But like the Emir has said, while the rest of the Islamic world has since moved on, and is making advances in sciences, technology, innovation and medicine, the version we have here wants to remain in the 13th Century and keep the rest of Nigeria there as well. What makes the case from the emir particularly interesting is that the modern northern elite is not known for this kind of openness. They would rather maintain and enjoy the status quo. While the South-South elite would generally speak up to generate intense public attention just for their pocket, the northern elite is often mute, savouring the rankadede which the minnows around bestow. In a certain town without water, good roads and hospitals, a former NNPC managing director locked up N13billion in his house.
By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Last week, two key developments relative to the Niger Delta made the news. One was the interview which Asari Dokubo granted Vanguard Newspapers.
Apart from insinuating that the Ijaw people owned the Niger Delta, and that the Ijaw are the armed custodians of the struggle for the emancipation of the Niger Delta, he went on to warn the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, to desist from further visiting the Niger Delta for the sake of solving some of the intractable problems bedevilling the region.
In an acting capacity as president, Yemi Osinbajo has shown a commitment to the cause of the Niger Delta to the extent that whenever he visits, he generates interest, trust and hope that the real clogs in the wheel of development in the Niger Delta would be identified and removed.
This trustworthiness that he has often brought with him broke down barriers and divides to the extent that some states in the South-South and South-East conferred him with chieftaincy titles. I remember on one of such visits to Edo State wherein key stakeholders were invited to speak. Prof Osinbajo listened to everyone, and when it was his turn to speak and address the issues raised by the speakers, he said he towed the line we towed in our organization (ANEEJ), that the key to the unravelling of the causes of the poverty prevalent in the Niger Delta lay with the elite.
And so, not up to a month after he made this assertion, enter Asari Dokubo. In his corralling, Mr. Vice president turned out to vindicate the clear majority of Niger Deltans who believe that institutions in the Niger Delta – the NDDC, The Ministry of the Niger Delta and DESOPADEC – will not succeed in alleviating the poverty in our region because of the interest of the political elite.
You see, despite the billions already sunk therein, poverty of the worst kinds comes from the Niger Delta. I remember a certain year in my village. Certain young men were getting fed up that although we had over 16 oil wells which contribute to the income of Nigeria, we had zero representation, zero hospitals and zero schools and Federal presence.
Therefore, they stormed the offices of the multinationals drilling and exploring for oil. It was while there that the scales fell off from their eyes. They were shown video footages of certain elements claiming to be representatives of our village collecting monies which they swore they were collecting on behalf of the village.
They saw the receipts, names and signatures appended to financial documents. And so, when they returned to our village making bonfires of the homes and property of those elements, the authorities did not interfere or intervene.
And just the way it is in many places in the Niger Delta, there are many instances where the elite in Northern Nigeria work to keep the talakawa in perpetual poverty, using religion and cultural insinuations.
That was what Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was referring to recently. At the KADINVEST 2.0 program, the emir said that the elite in northern Nigeria was using religion and culture to cage their people.
Some northerners refuse to send the young girls to school, preferring instead to keep them in purdah, specially groomed for matrimony at 13. The little boys are Almajiri – left to be groomed on the streets, they eventually morph into a guerrilla army in the hands of religious fundamentalists eager to send them straight to heaven.
But like the Emir has said, while the rest of the Islamic world has since moved on, and is making advances in sciences, technology, innovation and medicine, the version we have here wants to remain in the 13th Century and keep the rest of Nigeria there as well.
What makes the case from the emir particularly interesting is that the modern northern elite is not known for this kind of openness. They would rather maintain and enjoy the status quo.
While the South-South elite would generally speak up to generate intense public attention just for their pocket, the northern elite is often mute, savouring the rankadede which the minnows around bestow. In a certain town without water, good roads and hospitals, a former NNPC managing director locked up N13billion in his house.
It is in line with this that we have decided to work with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the UNODC, the European Union and key Civil Societies to help government pursue corruption to a logical conclusion.
We have already taken a couple of civil society organizations in Abuja through the concept of open government and the UNCAC Review mechanism, to enlighten them on some of the conditions which make it hard for our people to challenge conditions which hold them in perpetual poverty and servitude.
What gives corruption strength is culture, religion and habit embedded in the core of the human personality. What gives habit strength is a three-pronged loop – a cue, a routine and a reward.
And as described by Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit – why we do what we do and how to CHANGE – the golden rule of habit change is for us to disrupt that loop.
Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku is ANEEJ communications manager. @DsighRobert.
