One of the most exciting pieces of news emanating from incredible China is the renewed promise of finishing work at the Mambilla hydro power project. If the current administration pulls this off, I would start taking it seriously especially in its avowed pledge to generate 10,000 megawatts. While they are on it, they should also consider investing on the Mambilla peak as a tourist haven for Nigeria. That summit is not only about electricity. It is a crown jewel for tourism for any country ready for diversification. Mambilla has one of the finest sceneries in the country with a weather condition akin to Europe. And for all the hype, Obudu is actually the tail end of the Mambilla. Obudu is just a photocopy. The real thing is somewhere in Sarduana Local Government Area of Taraba State. And yes, Mambilla is in Taraba and not Adamawa! That state (Taraba) with its close to three million people has not just the answer to power generation for the rest of the country; it can produce all the rice needed to feed the country. It gets better. Taraba has the largest stretch of the River Benue within its boundaries and thus has a huge aqua resources base. The Nwonyo fishing festival at Ibi is undoubtedly bigger than the famed Argungu Fishing festival. The state probably has more cows than most cow owning states in the polity. Yet, Taraba has remained largely a backwater state where the monthly salary is king. No viable industries. Again, the Highland tea on that same Mambilla is one of the best in the sub region. It has been comatose for long and it is only now that the new government of the day in the state is trying to revive it and reposition it as a veritable source of income and employment.
What has Taraba got to do with my topic today? Everything. Taraba, for me, is a symbol of how leaders of the Middle Belt have watched the region remain backward while the rest of the country is getting what it can from the union. The Middle Belt is today ravaged by high class poverty, backwardness and all sort of crisis. It has become the theatre of war between cattle breeders and cattle rustlers. Unemployment is in an all-time high.
Agriculture, its main base has since been supplanted as famine looms large in the near future. Most importantly, the region doesn’t seem to have a blueprint of what it needs. I even fear that the region has no political plans or even the leadership that would articulate a political master plan for it. By the way, the Middle Belt is not an easy concept to define. It is hard to draw a map of the region as it is not entirely a geographical concept. While it appears as if most of the North Central region is Middle Belt, the concept also covers other minorities in states like Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kano and Borno states.
As far as definitions go, you are right to say the Middle Belt region comprises of the minor tribes within the dominant groups of the North. And this definition is also part of the problem. Is the Middle Belt part of Northern Nigeria or not? Why shouldn’t elements of the Middle Belt be content with remaining in a monolithic North? What is the point in trying to carve a new identity? These are weighty issues of big academic debates that have been in the front burner since the likes of late J.S. Tarka, Chief Solomon Lar and a host of others came up with the concept. Back then, like now, the minorities didn’t want to be lost in the crowd so to speak. A distinct identity was thus a way to survive in a place with its tendency for domination. It was a resistance movement of sorts.
But all the high ideals of the concept appear now to be eroding. The new leaders of the concept consisting governors, senators, and other big men and women in politics and business are no longer interested in those ideals. And while the rest of the country is staking claims on the common purse, getting what it can, the Middle Belt appears satisfied to help everyone else realise their dreams.
I can’t remember when last a meeting of the Middle Belt Forum was convened to discuss matters affecting the region. As I write this, I’m not sure I know who the MBF leaders are. But it is about time the region started the debate again. Are we going to remain spectators in the Nigerian project? Do we have a plan to exploit our natural endowments to play a leading role in the polity? What about the industries? Don’t we have men and women who can give back to the region in the way some folks are doing in other parts of the country? Do we even have a dream that drives us each day? Or are we just happy to be part of the polity?
Are we even worried about the decay and collapse in the region; the disunity and the lack of a coherent vision? What are we doing to address the age-long timidity that keep our people down and makes them subservient?
Forgive me for getting personal today. But I’m really worried about my people. Growing up in Wukari in the early 70s and 80’s, it was obvious we had visionary leaders. The iconic late Malam Ibrahim Sangari, as minister ensured we had electricity.
I grew up under streetlights. There was a functional library in the ancient town where I got to read up almost all the books there, especially the Encyclopaedias that became my teachers outside the classrooms. We had good roads built by an Italian company.
Little Wukari had a booster station where we were tuned to NTA Channel 5, Mangu. As a kid I watched Sesame Street from here and all the other movies TV watchers elsewhere in the universe were viewing.
But the wars came and everything went under. The last time I was in Wukari, I walked through the rubbles of the city- symbols of the dearth and decay that has become the Middle Belt. What about Jos- arguably the capital of the Middle Belt concept? Back in the day, Jos could easily be called the garden city with fresh flowers welcoming visitors to a town with one of the nicest weather conditions. Today, even the famed cold of Jos has given way to a harsher hotter weather condition making you wonder with MI what “has become of her”. By the way, MI is from Taraba. Not Plateau! Ice Prince is from Plateau state, just as Tuface and Terry G are from Benue the same state that gave Nigeria the living legend Bongos Ikwe. The point? The region flows with all kinds of talents and professionals from the military to the other endeavours in life.
It is about time the new leaders of the Middle Belt came together to start discussing what to do with our potentials. They must find ways to end the herdsmen invasion of the region. They must come up with a road map towards industrialisation for jobs that would take in our youths who have nowhere else to go. They must deal with the subservient mentality where the Middle Belter is constantly told he or she is not just qualified or good enough in spite of their credentials. A situation where citizens are continuously seeking acceptance from all the big sides is not healthy.
When a Tiv or Berom man for instance is ignorantly called “Hausa” by southern compatriots but he is really not; when a Jukun or Gwari is repetitively reminded he is a minority; when we are neither here nor there; when you can’t locate yourself on the business or political map; and when big brother is constantly watching, that’s when you know you are really in the middle of nowhere. And, in most cases, have nowhere to run or hide, getting rejected by all like the proverbial bat.