Jaafar’s sophism and Shekarau’s human development
By Ali M. Ali
(aliyumaliyu@yahoo.com)
Jaafar’s rhetorical piece ‘‘Is Shekarau’s Human Development the Panacea?’’ posted on Gamji.com and God knows where, represents a fresh break from his trademark campaign of falsehood against the government and person of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau,the governor of Kano state. It is a small but significant ‘paradigm’ shift in Jaafar’s avowed crusade against Malam.
For picking up issues and attempting an intellectual discourse of sophistry, Shekarau’s pet program of societal re-orientation has truly paid off. It is heart warming that the Sahu of Jaafar has been daidaita. He may not readily agree and for understandable reasons, but his latest x-ray of Shekarau’s Human Development Policy without intemperate language and vile confirm that indeed, under Malam’ moral wake up call, the society is slowly but positively changing across the political divide. This is the ultimate goal of the reformist government of Shekarau. Malam is teaching that politics without malice, perfidy and rancour is attainable.
In the past Jaafar would have cooked up figures, creates foreign bank accounts and attributes them to an innocent Malam Shekarau. Today, Jaafar is asking questions about a policy he frankly admits he lacks the mental profundity to comprehend. This is a sharp departure from the cyber Jaafar who empties his poisoned pen first in cyber slander and asks questions later. Still Jaafar, whether a ‘soloist’ or ‘choir(ist)’, is a long way from calling a spade a spade. His rhetorical analysis of Shekarau’s human development policy was actually a painstaking construct of sophistry. This is putting it charitably.
Bluntly stated, Jaafar stood fact on its head. His quoted references to buttress his arguments are flawed. In fact one of them is a political competitor with a well known predilection for the weird and the fantastic. In an intolerant political clime this specific Jaafar’s reference would have been considered a fifth columnist. But given the confused state of the writer’s mind, am not surprised that he gravitated towards the wacky to make a point.
Listen to Jaafar ‘‘For about four years of being carefully tutored to understand Shekarau’s ‘human development’ project, this writer still feels none the wiser. Actually Shekarau administration has a way of defining its vague and hazy policies in copious guises. This ‘project,’ I am afraid, is all Greek to me’’.
Contrast this with his opener ‘‘Whenever ‘human development’ is being debated, the logical way to base the arguments on, or the best platform to anchor the discussion on, is the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP’s paradigm. UNDP’s primary interest lies in how a state serves its people. According to UNDP report, the five aspects to sustainable human development – all affecting the lives of the poor and vulnerable – are: empowerment, co-operation, equity, sustainability and security. Our expectations were that Shekarau administration would execute its human development project along this conventional line’’.
Jaafar can’t be ‘‘none the wiser’’ in a straight forward case like this which he has so laboriously sketched and tragically missed. Two educated guesses can help explain his confused state. One, he truly lacks the intellectual profundity to appreciate UNDP’s indices of sustainable development which the Shekarau administration has followed to the latter. Two, he deliberately ignores the revolutionary strides Malam’s has made for political reasons as elections draw near.
I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Jaafar is not a buffoon. He quotes one as his reference but he is anything but one. Let me straighten the record not so much for his benefit but for those his sophism may jell. Let me begin with the definition of development.
Scholars are yet to agree on a single definition of the term. They define development according to their academic persuasion. I would however, limit the definition of the term to third world scholars who believe that development is basically about empowering people with skills they previously lack and raising their standard of living. Economists see it in terms of improvement in the living standard; increase production and investment and par capita income.
Inayatullah (1967) defines development as the ability of man to have greater control of his environment and increased realization of its human values, its political destiny and self-discipline. He stresses human development, the importance of a benevolent political system that is acceptable to all and better management and control of the environment without destroying it.
In this, Shekarau has scored a bull’s eye by identifying and focusing on human development as a major plank of his government development programme. Malam seeks to raise people’s standard of living through higher income, access to improved healthcare, good education, shelter and the establishment of social, economic and political systems and institutions which would promote human dignity and respect. Malam’s trilogy of Hisba, Zakkat and Adaidaita Sahu Commissions are testimonies of his developing humanity.
Development of any kind is built around humanity. Civilisation remains the focal point of which dynasties and governments seek to develop before anything else. Any development plans that exclude the people plans to fail. Without the people as the raison detre for development, bridges, schools, hospitals, roads construction would be meaningless because these infrastructural facilities are exclusively for human use.
Shekarau’s human development initiative has ensured the recruitment of over 35,000 people into various government departments and agencies. Of the total, about 12,000 able men and women are in the Hisba, 5,000 health care personnel consisting of doctors, nurses, laboratory assistants etc, over 5,000 teachers and hundreds of thousands of young men equipped with skills and handcrafts as to make them capable of fending for themselves and independent. All these recruitments came at a time the federal government was down-sizing its workforce and generally retrenching personnel!!!
The government, under Malam, is equally concerned with the welfare of retirees and pensioners. A society is as good as its senior citizens. A healthy and properly tended senior citizenry presupposes a healthier, younger and focused society. A culture that neglects its retirees and pensioners is a doomed society. A government that flaunts a popular mandate and yet fails to address the legitimate claims of pensioners is destined to fail. The government before Shekarau’s did exactly that and it paid dearly for that mortal mistake in 2003.
Pensioners occupy a special place in the heart of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. Since he took charge, he has unfailingly kept the promise every single month with pensioners. Kano is the only state in the vast expense called Nigeria that has not a backlog of pension arrears. The government has so far expended over five billion (N5bn) in settling pensioners claims in the last three years. Little wonder then that pensioners uniformly decide to repay Shekarau in kind by purchasing the five million naira gubernatorial nomination form for their benefactor.
Malam Ibrahim Shekarau’s human development policy is the be it all panacea. It is all encompassing, all embracing leaving nothing, including everything. Shekarau firmly believes in the development of the individual. Physical transformation will perish if the individual is comatose. Build humanity and all other things will simply fall into place. But others who value infrastructure more than humanity may not understand this higher concept.
In terms of physical transformation of Kano state, Shekarau, in one word, has simply done wonders. In 2004 alone, his government rehabilitated or constructed over 24 township roads at a staggering sum of nearly two billion naira. This edifying picture is similarly obtainable in all other sectors.
In Islam, the basis of worship is knowledge. Allah (SWT) asks believers to know Him before they worship Him. Education prepares the man from cradle to the grave. It empowers humanity. Shekarau is a classroom teacher. He values knowledge. It is these skills and divine guidance that have brought him this far. Give the people education and you have empowered them. Under Malam several primary and secondary schools were constructed. That is not the concern here. The preoccupation is human development. In three years over 5,000 teachers were employed. This doubled the number of teachers when Shekarau took over. Of the lot, 1302 teachers similarly benefited from sundry staff loan of nearly 25,000,000.00 naira. If this is not empowerment ala UNDP, Jaafar’s ultimate model, I wonder what it is.
No indigenous government has given attention to Qur’anic schools as the government of Shekarau. The schools are divided into Makarantun Allo and Tsangayu. The former is day affair while the latter is a boarding house. Most almajirai on the streets are from Tsangayu.
Shekarau’s human development vision saw the training and empowering of Alarammomi. Under this scheme, some 4000 Alarammomi have been empowered to reflect the new vision. Such Alarammomi were equipped with such skills as computer training, tailoring, Islamic calligraphy for making frames, posters etc, shoe making among others. There is evidence to confirm that this intervention has positively impacted on the fortunes of beneficiaries. Hitherto decrepit schools were reconstructed to reflect the new initiative.
Still on empowerment. Under Malam over 10,000 farmer groups were formed. This generated over 100,000 jobs. These farmer groups were trained and equipped with fresh farming skills.
I could go on and on. But Jaafar is not really interested in the true picture. He is merely keen in twisting the facts. Consider this by him ‘‘where lies the wisdom of any development project that can not construct a single kilometer of a new road (not rehabilitation) in almost four years of its existence? Shekarau administration, confirmed the deputy governor of Kano state, Engr Magaji Abdullahi on Freedom Radio, did not construct a single new road! Why, despite this much-celebrated “human development” project, Kano still tops the poverty index of the country?’’
I am glad that Jaafar lives in Kano and, according to him, along Warshu Hospital road Kawaji.This is cheering news. The road leading to his domicile was reconstructed by the government of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.He may argue that this is a reconstructed road. I concede that to him. Before Shekarau happened however, craters and potholes on that road had a remote resemblance of the Bermuda triangle!
What about Kwana-hudu- Gayawa road located in Nassarawa local government area? What about Gezawa border road? Are all these reconstructed too? Till we meet again.
Ali M. Ali writes from No.248,Gyadi-Gyadi off Hospital Road Kano.