How corruption killed agriculture – Senator Matori

Senator Salisu Ibrahim Musa Matori was one of the early staff of the United Africa Company (UAC) before he moved to Total Nigeria Limited and eventually became an oil dealer as a businessman. Also, as a politician, he represented Bauchi in the Senate. He was elected twice but held office more substantially from 1999 to […]

Senator Salisu Ibrahim Musa Matori was one of the early staff of the United Africa Company (UAC) before he moved to Total Nigeria Limited and eventually became an oil dealer as a businessman. Also, as a politician, he represented Bauchi in the Senate. He was elected twice but held office more substantially from 1999 to 2003.

 

Let me start by asking about your early life in Bauchi?

Bauchi, Jos and Kano. I would like to add that you omitted some few in the prefix of my name – I am the Dan Masani of Bauchi, which I am very proud of. I also received a national honour of MFR from a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is the little correction.

I was born in Bauchi on April 22, 1941 to the family of Ibrahim and Hafsat Musa Matori. (Our ancestor),Matori, is a highly respectable name because the house consists of three major things – they are Mallams and very wealthy merchants whose trading activities cut across Timbuktu to the sea, down to the hinterland of the Saharan Africa. That was prior to the coming of Europeans, so to speak.

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Kano happened to be a trading route. Later on, because of the excellent relationship between him and the Yakubu of Bauchi, he came back from Degel, not even Sokoto. Sokoto was not in existence at that time.

At that time, the educationists (Mallams) and the ruling class were interwoven. That was how they were until the coming of the white people. When the slave trade was abolished, the entire business activities got into other areas of human endeavour.

 

You grew up in Bauchi; was your father based here?

He was in Bauchi and Kano – the two major trading posts. They tried their best in spite of all the odds and difficulties of those areas.

We were told by our grandparents at that time that it was like going to war because you would see up to 300 horses, camels and so on a caravan. The first stop or camp was in a place called Gudum. It is not far from here.

So it was a slow journey.

They would stop there and prepare everything, then start in the morning. If they left Bauchi, sometimes they would spend six months or one year before coming back.

On a trip?

Yes. But later on, the white men came and introduced their own wares and way of life, fortunately or unfortunately. The fortunate part of it is that slave trade was abolished, while the unfortunate aspect is the introduction of a totally new way of life.

 

Was slave trade an important aspect of the business?

Frankly speaking, no. There were slaves in the caravans, but you cannot say slaves per se because most of them were part and parcel of the family. It was like a large family.

If you read Shehu Umar( book) of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, you might have come across so many things that would help you understand what the whole situation was at that time.

So you didn’t quite join the caravan of your grandparents.

I was not born then.

 

By the time you were born, the white men were already here and you started schooling; tell us about that.

Well, on the question of schooling, generally speaking, at that time people were a bit skeptical of the intention of the white men.

The first thing that always came to mind was that it was a religious outfit. It took the white people a great deal of time to convince the populace that religion was not their intention. When they saw that they were not trying to convert people, they become relaxed.

 

You had primary and secondary education in Bauchi; how was schooling then?

Mostly in Jos. It may interest you to know that it was a missionary school – ECWA – which was known as Sudan Interior Mission (SIM).

 

Didn’t you see it as something that might change you from your religion?

It should have changed me but it didn’t. We had so many classmates and young friends. Truly speaking, there were coexistence and harmony between Christians and Muslims. I still remember so many of them. Both men and girls(we) grew up together.

 

After schooling you went straight to work in the United Africa Company; is that correct?

That’s right. It was Gidan Niger, Gidan Goldie and so on.

 

In Kano?

Let me also say that the Matori outfit had a variety of businesses, ranging from groundnut, which was a major thing, to cotton and other farm produce.

In Bauchi where we grew up, in one location you would have 200 to 300 pyramids of groundnut. For cotton, we had about seven markets – some in Gombe, which was part of Bauchi Province, and so many other areas like that, including Giade at the Kaltungo area; and quite a number of other places.

 

These were markets you used to go?

Yes. We bought what we called clothing. We bought and stored at the appropriate time. Companies like the UAC were mainly doing the trading.

We also had the Company France-Dealer-Afrique (CFAO) doing the same thing – buying hides and skin, gum Arabic and so on.

But principally, groundnut and cotton were the major items. They were the sustaining items of the white people’s presence in the whole of what was later known as Nigeria and Northern Nigeria for that matter.

 

Did going to the UAC as a member of staff mean that you had left the family business?

As I told you, our house, the Matoris, had an excellent relationship with the UAC.

 

We did the hides and skin and a variety of things. As young men, our interest was to work like Waziri Ibrahim.

 

Was he also in the UAC?

He was a very young man. We always tried to copy how he put his cap. You see, the young generation always derives inspiration from their predecessors. Sometimes even their mode of dressing can influence a child, like those who joined the military. I remember when they came to Bauchi and camped in the present day Kasuwar Wunti, saying anybody who wanted to join should come. They came with their drums and things like that and people became interested. Quite a number of boys joined. It was the same thing with the companies. People got interested, joined and made it a career. It was the same with me.

I was excited and wanted to work. I saw how the clerk worked – they checked and did everything – so I became part of them. I applied like any other person and we were all called for interview. All of us from northern Nigeria at that time assembled in Kaduna and took the exam. Eventually, few of us were selected and given training in Lagos.

After the training, they took us back to Kaduna. Some were taken to the Department of Hides and Skin and(others) went to Accounts – quite a number of young people. We took it up from there.

 

You didn’t stay long as you moved to Total. Why did you make that switch?

It was also the influence of friends I mentioned to you, like Alhaji Yusuf Ali, who was not even in Total. His younger brother, the late Kashim, was one of my best friends, so we were influenced.

At that time, it was very fashionable for you to work in the UAC, but it was more fashionable to be in the oil company. At that time, Mobil, with quite a number of people, was very interesting. Later on, we went to Total, then Agip, the last one that came in. So it was very fashionable to work.

 

From being a worker, you also became a dealer in Total, right?

Absolutely.

 

How was that transition?

It was an upliftment because with people like Yusuf Ali, to give you a station to be selling was recognition of integrity and honour. It showed that you had a strong background; it also created confidence. And we were very proud of that.

Alhaji Yusuf Ali was a manager also. I think he joined as a manager. So he introduced us. We were in Lagos again – Marina – for a course and then they sent us to Apapa. When we came back we continued.

 

Being a dealer meant that you were more of a businessman than a staff; is that correct?

It did not necessarily mean that you were independent per se because Total had a system where they maintained a close supervision so that you didn’t lose because if you lost, they also lost.

Total was one of the last that maintained their system. The system in Kano and Maradi was virtually the same. And they continued to maintain it, even after independence.

 

At what point did you really stand on your own as a businessman?

Well, after I spent quite a number of years in Total. But in the industry, apart from Total, most of the companies, beginning from Agip to Mobil, Texaco and so on, were more or less on their own from the very beginning.

But Total tried to maintain a kind of continuation of supervision, which I still remember. I enjoyed it because it made people disciplined. Everything, even spending.

 

You seem to have done many things besides oil; did you remain in the oil business or you diversified?

We diversified. We were in all kinds of produce, ranging from groundnut to cotton and shear nut. There was a very strong produce marketing company called NIPC. We had lost a lot.

 

Was it a government-owned company?

It was a federal government-owned company. I think it was something about Nigerian produce, either NIPC or something like that. Their headquarters was in Lagos. And they were one of the richest. It was like a marketing board, which we had in the regions.

We had the Northern States Marketing Board and the Western Marketing Board, which was in charge of cocoa and other items. Here in the North, we had groundnut, cotton, hides and skin and other items. There was also the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board.

Those were the marketing boards that fed the National Produce Marketing Board, which bought from all the marketing boards. It bought from the marketing boards and sold on the floor in London.

They would quote prices, which kept on fluctuating and so on. At that time, Nigeria was really on its feet when it came to the question of trading. But later on, things changed.

 

As a businessman, at what point do you think this change started? When was your heyday of making money? When did it suddenly change?

I want to understand that change first.

 

You said there was a good period when your produce was on the London Stock Exchange and people like you were making money. When did the decline start?

Yes; very good money.

 

So what happened? Why are things different now?

This is a very interesting question, in the sense that if we are to go through this issue, I don’t know how long it would take us, maybe five days. But let me tell you something, which I believe those listening and watching might have understood – People continue to talk of the fall in agricultural production because the farmer is complaining that there is no marketing board to buy from. So you end up with whatever you produce because the capacity is beyond the production. But people do not stop asking what brings about this supply more than the demand.

The companies that were dealing in groundnut, shea nut and other products bought from the National Produce Company and shipped to different parts of the world. They sold at the stock exchange and they shipped it.

Our groundnut used to be the best, apart from the one in Senegal or somewhere in French West Africa.

And our market was excellent. Our cotton competed with that of Sudan and Chad, which had a long span. It was of high quality.

Unfortunately, instead of sending clean and healthy groundnut, our people developed the habit of adulteration. That was what killed the agriculture; quote me any time.

It killed the agriculture because out of 200,000 tonnes sent to a company in Liverpool that was producing margarine and the rest of it, one quarter or half was fake because people put sand in different bags because they bought by weight.

They would not discover that until it got to Liverpool and the industry where they were going to process it and their machines would start cracking and breaking because people put stones inside.

 

Who was responsible – the farmers or traders?

They were all involved in this, but I will say the traders started it. I told you that our cotton was competing with that of Sudan and Chad, as well as parts of Central Africa because they shipped it through Nigeria, but we started adulteration.

The traders introduced this corruption because farmers were sending clean, normal cotton and groundnut. They did not allow farmers to produce happily.

On the market day they would put the produce on a scale. They had something they called “guiwa”. If you put the cotton on a scale, about three strong and healthy young men would put their legs, and instead of 60 kilos, it would record something else.

That’s another form of cheating.

When those cotton farmers saw that happen, they would go back to their villages and get a new tabarma.

 

A mat?

Mat. They would put water and the cotton and take it to the following market day.

The labourers who were going to steal 20 kilos would put their legs up, while the farmer who brought his cotton would be a bigger thief because the cotton had soaked water to become heavier. So, if they stole 20 kilos from him, he had also stolen 30 kilos from them.

 

So everybody was cheating, except the end buyers – the white men?

That’s right. Manchester was the biggest cotton buyer from Nigeria and Sudan. Unfortunately, when you opened the bale of all the Nigerian cotton, which was being handled by the marketing boards and the Nigerian Produce Marketing Company, it would become yellow because it was not dry. So they stopped buying the Nigerian cotton and groundnut. So the marketing board was broke because they could no longer buy. And all the money was advanced from the British Bank of West Africa (BBWA), the biggest at that time.

 

Was that how we lost the pyramids?

To my own understanding, this is one of the reasons we lost everything. In so many ways, it became part of life for the farmer to do what he would do – very unorthodox – and the trader was doing what he wanted to do.

And the advance the marketing board would give you maybe N1 million, which was a big money. They would give you as a licence they called Licence Buying Agent (LBA). They would give you one million lines, which was what you would buy, pay commission, do everything and make your own profit.

So, if you go to get that one million, they would tell you that they would take XYZ.

 

As collateral?

No. At that time you didn’t need to give collateral if you were a bona fide farmer or trader. All you needed was for the “Mai Anguwa” and the rest to identify you and vouch for you and you would be given the money to trade with and come back to pay everything before the rains. And at that time, fertiliser was even free. So we have lost.

 

How did you succeed in this atmosphere of corruption you described?

It was highly competitive. I don’t know if you have heard of Danja in Zaria?

 

Yes.

Danja and so many of them I cannot remember – spreading up to Funtua, Gusau and other places – were good farmers who maintained standard. And they survived because nobody doubted the produce from their farms.

 

How did you survive?

By maintaining as much standard as possible. But you could always have people who would try a shortcut. If there was anything that earned Matori honour and dignity, I think it was trying to maintain steadfastness and honesty.

 

Did you continue in Kano or you moved to Lagos to make money?

I was more in Kano.

 

In all your business life?

The biggest filling station in Kano was mine – along airport road. If you get to a place called King’s Garden, on the right hand side, you will see a very big Total. It is there up till now.

 

Is it still yours?

Not really. You know, you cannot eat your cake and have it. There are so many things like that. But I still have a little influence on that because we maintained the place for more than 20 years. It is still alive. That means we have put a very sound foundation for it to grow; and it is growing. We thank God.

 

Let’s talk about politics because in addition to being a businessman you have spent many decades in Nigerian politics. Tell us about this political journey and how you became a senator eventually.

Well, as far as getting into politics is concerned, it is something driven by a sheer desire to serve. Considering the situation then, and of course, even now, you are not far off the mark.

We have seen how disgusting, if that is the word, our educational system was in the 1990s; and quite a lot of things to do with the health situation also.

That is the motivating factor that drives one into the political arena, hoping that if you were elected you would be able to bring some improvement to what is being obtained.

 

But many Nigerians will say there is no evidence that our policy is driven by the desire to improve anything because the improvement hasn’t happened; do you agree with them?

I cannot speak on behalf of anybody, I am speaking for myself. I know the situation we were in then – maybe by interaction with friends and hearing a number of papers some intellectuals presented. I have quite a number of friends in the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), such as Yahaya Aliyu, Ibrahim Musa, all late now.

 

So these friends gave you ideas?

Yes; not to join politics but hearing from the people. And you could hear them talk about the bottlenecks of our educational arrangements. So, one got interested and started looking for ways one could help.

At that time, there was the Institute of Administration in Kongo, and at one time I was posted to Zaria in UAC. So I was at Kongo.

You can see that all those things are influencing factors that create the desire for you to be of help. And when I came here, the first person I heard from had the same kind of thinking. From there, I took it up on myself that given the opportunity, I would look for a way we could assist.

It was by sheer coincidence that when I got into the Senate, I was in the education committee.

 

Are you saying that your sojourn in the Senate really gave you the chance to do what you wanted? What policies or bills did you push for?

We participated in so many moves that brought some improvement and changes. For example, we created the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and had a public hearing. There was an account in the ministry where they keep the money they generated.

 

Tell us about the creation of Bauchi State. You were a young businessman but you got involved in the agitation; what happened?

It is very interesting. If one lives long, one witnesses a lot of things. That is why, sometimes if young people are doing certain things, you don’t know what to do; like the Talban Bauchi used to say – whether to cry or laugh.

 

Are you talking about Dr Ibrahim Tahir?

Ibrahim Tahir is my man any day.

 

Did the push for the creation of Bauchi State cause you a lot of grief? Was there a price to pay?

The agitation for the creation of Bauchi State began with a number of people; some of them are still alive but some have gone.

Abubakar Umar was the secretary to the state government (SSG), yet he was the prime factor in the movement; like Husseini Kirifi and the former Waziri of Bauchi, Bello Kirifi. You can go on and on. There were the Ubandoman Gombe and a host of others. There were people in Adamawa; I am not so sure. It happened that there was a state creation, but the people who really worked hard were Bauchi, Gombe, Katagum and those areas.

 

To break the North-East into a smaller state?

It was not a question of smaller or bigger, it was a question of justice. We wanted justice. When they came with promotion, you would see that it favoured people from Borno; everything came from Borno.

 

Because Maiduguri was the capital?

The capital was Bauchi but they maneuvered to move it.

 

You were a businessman based in Kano; how did you fit into the agitation to create Bauchi State?

If you are committed to something, you follow it to the letter. I was in my filling station, and every evening there was the North East Express with bigger buses. At that time, things were good, so they would bring me a whole bag full of literature and leaflets and I was the one who would distribute it to all the Bauchi people in Kano. I didn’t know that the police were looking, so one morning, I got arrested.

 

How long did they keep you?

They said I must not say it. That one was something else. But one thing was not nice. They asked me to write my statement – not statement – anything about myself. They said I should tell them who I was.

So I wrote. When I finished writing and was waiting, somebody suddenly came into the place and asked: “Who is this?” I said they asked me to write. He tore it, put it in a dustbin and said, “Write another one, this is a lie.” It was then that I knew I was really in trouble.

 

You now have Bauchi State for more than 30 years after a lot of trouble with the agitation. Are you happy with the creation of the state?

I am happy; it gives me some satisfaction. Unfortunately, most of my colleagues whom we did the crusade together are not on this planet anymore.

The governor, Musa Usman, was very furious and unhappy with all of us. He said that all the emirs and everybody should come for a meeting in Maiduguri. They came and he came into the chamber and started asking: “Who are you? What do you think you are? From today, we are going to deal with anybody who will talk about this state creation.”

All the emirs were quiet. The Emir of Misau said, “Why are you(not) talking? They

are our boys. We asked them to go and do it.”

The emirs were looking at one another. “Are you not the people who said these boys should go and fight for your state? You told the Shehu of Borno that you didn’t want to remain in this North-East because they were cheating you – that your boys would not get admission and other things?” He kept on mentioning things, until he finally picked his paper and left.

 

The governor?

Yes. After he left, the protocol came in and said all the emirs were excused to go, with the exception of the Emir of Misau. They asked him to go to the guest house. He was a very frank person.

 

Did they remove him?

No.

 

So he was under house arrest of sorts?

More or less, yes. Then he would tell you he didn’t know that it was good for somebody to stay in one place as he said his body was shining. He wasn’t bothered. He was like that. He would tell you that he had good food every day and was happy.

 

And he continued as emir?

Yeah. I think some advisers told Musa Usman not to allow this old man (become) problem in his hand. So they come and asked him to go. He continued.

 

Do you feel rewarded for agitating for the creation of Bauchi State? Do you feel that Bauchi has honoured those of you who did the struggle?

Honestly speaking, if one is thinking of reward or what one dreamt of, one would see disappointment. Nevertheless, it is better than what we had. We have been fortunate in some cases, but in many cases, we are very unfortunate.

 

Which are the unfortunate cases?

There are inconsistencies in policies, which would have put us on a very high pedestal. It was very unfortunate. Inconsistency has continued to permeate the fabric that the building of this state was based on initially.

We are doing everything in the negative. However, I will say there is window for correction. A lot of things are uncalled for. By now we shouldn’t have been where we are today. We hear people from other climes. But there is a tremendous room for improvement.

But frankly speaking, the current administration is doing its best. They are trying. They also have a dream because they don’t have anywhere to go but here. It belongs to all of us, so if you do something in a negative way, you are losing.

 

What bothers you particularly?

What bothers me is that people will have a dream that would affect the lives of virtually 80 per cent of our people but it is shattered.

As I said, the current administration is trying its best, but the heat comes from so many political scientists through advice. Those who are supposed to advise the chief executive have question marks hanging on their necks. So are they being sincere with the chief executive? And if they are sincere, is he also having a corresponding honesty in accepting their advice. This is where the question is.

For example, a former governor of this state at one time assembled what he called eggheads, including Generals and three or four former governors, headed by Aminu Saleh.

 

What sort of committee was that; and what were they expected to do?

The governor was very worried. He said we were drifting.

 

Who was the governor?

We will come to that. He gave us only one term of reference.

 

Were you part of the committee?

Yes. We also had clergymen. The term of reference was to stop the drift.

 

What advice did your committee give him?

We agreed that we were going to work day and night to produce what we believed would be beneficial to the people of the state.

 

Did he implement it?

Well, we heard all kinds of information. One of the stories was that somebody close to him advised him to be careful with these people, having been in Abuja for ages.

 

You are a well known advocate of oil exploration in Bauchi and Gombe. You have even produced a book on it. To your knowledge about Kolmani, what is happening?

Again, I must be honest with you. What you are talking about is a very sad chapter of our history as people of Bauchi/Gombe because a lot of sincere efforts that would bring about change in the lives of our people, particularly the younger generation, somewhere along the line, have not been made.

You would cry if you knew the efforts some people have put in; the efforts some of our administrators have put in trying to ensure that this thing comes to fruition. Unfortunately, it hasn’t.

 

But there was ceremony when former President Muhammadu Buhari came here.

Buhari was here at 7am and we all gathered, including all the emirs from Gombe and Bauchi. Those who were responsible for one thing or another assembled there.

To make matters worse, Buhari came and said he had come with good news – to tell the people of North-East and Nigeria that the efforts being put over the years had come to reality.

 

We had approved three industries in the Kolmani area of Bauchi, now Bauchi-Gombe, so to speak. We had to do that just to have peace. We had to recognise the new terminology. Where it came from, only God knows, but what we need is peace.

Buhari added that we would establish a modular refinery so that all the requirements of the North-East would be met as far as fuel was concerned. Secondly, we were going to build a fertiliser factory for all our farmers; and there were going to be agricultural chemicals that would help to preserve crops. Everybody was there.

 

What has happened?

Of course, nothing. It is getting to two years and nobody is saying anything. Everybody continues to talk to you as if we had never known the presidency they are talking about.

 

Tell us about the private Senator Matori. After all these years of struggle you are now 84; would you say you are happy or disappointed with what you see around you?

An average Bauchi indigene, like other Nigerians, would say that a lot has fallen short of expectation, to say the least.

Personally, here I am – from childhood to manhood – doing my very best to leave a legacy that our children and children’s children will enjoy.

They should improve the wellbeing of our people. At least my house was destroyed.

 

It was taken over to improve the Government House, or something like that?

Well, they know better. But I cannot fight them; I cannot do anything. I am powerless.

 

Were you not compensated?

If you take something of N1,000 and give somebody 50kobo, what kind of joke is that? But thank God that His Excellency himself promised that he was going to look into this. And I believe is a very honest man. He is straightforward and is always on the path of truth.

 

What do you do in retirement? Are you still active as a veteran businessman?

I am a farmer. But even as a farmer, one is a bit skeptical because there are so many uncertainties. I am a true farmer in the sense that my farm is there for everybody to see. I produce and sell.

 

But not doing well?

For where? You cannot get fertiliser. You cannot get inputs, but somebody who has never known the road to farm or anywhere is the one with the fertiliser, chemicals, seeds and even the land. I pity us.

 

How is family life for you?

Thank God that we trying our very best at all times.

 

You have a large family?

Of course I do. I had seven houses for myself. I was so happy that at least I would leave this planet a very happy man. And somebody destroyed it. But I believe it is not the end of the story. I am praying and hoping that His Excellency would look at this thing.