Jigawa: A critical perspective
By ABDU ABDULLAHI
FROM whatever dimension one views it, Jigawa state stands out prominently as one of the most backward states in Nigeria. This unfortunate situation calls for sober reflections from its great patriots with a view to moving it forward and competing favourably with other states.
Undoubtedly, the genesis of the prevailing gloomy affairs of the state dates back to its being part and parcel of the erstwhile Kano state geographical set up. Historically, the parts of what then constituted Jigawa were regrettably relegated to the background in the distribution of infrastructural facilities, social amenities, tertiary institutions, economic ventures, etc. consequently, this attracted mass exodus of the rural dwellers to Kano city, an unhealthy trend that denied the state a promising future as a result of imbalanced representation of development in its past life.
Prior to its carving out of the former Kano state, the Jigawa of that difficult era was largely marginalized in the allocation and designation of industrial network which mainly dominated the Kano metropolis and its environs. Without due regards to the developmental benefits of decentralisation, the centralization process that sadly greeted the beginning of Jigawa's developmental bottleneck had among its other unfavourable features the citing of a greater number of tertiary institutions within the municipality.
Was it not disheartening that after the state creation, it narrowly survived with just one tertiary institution while Kano state went home with nine? With this educational set back, its teeming students are currently at the mercy of some admission gate keepers even in the universities where the state is a catchment area. Is this a deliberate ploy to further retard the state educational aspirations?
A critical examination of states like Bauchi, Kaduna, Katsina etc unfolds the wide range advantages of a desirable phenomenon for a balanced progression. These areas are happily yielding the fruits of advancement inputs of fair distribution of developmental facilities. By and large, Jigawa's scope of developmental needs assumes wide and gigantic proportions requiring huge financial as well as human resources to effect a positive change.
As it is now, one of the economic predicaments transferred to us by the unwanted agents of unfair sharing of resources is that the state lacks a single productive and functional industry. While Kano was mistakenly designed to become a one city state where commercial and economic activities keep expanding, Jigawa's chances of commercial and economic growth are threatened and sabotaged by its close proximity to Kano.
The city of poverty also reigns supreme in the heart of the new world. Never shall we forget how the inglorious past of developmental imperfection facilitated immensely in giving birth to this socio-economic cancer. Meanwhile, most of the state indigenes with economic fortunes have since forsaken the state and concentrated their financial and human resources somewhere else. Does this tragedy have to do with the fanatical belief by some of its citizens that the composition of the state was uncalled for because according to them, they did not advocate for it, but were forced into it? In another development, Governor Sule Lamido's striving political will in saving the state is characterized by the emergence of forces of conflicts in the polity which are polarizing. But his continuous exhibition of an irresistible tendency toward the preference of the greatest number demonstrates the dawn of a new era that will stand the test of time.
One of the greatest foolishness of our time is the open declaration by some of the state indigenes to shamelessly dissociate themselves from being its natives because of its rural outlook. The resultant effects of this negative mentality produces horrible situations of unpatriotism, lack of vision, sense of belonging, creativity, imagination and dedication to take it to greater height. As these chronic social diseases keep ravaging the future of the state at an alarming proportion, they tragically pave the way for the evolution of new political opportunists whose extreme desire for fame and power does not augur well for our collective survival.
From Kazaure to Hadejia, Gwaram to Gumel, going round the nooks and crannies of the new world, the flame of emiratism is consuming this generation. It is a political disaster that holds sway and runs through our veins. This retrogressive ideology dares our progress and destroys our various channels of socio-political integrations.
The antagonistic philosophy of the adherents of this divisive tendency erroneously suggests living in a hostile world where prosperity will never be attainable. They hopelessly champion undue sentimentalism at this advanced age when the prophetic saying of the late Martin Luther King to the effect that a day will come when a black will lead the affairs of the United States of America becomes a reality. Down with emiratism! It is a false attraction, a great enemy of not only the state but humanity in general, a social evil which must be resisted and eliminated by all those whose minds are dynamic and original.
With these and other unnarrated ordeals of Jigawa, the primary and fundamental question is: What is the way forward? In his famous book Freedom and Development, the late Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere observes that people cannot be developed but they can only develop themselves by what they do, how they think and act to control the environment as well as by participating fully in the affairs of the community in which they live.
Our central philosophy for a genuine progress must centre on the participatory input in which we consider and apply the noble idea that charity begins at home and bury our differences and inferiority complex. This will on turn smoothen our path to explore various channels of developing ourselves instead of resigning to fate for others to develop us or subjecting ourselves to pessimism. Indeed, the participatory prospect entails the collective deployment of our financial and human resources, a total commitment to the prosperity of the Jigawa project.
Those who firmly hold the Jigawa progressive agenda in good faith will persist in the cultivation of diverse socio-political and economic means of rapid development of our state against all odds. These are people who abhor laziness, detest sycophancy denounce greediness, promote state interest over selfish one, generate great hopes through the creation of vision, sense of belonging, creativity and responding appropriately to the handiwork of a new class of political opportunists.

Abdullahi is of Government Unity School Ringim, Jigawa state and can be reached on e-mail abduaringim06@yahoo.com.