Akko LGA: Beyond the Politics of marginalisation
Grassroots politics is the most difficult game to play especially here in Nigeria. For anyone to be a grassroots politician he has to, at one time stay there and identify with the people and second he has to be like the late Adedibu. It is very tricky and sometimes deceptive. There are prominent people in this country that cut a niche for themselves in national politics and become very popular with Nigerian people, but cannot win elections in their wards. This might not be unconnected with the way these people lost contact with their people, especially when they think they had enough, after attending university or lucky to have gone overseas for further education.
When I started writing this article I had a second thought, because I am afraid of being call an advocate of local politics, or narrow minded individual. Anyway this is what normally local politicians are called. But I convinced myself that if what I am doing can touch the life of my people then I have to ignore any comment that will come from anyone that feels it is ‘local’ to talk about those issues.
Akko LGA is one of the few lucky area councils in Nigeria, apart from being blessed with prominent people; the council is endowed with natural resources, vast land and hard working people who excel in their various endeavours. However the Local Government suffers from what I will term a group of decomposed elements who for years grabbed the affairs of the Local Government to their own benefits. It is very hard to point out a single project executed by the Local Council anywhere outside the LG headquarters in the last nine years of our democracy.
For years, these set of people receive grant from the federation account or what was left of it and share it among themselves. They have built big mansions in Kumo and Gombe, buy big cars while they left their people under developed as ever. A visit to the local government secretariat will surely justify what I am saying. The local government secretariat becomes alive only when salaries are paid or may be if the Chairman sneaks in, which is once in a blue moon. It is surprising or rather shocking to find that a local government created 30 years ago and regarded as the largest in Nigeria its people were better of thirty years ago than what they found themselves in today. The local government headquarters still suffers from acute shortage of water, while a cashier in one of the departments is building a big mansion in Kumo. You wonder where a person at level six get the money to build that expensive house in one of the most expensive site in Kumo.
Paradoxically in Akko LGA there are villages that drag water from their wells using cattle as if they live in part of Niger republic or Mali. You will also find in many villages children taking lessons under the trees. A village, Hammadu Kafi, just 2km away from the Gombe state capital, which happened to be under Akko LGA has no functioning Primary School. Also in Tunfure, a suburban of Gombe which is also in Akko LGA, the village has no Primary School Graduate as of 2003. While people in these villages languished in poverty and illiteracy the officials of the LGA are either busy looting or sharing our money.
In the whole of the local government, apart from the federal highway or the road built by state government, from Maraba Tumu to Pindiga, one cannot point a single road constructed by the local council. The people of Kalshingi, Lombo, Zongomari, Bula, Kidda, Dumbe, Dolli and Tukulma can testify to that. In terms of health care the sector fared badly. A youth corper Dr I Looper, as his Community Development project, tried to upgrade the Lawanti maternity to a modern health care centre, however up to the day the Health Centre was launched, no official from the local council visited this centre and the local council up to this day failed to redeem its pledge of assisting the centre. The project gulped over N2million and was mostly funded by SACA, the local community and the youth corper.
Akko LGA is one of the fortunate local governments in Nigeria, especially in the present dispensation. Created in 1976, Akko LGA is the largest local government in the country and has produced prominent people in this country. From 1999 to date, the local government produced apart from a senator, two ministers, SSG, seven commissioners, dozen permanent secretaries and Chairmen of board, presently the State Governor is from Akko LGA, etc. Unfortunately these people consider themselves too big to meddle into the affairs of the local council. The only time they find it relevant to talk is during Local Council elections, where each try to put his son or brother to be the Council Chairman, not minding whether he/she will meet people expectation or not. Others appear only to ensure their party wins the local election in the local government to avoid being a laughing stock among party stalwarts of not winning their constituency.
While most of us are busy castigating Mr President and sometimes our governors for poor performance, we forget about what is happening in the third tier of government which has direct impact on common man. One can hardly see comment or analysis on the activities of local councils. It is time we shift our attention from more general issues to specifics, so that these set of people whose idea of governance was to find themselves in public office to loot enough in order to turn round and use what they looted to buy security agents, election officials and the already poverty stricken masses to secure another political position are removed or stopped from attaining position of authority.
Akko local government deserves better than what we are seeing today. When the present Chairman came on board we thought there would be a change from what used to be obtained knowing his background as a lawyer, but unfortunately Barrister is even worst than his predecessors. Instead of using that to bring change, Barrister is busy pursuing perceived political opponents and hardly stays in the local government secretariat to face the numerous challenges attached to that exalted office. Barrister needs to change, not just for himself as a person but for the Profession he represents.
Kabiru Danladi,
Lawanti Village, KM25,
Along Gombe-Bauchi Road,
Akko LGA,
Gombe State.
kblondon2003@yahoo.com
08054546764, 08035150369, 08098150369