Re: No road, no polio vaccination, sayaya community vows

Sayaya community is in fact a remote village in Matazu local government area of Katsina State, where I come from.The news was that the people of Sayaya community have said they would stick to the vow unless the only access road and collapsed bridge linking them to the outside world are repaired. The people of […]

Sayaya community is in fact a remote village in Matazu local government area of Katsina State, where I come from.
The news was that the people of Sayaya community have said they would stick to the vow unless the only access road and collapsed bridge linking them to the outside world are repaired. The people of the community seem determined to take their destinies in their hands. They described it as a sustained government neglect of the area for the fast 14 years since the return of democracy!
The community listed many economic and social hardships the ‘sustained government neglect’ was costing them, including loss of lives. They also said they had forwarded their complaint to the state government many times, including during the 2011 election campaigns, to no avail.
A native of the community was quoted in the report as saying “until government comes to our aid by rehabilitating both the road and the bridge, it is going to be; no road no polio vaccination, no road no election campaigns and voting in the area come 2015, no road no participation in government programs”.
Now this idea reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi of India who is well known for his non-violent civil disobedience and I think this is exactly what all of us should embrace since the government is such a mess that they know only themselves and their immediate families.
We are living in a state where there has not been any local government elected chairman since 2007! This is the bitter truth that we must all tell ourselves and I hope the current administration would rise to the challenge and do something about it.
How I wish we will all embrace the peaceful method the Sayaya community; how I wish each and every community would copy from them. Let’ there be no violence, let there be no loss of life and or properties. Let’s just embrace Gandhi’s non-violent civil disobedience and let our demands be passed across to be heard right at the top. Let it just be no steady electricity, no elections come 2015, no good motorable roads no political campaign rallies hence forth; no security no further participation in any of the government activities, etc.

Mustapha Saddiq <[email protected]>;