Anyone born in the North is a northerner —Ogbeh, ACF chairman

Audu Ogbeh was a cabinet minister in the late President Shehu Shagari’s government. He was also one time national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ogbeh served as Minister of Agriculture during the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari. As the newly elected national chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Bureau Chief, MUHAMMAD SABIU, engages him in this interview on issues relating to the North and the country.

HOW disturbed is the ACF over the killings in the country, particularly in the North and why do you think these crises are happening now?

Of course, the ACF is disturbed over the incessant killings in the North. As the chairman of the forum, I am equally disturbed over the mindless killings. It is totally baffling when criminals enter a village to kill women and children, sometimes old people. It is even more worrisome, if they carry some as captives. What is the rationale behind this barbaric killing of women, children, widows, old men? What is really going on? We, in the ACF, are particularly distressed by these happenings because they are a gateway to destruction. Yes, killings and destruction do not build any society.

That is the main reason we had to wait for the easing of COVID-19 to meet and begin to ask ourselves what to do. This senseless situation in particular in Kaduna and in many states is not in the best interest of the region. This is a disaster. This crisis is destroying the society. We are very distressed. But you ask why are these crises happening now? I believe that over the years, we must have made very serious mistakes. In terms of development, the North is far behind the South. We are behind the South in education; we are behind the South in industrial growth. Looking through our records, you will find that Kano alone lost 126 industries in the last 40 years. We had textiles in Kaduna too, all gone. In Jos, we had some industries that have gone too. So, you can see that, slowly, there was a decline.

The increasing excitement in the North is over oil money, Federation Account and all that, a culture of depending on paid employment, employed service as a source of living.  Almost everybody is depending on salary. Particularly in the last 10 years in the North, politics has become the major industry. This can’t make a society grow. I know every part of Nigeria has experienced economic shock because of some developments. Currently, agriculture does not even sustain most families due to some factors. We have lost our place as the second largest producer of groundnuts in the world after the United States and Argentina. We are still number two in sorghum in the world. And we are doing well in some food crops too, but the earnings from these agricultural products are no longer sufficient to carry out many things, particularly in education. Many of these young ones need education. Over the years, we have allowed the two, agriculture and education, to go separate ways. So, why should a child of five or seven years begin to roam the streets instead of being in school?

At that tender age, children must begin to be built into responsible adults. Today, it is not so; children of today want to be with their mummies and daddies because they eat a lot.  These mistakes happened and then Boko Haram came and the whole thing is spreading. We are deeply worried. That’s why we have started meeting and talking. We are looking for solutions and we want to join hands with our governors and legislatures to see what we can do.

With what is happening in the North-East today, people have lost hope of peace returning to that zone. What is your view?

You know that Boko Haram began in 2010 when the late Umaru Yar’Adau was the president of the country. It was at the Abuja airport while he was on his way to Brazil when the news of Boko Haram was broken to him. Immediately, he gave instructions to the Army to flush out the insurgents. Let me say it (insurgency) happened in Algeria too. It took them 21 years to curtail the insurgents. Once you have this kind of situation in a country, it is extremely difficult to curtail and end it immediately. It takes time.

Two, what is the size of your army? How many Divisions do you really have? A country like Nigeria should at least have 20 Divisions. Do we have this number? Again, can we pay these soldiers? How many policemen do we have? These are pertinent questions to be asked. So,

the size of the army and the police is grossly inadequate to man the territories. Look at our  defence budget, it is also small. Even our national budget is small too. Nigeria’s budget is smaller than that of New York city.

Here is the dilemma. The Army, the SSS, the police, the Air Force are all overstretched. They are operating in nearly 34 states, so their numerical capacity is overwhelmed. In terms of equipment, these things don’t cost small money. What is the cost of a Tukano fighter jet? You have to deposit huge sums of money to Americans before they can start the delivery of the fighter jets.

Then, in terms of landmass, Borno State is 30 times the size of Lagos. So, when people talk of the Sambisa Forest, it is not a tiny place. The forest is almost the size of Lagos. The North-East area is vast; here we are talking about Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi and Taraba states.

As I earlier said, there were some mistakes at the beginning. Two, we have some irresponsible leadership in Borno at that time. I don’t want to name names. There is a lesson for politicians to know: stop using thugs and some groups. What does a governor need a gang for? Once these thugs are used for a purpose, they are dumped. When you dump them,   they take up arms. Having said that, it may become necessary, I am not a military man, to seek partnership with one or two foreign powers to end the insurgency.

When the governor of Borno said that there was sabotage and the matter was dismissed, I would have expected the military  to investigate the matter thoroughly before writing it off. They might find something new. They may find the truth because Governor Zulum was not just talking for the fun of it.  Why is it that when sometimes they are moving to a target, the military are usually ambushed? It means someone is leaking information to the insurgents.  That is why the ACF is now serious about growing the economy in the region. We are many. The North is 76 per cent of Nigeria’s landmass. It has resources. But we are poor. Let me reveal this fact: 72 per cent of the country’s currency circulates in Lagos. What this means is that in every Naira, 72 kobo is in Lagos. What is left is for the rest of the country: the South-East, South-West and the South-South to share, excluding the North. This is the reality on ground. Many youths in the region are jobless. They have nothing to do. These youths are tired of looking and watching us drive in our nice cars. The youths are in despair. Most of them have lost control of what they do. So, this is the tragedy. But we are meeting because we want to deal with the current situation.

Is ACF a religious or tribal organisation?

Some people said ACF is a religious or ethnic group, but we say no. The North has more than 300 ethnic groups and it is called the Arewa. Arewa means North in Hausa. So, there is no reason for anyone born in any of the northern states to claim he is not a northerner. What is happening is affecting all of us. It has nothing to do with religion or tribe. Today, we have a big problem confronting everyone in the region. They are, of course, issues like access to credit, ICT, education, which we must improve upon. We will start partnering with government, as well as international agencies in order to get somewhere.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

North May Back Atiku In 2023 — Yakassai •Says APC should pick Southerner as presidential candidate •‘Tinubu better than Buhari who has no plan’
IF former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, contests for the presidency in the next general election in 2023, the majority of the votes from the North will go to him, elder statesman and politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, has said. Yakassai, a former Liaison Officer to former President Shehu Shagari, described both Abubakar and former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu, as potential 2023 presidential contenders…

Buhari Suspends Babalakin As UNILAG Pro-Chancellor, Sacks Acting Vice-Chancellor
President Muhammadu Buhari has suspended the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN and the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, over the lingering crisis…

‘I Lived As A Beggar. I Begged To Eat, I Begged To Wear Clothes, I Even Begged To Put My Head Under A Roof’
EMMANUELLA Udeh had just finished peeling melon inside the one-storey building she lives in when Saturday Tribune called. Surrounded by a calm environment in Emene, Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, the 39-year-old paraplegic recounted her experience since she was disengaged as a beneficiary of N-Power, a scheme set up by the Federal Government to address the issues of youth unemployment and…

We Pay N250,000 Bribe Per Trip, Lagos Truck Owners Cry Out
On Monday last week, the Lagos State government staved off a planned strike by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association (PTDA) in the state over alleged extortion of its members by security operatives and hoodlums in the course of conducting their lawful business…

It’s Sad That Public Servants Depreciate Immediately After Retirement —Osun Ex-HoS, Akinwusi
I must tell you that I am one of the saddest people around because having served the government for a good part of one’s life, 35 years, and retiring with nothing to take home is disheartening. Even when such people were still in the active service, their monthly earnings were not sufficient for them. Before I became the HoS, I was always challenged when I saw people retire and discovered that the quality of their lives depreciated…

El-Rufai’s Humiliation And Mamman Daura’s Curious London Trip
The rescission of the invitation extended to Governor Nasir El-Rufai to speak at the annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as a consequence of sustained social media pressures from people who are discomfited by his history of intolerance and verbal terrorism against his own people will inflict tremendous violence on the governor’s psychic wellbeing…