From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
His Royal Highness Abu King Suluwa is the Tor Sankara. A former chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, he is now a first class traditional ruler in Benue State. He recalls the Pre-Independence and Post-Independence days of Nigeria and the things required to make Nigeria great. Excerpts
Reminiscing about the pre-independence era, what would you say has remained evergreen; tell us about Nigeria’s good old days?
I dont know whether it is the population or not but in the past, Nigeria was a very good country. Most Schools, particularly public schools were free. Uniforms, food, books and so on were freely provided. Even some primary schools were boarding schools where books, uniforms, food and pocket money were provided. In secondary school, it’s the same thing. For instance, I went to a secondary school where each student had about five uniforms. We had school uniform, outing uniform, sports wear, fatigue wear and compound wear.. Books were also supplied for free. We were given pocket money monthly. All this was done by the Native Authority and not the government. I went to Provincial Secondary School, Katsina-Ala which comprises the Tiv Native Authority, Idoma Native Authority, Wukari Native Authority, Nasarawa Native Authority, Keffi Native Authority and all of these people were taking care of their students that were in that school. Today, that school is empty. What is happening? Medically, there were few Native Authority clinics but whenever you went there, there were drugs. Today there are no drugs and Native Authorities don’t even have clinics. The few hospitals we have are in shambles. They have now been reduced to prescription centers. And then you pay heavily to get treatment yet you don’t get anything out of the payment. In those days as a student, you don’t pay anything to access healthcare services. All you needed to do was to go to a medical hospital and the school authority arranged to pay. Like in my school then, students who were sick would go to NKST Hospital Mkar which was a mission hospital which required payment. In the end, the school paid every bill incurred by the student. There were few roads and those roads were motorable. Funny enough, you had labourers who were overseeing all the roads in the country and they were not tarred. During raining season, most vehicles would have to wait until the wetness had gone before you were allowed to drive on the road. This was so because the roads were not tarred and if you allowed vehicles to pass most vehicles would get stuck. So, these labourers ensured that every pothole was promptly filled with latterites. Today, there are no labourers on the road. In other words, I am saying that the infrastructure of this country is now terribly bad compared to the pre independence days. We have no infrastructures at all in this country. Where are those labourers? And mind you, those labourers were being paid three pounds monthly and as at when due. And three ponds was enough to take care of a moderate family then. Salary was good then. I started work in 1966 in Kaduna at the Ministry of Health under Akinkunmi. I was preparing salary for the whole of the senior staff in the north. All salaries were being prepared in Kaduna and every month, somebody in Mubi gets his salary, somebody in Kanfanchan gets his pension, somebody in Sokoto gets whatever was entitled to him. Everything was being paid and this was at the time when we thought there was no money. We have money now but where is it? Our common wealth has now found its way into the pockets of selfish private individuals. Go to the National Assembly and you find out that most of the members are those who had worked in government and retired and are getting pension. Some of these people are also taking pension as governors yet they go to National Assembly and they take pay. What a waste. And Nigerians are looking at these people and saying nothing. The pre-independence days were very good. Our leaders looked at Nigeria as one, they didn’t look at us as individuals. They looked at the backwardness of a particular section and made sure they improved on it. Nobody cared whether you were a Moslem or Christian. Religion was a matter of choice and nobody tried to intimidate you on account of that. There was no problem between various religious groups. In the office, Muslims would go to the mosque and oray when it was time and christians would do same too. In Zaria, Wusasa was a Christian community and most people who were there were Hausa people. Dr. Dikko Bello was our Permanent Secretary in 1966. Everything was good then. Agreed, when I started working, there were Igbo everywhere even clerks. Until when the north started producing people who can man those areas, then, employment of Igbo people was stopped. Employment of Yoruba people stopped after employment of Igbo had stopped. Gradually, we were taking over by the northern region because of education. And I think that was understandable.. Suddenly, Aguyi Ironsi brought a unity government and I think he had a good idea but then, the implementers of the unity government did not do well. As soon as the 1966 coup took place, Igbo in the market place used to beat drums saying, “una go see”. So, the north then felt that the coup was one sided. It looked one sided because the northerner who was in the east was killed.. That was why the north reacted which gave rise to the 1966 coup. Initially, everybody seemed to have welcomed the idea of the unity system of government which meant that anybody could work anywhere in Nigeria. It was at that point that that unity government started posing a threat to the north because it was not well equipped yet. Before then, the east and the west had already got self government but the north had not and the British was still ruling the north at that time. Agreed, we had three regions and eventually four regions but at least we were a country. Today we have about 36 states and there is more money. Yet things are not moving at all. As far as I’m concerned, ore independence was very good. Our leaders were friends and they placed the interest of the country above selfish interest. Zik won election as the premier of the west. Can you imagine an Igbo man standing election in NCNC in the west and won but then, the west realized that they cannot allow him to be the premier. So, he moved back to the east. There was infighting anyway but it wasn’t as bad as what we have today.
What was the dream of our founding fathers, I mean people like Sir Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and other nationalists. What was their roadmap for Nigeria?
When our founding fathers look at Nigeria after the amalgamation, there were three regions and then it became four regions; east, west, north and later the mid west which was carved out from the west and part of the east.. In the east Zik was in charge, in the west, Awolowo was in charge, in the north, Sadauna was in charge. And because of the political dominance of the north, Sadauna helped the mid west to be carved out of the west because of his rivalry with Awolowo.
Looking at what is happening in the country today, would they not be turning in their graves?
Wherever our founding fathers are now, I know they must be very angry because this is not the Nigeria they bequeathed to us. This is not the Nigeria of their dream. Our past leaders were not acquiring wealth as they do today. This is really sad.
Evidently, our leaders have derailed from the path our founding fathers charted for us. At what point did we get things wrong?
1966. After the 1966 coup, the trust was no longer there. It was either the Igbo wants to dominate, or the Yoruba wants to dominate or the Hausa Fulani wants to dominate. There was no more trust. That was the turning point of Nigeria’s problem. Chukwuma Nzeogwu was born in the north but he led the 1966 coup and the idea of that coup was because they thought the politicians were not doing what they were supposed to do even though they were not amassing wealth like politicians of today. The coup was organized and executed in Kaduna. And Major Chukwuma organized the coup and it took time before he could even go from Kaduna to hand over to Ironsi. Eventually, Gowon organized his own coup and Ironsi was killed and that became an issue. The northerners felt that the unity government of Ironsi was to bring back Igbo people who were well qualified for all the jobs.
What would you say is the bane of Nigeria’s problems? What is reponsible for the deep gully of bad blood that has been created by ethno-religious clashes, suspicion and distrust among us?
Let me tell you, this bad blood among us is because of the greed and selfishness of our leaders. During Jonathan’s government, Igbo had six ministers and only one Yoruba man was a minister in that same government. Today, Igbo are crying about marginalization. When they were with Jonathan, what did they do? Igbo are now clamouring for Biafra. If you leave Igbo alone, they will fight themselves more than anything. Pre independence, there was nothing like armed robbery, kidnapping and all these heavy crimes. When we first heard about the case of armed robbery was in Benin. The Anini’s case was worse. What we know was children were being sold into cheap labour in the west to go and farm. So, I would say greed and selfishness created this deep gully of bad blood and distrust among us.
The traditional institution wielded enormous influence in those days and played a unique role in unifying various segments of the country. They were adored and their word was law. Today, people feel the influence/authority of traditional rulers had eroded drastically. What is your take?
1999 constitution does not provide a role for the traditional institution. We have no role. We are here just as ceremonial figures. No respect from the politicians. What role does the traditional institution have in thee 1999 constitution? Nothing. The land dispute has been taken over, the marriage and every other thing the traditional institution was dong have all been taken over. Now people can go to court instead of the traditional institution. That is why I said the traditional institution has no role but a mere ceremonial figure. Unless the constitution provides a role for them, there is nothing that can be done. As far as the constitution has not provided a role for them, all the various governments in the states have no role for them. All the traditional rulers do now is to meet. Meet and do what? Except in Yoruba land where the traditional rulers are revered. But even there these days, the traditional rulers are more of ceremonial and nothing more. A traditional ruler can’t say do this and his subject would do it. In those days, the traditional rulers could banish a person. You can’t do that now. We must have a role in the constitution.
Lately, the nation’s political temperature seemed to have risen to a boiling point, amidst agitations for self-determination from various flanks. What does it portend. What are your fears?
What are the reasons for the agitations? Why do we want to break up? What has brought us together and what is it that we are not doing that we want to break? If we are not doing what has brought us together, then we should amend our ways make sure we do what has brought us together so that we don’t break up. But let me say that the agitations you are seeing today is out of selfishness. Some people want you to be recognized because our system of politicking in this country is such that if you are not a senator or member of the a House of Representatives, if you are not a governor or minister, you will not be recognized in the society. But in those days, you are recognized because you are a doctor, a teacher and the rest of them and you are respected because those are professionals. All these professions were highly respected those days. Today, you are a pharmacist, a doctor, engineer and so on and nobody cares. People who want to be recognized are the ones agitating today. For instance, Kanu, was he born during the 1967 coup? He was not and doesn’t know the devastation caused by the war. He doesn’t know the suffering of the women and children at that time. He doesn’t know how much property was destroyed and the extent of damage that was done to that region. That is why he wants another war. Anybody who saw that war would tell you he doesn’t want another war. For those who saw that war and wants another war, I would say its poverty that’s pushing them into it. But the United Nations has laid down a procedure for anyone who wants to secede from a country and that is that they must go through a referendum. All Igbo governors are not in support of Kanu but they are afraid because Nigeria has allowed him freedom of speech. He has gone ahead to build a mini force around him and he operates in the east. So, the governors are afraid that these people can attack and kill them. That is why they are keeping quiet. If Kanu wants Biafra, he should go through the right procedure. Today, there are countries that are not recognized because they did not follow the laid down procedures and so, they don’t go to United Nations assembly.
The Northern Elders Forum had said the North is ready for the break-up of Nigeria. This was in response to the heightening clamour for restructuring. Why is the North not receptive to restructuring of the country?
When the north wanted to secede in those days. the rest of the country said no. Then the north said, okay, we will remain. Now those who said we must remain are now calling for secession. An adage in my place says when you disturb a goat too much, it will bite you. Now if the south are clamouring for secession, restructuring and so on, then the north will say they should go. Is it because of the oil that is making them to feel that they have everything? The oil can finish one day and if you don’t have people who can tap it, it becomes useless. The north has the natural resources in abundance. Even the oil can be found in the north one day. If you can find oil in desert area of Libya, who tells you we cannot find oil in the north someday? If the south says they want to secede, I think it is fair for the north to say it is ready after all there are many countries without oil yet they exist as countries. The oil is the only weapon with which the Igbo are calling for restructuring. And I had said that in 2014, everything that was being done at that time was to find the reason for the break up of this country. The time has now come and people who are clamouring for restructuring, Biafra and the rest of them are just finding reasons why we should separate. But if we do, who suffers most? Igbo are spread all over west Africa, all over Africa and all over Nigeria. Will they be allowed to stay after Biafra has been created?To stay as what? Most of them have built empires here, married here and most were born here.
From 1914 to the early post colonial years, agriculture sustained the Northern region and Nigeria. We had the days of the groundnut pyramid in Kano and the Cocoa boom in the Southwest. Suddenly, everything disappeared and presently, hunger is in the land. What went wrong?
What went wrong is that no government has paid much attention to agriculture. Our government are not paying attention to agriculture. In Benue for instance, when Aper Aku came in, he established Argo service centers. Go there today and you see there is no building standing. Go to Agric Development Center on Aliade road and you find that all the building have collapsed and trees have grown inside the buildings. Vandalism has taken place. The company doesn’t exist again. Yet there is a farm manager sho is bring paid salary. This was a company that was producing eggs and chickens in large quantity in those days. This is where we have found ourselves as a nation. Shagari, during his time established River Basins all over the place because he attached importance to agriculture. Marketing boards are no longer there. Successive government no longer pay attention to agriculture. We must stop giving lip service to agriculture and encourage farmers to farm. Agriculture is still better than oil because in agriculture you can export and you can eat but you can only sell oil. Agriculture provides food security. There is no food security in this country any longer.
Tell us your assessment of the two years of Buhari so far.
Buhari has done very well but Buhari as a former military officer came into government where he is finding it difficult to operate. In the military he can give orders, here he gives orders through the National Assembly and they can frustrate him and that is exactly what is happening.
There is too much frustration for Buhari. He never thought that things would be the way they are now. Besides, a lot of people who are around Buhari have their own mission separate from his and there is nothing he can do. When he came in he wanted to wipe off corruption, he cannot because as he is fighting corruption, corruption is fighting him. The very people he has put in power to help him are corrupt or they want to be corrupt.