Reclaiming ideals of North’s 1959 self-rule status

Today the names of these leaders continue to elicit reverence and respect, rightly so, for their contributions remain unique and their dedication, courage and sacrifice remain exemplary. Those who found time to read the speech of Sir Ahmadu Bello at the declaration of Self Rule on March 15, 1959, would immediately see how this speech, […]

Today the names of these leaders continue to elicit reverence and respect, rightly so, for their contributions remain unique and their dedication, courage and sacrifice remain exemplary. Those who found time to read the speech of Sir Ahmadu Bello at the declaration of Self Rule on March 15, 1959, would immediately see how this speech, in its brevity, content and sincerity, contrasts sharply with the long and empty speeches of our contemporary political leaders. The ARDP is glad to be part of this and hopes that we shall soon move away from rhetoric to action.
The North today, more than any time before, would appear to be in dire need of these values that informed and characterized the persona of our founding fathers. For the North in the last few decades has been losing its grip, and losing its mystique and has descended from its high moral ground where it called the shots, to the abyss where it takes all the shots. Today the North has the worst development indices in the country, comparable only to the war torn societies of Afghanistan and Somalia. Today the North has the poorest productive capacity in the whole country with the least access to financial services. Today the North has the largest number of children out of school in the world. One could go on and on. The last 16 years of democracy did not appear to have been helpful, for, despite huge unprecedented revenues, poverty in the region only doubled. To be fair, the political system since 1999 would appear to have been calibrated to recruit only the scum of society and we seem to have been unable to shake that off.  In the last few years the North has been literally on its knees; its has been under attack from all directions, insurgents, cattle rustlers and ethnic warfare; our people can neither farm without fear nor keep cattle without consternation, consequently it has become garrisoned; what remains of its economy disrupted; its social life in turmoil; its future uncertain; and all these right under the noses of people who claim to be its leaders! The sense of irony is accentuated by the revelation that there are people who would accept to be called Northern leaders but who are not happy that this meeting is holding today.  We have even lost our sense of shame. How much lower can we descend?
In point of fact, as many here will testify, the problems of this country, many as they indeed are, are largely the consequences of the abdication of the North of its political leadership in the country. The gradual but perceptive erosion of those values that made the North unique and gave it the moral leadership of the country and consequently the failure of the North to inspire and galvanize the nation, meant that the country was losing its ethical radar and its moral anchor. The significance of rules and regulations, norms and standards, decorum and decency started to fade away until governance became whimsical, and the corridors of power where taken over by sycophancy and mediocrity. The result is here for us to see, absences of accountability, monumental corruption, wanton disregard of society, impunity, all of which elicit resentment, social conflict, violence and endless confusion. At times like this lamentation and agonizing in the comfort of our homes, as we too often do, wouldn’t take us far. What can help is reflection, brainstorming and organizing and this is what we try to do at the ARDP.
Perhaps I should quickly introduce to you the ARDP, Arewa Research and Development Project. The ARDP started a little over three years ago. It was informed by the post 2011 general elections, which saw the North divided sharply along its fault lines and was being suffocated by an empty politics that was only full of rhetoric. Some academics and people with public service experience from the North found it compelling to come together to see how the North could be salvaged. We spent months holding long meetings and eventually focused on three key areas, Security, economy and human capital. We decided to start with the economy and held a conference on ‘North and sustainable development’ where top of the range Northern expertise from home and abroad presented researched papers of development. These have since been turned into an Arewa Development Agenda, which will soon be in the press. We have some 200 pages of ideas of economic development in a post oil economy. There is a companion volume of viable projects. The ARDP will not be content with just generating the ideas but it would position itself to act as a catalyst for development and build its capacity to monitor and evaluate development, becoming the development conscience of the North.
The ARDP has also held a conference on security, which was attended by senior Northern Security experts and led to the establishment of two standing committees, one on security and the other on Human Rights. The security committee is headed by General John Shagaya (rtd), while the Human Rights committee is headed by Prof. Tabiu. These committees have been working. We shall soon turn our attention to education, both basic education, which forms the foundation and tertiary where our young people are trained to plunge into life. The quality or lack of it, as it were, of our educational content has been a serious concern and must be addressed if we wish to take our place in the competitive world of the 21st century where knowledge is the greatest capital. In this coming contentious general elections the ARDP is setting up a situation room and deploying trained young people in all the 19 States and Abuja to monitor peace, or breach of it, as it were. The situation room will be a kind command and control centre, which will run sentinel for 24hours and for five days; working with all stakeholders to avoid or address any likely violence.
The ARDP seeks to create a broad Northern platform, inclusive of all its’ religious, gender and generational diversities, which also includes the Northern organized social sector. We thus include youth organizations, women organizations, the road transport workers union, Miyetti Allah, and the likes. The ARDP is ready to and has been working with other Northern platforms to create the synergy needed for the North to succeed. It is our hope that we should wake up to the fact that, in the real world no one gets what he deserves. We only get what we negotiate for. And the currency for that negotiation is power. The good news is that power has diverse sources, it can be economic, it can be demographic and it can be intellectual. Like Vance Packard would say, “of all the sources of power, knowledge is the most democratic.”

Dr Bugaje, ARDP convener, made these remarks at an occasion to commemorate Northern Nigerian self-rule in Kaduna last Saturday.