Tukur Muhammad-Baba is the publicity secretary of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF). In this interview he expresses displeasure with the current administration in terms of delivery of the dividend of democracy. He also compares the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan with the current one, saying that the former president performed better than President Bola Tinubu. He also alleged that the north has been neglected, among other issues. INIOBONG IWOK brings the excerpts:
The North seems not to be happy with the state of things; is that correct?
But I personally think going through history, the North has been one of the most politically diverse, ideologically diverse, politically ideologically diverse entities in the country.
And for anyone to claim they speak for the whole North and I think they’re just deceiving themselves. And no one should make any mistake about it. As long as it’s a democratic atmosphere, the North will continue to show diversity. Of course, it’s still the major or the overriding political group, but no, the North is more highly diverse than we give credit to it for.
Recently, what has been dominating the headlines is the fact that the North is feeling neglected by President Tinubu’s administration. Was the North feeling neglected under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration?
In the political atmosphere like we have, everyone would like to have the most for themselves. The North had challenges and they felt, I wouldn’t say the Northern people felt neglected. I felt Goodluck Jonathan was not doing well, but I think that wasn’t exactly what pushed him out.
What pushed him out, in my opinion, were promises by the All Progressives Congress (APC). One, anti-security. Two, anti-corruption. Three, development. None of these turned out, what we thought was the answer was far from being the answer. Fast forward to 2023, the human being is a very hopeful and optimistic being. So, every time we elect people, support them, but I think it’s not because they’re North or they’re South, it’s because of what is on ground.
For example, what will decide, in my opinion, the 2027 election is the ability to respond to the people’s needs, economic challenges, insecurity, and infrastructure. But again, I insist that there may be ideas about one part of the country being predominantly pro or against any candidate, but I think that is an overreach.
If you cast your mind back again to 2023, nobody gave Peter Obi a chance of becoming the third, but he did and he made inroads into what you call the North. But, of course, that was not enough. None of the candidates, in fact, can be said to have garnered the North wholesale as if it was something from their pockets and so on.
I mean, and I think it’s good that our politicians should interrogate more than geographic destinations, but again, let me again want to say that in the North, the South is actually confusing the issue.
No one but the electorate should be allowed to determine who gets into the office, North or South. When you talk of difficulties, I mean, right now, every part of the country is hurting, some more than others.
Of course, the North has come to this stage with a lot of baggage, you know, the socioeconomic indices of development, human development and so on. The North had lagged behind in education, health, and infrastructure and so on.
So, the problems are easily generalised to be Northern, but let’s be clear about it.
Every part of the country is suffering. A few months ago, the four tax bills that were before the National Assembly, everyone was shouting, the North is disadvantaged? A careful analysis will show that every part of the country, North, South, South- West, South-East, South-South, North-East needs to speak in one voice on the direction of the tax bills because they affect everybody.
Again, to say it was a Northern opposition is a gross exaggeration. To say only the North will suffer, again, is a gross exaggeration as, in fact, it turned out the inputs into the National Assembly on the bill changed so many things.
So, the idea that it’s only the North that is on the ground and crying, I think it’s not true. It’s a manipulation by political interest groups.
Do you think Nigeria fared better under Goodluck Jonathan than it’s currently faring under President Tinubu?
A general comparison, I’ll tell you the circumstances are different. There’s a lot of suffering under this present administration. At Jonathan’s time, there was one major problem that was insecurity. He didn’t have a fuel subsidy. He left the Naira alone. There was a subsidy in electricity. All of these that have been removed have put the country now in a desperate situation and I think it’s easy to say that people are suffering now more than they did but we need to put it in context.
A lot of things have happened that probably should not have happened. Probably should have been more thought out. The removal of the fuel subsidy, removal of subsidy from electricity, the floating of the Naira, all of these have amplified our problems. Then, of course, you cannot run away from it.
The lope-sided appointments into quote and unquote lucrative positions by this government, the allocation of resources of one region of the country.
So, you need to put all this into context but certainly the suffering that people are facing today and from north to south, from Sokoto to Akwa Ibom, from Lagos to Borno, affects everyone.
Some more than the others. So, again, it’s a question of perhaps the beauties in the eye of the beholder but certainly the challenges now have been unprecedented and, of course, any evaluation will be affected by the current situation.
People think of now and then compare it to the first and there is a lot of nostalgia. You can go back further and say that, in fact, a lot of statistics.
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso said recently that the current administration was favouring the South when it comes to development and had abandoned the north. Do you believe that there is some merit in Kwankawso’s comments?
I won’t say abandoned. I’ll say there is definitely a disparity in allocation of resources, in allocation of priorities. Kwankwaso is a politician, don’t forget that. But certainly, the ACF in 2024 confronted the president and gave him a list of what we think the priorities of the north are, infrastructure, education, economic empowerment and so on.
And you can always say that the current administration is not doing enough. There’s a lot more to be done. So, what I would say is Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso expressed his opinion, he was entitled to it and of course I’ll express my opinion and I think all over there are so many things that could have been done by the present administration to improve the conditions of the north. I think a lot more should be done in education. But of course, again, I’ll say that education in some, every level of government has something to do. Is the north happy? A lot of people are not, like I said. A lot more can be done.
This government claims over 50% of the allocation was given to the north. But when you look at the disposition in terms of land mass, the north is bigger. What ought to be done and what should be done to please the north?
Again, I still hesitate to speak for the north. I hesitate to generalise about the north. You can’t force me to do that because for me, the evidence is not as straightforward as you think. When the government speaks of 52% allocation to the north, I laugh because it reminded me of my undergraduate days over 50 years ago when a very good book, How to Lie with Statistics, if it’s 50%, let’s see it on ground. If it’s 50% of a point, let’s see it.
You know, you can lie with statistics. You can claim everything. There’s a difference between actual implementation and statement of intentions. You can do allocations in the budget, but you never implement, you can only get 80% implemented. To what effect?
If there is no cash benefit. Look at allocations to agriculture. Agricultural production is the backbone of the economy of the north.
How much have we devoted to agriculture? For example, the recent allocation of funds to universities, out of seven universities that were selected for intervention, four are in the southwest.
I mean, you can talk about it, you can lie with the statistics. What is the effect? To what extent has this been backed by concrete policy, funds allocation and actual implementation?
But the government says they’re doing roads. They’ve purchased 3,000 tractors. Niger is benefiting from it. Niger has the highest production numbers.
Niger state procured tractors, but that was done, in my opinion, by the state government as it should. You’re telling me what the government is claiming. I’m saying we’re not seeing this on the road, on the ground. Go to the northeast, see the state of roads. I cannot think of any part of the northeast, for example, that you will have about 250 kilometers. You can say so for any part of the country.
That’s what I’m emphasising, that let’s speak of the country as a whole. When you build a road from Maiduguri to Enugu, it’s not only the northeast or north-central or southeast alone that benefit. All parts of the country will benefit from that road.
So, you look at it from the broad national context. This idea that the north is grumbling, the north is crying, the north is screaming and so on, I think we’re overdoing it.
And it adds to the divisive nature of our politics. This is all manipulation by politicians. Whether the government claims it is 52 percent, I don’t see it on the ground. The north still should change. But so is the south. Roads in the southeast and so on.
