Yerima Shettima, leader of the Northern Youth Coalition, in this interview with JULIET OYOYO, spoke on the Federal Government’s controversial Ruga policy, insecurity in the nation and other crucial national issues. Excerpt:
Northern youths recently met with the governors from the region following the call by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) for northerners to leave South and return home. Were they able to convince the youths not to heed the call?
We must understand that one thing surely leads to another. Before the call for the herdsmen to return home, there was an initial meeting after our conference where I and the convener of the groups gave a one-month ultimatum to the government to review the security architecture whereby people can live comfortably wherever they find themselves as Nigerians, especially with the herdsmen issue. We subscribe to the fact that each time a crime is committed by one tribe, it does not generally mean that the whole tribes are involved. So, the sin of an individual or few individuals should not be translated to a particular tribe where you stigmatise the tribe and call them all sorts of names.
We feel very uncomfortable and we said no. So, we decided that government should call those people making such incisive statements so they don’t make an ignorant person take laws into his hands and unleash terror on innocent Nigerians. Immediately we made this statement, less than 24 hrs, the Northern Governors Forum, under the leadership of the Plateau State governor, Samuel Lalong, also met and appealed to us to stay action as they would want to have a meeting with us.
The Northern Elders Forum did the same via a letter restraining us from taking any further action as they would want us to sit down with them and have a consultative meeting, same with the ACF and other individuals, including tradition leaders. Few days later, Gov Lalong made some commitments and gave some clarifications.
It was after we gave our statement that the Presidency suspended the Ruga programme the same day. Some people misunderstood us, thinking that it was the governors or even the Presidency that prompted us to make the statement. That was not true. We had finished our statement before the Presidency came up with its position. During our meeting with the governors, they raised important issues and made us understand that the issue of Ruga was originally not part of the government’s policy and that it was out of mischief that some people mentioned Ruga. The truth of it all is that there was a project, the National Livestock Transformation Plan And, which was the original plan of government in its blueprint. We were thereafter assured of a larger meeting within few days to come and we also gave our word that we would stay action until after our next meeting with them.
Also, with our commitment to the NEF that we would consult with them, we realised that this same threat kept going viral as people in the South were saying all sorts of things against the North which made us very uncomfortable, as if there was a bold statement by the Federal Government. Individuals and even governors from the South kept making statements such as, ‘We have no lands to give you’, and all sorts of things. To us, we saw it as a conspiracy without waiting to hear from the Federal Government. It was then presumed that there was going to be an attack on our people.
We therefore became uncomfortable, hence our next meeting with the NEF under the leadership of Prof. Ango Abdullahi. In the presence of other leaders at the meeting in Abuja, we made our presentations and advised that we did not ask our people to come back home, but that our people should see reason if we cannot get anything from the government as guarantee to the safety of our people residing in the South. Specifically, let the herdsmen come back home, because, we love them. We do not want them to be attacked or killed because their lives are as important as any other life.
It was on that basis we gave the advice and within these statements, we do not know where they came up with talk of us having asked our people to come back home. By the way, what is wrong if we ask our people to come back home if their safety cannot be guaranteed?
However, government in its own wisdom, came up with that suspension and the NEF and Professor Ango shared some concerns. There are ongoing wider consultations that will enable them see if the government cannot make any statement or take a bold step towards that direction which will guide our next option. We have not taken any action yet as an option. We heard that we were calling for the return of our people.
Following the statement that had gone viral, we were pleased to hear the FG say that everybody has the right to stay wherever he or she wishes, without intimidation, harassment or threat by anybody or group and be treated equally as Nigerians. On that basis, an assurance was given for the protection of all Nigerians and guarantee to their lives and properties and that is all we want to hear. If otherwise, we will hold the government responsible for not protecting her citizens or our people. We accepted the government’s statement. We were glad to hear it. We are still consulting and discussions are still ongoing with our people. We are also in discussion with government for a proper solution to the issues concerning farmers and herders clashes.
However, we want the Federal Government to look into the insecurity situation and fish out the perpetrators of these evils so that we do not make the mistake of narrowing the whole issue to a particular tribe. This has been our concern. Many see the problem of stigmatisation and have put the fault directly on the doorsteps of the government as it has refused to acknowledge that a criminal is a criminal, anywhere.
Why has the government failed to fish out these criminal elements considering also that, it has acknowledged that the perpetrators are not Nigerians?
The government must have had its own clinical investigations and observations and I am not in the know as I am also not a security expert. However, what I know is that a criminal is a criminal and it cuts across every tribe. Do we now that kidnapping is being invented in the South and we therefore say any kidnapping in the North is by somebody from the South? No! Any criminal must be fished out and dealt with as a criminal, but, not at the expense of a particular tribe and you tag it so and stigmatise them in the name of Fulanis. This is wrong and unacceptable. Mind you, I am not a Fulani, but I find it totally unacceptable.
There are also, criminal activities up North, especially in states like Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina and many have equally queried the government on the security structures and those manning positions. Do you also ascribe it to the calls that the president changes his Security Chiefs?
It is important because we are even suffering more than the southern parts of the country as, people are being killed in the North in their homes, on a daily basis. We are not free. Why is it so and at what point did we become so low that those in the southern parts do not see the problem as a Nigerian problem or the northern problem as a Nigerian problem, but will only see it as just the problem of the North and as such, do not care. At what point did we descend so low that a crime being committed in the north is seen as one committed by ‘bandits’, but in the South, it is labeled as ‘killer herdsmen’? How did we get to this level? People must understand that it is not only Fulani that are herdsmen as other tribes are equally involved in this cattle rearing. Why is it now being pushed to only the Fulani as a tribe? Everybody now sees them and stigmatise them and call them all sorts of names. Our brothers in the southern part must realise that this is a country we all belong to and a problem affecting one, affects the other indirectly.
Don’t you think there is the need for reorientation for all?
Well, that is something we are doing as an organisation, ourselves and also, reaching out to our counterparts in the southern part of the country. For instance, I have been in talks with other ethnic national youth leaders. I happen to be the chairman of All Ethnic Nationalities, which include, Ijaw Youth Council, Ohanaeze Youth Council, Yoruba Youth Council and so on. I am supposed to be the current chairman of this coalition. But, I gave up some time ago because after we had our meetings, they went back home. Their people told them different things and they reacted and they say a different things from what we know.
Are you saying that our security chiefs have failed us?
To an extent, yes, they did. We need a total overhaul of the security system in Nigeria to bring things to order and checkmate the excesses of this madness. We are suffering more than any other part of the country and we are worried. If Nigerians cannot help us and work together as a nation and fight against this crime, it would be terrible for another Nigerian to sit in any part of the country and stigmatise the north. That we will not accept. Before the kidnapping issue started in the country, it started from the Niger Delta. Robbery started from somewhere in the south. Are we now going to refer or say that some of these menace and social vices are things that are being organised by southern people against the North? No! We cannot do that mistake. A crime is a crime. Let us put heads together as a nation; fight against the evil in our midst as this evil comes from every part of this country.
Do you support the call for a national conference by a former President Olusegun Obasanjo?
For how long shall we continue to have these conferences over and over? What happened to the previous conferences we have had? We cannot begin to have conferences where people are being sponsored; selected by interest of establishment to go to Abuja where they sit down comfortably and are paid allowances for working in the best interest of the nation. They sit down and cannot come up with something better, quashing tax payers money in billions of naira and end up coming out with a document that cannot be used in the midst of hardship in this country. No, this is not a good advice. If we must do it and talk about having conference, let us all agree that the outcome of that conference will be a thing that will be implemented by that government. If we cannot look at other subsequent conferences that had been had in the past; like the ones I remember vividly, was the Obasanjo conference that only produced the ‘Third Term’ and that of Jonathan where the selection was not properly done. Some of us in the north were not contacted and as such, we were not aware and some few individuals only selected themselves and went to the conference in the name of representing the north only to get there without an agenda or clearly stating our agenda. We will not accept that. If there is going to be any conference, we should know and responsibility must be given to those who are supposed to be involved and every consultation must be done and all of us must be seen to be working in the same direction so that we can come up with a clear agenda of what we want. And then, on that basis, government must have a commitment to say, look; “whatever is the outcome of this conference, we will adopt it”. On that note, I agree but not to quash taxpayers money by going to Abuja with their girlfriends and leave their families at home all in the name of conference. No! That is what we want.
Many believe that the country is sitting on a keg of gunpowder. What is the solution that can take the people back to their old ways of peaceful coexistence? Also, some people say that when a particular tribe commits an offence, nobody queries them, while others are denied fair hearing. Again, with the heightening poverty level, some have requested for poverty alleviation programmes. Do you agree with these?
Well, two issues you raised; one on the part of poverty and the other has to do with selective justice. There are other tribes that are being marginalised and are therefore, not enjoying despite the fact that our own is in charge. It is the north. We are being marginalised economically as the so-called “anchor programme” by the Federal Government was only implemented in favour of the south. We only hear of it and when our people are applying for the soft loans to push for their agricultural empowerment, they put rigid conditions that an average northerner cannot meet up with. The policy does not favour the north and they make it look like it is a national programme. That is one side of it. We have been marginalised on it.
Economy wise today, in terms of infrastructure, you will agree with me that every major project has gone back to the southern part of the country and they only work because they had a ‘Super Minister’ under the last regime under this same present administration who took tax payers’ money to do more in the south than any part of this country. That is why some of us have this intuition that the government only favours the south west. The north has nothing to show for this administration. We are more marginalised than any other tribe. In terms of fight against corruption, tell me one person that has been prosecuted as it is only the north that has suffered in this so-called fight on corruption and, in the nutshell, we suffer more. Look at the names. Selective justice was only meted against us. The money that was collected on the issue of arms or whatever, the south collected more. But today, who is suffering? It is the northwest that is suffering more. Those from the northeast, southeast and south-south are all seen as saints while, the southwest are ‘more saintly’. How can you justify all these in this fight against corruption? You can name everybody that is being persecuted and the northwest has more for reasons best known to those who are working on that script.
You talked about infrastructural development. Is that not the responsibility of governors and as such, they should be held accountable?
There are federal projects, just as there are state projects. Under the system that we have today, where power is concentrated on the centre that is why some of us are of the view that, let us try and see if we can restructure the country, holistically so that we can decentralise this central government. The power at the centre is too much. So, we need to decentralise the government and make the centre less attractive. Every state will be viable and productive than the way they presently are as the governors are lazy and cannot work on their own to raise money to do things and be creative on their own but instead, will be relying on allocation from the federal government. And, the burden is more on the Federal Government that it cannot do more than they are doing now. And, I can say that if we continue like this, we will end up not been able to pay salaries in the nearest future by this centre. Now, we have a problem and, we are not even talking about infrastructure or whatever, we must act as quickly as possible, find a way to amend our constitution so that the power will be less burdened so that states will be more viable and productive. Based on arrangement, if it is tax, let the states or the regions be paying to the federal government while most of the burden now go back to the states or the regions. Let there be competition so that every governor can be productive on his own and basically, harness the resources within their state and do better than what we have today. This cannot continue.
The post Nigeria’s Security Architecture Needs Total Overhaul –Shettima appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Independent
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