The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, is an unapologetic member and supporter of the Senator Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration, which he naturally should be. He is also known to be a promoter of not only the peace and progress of the nation but also an ardent advocate for the Northern region.
By Abdu Labaran
He has consistently campaigned for the Nigerian people to exercise a little more patience with the present government. He assures them that the administration does not intend to bring hardships upon the people with its economic policies but rather aims to advance the nation’s interests and those of its citizens. As he often says, the measures will achieve their goals in the not-too-distant future.
The Vice President has persistently called on the North to step up, as the Federal Government means well and is ready to assist the region. This was evident in his recent call to all the wealthy individuals in the area to team up with the government to revive the region’s collapsed infrastructure, especially in sectors like textiles and farming, which are constantly threatened by bandits, among other areas of the economy crucial to both federal and regional governments.
I became acquainted with the number two citizen in the country through a mutual acquaintance when he was the Commissioner of Finance in Borno State. That acquaintance was Alhaji Isa Gusau, now deceased. At the time, he was working as a reporter, and I was the Group Political Editor of the Daily Trust. I was part of the team that sent him to Maiduguri as a correspondent for the Daily Trust.
As a person humble enough to admit his shortcomings in writing, Alhaji Isa Gusau once returned the cash prize he received from Daily Trust as the ‘Reporter of the Month.’ He insisted that the prize belonged to me because of the ‘serious work’ (editing) done on his article before it was published, which earned him the prize money. He knew I was the one who did the job, he added. I sent back the money and told him to keep it, as what I did was simply part of my job. He remained grateful for that until his death.
He often introduced me as ‘my boss’ at every gathering of journalists and continued this habit even when he became the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the then Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, now the Vice President of Nigeria. He spoke highly of the governor, describing him as ‘one of the best things to happen to Borno State.’
Anyway, this call is one that I have persistently made in many of my write-ups, urging the very wealthy people in the region to support the federal and state governments to help the area redevelop itself more rapidly. This is far more important than lamentations behind the scenes.
Specifically, I mentioned the trio of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Alhaji Abdussamad Rabiu, and Alhaji Dahiru Barau Mangal—the three richest people from the northwestern part of the country—each of whom owns a cement-producing company in Kogi State, in addition to many other businesses across the globe.
To support this assertion, the Vice President might want to take a glimpse at one of the many articles I wrote on the subject, on the second day of August 2024, titled: ‘An Open Letter to President Tinubu and Northern Leaders: The North Needs a Better Deal.’ In that open letter, I noted the collapse of almost all the industries and farming activities that were once major contributors to income for both the region and the federal government. I also pointed out that this collapse was largely due to the absence of sufficient power to run these industries efficiently.
I also expressed in the article that it is not feasible to run a successful large-scale business using generators as the primary source of electricity. Full power is needed to run these industries, as most essential goods produced in Nigeria are manufactured in the southern part of the country.
Earlier, I had penned an open letter to both Dangote and Abdussamad, urging them to team up with other wealthy individuals in the North to restore the sector to its former glory, as it has lagged significantly behind the southern axis of the country.
There are many insinuations about the North being a drag on other sections of the country in the march towards total economic liberation. From the northern point of view, the region’s backwardness is exacerbated by the perceived ‘deliberate’ policy of the federal government to render the area irredeemable. The alleged idea behind this is to make a case for the split of the country into two, with the South becoming a prosperous ‘country’ and the North heading in the opposite direction as a very poor nation of ‘beggars.’
The reference to beggars stems from the perception that the North has what is seen as the world’s highest concentration of beggars, plying their ‘trade’ on the streets and in homes, to the detriment of the region’s image and its people. There is also a perceived hidden attempt to create a chasm between Muslims and non-Muslims in the North, keeping the region perpetually at war with itself while the other side continues its march towards progress.
The sooner this is realized by all thinking adults, the better for the region, which is currently buffeted by insecurity caused by the unholy activities of Boko Haram and bandits. These actions are perceived to be the work of enemies of the region, some of whom are thought to be compatriots who do not wish the area well.
In this light, the Vice President’s call on wealthy individuals from the North to team up with the federal government to revive the industrial sector in the region is very timely. However, it is imperative that he follows up with the seriousness and urgency this issue deserves as we approach 2027, the year of the National Election. The North has the numbers to make all the difference it desires, but it requires a federal leadership that genuinely cares.
On their part, the Dangotes, the Danjumas (TY), the Abdussamads, the Mangals, and others like them—it is time to heed the call of the Vice President to come together and save the North. All of you owe this to the people of the area and the nation as your collective ‘corporate responsibility.’
Meanwhile, the Alhaji Isa Gusau reminiscence reminds me of another friend in the same pen-pushing profession, also late, Alhaji Imam A. Imam. Then a Special Adviser to the former Governor of Sokoto State, Rt. Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Alhaji Imam came to my aid when both of us escorted our respective bosses to Ogbomosho, Osun State, to represent their Northwest counterparts in condoling with the then Governor, Malam Rauf Aregbesola, over the death of his mother.
As Alhaji Imam and I entered the same vehicle to take us back to Ilorin Airport, the Ogbomosho journalists met us and requested the proverbial ‘brown envelope,’ a request that nearly put me on the spot. However, Imam quickly intervened, swiftly giving them a hefty amount of N250,000, telling them that the money was on behalf of both of us. I mused to myself, wishing the money had been given to me instead of the journalists, as I had gone to Ogbomosho with empty pockets.
May Allah make us contented with the little that we have and protect us from taking what belongs to the commonwealth or another individual who is unaware that he has been skimmed off by us.
Labaran wrote from Katsina.
