anyone can make a real case in this country, perhaps it should be the Southeasterners.
Another thing I will not support is a Northern presidency at the moment, because agreement is agreement. Until we honour it, we cannot progress as a nation. That’s part of the reason the ADC coalition was dead on arrival. You cannot gather aggrieved politicians into a forced alliance with no genuine intent and expect a good outcome. Are we to listen to the El-Rufais or Atikus—men we’ve already tested—telling us about bad governance as though they truly care about us?
Lastly, I’m calling on all party people and the public to sit down and redefine our purpose in this country. It is about time those who lose elections or appointments stop pretending they are fighting for justice or the people. It’s not for us—it’s for them.
Written by Muhammad Malami Aminu
nascojnr387@gmail.com