On Monday, 25th of February 2011, the people of Zaria metropolis woke up to a large demonstration by members of the community which, though peaceful in the beginning, later turned violent. The demonstration, largely involving young people, was to express the community’s grievances over the failure of government to provide electricity to many parts of Zaria metropolis for over eight months; as well as the near-total absence of potable water for years. Though the police succeeded in scuttling the demonstration without further damage, the incident has raised many disturbing issues in the manner governments treat the basic rights and demands of citizens. The demonstration and its outcome have also set a dangerous precedent which should be carefully monitored and avoided by both governments and communities in future.
The demonstration in Zaria over the absence of electricity in parts of the city for eight months; and the perennial absence of potable water was avoidable. The Federal, State and Local Governments have no excuse for leaving large portions of Zaria metropolis without electricity for as long as eight months. It is inconceivable that anyone in authority in Zaria will claim that they do not know that tens of thousands of people have had no electricity for longer than six months. It is more probable that the community had complained many times, and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN and State or Local Governments have made empty promises, or, as is now widely the practice, some people may have made demands on the communities before restoring power.
It is even more unforgivable that it took a riot to get both the State and Local Governments to promise to install transformers in the areas affected within a few days. Could there have been these transformers in store all this while, or the funds to procure them within a day or two, and yet no one was willing to respond to the right of the people to have them installed? Who is responsible for this neglect or dereliction of duty; and what will happen to them? Do the PHCN, or the State and Local Governments expect to put this incident behind them, and move on as if this was just one problem it solved belatedly with very little money? Is government even aware of the huge economic losses the community has suffered, not to talk of the genuine feeling of neglect and official indifference which is clear in the minds of people who have a right to basic services from their governments? Worse, the pervasive feeling, even now, among the people in this area is that government’s response was forced by the rioting, and not through a peaceful demand for a basic right by the people. The danger is that other communities which are suffering similar neglect may assume that rioting is a more effective way of getting government’s attention and service than patient and legal pressure.
As for the issue of water in Zaria, this is a far more serious problem. There are a number of major projects being undertaken by both the Federal and State Governments to solve this endemic and unacceptable absence of adequate and safe potable water in Zaria. The people of Zaria have suffered for too long over the absence of potable water, and billions of Naira have been sunk by every government and administration to solve this problem. It is important that the State Government avoids making promises it cannot keep on the issue of water in Zaria, particularly in terms of when this problem will be finally and comprehensively solved. This is because the community may take it seriously over an issue over which it has little control. But it is vital that both the State and Federal Governments attach the highest priority to the completion of all on-going water projects in Zaria.
A major problem which the riots in Zaria have raised is the resort to violence by members of the community over grievances such as the absence of power and water. These amenities are vital and central to the livelihood and economic progress of citizens, but to engage in demonstrations and riots in order to force governments to provide them is dangerous. A peaceful demonstration to demand restoration of power to a community and solve its water problem could be hijacked by others to wreck havoc on peace, security and the little other economic assets of the people of Zaria. Many people could sustain serious injuries, or even die in the process; and government will not pay a kobo for medical assistance or grieve over their death. Other communities could also emulate the rioters over similar or other grievances, and with the type of governments we have, which are daily complaining of lack of resources to provide basic amenities, the whole country could go up in flames. The Zaria community should take stock of what happened, and caution the young and the restless to realize that violence is a sword that cuts both ways. In particular, public outrage over genuine grievances, which are hijacked and given political and partisan coloration tend to reduce the seriousness of the issues behind them. Above all, a community which tolerates endemic recourse to violence over problems such as those over which people in Zaria witnessed the riots would not know peace, because a few people will always rise up over every grievances, great or small.
The lessons of the Zaria riots are many, and many wrongs have been committed over a right. If there are communities such as those in Zaria which have endured prolonged neglect and indifference, Governments should move more quickly to bring relief to them. Governments should, at all cost, avoid situations which make it look like responding to riots in solving the problems of the people. It is very important that partisan politics is kept out of the demand and provision of basic amenities by both governments and the community. Communities must discourage their members from assuming that demonstrations and riots are the only solutions to what appears as government neglect. Violence may solve one or two immediate problems, but it creates many more, and its victims are very often members of the law-abiding community itself.
In this election year, people will have an opportunity to make statements about leaders and governments. The ballot box is far more effective than stones and sticks. People should use the ballot box, rather than expose themselves to the batons and bullets of the Police.
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