While presenting a memorandum at the Presidential Panel investigating the post-election violence led by Sheikh Lemu in Kaduna, Mr. Bulus Bello Labesa who is the President of the Bajju Development Association made a case for the creation of another State from the southern part of the State to ensure rapid development for that part of the State. Mr. Labesa was reported to have noted that most of the evidence for economic development was concentrated in the northern part of the State, and that the southern part cannot develop and bridge the gap with the north unless the two unequal parts are separated. Mr. Labesa also said that there has been massive movement of Christians from the northern to southern Kaduna State following the post-election violence. With regards to the inter-tribal and inter-religious violence itself, he said Christians from southern Kaduna acted purely in self-defense.
The call for the creation of another State from the present Kaduna State to conform with the general ethno-religious characters of the north and south is not new. So it could be said that Mr. Labesa raised the right issue in the wrong forum, because the case for splitting Kaduna State has much credibility, but the context in which it was raised has done much injustice to it. Both the elites of the northern and southern part of the State have built up solid cases over the years for splitting Kaduna State. There were even a number of unsuccessful efforts to achieve a consensus from both sections on the issue, to make the case easier to sell to the National Assembly and other Nigerians, who will have the final say on the credibility of the case of the citizens of this large State to be split. The Governor of Kaduna state, Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa himself had pledged his government’s full support for the movements making the case for the split, and had even extended financial assistance to both sides.
The case made by Mr. Labesa at the Lemu Panel would have been obvious, given the obvious religious and ethnic dimensions which the violence took, from an apparently political trigger. But it is likely to create the impression that the demand for splitting Kaduna State is being made by the horrific loss of hundreds of lives and losses of billions of Naira in property; as well as the total breakdown of harmony and trust among different communities. Those who will receive the request for splitting the State under the present circumstances are likely to think it is the product of the recent violence, and may be tempted to think a solution to what happened in April does not necessarily have to entail the creation of a State from the Southern part of the State. This will be very unfortunate, because there has not been a stronger and more genuine case for splitting any State than the one for splitting Kaduna State.
At present, Kaduna State is the fourth largest State in Nigeria in population and one of the largest in land mass. It is potentially one of the richest States in the country, but most of its citizens, particularly from the south, the far north and the eastern and western fringes have standards of living equal to the poorest parts of Nigeria. The State has the most pronounced evidence of uneven development, and virtually every major economic activity or facility with multiplier effect for economic growth is located in or around Kaduna. The southern part of the State is quite possibly the most underdeveloped part of Nigeria. The only tangible economic investments in the entire region are institutions of government and skeletal infrastructure. 80% of its active population lives on the margins of peasant agriculture. Almost 90% of those of its citizens who are employed are engaged by the public service of the State and the country. Its productive population is scattered all over the State seeking any form of employment or income, and whole communities have only the very old or very young living permanently in them. Its young people are marginalized, frustrated and angry, and they, like all other young people, periodically resist what they see as oppression which is rooted in social injustice and lack of economic opportunities. The concentration of people from southern Kaduna State in Kaduna South and Chukun Local Government areas, partly as a result of the many ethno-religious conflicts in the state since 1987 is providing a fertile ground for the development of bitter and destructive perceptions that Hausa-Fulani Muslims are the enemy, and they must be fought and resisted at all cost.
The northern part of the State is economically better-off than the south, and even though this has a solid historical basis, it has itself suffered as a result of the States’ uneven development. Zaria Town has paid a huge price for the development of Kaduna, which itself largely developed by sucking off the potentials and assets of Zaria, one of the only two old Provincial Headquarters in the old north which has not been made a State capital. Except for educational institutions, the economy of Zaria has collapsed. It has become completely de-industrialized, and its economic infrastructure has decayed, in spite of massive expansion in its population. Its elite have abandoned it for the comfort of Kaduna city, and its young people struggle daily to acquire education and skills without much success. It has, predictably, produced a widespread perception among its inhabitants that politics is a battle in which its many enemies change. Government, the establishment or people of other religious or tongues are all targets in a community which had a proud history of learning and tolerance.
The small towns and villages in Kaduna State, outside Kaduna and Zaria are occupied by huge populations living with shrinking economic opportunities. The greatest asset of the people, agricultural potential, has not developed beyond peasant levels, because government has failed to provide basic economic and social infrastructure, and an environment which will encourage private capital to invest in agro-allied industry in the State. The State has one of the richest solid mineral resources, but again no major investment has been made to make it possible for sustained, private-sector led exploitation. So the vast majority of the citizens of Kaduna state cannot develop on the basis of the current disposition of their government and the state of the economy. It is easy therefore to create enemies, and fight them at every opportunity since the prevailing poverty provides a breeding ground for the scapegoating.
There is a strong case to be made for splitting Kaduna state, and it is not just to make it possible for southern Kaduna to develop faster. All sections of the state will develop faster if two States are created from the north and south. But much work needs to be done by the citizens of the two parts themselves to sort out some sticking points, there. One obvious sticking point is which of the two States will have Kaduna city. Another is the security and progress of the ethnic minorities in both States, such as the Hausa-Fulani and other Muslim communities in southern Kaduna state, and southern Kaduna State citizens who have made their homes in northern parts of the state and the environs of Kaduna. Yet another is on the sharing of assets and liabilities.
There are also many hurdles to cross before this valid case is successfully made. The elites from both sides of the State must mount a solid and effective campaign to convince the National Assembly and the rest of Nigeria that the case for Kaduna state is both credible and urgent enough to be handled on its own, and not be swamped with many other, less-deserving and opportunistic cases. It is also important that ordinary citizens across the entire State adopt and push the idea that the case being made is not to create boundaries around old enemies and issues, but to afford citizens of one of the largest States to ursue progress and peace under an environment which is more amenable.
The citizens of Kaduna state will hope that the Presidential Panel on Post-election violence will accept and make the case for creating another State out of the present Kaduna state. But the Panel needs to be told that although the deep wounds which the violence left in the State are symptoms of the unavailability of the present State, the creation will not simply relocate old hatred and enemies into new States. The people of Kaduna state will always have many things in common. If another state is created, it should be done so that all communities will live in peace and achieve rapid economic progress. Even when a new State is created, the citizens of both states will have to work hard to live in peace in their States, and across borders. Otherwise, nothing will change. In the meantime, the citizens of Kaduna state must continue to explore all avenues to reclaim peace for all communities. The Lemu Panel will not do this for them.
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