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| Mohammed Badaru Abubakar |
The Jigawa state government of governor
Mohammed Badaru Abubakar announced on December 17th
plans to build 95 new mosques across the state.
As with many other issues,
schools of thought have emerged. One school of thought says the move will
improve righteousness in the state as there will be more places where people
worship Allah comfortably.
The other school of thought sees nothing in it but
treachery against the people of the state. Here are their compelling points.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
in Nigeria, Jigawa state is the 5th poorest state in Nigeria with 74.1%
% of inhabitants living in abject poverty. This means whenever we talk about
Nigerian states with the most deplorable education and health systems, high
infant and maternal mortality rates and biting unemployment rates amongst other
features of backwardness, Jigawa state always comes up.
A lot of beggars and
almajiris in Nigeria come from Jigawa state.
Jigawa state is also among the Nigerian
states that often depend on Federal government bailouts to pay the salaries of
civil its servants.
The announcement also disclosed that doors have been
open for construction companies to bid for contracts. This is indicative of the
fact that the mosques are not going to be the usual 10 million naira mosques we find
at junctions; they are likely to be massive structures with corresponding budgets.
This poor state of affairs is not restricted to
Jigawa state.
BudgIT stated in a report on October 23rd
2019 that 33 of the 36 states in Nigeria (92%) will collapse without federal
allocation. This included all northern states, Jigawa state inclusive.
According
to the 2019 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), "The worst food crises in 2018, in order of severity, were: Yemen,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Syrian Arab
Republic, the Sudan, South Sudan and northern Nigeria. These eight countries
accounted for two thirds of the total number of people facing acute food
insecurity - amounting to nearly 72 million people."
What is righteousness? Improving the lives of
Muslims or building mosques where 74.1% of the worshipers are starving?
This mode of spending is found in virtually every
northern state.
When Abubakar Sani Bello assumed office as the governor of Niger
state, the masses anticipated better water and power supply, better road
networks and better security amongst others. But what we saw was the demolition
of monuments at roundabouts and new ones built in their place, breaking of
pavements to give way for interlocks and fixing lights in the middle of roads.
All these have cost billions of tax payers’ money. Couldn’t these funds have
been channeled into projects that would greatly impact the live of the common
man?
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| Shoe shinning kits |
On May 16th 2018 in Borno state, a member
of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon Ahmad Usman Jaha, wanted to
execute a community project. He couldn’t think of a better project than to buy
5000 shoe shinning kits for the youths in his constituency. How could any sincere
leader convert 5000 of his subjects into shoe shiners?
It leaps off the page at anyone who cares to observe
that there is a deliberate by northern leaders to keep their people in poverty.
Billions of naira pours into northern Nigeria every
month, unfortunately, it goes largely in futility. The leaders enrich
themselves and squander whatever is left and clerics put locks on the lips of
the masses pointing the gun of excommunication at anyone who dares to
challenge.
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