Shekarau And Water Scarcity In Kano

When the government of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau came on board in 2003, it inherited a water project started by the administration of Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. As a water engineer and one who worked with the Kano State Water Board, Kwankwaso made tackling perennial water problem in Kano his government's main priority. It was identified that the major reason why there was water problem in Kano was because the big pipes that were underground in the metropolis that were more than 70 years old actually got blocked. And consequently, the water could not be effectively distributed.

A lot of efforts and resources were put, however in 2003 the Kwankwaso led government was voted out of office by Kano people who were surprisingly not so much satisfied by the way the state was being governed.

The work had progressed quite far when Shekarau came, with the work having reached a stage where huge pipes were seen to be laid around Kano metropolis. Unfortunately, some few weeks after Shekarau was sworn in, his government announced the cancellation and ordered the immediate stoppage of the work. The government reasoned that the work was not planned properly and was hastily put together and as such it was bound to fail. They promised to come up with a 'better' planned blue-print on how the water problem was going to be tackled.

It took the government two years to come up with their 'better' planned blue-print. I have to regretfully admit that that was the last time water ran in many areas of Kano state-including my area. The government said it intended to tackle the problem from its roots by expanding the capacity of the Tamburawa Water Treatment Plant to augment the Challawa plant.

The contract was given at the initial stage at 6 billion Naira, even though it was subsequently jerked up according to some reports in the media to over 16 billion Naira.

More than six years now after work at the Tamburawa water plant started and more than two years after the Shekarau's government claimed it had completed the work and even inaugurated it, the water scarcity in Kano still persists. It would be an understatement to say the Kano people were better off before this work started. In many areas, the situation just got worse. One just need to observe the number of water vendors who roam the streets of Kano to realise that there is a serious water problem. The water vendors are now competing with okada riders in terms of their number on the streets of Kano. Some times one driving in a car has to give way for their convoy to pass especially on a narrow street inside the city.

People who can not afford to buy water from the vendors or those who are in those areas where it's difficult for the vendors to access with their barrows, have to travel as far as several kilometers to get water and sometimes stay awake during the night as long as early morning hours to be able to get water from bore holes as there would be less queue at that time. That is the sad reality of the situation.

In my area, even though we have at least 10 privately built bore holes, however, whenever we are lucky NEPA gave us electricity, all those bore holes would be filled up by children and adults alike trying to get water. It does not matter at what time of the day or the night the light is brought, let it be 3am, people will still come out in numbers and queue up to get water. Immediately the light goes off, the vendors would be trooping and of course people will buy as the bore holes are never enough and again, the electricity never stays long for people to be able to fetch enough.

Many excuses were given by the Shekarau's administration as to why Tamburawa plant was yet to solve water problem in Kano, but the most frequently said of all the reasons was that there was no enough power supply to Kano from NEPA to effectively be able to handle the heavy machines installed at the plant for pumping the water. I do not want to delve in to this issue as any person with an iota of sense in their head should know that this is just rubbish. One thing I would say though is we have never had a steady power supply in Kano for more than 15 years now, and it was only within the last six years the water problem really aggravated. And again, Challawa was pumping water even then.

The truth of the matter as many professionals and commentators remarked is, the water problem is not as conceived by the Shekarau's government. That even if we needed Tamburawa water plant, however we need those old pipes to be replaced more. This also became so apparent when the government inaugurated the plant and water was pumped which burst some of the old pipes as many were blocked and therefore water could not pass through.

This just highlighted once again, the one very cancerous culture that our leaders have. That is their inability by sheer arrogance to continue and complete any developmental project they inherited from their predecessors. They just don't have idea how costly that is, aside the stagnation of capital development, there is also a huge loss of public money whenever such of those projects are abandoned and more especially when they are later have to come and be done all over again.

Kano people have turned to the government of Kwankwaso who has started the project some ten years back. Can he right the wrong and continue from where the last government stopped or he will start all over again as is the culture? Only time can tell.

If only we will have NEPA

On Saturday last weekend I was at home throughout. It wasn't by far a normal weekend for me, as my normal weekend is usually characterised by watching a lot of football. European football season as you are aware was over and coincidently, my darling Kano Pillars were on away match on that day. So I resigned to spending the day at home.

It started as if the day was going to be boring, but then around 11:30am NEPA or PHCN, whichever you prefer to use, brought back light. I was not particularly impressed because I knew it was not going to last, but I was wrong. The light didn't blink until around 7pm that day when they finally took it off. This was quite un NEPA like, especially in my area where we sometimes do spend 2-3 days without seeing even a flash of the light.

I was initially sceptical of trying to do anything with the electricity, I could not even on my tv set afraid of a disappointment when they take it off as it is quite within their capabilities to take it off simultaneously with the time I on the tv. It happened a few times anyway. But when I finally realised that may be we are in for a kind of an adventure, I begin to enjoy the light. I made my coffee in the comfort of my room, which could not have been possible if there was no light.

Anything I drank that day, apart from my coffee of course, I made sure that it was cold, in fact very cold.

The following day-Sunday- NEPA never brought light. That made me wonder how the life of an average Nigerian will change for good if we will have 24/7 uninterrupted power supply, or even less. People will buy less kerosene (which is not even available by the way). People will buy less petrol-one does not need to be sleeping and at the same time thinking how much fuel their generator will burn before the morning. I just concluded that anything that is not working in this country and of course nothing is working, it is not working because NEPA/PHCN is not working.

The government has been talking on how it wants to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in this country. How the government intend to do that without electricity in the country remains a mystery to many people. In the developed countries and even developing countries, private sector employs more people than the government. Though in Nigeria the reverse is the case, but the ideal situation is for the private sector to employ more than the government. And you can't achieve that if there is no electricity. Provide electricity, private investors will come and jobs will be created. If everybody who is suppose to be employed gets a job, then almost all our problems in this country will be solved.

A lot has been said about security situation of this country and we are all aware that its the youth who constitute security threat. Armed robbers, kidnappers, area boys, militants and etc, are all youth who can't get better things to do that resort to those evils.

There is no gain saying that there is a lot of poverty in this country. But where there is no employment there must be poverty. And the only way to address that is for the government to create an enabling environment for private investment in the economy. And you can only do that when there is a steady electricity supply.

We are far behind in education in this country, people don't take their children to school as they can't afford it and why can't they afford it is because they are either unemployed or under employed.

The answer no doubt is electricity, but that might be too much to ask in this country which has a history of very dubious dealings in our power sector. Obasanjo spent 16 billion dollars only to be able to provide a little over 2500 megawatts. I read some where that South Africa spent just 5 billion dollars and got more than 20, 000 megawatts.

Mr. President promised fresh air for the Nigerians when he was campaigning. Many of us will wish that mr. President will only have one point agenda, which is going to be of course electricity.

Four Billion Naira Hotel Bills

   If you had missed this news last week, by seeing it now  I am sure you will be saying: "wow, are you kidding me?" That is exactly how I reacted when I first saw it in one of the dailies last week. That the transition committee set up by the incoming governor of Kano state has discovered that the out going, oh sorry, the out gone Mallam Shekarau's led government had spent #4 billion in hotel bills in the state in its 8 years. The government neither confirm nor deny the allegations, the action which fortified people's belief that it actually incurred the bills. The only explanation (not officially though) came from the former Legal adviser to the ANPP Kano chapter, Dr Baffa Danagundi who said even if it was true the government had actually spent that lot on hotel bills, he was sure it was approved by the State Assembly.

   With all due respect, this is indeed lame attempt at justifying this irresponsible, reckless and unwarranted expenditure by the government. I can't say the government did not have cause to spend that much on hotels, but it is certainly clear that it was not prudent especially taking into consideration that there is a state owned hotel which was abandoned by the government and which 1/4 of this money would have been more than enough to transform it into a decent hotel that the government can accommodate any guests that may have cause to come to the state on an official visit. The hotel is situated in an area that is one of the best in the state. At some point, the staff of this hotel threatened to embark on strike over what they called nonchalant attitude of the government to their welfare and well being of the hotel. It is sad that its not only the hotel and its staff that suffer this neglect from the government, but even the road that the hotel is located on has been neglected. The effect of this is total collapse of business of the hotel as one can not even access the hotel as a result of  extremely poor condition of the road. There is only one explanation to this, ie, the government abandoning the hotel and its incurring this bills on hotels; somebody, somewhere was certainly getting a very huge commission from these transactions. This is what can only explain this irrationality. Whatever is the case, the incoming government owes a duty to the people of Kano to investigate and unearth the truth in this seemingly shoddy deal, fingers crossed. 

                 Goje Commissioned Four Billion Naira Stadium. 

   It is four billion Naira affair too in Gombe as the outgoing governor and senator elect Danjuma Goje commissioned a "state of the art" stadium that engulfed #4 billion. When one hears something like this especially when 'state of the art' is used to describe the stadium, one would begin to think that this stadium is

definitely up there with the likes of Emirates stadium of Arsenal and or Abuja National stadium, both of them having 60,000 plus seats. Well, if you had thought of that, I am sorry to say you are absolutely wrong. This stadium we are talking about has only 12,000 seats and it cost $ 250,000,000. Yeah dollars of course! OK, if you still don't get my point let me put it this way; Abuja National stadium built by Obasanjo cost $360,000,000 and we all know that there was so much cries that the stadium was too costly. Emirates Stadium of Arsenal f/c of England was built at $390,000,000, and both these stadiums are 60,000 plus seaters! 

   Isn't it logical that a stadium built by a Nigerian based firm that cost $250,000,000 to at least have fourty to fourty five thousand seats? More so, when we compare the cost of this one and those ones with 60,000, seats? So much for the mind to ponder. 

   God bless Nigeria!

Crash the price of rice too

   "Do whatever you can to crash the price of cement in 30 days". These are the words of Mr. President giving orders to the cement manufactures last week at the government house Abuja to crash the cement price. For two or so months we have been witnessing an unprecedented soaring of cement price in this country where a bag that was initially sold at # 1,650, now cost between #2,200 to #2,300 or more, depending on the particular product one wants. This really has brought hardship on the citizens of this country who use the product for construction works. One has to commend the president for deeming it necessary to intervene on the sufferings of the citizens as a result of this situation by summoning the manufacturers to a meeting and outrightly ordered them to reduce the price within 30 days. 

   After the meeting, the manufacturers while assuring people and the government that they are indeed going to do whatever possible to reduce the price  also revealed the various reasons why the price had to go this high. The Chairman of Dangote Cement, A. Aliko Dangote stated that the major problems the industry was facing were in the areas of supply of Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) and the loss of 6000 trucks by his group recently. He however did not tell us how these were lost by his company. He added that the post election crises in the north was partly responsible for the hike in price. This is where I have problem, may be the Chairman of Dangote Group needs some memory refresh as regards the fact that, the cement price had reached over #2000 even before the elections and the post elections violence that erupted. So that excuse does not hold water. This greatly showed lack of sincerity from the manufacturers. Or may be its just true as somebody opined that the likes of Dangote who financed with a huge amount of money, the Goodluck/Sambo campaign are out to recoup their investment. Nothing could be further than the truth. In any case, the president did well by intervening and calling on the manufacturers to reduce the price in such a minimum period of time. 

   If Mr. President can do that, how about calling on them to crash the price of rice too? Which by far is more important to an average Nigerian than cement. And also which is by far much more expensive than the cement. A 50 kilogram bag of rice is sold between #8000 to #8500 depending on the product, compared to 50 kilogram bag of cement which goes for #2200 to #2300 depending on the product too. And curiously enough, two of the cement manufacturers that Mr. President had meeting with at the state house are coincidently the major importers of rice in this country. They don't produce the rice in this country therefore, they can't complain that there is no availability of LPFO in the country as they don't need it here. They equally can't complain of the high cost of taxes that they are required to pay when they import those products as we are all aware of the various tax wavers and concessions that they do enjoy when they import those products. There is just basically no justification that this click of very few but highly privileged individuals would be subjecting the over 150 million citizens of this country to this suffering. A bag of rice which is sold at the neighbouring Niger and Benin Republics respectively at equivalent to #4500, and their bags are fuller than ours, is sold at #8500 here in this country. The president only felt it necessary that the cement price be reduced but not that of rice's. If at all the masses of this country who are suffering, matter to the government, then how about ordering the importers to crash its price too?

Long queues again!

   I intended to post this piece last two weeks, but I had issues with my internet connection which has now been rectified though. Although the situation has considerably improved, but I believe the issues raised here are still not remedied, therefore the piece is still relevant. Enjoy.

   For the past few days, long queues at the filling stations across the northern states and the capital Abuja have resurfaced, proving wrong those who thought the queues at the stations were a thing of the past. Why should not them think that we have passed that era since the president assured and reassured us that we would never stay for as long as 15 minutes at the filling stations when we go to refill? That the government had taken measures to make sure that it never happen again. That those selling the products in jerrycans by the road sides would soon had to get something doing as we would have no reason whatsoever to buy fuel from them because of its abundance at the filling stations. Perhaps the mother of all assurances came when Mr. President while campaigning at the last April elections asked the Nigerians to vote for him for reason that he was able to bring to an end the fuel scarcity, and promised when he was voted he would do whatever to keep the status quo ante. Isn't it ironic that even before the president takes his oath of office that the queues resurfaced?

   People who actually have an idea on how the system works did not believe Mr. President when he said that. It doesn't require somebody to be genius to know that so long as transportation of the products is left exclusively at the hands of NARTO, and with the greediness for which this association is characterised with, the fuel crises will never be solved in this country. When the queues started to appear, in a blatant attempt by the government to deceive us as they always do, they attributed it to the holidays that were observed at that time, then later they said it was the post elections violence. Now that all those things are way  behind us and the problem still persists, they decided to be a little bit more honest by claiming that they are trying to reach a workable bridging claim with the transportes which may accumulate to about #2 billion monthly if the government succumb to the increase of 45 percent freigth rate as being claimed by the transporters. The plain truth is the government can not continue to be paying this 'subsidy' to the transporters for long, and as we don't have any alternative to them, they will continue to be hiking the rate and be holding the country to ransom at the sligthes provocation.

   The solution? Well, I have always argued that unless the government is going to revive one of these two or both, then any spell we may have of the availability of fuel is just going to be temporary. Repair the pipelines or revive the railways. That is all. These are the only solutions to this fuel crisis. You either be pumping the products through the pipelines or be transporting it by rail. One has to look at what the government spends every month on this 'subsidy' which stands now at staggering # 1.5 billion and which could well sky rocket to #2 billion if the transporters' demands are met by the government, and also the amount the government spends every month for repairing the roads which the transporters help considerably in putting it in its dilapidated condition with their heavy duty traillers and for which they don't pay corresponding taxes, and see if a total of such amount in a year can not make significant work in the revival of our railways. However, if anyone thinks the government will make the same calculations will be even more disappointed than those that voted for Mr. President on the promise that fuel crises would be over if he was elected. 

   Nigeria is being led by a visionless leadership, that is just the plain and bitter truth! So its better that we do not expect that from the government for fear of us being disappointed if it never happen.

My Story

   My name is Almajiri, I was born in one village far northern Nigeria. I am 15 years old now. I was brought to this city when I was just 7 years old by my father to learn and memorize the holy Qur'an. Since when I was brought here my father only came to visit me three times. And I have never seen my mother since when I left home. The last time my father came visit two years back, I told him I wanted to go back home to see my mother, but he said I could not do that until I memorize the whole Qur'an. I remember when we were leaving my village to come to this city, my father only told me that I was going to the town to stay with his uncle for a while. When my father was going back to the village he gave me some money to be spending and I cried like I was going to die when finally he was to leave. Immediately my teacher came back from seeing my father off, he asked me to bring that money my father gave to me. I have never seen kobo from that money again. 

   When it was time for dinner that day, my teacher gave me a small bowl and asked me to join a small army of other students in the school to go beg for food that we were to eat as dinner that night. We roamed the streets entering  one house after another begging for food, and when I finally found something, some of the students we were together, who were a little older than I was and who were not entering houses to beg as we were doing, confiscated my food and ate it and threw the bowl at me and asked me to go get the one I would eat again. When we finally came back and after the evening class, when it was time to sleep, that is when I realized there was in fact no where for me to sleep. We are close to hundred in the school and everybody just scattered in search of a place to sleep, I managed to get a little place beside one gutter by our teacher's house and slept there, that has become my sleeping place ever since. And it does not matter if it is raining or its during harmattan period as there is no where to go and sleep apart from there.

   That was the routine everyday, until finally I was able to get one house where I begged the house wife to be coming and be helping her with the day to day chores and in turn she would be giving me food so that I wouldn't have to be begging for food everyday. This was far better for me than having had to go scavenging for food three times every single day. Lest I forget, perhaps I should tell you that it took me four good years to finally get new clothing! Yeah shocking, right? My few cloths that I was brought here with had become dirty and tattered. It was this hajiya that finally noticed the situation of my cloths, and how it took her that long, I don't know, and gave me some few sets used by one of her children to be wearing. You can imagine how happy I was I got "new" cloths finally. Unfortunately, they never lasted, partly because I could go the whole month without taking a bath or washing my cloths and partly as there were not much to be rotating. It is hajiya when she noticed this sometimes that would give me some soap and detergent to bath and wash my torn cloths.

   When I started growing up I realized my fellow almajiris used to have money on them for which they buy some things they like or need. I asked one of them where they were getting the money and he told me at the roads junctions. That was how I left hajiya's house and started going to junctions and roundabouts begging for money from the motorists. Some will give us, some will refuse, some will even harass us for touching their cars or leaning on them. I stopped going to school completely, I only go back to school when it was time for me to sleep and immediately it is morning, I will carry my bowl and head to a junction and I will be there till evening. Did I hear you say: 'what about prayers?' No, who has time to pray? If you go for prayer, you don't know what you will be missing for that time you go to pray. I pray all the prayers I missed in a day when I came back from the junction and if I am tired on that day, then I just ignore them. As for what I was brought here to do, that is to memorize the holy Qur'an, as I said earlier on, I already stopped going to school since when I started coming to junctions, and the little I memorized has already vanished as I don't quite read it.

   As for my future, I really don't know about that, not that I care anyway. I heard that they said there are more than 9 millions of us roaming the streets in this country. I believe there is no future for us in this country where they say there are equally over 12 million youth who had gone to school and graduated but can not get job to do. What more of an almajiri? Begging is what I know for now and it is my future as I don't know what else I should do. perhaps when I grow a little bit I will think of becoming a water vendor or become okada rider or better again, start selling fuel by the road side. As you can see plenty of options for me there. It seems like I have a future after all!

   Government? Well, I just hope its not me you are asking that question, as I don't know if we ever have government in this country. I heard its election time, so may be they are trying to get re-elected so that they continue steeling our country money, and for us - almajiri family - we will continue been pauperized, ragged, torn and hopeless!

   This is my story, thank you for your time and God bless you.

Long live my country Nigeria.

   Yours faithfully,

   

   Almajiri.

Crying Over a Spilt Milk

   The presidential elections has come and passed. Nigerians finally made their choice, given PDP pass mark to rule us for another four more years beginning from May 2011. There are grumbles as you would expect at the aftermath of an election, especially in this continent (Africa), and even more especially in Nigeria. Surprisingly, however, most of these grumbling are not coming from the appropriate people who have justification to complain, i.e. political parties that contested and lost the elections, but rather from the youth who had every opportunity to change the government of PDP on last Saturday and who blew that chance off, and whom in my opinion actually have no justification whatsoever to complain afterward.

   INEC chairman professor Attahiru Jega yesterday pronounced the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s candidate as the winner of the elections having polled the majority votes cast and getting the required 25% in more than 2/3 states of the Federation, thereby beating its closest rival Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) that came second. Even before this announcement and return of the winner of the election President Goodluck Jonathan, youth in many northern states took to the streets rioting, harassing and even killing innocent people that they perceived to be supporters of PDP, and in some cases attacking people they were not so sure whether or not they were PDP supporters.

   I once stated on this forum that the Nigerian youth were very much ready to take to the streets to protest if the much anticipated free and fair elections were not held in this country. The burning question now is could it be said that there were no free and fair elections on Saturday to warrant the youth taking to the streets to protest? I know this is a very difficult question to answer, especially at the moment when more details on how the elections were conducted in various parts of the country are still emerging. And more especially considering the complexity of the various things that constitute free and fair elections!

   I read some where that the CPC disagree with the victory recorded by the PDP in the South South, South East and also in some states in the South West. Now supposing there were riggings in those states as alleged by the CPC, could that be the reason that the ruling PDP recorded a 'landslide' victory in the elections? I believe the answer is big NO! This is why at the beginning I said the youth in these northern states that are rioting have no justification whatsoever to protest the results of the elections. They are the very ones who by their action or inaction aided the victory of the ruling party. PDP needed 25% in the 2/3 of the total states in the federation to win the elections even if it got the majority votes cast in the elections. They needed to get those votes in the northern states and by their actions they gave them.

   When one looks at the statistics of the voter turnout in the north generally with the exception of some very few states, and compare it with the turnout in the South generally, one will certainly get the picture clearly. For instance, in Kano, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) registered over 5 million voters, but only a little over 2.5 million actually voted. In Adamawa there are over 1.7 million voters registered, but only a little over 800,000 actually voted. In Borno 2.7 million registered, and only a little over 1.1 million actually voted. In Katsina almost 3 million people registered, but only 1.6 million in fact voted. We can go on and on, the story is the same all over northern states, except Bauchi and Kaduna where the turnout was almost 80%. If one compares it with the turnout in the south generally, one will be left with only one conclusion that : the north just short itself in the leg and we really needed not to complain. In fact we have no cause to! In most of the northern states where CPC won the turnout was just 50% as against the total number registered, and worst still in most of those states the people made sure that the ruling party got the 25% of the total votes cast that they require. Whereas, in the South South and South East, the turnout was 90% to 95%, and amazingly, they all voted ruling party thereby given no chance to the opposition to get even 5% of the votes.

   Even if there was rigging as alleged in those zones, one only needs to look at how the people in the north voted or not voted as the case maybe, for one to just shut up before anybody tells you to. People, and especially those youth protesting, slept at home during the elections and did not vote and now that their counterparts in the south, and who apparently needed it more than them, decided our future for the next four years, only for them to start rioting, burning, maiming and even killing innocent people. This is most unfortunate, and the authority should really rise to their responsibilities by dealing with those youth according to the laws of the land. As my friend said: "they are only crying over a spilt milk"!

   All is not lost however, if at all we are serious of chasing PDP away and if the youth will actually learn their lesson, then we have LAST opportunity on the 26th of April to give PDP serious push towards irrelevance. If CPC can win all the 12 states they won in the presidential elections, they will of course be setting what could potentially be PDP's demise in 2015. This will only give CPC the necessary political base they need to give PDP strong opposition in 2015. This is more so as other opposition parties such as Labour Party (LP), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and APGA will surely get some states in the South East, South West and South South respectively thereby reducing PDP's dominance in the polity generally.

'Wetin Lawyers Dem Do Sef?'

   It was Friday, I, together with friends were returning from the mosque where we performed our Juma'at prayer, when one amongst the friends drew my attention to one car that was ahead of us, at the back of the car, just beside the tail light was a sticker on which was written boldly : "wetin lawyers dem do sef?" I was stunned, I didn't know what to do for a few seconds. I have seen many of those stickers, but all of them with the exception of that one, were either pro law as a profession or lawyers generally as professionals. There was a time when I even had one on my car. You often see those like: "love a lawyer, its legal", "shhhh, lawyer is passing", "I be lawyer, trouble na my work", and etc. But never seen one which lawyers were attacked like that one. My friends in the car, who are not lawyers of course, challenged me; 'what do you do actually if not to go to go court and be telling lies?' I was speechless for a moment, partly because I do know that there are some lawyers that do go to court and tell lies, but at the same time, that isn't enough for anybody to make such a generalized assertion. I said to them look, I can't make case for any unscrupulous lawyers out there, but at the same time I know a handful of upright lawyers and it will be bad if I will just keep quiet and let you castigate those innocent lawyers for the offenses of their fellow professionals.

   I asked rhetorically, 'you really want to know wetin lawyers dem do?' And they answered affirmatively. Ok, lawyers save lives! How? They all asked. By defending and freeing an innocent person who is standing trial for an offence they never committed. Also lawyers help the helpless to get their properties back from dubious people who would want to misappropriate them. And also lawyers help send to prisons those who belong there for committing one offence or the other. 'But they defend criminals too!' All of them shouted. I said you just have to prove that they commit those offences they are charged with. You have to bring witnesses and necessary things to prove his guilt. Lawyers are merely there to make sure that you do not bring people to come and lie against those alleged criminals. If at the end of the day, the offence is proved BEYOND REASONABLE doubt against them, then let them face the music. But a lawyer has to be there for them to prevent them being punished for what they actually did not commit.

   Just for the simple reason that some people decide to go against the ethics of the profession should not make people adjudged us equally. After all such deviants do exist in other professions too! So, wetin lawyers dem do? I answer thus: lawyers save lives, defend defenseless and help establish justice in the society so that people will live in harmony with one another and the society prosper!

The Senate and House of Reps. Elections and The CPC's Chances in The Presidential Elections

   Nigerians exercised their civic rights on Saturday, the 9th of this month and elected Senators and Members of the House of Reps that will represent them at the legislative Houses. A lot of mixed feelings trailed the already emerged results of those elections. There were a lot of surprises in some areas concerning the results, likewise in some other areas it was just what people expected or thought should happen that in fact happened. In the South West, as we all expected the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won almost all the seats in both senate and House of Reps. The only surprises there which a lot of people were not in fact actually surprised that they occurred, is the fact that some few PDP chieftains in both the Senate and House of Reps did not actually get re-elected. The notable amongst these are of course the Speaker House of Reps. Mr. Dimeji Bonkole and Senator Mrs. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello (daughter of the former Head of State). Most of these PDP casualties came from the home state of the former president Obasanjo, and this is the more reason why a lot of people were not actually surprised that PDP encountered these set-backs in that state taking into consideration the well publicized rift between the incumbent Governor Gbenga Daniel and the former President Obasanjo.Overall, it is not at all unexpected that ACN recorded a landslide victory in the South West considering that the area has always been the hub of the party.

   The results in the South East and South South are equally not surprising as PDP won almost every seat there with the exception of some few that were shared between APGA, LP and ACN. South South being the home zone of the president we can not expect anything contrary to what actually happened there. 

   Perhaps the biggest surprise came from the North West region. People actually expected the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which is headed by former military Head of State Muhammadu Buhari, who is also its presidential candidate for this year's elections, to record a landslide victory in the zone. It will not be correct to assert that CPC did not perform in this zone but however to use the word "landslide" victory could be quite misleading. The party performed well in Katsina (the home state of Muhammadu Buhari) where it won all the three (3) Senatorial seats, and also in Zamfara and Kaduna as well. However, the party failed woefully to make any impact in Kano state which is the heart of this zone in terms of population. The performance of CPC in Kano and Jigawa combined is quite gloomy to say the least! So many people tried to explain why CPC failed to win even 10 House of Reps seats out of the more than 30 seats available in Kano. People have given their opinions as to why Kano which is the number one stronghold of Muhammadu Buhari was not delivered by the party. The way I see it however, is quite differently with the way most of those people see it. To me the issues are two.

   Firstly, the inter-party wrangling in the CPC Kano ranging from the leadership of the party to the governorship aspirants brouhaha in the state contributed immensely to the not so impressive performance recorded by the party in the concluded elections. It is instructive to note that as between the time the party was to conduct its primaries in Kano late last year to now, the party saw three (3) different sets of leadership. And this controversy is still not put to rest as just last two or three weeks there was a judgment in which a court reinstated one of the three groups which was initially sacked by the National Head-quarters, as the valid leadership of the party. This matter is still pending in the court of Law. This is enough a distraction to the party's preparations to this elections. This problem of leadership resulted in even more grievous problem of not having a widely recognized and accepted governorship candidate among the party ranks. CPC supporters in Kano don't know exactly between Muhammad Sani Abacha and General Lawal Jafaru Isa who is actually the governorship candidate of their party. This confusion is capable of making people getting frustrated and not even voting the party at all! 

   The second factor is the attitude shown by most of the CPC candidates in the Senate and House of Reps elections. Because of what happened in 2003, where out of no where Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau emerged and became Governor of Kano as a result of that popular phrase uttered by Buhari at his rally in Kano just few days to elections. Buhari asked Kano people to vote ANPP "SAK", as a result people entered Buhari's ark and won the elections on a platter of gold. A lot of those CPC contestants felt that this is exactly how it was going to be this time around and they decided not make any efforts to reach to the people at the grass roots. When Buhari came to Kano for his rally he snubbed them all apparently due to the debacle as to the governorship aspirants of the party in the state. So Buhari did not mention SAK and that seriously affected their acceptability to the people. 

   In my constituency, I didn't know the person contesting for Senate under the plat form of CPC until a day to the canceled elections. And for the House of Reps., that I only saw his posters on the elections day at the elections venue. You can imagine this utter arrogance exhibited by these contestants to the people they were seeking to represent. The story is different in the opposition camps where every where you go the streets are awash with opposition posters and leaflets. 

   The bottom line is, Buhari has a serious work to do in Kano if at all he wants to take this elections to the run off in which we are hoping with all the alliances that may be formed, he stands a good chance of beating PDP. Nobody expects either CPC or ACN to win this elections in the first round. The only party capable of doing just that is PDP, and the only hope Buhari has of denying PDP that is by recording a landslide victory in Kano. Even if CPC wins Kano unless it is by a great margin, it would not make any difference. We all know that if PDP did not get the required votes to clinch victory at the first round, then there will be a run off in which PDP and any other party that comes second will slog it out for the presidency in the elections. The danger here for Buhari's CPC is, if ACN wins Lagos (as it is almost certain) being the state with a largest number of registered voters, and Buhari fails to win Kano being the second largest state with registered voters, then ACN will definitely emerge the second and then the run off will be between PDP and ACN. To avoid this scenario, Buhari and CPC should put their house in order and it has now become obligatory upon General Buhari between now and the closing of campaigns before the elections on Saturday to come back to Kano and Jigawa to organize another rally and settle differences that might exist in their party's hierarchy in these states, otherwise, it will be the same old story as PDP will win this elections on a platter of gold! A word is enough for a wise!

Those New Universities

   There were a lot of jubilation from across many parts of the country when late last year the minister of education professor Rukayyatu Rufa'i announced the Federal Government's intention to create 9 new federal universities to be located in some states that hitherto did not have the presence of federal universities. These universities are to take off some time in September this year. The universities are to be situated in Bayelsa (home state of the president), in Jigawa (the home state of the minister of education), Katsina (home state of the former president) among other states. The minister while making the announcement for the appointement of Vice chancellors and Registrars to man those universities, noted that the decision of the Federal Government to establish these universities was informed by the principle of equity in distribution of federal universities to cover all states of the federation. There were a lot of celebrations especially in those areas where the universities are to be sited. People were happy that at last the Government has remembered them.

   Creation of universities when done in good faith and with all sense of rationality is truly a good thing, and an achievement that every leader that has facilitate it should be proud of. However, when you critically examine the manner these new universities were created, one can safely argue that either they were created in bad faith, or they were just created in order to score cheap political points or the Federal Government was ill-advised in creating them. I believe the President decided to create these universities just to score cheap political points especially now that the elections is just around the corner. The fact that these universities are created in bad faith becomes even more glaring when one considers the following facts.

   First, the minister while announcing the appointment of the VCs and Registrars, disclosed that the government allocated the sum of # 1.5 billion to each university for take off. This singular pronouncement underscore the fact that the government is not at all serious about developing education in this country they just created these universities to score cheap political points. I know some people would say, but # 1.5 billion is a huge amount of money. Yes it is indeed! Even I did not appreciate what that amount of money can do or not do in running a federal university until I came to know of some facts that actually exposed this political gimmick by the federal government. Some few days back there was a programme on one of the fm radio stations here in Kano, where the incumbent ASUU chairman Bayero university, Kano branch was discussing the same issue. In that programme he criticized the federal government's decision to create those universities in the first place and also to allocate the sum of # 1.5 billion for each one of them to take off. The chairman gave a staggering insight into what you can do with that amount of money in running a university. There is a "world class" library that was recently built at Bayero university, which according to the chairman cost a whopping #7 billion to construct! I am sure I don't have to say anything further, this  is quite self explanatory. If a single standard library can cost that amount of money, how can this government convince us that it is so serious and desirous of having these universities taken off with the meager amount of just #1.5 billion? These are universities that don't have any facilities that are of a university standard on ground. These are either secondary schools or at best colleges of education converted into these universities. The chairman also revealed further that there are six (6) universities out of the federal universities we have that have been selected by the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to upgrade them to the international standard, and the money that is been allocated to these universities by the ETF for this purpose every year is #3 billion for each one them. The chairman also gave another instance whereby a university in Saudi Arabia was allocated equivalent to #10 trillion to take off. All these instances underline the fact that the Federal government is not so serious at all for establishing these universities and their proper take off.

   Secondly, the minister stated also that the decision of the Federal government to create these universities was informed by the desire to provide access to university education to a larger number of qualified candidates who are annually stranded due to lack of carrying capacity by the existing universities. Some times you can't help but to question the wisdom of those that act as advisers to our leaders at all levels. If a lot of candidates don't get admission into the universities because of these reasons as the honourable minister stated, what is the appropriate thing the government should do in the circumstances? Isn't it much easier for the government to enlarge the capacity of our existing universities? Universities are not suppose to be for just local communities, they are to be for international community. Its not necessary that each and every state must have presence of Federal universities, more so if the government is not desirous or is lacking the will to provide for and maintain those universities. People take their children to foreign countries to study despite the fact that universities exist in their localities. What is more important is for the government to improve in quality the universities in terms of structures, staff and materials, but not to go about creating new universities any how just to score cheap political points.

   It is my considered opinion that unless the government is willing to provide the necessary fund required for these universities to properly take off, it is better that this project be halted by the government   until it is fully equipped and ready to run the universities.

Learned we are indeed!

   How often have you heard lawyers saying that they are the most learned among all professionals? Or that theirs is the only learned profession on earth? And also for how long their profession has been in existence in this world? Some will even tell you that the law profession is older than the world itself, and they will give an account of some mythic and unsubstantiated history which tend to support their claim. If you have ever heard of lawyers boasting about being the most learned and also their profession being the oldest and most honourable, have you then ever cared to ask why do they believe so? As a lawyer, I know some of the reasons advanced by lawyers in defence to their claims. You often hear them saying that they are the only professionals who poke their noses in all those professions when the need arises and not just that but to even try to beat them in their own professions. How many times have you seen a very qualified medical doctor or other professional been confused in a court of law when they come to give an expert opinion in their particular field of expertise? A lawyer who does not necessary match the experience of the expert (year wise) will try to confuse the expert in order to lure them make a contradictory statement which will consequently result in the court not admitting their testimony into evidence.

   When we were at the university and even at Law school, we were told that we are the best of man kind and as such there are some particular ways that we are expected to behave. To make this look so important, Rules of Professional Conduct were made for the lawyers to observe to the fullest. These and many more things you won't hear from me have made the lawyers become so pompous, so big headed, and so full of themselves that they feel every other person or professional is second to them.

   The question now is: are lawyers right to believe so? Shouldn't they be more humble to at least admit that there are other professionals and professions that are more important? Yesterday, the 26th day of March 2011, I wrote an aptitude test for employment in one of those Federal Government Corporations. And as we all know, there is no way one can write an aptitude test without having has to answer questions on mathematics. I am a lawyer and I don't have anything to do with maths, in fact I hate maths so much so that I opted to study law and become a lawyer and bids bye bye to mathematics. Un known to me we will one day cross roads again, and that day was yesterday. When I was preparing for the exams there was need for me to know at least some basic things in maths. Having at the back of my mind the belief that I am learned, I decided to study it on my own. However it didn't take me long before I realised I was just wasting my time as there was no way I could do it on my own. So I decided that I really needed help. I sought the help of my friend who is a maths teacher. I went for the lesson on those basics and simplest of mathematics, things like Ratio, Rate, Proportion, percentage and etc. You can of course expect me to have an idea on those things having at least gone to a secondary school. I had to wonder when my maths teacher made some tricks to solve one ratio problem what exactly did I do in secondary school that I didn't learn those things? I was so confused that my teacher friend had to mock me by saying (bakace kai lauya bane, saboda haka kasan komai ba?) Meaning: haven't you said that you are a lawyer and you know everything? We laughed and I said abeg make we forget that one for now.

   Well, to cut the story short, I actually learned those things and wrote the test. And this is exactly why lawyers are different. As it is now, I am more learned in mathematics. Yeah, I know that you will say "oh God, they have done it again"! But that is the truth. I saw my teacher friend later in the day after the test and said to him,  when I was having lesson on maths you mocked me that I should know everything, well now I am happy to inform you that I am now more learned in maths than I was before. And he said: "LEARNED YOU ARE INDEED!"

Ps: the blogger could not post anything on last Sunday, this is because as I stated in this article I was preparing for that aptitude test and I was seriously making efforts to become learned in mathematics which I have become now.

Could This Be The Beginning?

   We are all living witnesses to the unprecedented regime change revolutions that are currently going on in the Arab world. It all started in Tunisia when the police confiscated fruits and vegetables belonging to one Mohamed Bouazizi who was hawking by the road side to earn a living and whom the police alleged did not have proper hawking permit. Having been denied his only source of living by the security forces of his country and the country that has done nothing to better his life, the young Bouazizi (just 26 years old) decided to end his life by setting himself on fire in protest to the injustice committed against him by his own country and eventually died.

    Alas! The unprecedented mass protest by the Tunisian people began and which lasted for weeks and which ultimately led to the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who had run vicious dictatorship for more than 23 years! The protest spread to neighbouring Egypt and Yemen, and after a more intense and rigorous protest in Egypt with the resulting consequences of many people having had to lose their lives, the Egyptian leader of 32 years on the throne had to finally leave! Though the consequences are different in Yemen to that of Tunisia and Egypt, but the Yemeni people too managed to force the government of their country to make far reaching reforms both economically and politically in the country obviously in order to avoid the consequences that followed such uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

    Most recently, the people of Libya having observed the change that people's power can bring in those countries,started what can potentially bring down the longest serving dictator in the whole world today - Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Though in the case of Libya, there is a genuine fear that the consequences that come with those regime changes are likely to be for more damning than in those other countries. Libya's case has already turned into a bloody civil war where armed forces teamed up with pro Gaddafi people fighting on the one hand and pro democracy fighting on the other hand! Thousands of people were reported to have been killed in the country! Gaddafi vows not to go without a fierce battle!

    When one looks at the recent protests that were held in Kano and Zaria in the north western zone of this country, one will begin to wonder could it be the beginning of those revolutions in Nigeria? Especially considering the fact that it all started like this in those countries. Some few weeks ago students of Kano State polytechnic staged a peaceful protest to the Kano state government house for them to register their grievances over nonchalant attitude of the government towards their lecturers' legitimate needs. Perhaps at this stage I should make it clear that I do not in anyway think that the situation really called for the students to take to the streets. I believe the students could have engaged the government on dialogue through leaders of their associations. But what is even more appalling than the decision of the students to embark on that protest is the manner of the excessive force used by the police to disperse the protesters. The police ruthlessly beat up the protesting students with sticks and used tear gas on them and even shot at them with live ammunition which as a result a boy who was identified as a secondary school student was hit by the police stray bullet and died! Such is the horrific manner that the police went about trying to stop the unarmed students from expressing their grievances in a very peaceful manner!

    Also more recently in Zaria there was a protest by some youth in one particular part

of the city over the non availability of power and water supplies in their areas. According to the protesting youth as reported by various newspapers, they were without power supply for more than nine (9) months! And without water supply for more than twenty (20) years! The police as usual used tear gas to disperse them although there was no report of casualties there.

    When one reflects on these happenings and taking into consideration what is currently going on in the Arab world and the fact that it all started like this, one can safely conclude that Nigerians are testing the waters too to see if such revolution is indeed possible in a country many believe its citizens are living in a worst condition than those where the revolutions have taken place! With the general elections just around the corner and with the fear that the long awaiting and desired free and fair elections may not actually be witnessed, the peace enjoyed by the rulers of this country might seriously be tested if the electorates' expectations have not been met with regards to the conduct of the elections!

"Female Freedom Fighters"

    The caption of today's topic was a programme aired on ABC News Channel recently and which was anchored by a seasoned international journalist-Christian Amanpor. The programme featured some prominent female members of various civil societies around the world that are fighting for the female rights. Of course, as you should know, whenever you see a caption like that and the disposition of the people discussing it in such a programme, you can for sure predict the issues that are going to be discussed there. If you had thought of issues like women's emancipation, greater political participation by the women, then I have to say, you have thought exactly what this group of women discussed throughout the one hour programme! For the past few decades there have been growing calls by Civil Societies around the globe for more women's participation in the political arena in their respective regions and countries. While it is right when one looks at what the impact made by those calling for greater women political participation in some western countries to say that those agitations have yielded positive results, I think the reverse is the case when one looks at the situation in Africa and Nigeria in particular.                                                     

   Nigeria came back to this current political dispensation in 1999 after an interval of more than 25 years! Some people will of course make reference to the Babangida's camouflage we had in the name of democracy in the early 90's, that in my opinion does not count at all. We are now in the 12th year of our so called "nascent" democracy, however, when you look at the statistics of women participation in these years, it is dismal to say the least! When you compare the number of female "honourable" members of the House of Representatives and the "distinguished" senators in the Senate with their male counterparts there, the figure is not so pleasing to write! The situation is even worse when one takes a glimpse at the Houses of Assemblies of various states across the federation. Some states have one, two, or up to three or slightly more female members, however, some are not so fortunate. In my state, since the beginning of this dispensation, the "Arewa House" never admitted a female member for the whole of 12 years! I can as well bet my last kobo that the situation is not likely to change in the forth coming elections as non of the major political parties has nominated a single woman for the state House of Assembly!

   The question here is: why is it that women in this part of the world and in Nigeria in particular don't get so involved in politics? The answer to this poser was intelligently and succinctly provided for by one the women discussing the issue in the programme. According to her the problem faced by the female politicians especially in the third world countries are "lack of mobility and access to resources"! When she said that I didn't know when I shouted "YES" in agreement to what she said. This is exactly it! This is the exact problem that has bedevilled Nigerian female political class for long! The fact that Nigerian politics is solely driven by money, or in other words, it is "money politics" needs not be recounted here. The most recent incident that highlighted that fact like never before was the recently conducted PDP presidential primaries that was held at Eagle Square earlier this year. There was widely report of massive usage of money by the two leading contenders in that primaries in order to be able to get the delegates' votes. The other candidate, who is a female and who by no means is not in the same league with the other contestants in terms of resources, was humiliated having gotten only one single vote which many believed was her own vote. Meaning, nobody voted for her but herself!

    There are other incidences that highlighted this problem as well. We all know how crowds are "rented" by politicians in this country for political rallies. These crowds apart from giving false belief to whoever buys into it that they are actually supporters of those that "rent" them, also give some measure of security to them so that the opposition thugs can not come close to those politicians to even think of harassing them. In a more recent incident in Kano, a female politician was going around campaigning for the forthcoming elections when she was harassed by some thugs who took advantage of the fact that she was not moving with such crowd probably because she did not have the resources to "rent" it!

  Now having highlighted the problem faced by these women, what then could be the solution to this predicament that our female politicians are now? The solution to this also as for the first question was provided by one of the ladies discussing the topic in the programme. According to her there are civil societies around the world that are working in partnership with local based Non-Governmental Organisations in some countries especially in the middle east and Africa with the sole object of empowering and assisting those women financially and otherwise to be able to compete with their male counterparts in the political arena in those countries. This of course, is a laudable initiation, but however, in my opinion there is another alternative. Why won't the women resolve to vote for their female counterparts in various political posts? From the census figures we have in this country there are more women than men in this country. So they can't tell us it is not possible. If the women had agreed to do that at the Eagle Square at least, Mrs Sarah Jubril could have gotten more votes as there was considerable number of females delegates at the primaries. our first lady (who is the initiator of women empowerment project) was there too but, even her vote could not be secrificed for the women cause! It's shameful indeed! It makes one question the sincerity of our leaders. In my opinion, this is one of the few solutions for the women and until they are ready to do that, they will keep on distancing themselves to the corridor of power in this country and which we all know at least in Nigeria, it is the key to the resources that they lack at the moment!

introduction

    I believe it is proper to introduce my self first to my readers before saying anything I planned saying here. Let me start by saying my name is AbdulMumini Shuaibu AbdulLahi. I was born in Kano state of Nigeria and grew up here. I am a lawyer by profession (I was just called to the Nigerian Bar in November 2009), so as you can see, very inexperienced lawyer indeed. I don't think I have much to say about my self apart from the little I have said above. Ok, honestly, it is not that I don't have much to say about my self but rather, I wouldn't say more, because I do not believe it is right for me to, instead of saying more important things but, waste my and your time writing about my biography which is not the topic of this discourse. So, forgive me, but that is enough I can supply about my self.

   Done with the introduction stuff, so it is now time to tell my readers the whole idea behind this blog and what it seeks to focus on and the goals it seeks to achieve in the long run. I must admit that this whole thing was inspired by a friend. Although I have always been interested in public affairs and public commentaries, but I have never given it deeper consideration until recently when I got to read some interesting articles written by a very special friend of mine, then I became convinced that this is what I really want to do. So that's how the idea of creating this blog came about. Perhaps I should add that, she (my very special friend) played a significant role in creating this blog as she helped with getting some necessary internet stuffs fixed! For that I will like to say: thank you very much mademoiselle!

   As I said earlier on, I have always dreamt of been a public commentator, and I think this has to do with the fact that I have always been a critical observer of happenings in my surroundings! I observe and make sure that I comprehend, and form my opinion on anything that happen in my community and which I come to know about. I just don't let things pass me by like that, and if one is like this, it is only natural to start looking for avenues where one will start translating those opinions in forms of criticisms, observations and suggestions to the general public for us to have a better informed community! There is no better time in my opinion that the people of this nation need information about certain things happening in various parts of this country than this particular time! And this is exactly what this blog seeks to provide to its readers - information!

   The writings in this blog intend to cut across many spheres of our public life. It is not intended in anyway to restrict it to particular fields; for instance, politics, law, romance and etc. The blogger will touch as it is necessary and relevant any pressing issue that is of importance to the public irrespective of the category of human endeavours it falls into. The post on this blog will appear each Sunday of every week barring any unforseen circumstances that may either alter such arrangement or prevent altogether the blogger from posting anything on any particular Sunday. Your comments, criticisms (constructive of course), and suggestions are welcomed, that I believe is the only way we can make this blog achieve its goals of informing and educating the public. I would like to say also that as this blog has just been created, there should be some modifications in terms of beautification and other improvements to be made to the site from time to time.  I only hope that the readers will appreciate those modifications as they are made. Thank you and see you on Sunday for the full debut!

   Your faithfully,

   

   The blogger.

 

ps:

If some pressing issues arise that it is considered by the blogger too important to let them pass by, the blogger will, if circumstances permit, write on them and post even during the week. However, such special posts will only be appearing on Wednesday. So it is suggested that the readers should be visiting the site on Wednesdays for such postings.