SWEEPING Changes are underway at the top echelon of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) following the sacking of Mrs. Rose Uzoma, the immediate Comptroller-General of Immigration (CGI).
Mrs. Uzoma was booted out of office three months to her retirement from the service for alleged high-headedness, corruption and undisciplined attitude towards top government functionaries.
An unconfirmed source said in Abuja yesterday that the Federal Government intends to clean the top cadre of the service to avoid being infected by the Uzoma “bug.”
Consequently, seven deputy comptroller-general of immigration (DCGI), and some very senior Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigration man likely to be sacked to pave the way for “fresh blood” to take over the helm of affairs at the service.
“What did the government get, uncooperative, undisciplined and arrogant prison boss. Disloyal and in fact, it was a bad decision the government took to have allowed that team to remain. so the government does not want to make the same mistake.”
“We don’t want people who are not loyal to the government to be the ones that we will entrust the affairs of the NIS to. As it were, all the DCGI formed Uzoma’s team and they all have to go. They are old and do not have anything new to offer this government. We are looking for new people with new idea,” the source said.
The source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said “there is no way anybody can tell me that the DCGI are not part of the former CGI team. They work and took decisions together and most of the decisions they took were not productive for the service. So there is no need keeping any member of that team.”
Investigation also revealed that, out of the seven DCGIs, only one still has up to two years in service. Three were supposed to retire with the CGI in March 2013, two to retire before the end of 2013 while only on has up to the middle of 2014 to retire.
It was learnt that the government is acting on past experience where the top management of the prison service was allowed to continue after the retirement of the Comptroller-General.
“What did the government get, uncooperative, undisciplined and arrogant prison boss. Disloyal and in fact it was a bad decision the government took to have allowed that team to remain.

A STRONG feeling of appreciation and re-awakening ran through the historic city of Benin in Edo State yesterday as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke re-commissioned the strategic Benin Depot of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, (PPMC) which has been in comatose since 2005.
An elated Governor Adams Oshiomole who led a team of prominent Edo State Government officials and dignitaries to the event said with the re-activation of the Benin Depot by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, the Federal Government has demonstrated its resolve to sustain the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas industry.
“The Minister has demonstrated that indeed good things can come from the Petroleum industry as well as the NNPC,’’ he said.
The former President of the Nigerian Labour Congress also recalled how he had to embark on what he termed a “pilgrimage’ to the Warri Refinery at the inception of his administration, to solicit for the supply of petroleum products to the state.
“I thank God that I don’t have to make such long walk to Warri again because the Benin depot is back to service,’’ he said.
The governor pledged to mobilize the resources as well as the people of Edo State to combat the issue of pipeline vandalism which he described as a national menace.
Declaring the depot open, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke noted that the revamping of the Benin depot is a single item in a long list of practical measures designed by the Jonathan administration to sanitize the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
“As an industry, we are extremely satisfied that the transformation agenda of the President in the oil and gas industry is coming to fruition.  We are grateful to the Joint Task force for the level of support they have given the petroleum sector especially in the area of pipline vandalism. it clearly shows how successful we can be as a people if we come together to combat a scourge,’’ the Minister noted.
Speaking in the same vein, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Engr. Andrew Yakubu said in the months ahead the drive to revitalize the nation’s petroleum products depot will be sustained with the re-opening of the Gombe and Jos depots.
“We have re-commissioned Mosimi, Aba and now Benin. But the good news is that we are not going to stop here, very soon we shall be in Gombe, Jos and other depots. Infact we are not going to stop until as the 21 depots become fully operational,’’ he said.
Describing the depot revamping exercise as NNPC’s contribution to the transformation agenda of the Federal Government, Yakubu called on stakeholders to support the Corporation in its quest to combat the incidence of pipeline vandalism.
Similar echoes of optimism were raised by the leadership of the Edo State chapters of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, IPMAN and the Petroleum Products Taker Drivers Association.
Constructed in 1978 and commissioned on August 30,1979, the  Benin depot comprised 17 storage tanks with a combined design capacity to hold 121, 720,000 litres of petroleum products- namely premium motor spirits, House hold kerosene and automobile gas oil. The facility has nine loading arms.
The depot serves as a link for products evacuation from the Warri Refining and Petro-Chemical Company via a 16-inch pipeline traversing 89.9km.

VICE President, Arc Mohammed Namadi Sambo has stated that the President Jonathan administration, has put in place the needed infrastructure to accelerate the attainment of all the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with less than one thousand days to the 2015 deadline.
Namadi Sambo yesterday in Abuja, during the Stakeholders Briefing on the Application of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Acceleration Frame Work (MAF) to Fast-Track Progress against the MDGs in Nigeria.
He said “in addition to what directly the MDGs office is doing, it is recognized by this Administration, through Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda, that in order to address the issue of poverty, we must put the infrastructure needed for creation of wealth and in this direction we identified the various factors that are militating against our growth.”
Vice President Sambo enumerated these militating factors to include inadequacies in the power, health, transport, education, agriculture and water resources sectors, among others, however, emphasising that government had made significant strides in addressing them.
Speaking on the MDGs Acceleration Framework, Vice President Sambo said that the Goals are at the heart of the Transformation Agenda, adding that government would continue to formulate and execute policies and programmes towards their attainment.
According to him despite prioritising MDGs Goal 5 (reducing maternal mortality), through the MAF methodology, the three tiers of government would not neglect the seven other goals.

By all standards, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar the erstwhile Governor of the old Plateau State is an erudite politician, or better still, a colossus of Nigerian politics who stood against all immutable forces to re-establish the democratic system of Government currently reigning in the Country.
Chief Solomon Lar, the first National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and currently a NEC and BOT member of the party, first worked in various capacities in the Office of the then Premier of the Northern Region Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto and won the 1979 Gubernatorial Election in the old Plateau State under the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP)  [with its slogan power to the people ] with over 363,000 votes to beat his closest rival Mr.Micheal Audu Buba of the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) who scored over 176,000 votes.
While he was the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Daushep Lar undertook a number of developmental projects in Health, Education, Agriculture, and Road Construction under his popular Emancipation Programme. He also created a number of Chiefdoms for the traditional institution to take their rightful position in the scheme of things in the old Plateau State.
However, in 1983, when the Military over threw the Second Republic, almost all the democratically elected Governors and prominent Politicians were crowded into various detention  camps, including Chief Solomon Lar who was sentenced to 22 years by the Justice Mohammed Bello Judicial Tribunal of inquiry for allegedly corrupt self enrichment to the tune of about 33 millon Naira  a charge which Solomon Lar vehemently denied and told Justice Mohammed Bello who delivered the Judgement   that  “My Lord, you are sentencing the wrong person.” His Sentence was later reduced to Seven Years. Some may say this was the dark moment of his life. But Chief Solomon Lar decided to sacrifice his personal liberty and endured all sorts of political persecution, harrassment and intimidation for his people, and  braced-up for the future with greater optimism while serving his jail term in the maximum Kiri-Kiri prison in Lagos.
While some politicians were either pacing up and down or cogitating on how to unchain and free themselves from the agonies of prison life. Chief Solomon Lar on the other hand, remained resolutely undeterred and unconcerned about his personal liberty or safety, in pursuit of restoring democratic governance in this Country.
In this interview, speaks on how he Chief Solomon Lar, the Emancipator methodologically inspired several notable politicians within and outside the Kiri-Kiri Prison wall for the present Third Republic to come into fruition. Read on
Q.    Sir, may I crave your kind indulgence to let us know how the PDP was formed?
A.     That is a every important question, First of all, the PDP was formed by politicians, who were in the Second Republic and who were unjustly denied their right by some ambitious Military officers who wanted to rule this country. The Military left their profession and went into politics by arresting and many prominent politicians and dump them in various prisons in the country. For example, I and quite a number of some politicians were in Lagos Kiri-Kiri Maximum Security Prison, where you will hardly hear the voice of anybody, or even hear the movement of  human being or anything alive. Even the Birds, you will not hear their chattering voices. So we the politicians, who were kept inside this prison, were denied our rights and brought into the Kiri-kiri Prison. I could remember very well, I saw my colleague Chief Bola Ige a former Governor of Oyo State in one cell with his brother Dele Ige, because we arrived there quite late at about 12 midnight or there about. The cell was  very small with about four people per cell. There was no bed for me, but thank God Dele Ige kindly surrendered his call bed for me and up to today I am very grateful to him. We stayed for a few days, until a cell was found for me, and that was when I saw Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Jim Nwobodo and Sam Mbakwe and many others. Chief Lateef Koyode Jakande and later Chief Odumegwa Ojukwu joined us there. We were so many, I can vividly remember the son of Alhaji Umaru Dikko was also arrested and brought into same Prison. Why, because his Father was seriously being looked for, having been declared “a wanted Person.” His son was studying in one of the Universities in Darblin and so many of us pitied him. When we complaint  why would this happen, the authorities said they did so, for Umoru Dikko to come out of his hiding. They said it is the father they are looking for and not the son.
So, many things happened. We were not allowed to drink portable water. The water in the wall was not good and we were forced to drink and bath with it. A few weeks later, the Minister for Internal Affairs visited the prison. It was Major General Mamman Magoro (Ltd). So we complaint to him and he said we must be allowed to drink potable water. Thereafter, the Prison Authorities began to bring Water Tanker full of portable water for us into the prison. That was what saved so many of us, because some people were vomitting or having diarrhoea, I remember Jim Nwobodo was very sick and the prison warders did not bother. When Alhaji Abubakar Rimi reported to the warders that Jim Nwobodo was very sick, they said, “ah.a.a. you people have chopped public money.” and Rimi abused the warder saying “look at this people. We never chopped any body’s kobo. We were excellent leaders. We gave the best services to the Nation. The soldiers disrupted the decency of democracy and beauty of the Civilian Administration for reasons best known to them”.
For saying this, Alh. Abubakar Rimi was taken to Maximum dark place of the prison the following day, where you will not see any light and he was there for five days. You see, for making that statement at protecting Jim Nwolodo, saying “Jim was dying, come and save him” and the worder said ah! a. a you politiciens have chopped our money and Rimi simply asked “how much did I chop”? and he was purnished for that.
We looked at it and said so this was the impression the military are trying to give  to the public? And so we the politiciens whether you are from NPP, or NPN or GNPP; UPN or PRP, we decided to come together. I remember Eberezer Babatope, a spokesman of the UPN come to my cell and said you see Chief, look at all of us. Everybody is being lumped here. So myself, Alh. Adamu Ciroma and Alh. Abubakar Rimi, we said to ourselves, we have to rethink and our thinking would be to form a political party, which will not be based on Region, Ethnic or Religious inclination but we must have a broad based political party.
We said the party must be so formidable, that no military man, will temper with it and we all agreed, including Rimi,  Babatope and Bola Ige. As we were discussing this among ourselves, we shared  this view with some of our prominent supporters who were not in detention, so that they can propagate the feeling, that from now on, political parties should be a very strong and broad based political parties in the Country.
So when we come out from the prison, we started to hold what we called all politicians meeting/rally. We used to meet in Lagos Federal Palace hotel, Museums and some of those public places. One day, when we were meeting in the Eko Hotel, the soldiers heard about it and they sent, some of their sponsored un uniform people, who came and disrupted  the meeting. So we stopped that meeting, Although we had a number of such meetings earlier, our moves become very popular, because we were hoping to install a system that will withstand the test of time. The view of every body was that we should forget about ethnic, regional, religious or tribal party politics just like we use to have in the first Republic like the NPC, NEPU, Action Group, NCNC. We use to think about them too.
Q.     At its formative stage, what type of democratic institution you have at the back of your mind?
A.    A democratic party. A party that will be free with no oppression that will go against the rule of law, because the rule of law was uppermost in our mind. And people should feel free to associate with any party of their choice. This is because as far as we are concerned, the military regimes are full of oppression.
we also discovered that the Military, was also trying to institutionalize their rule in Nigeria and some politicians were seen supporting General Sani Abacha to succeed himself into Civilian dress as President.  We said that will not be possible, and that will not happen. At that time, Abacha was trying to give the impression that  the entire North supported him, but we said no. We quickly had a meeting in order to enlighten the public,  that the Military have stopped the Politicians in holding their public meetings of all politicians conference to create the impression that they are all supporting Sani Abacha.
We said “O.k” we will go into group meetings and later we will meet at the top. So we had a civil society meeting in Lagos with Dr. Alex Ekweme as the Chairman; myself Deputy and Prof. Jerry Gana was the Secretary. Adamu Ciroma was very much there. We still remember our promise in Kiri-kiri maximum Prison, that we will form a strong broad based political party, in order to send away the Military perpectually out of political administration in Nigeria and confine them to the barracks to practice their profession. And I believe we have succeeded.
In order to stop General Sani Abacha from giving the public the impression that all the people in the North were supporting him, we the political leaders met in Kaduna at Alhaji Adamu Ciroma’s House, after they had seen me earlier. We met there and they graciously asked me to be the Chairman of the meeting, I met Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Alhaji Sule Lamido, Dr. Iyorcha Ayu, Professor Jerry Gana,  Col. Abubakar Umar Dangiwa, Barrister Suleiman , Alhaji Lawan Danbazau from Kano, Alhaji Lawal Isa and Dr. Issac Shahu. We were up to Eighteen. We prepared a letter which we all signed for General Sani Abacha that he should stop thinking or parading himself, that he will declare  himself the President by October 1997. We said he must stop.

Q.     and what was his response?
A.    Well, I took the letter to him. being the chairman. Some members suggested that we should address the press and some said no, someone or a group of people should take the letter to him. But I volunteered to take the letter, to him to the villa. When Abacha read the letter, he called me with the name that he use to call me….ah Muruchin kan Dutse and I replied well … Ban fito ba saida na shirya. General Abacha said that you people are ignorent about what Nigerians want, “Nigerians wanted me to be the President, if you have been following the newspaper accounts and everything about me. People from the South-East, especially the Chiefs there have been coming, saying well, they wanted me and they even sponsored some youths, to campaign for me and they honestly wanted Abacha to succeed himself”. I told him that this was not true and that is not the true feelings of Nigerians. The true feeling of every Nigerians was that there should be a democratically elected government in the Country.
General Sani Abacha then said, “is that so”? And I replied “Yes” he then said “let us see!” He took a second look at the letter and discovered that all the signatories in the letter were from the North and he started to say, Oh! after all, Abubakar Rimi did not like me, Alhaji Adamu ciroma did not like me. I said well, “we don’t know about that”. “Your Excellency, this is the massage. Please protect yourself and protect your name and quietly arrange for a general election to that effect and that will save you, save the North, save everybody”, So he said, “OK” and he gave me accommodation at the villa. But later, somebody from the Villa came and told me not to sleep there. So I have to leave without telling anyone where I was going.
There after, we continued with our meeting. When the G18 presented the programme from the North, all the Southern politicians said that it should not be left to G18 alone. But all encompassing. So the  number was increased to 34. There again Chief Alex Ekweme was made the Chairman of G34, Bala Ige, Jonah Jang, Rimi, infact all of the members of G34 were automatic members and the issue is that, we are now wider not only G18 but covering the whole Country. We now told the Military, look, you must leave the stage.
Here, I must thank the foreign missions, because in the process, they were with us. America was behind us, Britain was supporting us. President Bill Clinton supported us. One lady called Suzan Rice who was in charge of Africa, made a statement to the effect that America will not recognize, anything that is not democratically elected government in Nigeria. That is, they were trying to stop the Sani Abacha crusade.
At that time, Sani Abacha had already set up a five Finger Political party namely UNCP, CNC, GDM, NDP and NRC. When I see the leaders of these political parties today I just laugh. At that time they insisted that Abacha must continue. These group of politicians said they will meet at the Eagle square in support of Sani Abacha and it will be televised. They gathered same people …some women… Oh no……….  the scene was not good.
Some of the military officers actually, terrorist the G34 and indeed the civil society. But we refuse to be terrorized. or intimidated. Adamu Ciroma, Abubakar Rimi, Lawan Kaita, Alex Ekwemce and Senator Elah and many of us refused to be terrorized or intimidated. But  because of the experience we had at the various detention camps, we said we will establish a political party that will be so formidable and so it was. When Abacha died I think it was in June 1998 or there about, and General Abdul salami took over, he said they were not going to stay too long. So they stayed for a very short while and handed over the mantle of leadership.
Before then, the G34 has become a political party and was waxing  stronger and there were G34 all over the Country, in the whole of the North G34, in the whole of the South-West G34 and every where G34.
Q.    Sir, there is something of interest here, How did you carry everybody along to establish the type of democratic  party that evolve into the PDP?
A.    Well, quite frankly the people have learnt a treble lesson especially that of Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon oh!….no…….no…..no But you knew during their rule, it is an offence to smile or even laugh. Everybody will be working with his face light. So I asked, Sir what sort of Nigeria is this?  This is not the Nigeria we want. We want a democratic system, where everybody will be happy against this moody system of administration in Nigeria. So what the government of Buhari and Idiagbon were doing have made Nigeria a persion state and the military have not successfully free themselves from a persion state   and Nigerians said, no. We will not like a persion state.
Q.    Judging by your political standing and experience, can you say that the political culture and norms in the party have been achieved?
A.    Well, yes to some extent, but then I don’t expect the achievement to be over might I think we have achieved a lot, but we are working on them and we will achieve it. For example, we wanted a fair deal for everybody. But this has not been achieved so far
Q.    So how do you intend to go about achieving it?
A.    Oh! Yes we are working on that. It will be achieved
Q.    What made the PDP wax stronger than the other political parties in Nigeria?
A.    This is because, the PDP is a stronger political party being broad based. It was not a Regional party. If you look at some of the other political parties like the CPC, is a Regional party. (laughter) and ACN to some extent is a Regional party for the South-West and so on.
Q.    Sir, during and after your party’s Presidential nomination, what was the going on in your mind, when you raised the hand of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the party’s Flag bearer for the 1999 General Election?
A.    Well, here so many things were going on into my mind. At one stage, the South West politicians withdraw from the PDP, because of some individuals who showed themselves at one conference at the Ladi Kwali Sheraton. They accused them for going against their previous crusade on June 12 and therefore so long as they belong to the PDP they will not support the party. It was a very difficult situation for me. We had to fight very hard and at that time, the West was not supporting Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s candidature for the Presidency under the PDP platform, but mind you, as I have said earlier, we wanted a broad based political party and not based on regional enclave.
So the other parts of Nigeria, in fact more than three quarters, supported Olusegun Obasanjo’s nomination. I must inform the public, that the Presidential primaries held in Jos on 14th February 1999 was first and foremost democratic and excellent and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo won very comfortably. It was televised all over the world and I feel highly elated. Members of our party were anxious to head the party in their State. The PDP primaries conducted for the local Government elections throughout the Country showed that the PDP won in more than 2/3 of all the 774 local government elections in Nigeria, over whiningly. At the party’s Governorship Candidates, we also won in more than 2/3 of the States in the Country. The  PDP was already all over the Country.
Q.    Sir, would you say that it is the same slogan “Power to the People” of the defunct NPP, the party with which you won the 1979 Governorship election in the old Plateau State, that you transferred to the PDP at its formative stage?
A.    Well, I think it is by coincidence, I think those who contributed to the PDP formation like that slogan. So, it was adopted.
Q.    Do I take it that this was your handwork?
A.    (He laughed) No it was not my handwork. There were so many things involved.
Q.    When the party won the Presidential Election at that time, how did you feel as the party’s first National Chairman?
A.    I felt elated and I was grateful to God that I have fulfilled one important assignment in my life. We have worked so hard with my colleagues by bringing-in a duly elected Civilian President of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, after a long Military rule in Nigeria.
Q.    We will be very much interested to know how you have been relating with the party, after leaving office, as its National Chairman?
A.    I think we have been relating very well. They have been coming to see me and invite me for a meeting and I am still a member of the Board of Trusties of the PDP and a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party. So we have been relating very well.
Q.    What are your hopes and aspirations for the party today and in the future?
A.    Well my hope for the party is that the members should be humble. They should work hard. They should not bother about themselves, but bother more about the ordinary Nigerians whom they were asked to look after whenever they maybe, Weather they are in the Local Government Councils, House of Assemblies, State Executives, Federal House of Representative, the Senate and the Federal Executive, they should consider Nigeria as a country first and ensure that Nigerians are properly emancipated. Emancipation is my word and they are two: Political emancipation and Economic. Emancipation: Political Emancipation I think the second stage is the Economic emancipation which Nigerians have not been economically emancipated as I wanted it to be. Politically, Yes, we are there.
Q.    How will you like to be remembered Sir?
A.    Just as Solomon Lar, I have played my role. Must importantly fairness and I want every Nigerian to serve  Nigeria first as patriotic citizens
Thank you sir.
Thank you very much, Aliyu.
In view of the foregoing, three things emerged. The one that irked my mind most is the charge “self-enrichment.” I am not a lawyer, but if I am academically rich in knowledge or rich in Business, does is tantament to criminal act? If yes, then all knowledgeables or rich people are guilty. If no, then why jail S.D Lar on that charge and even ban him from holding public office? Does it also mean that when Chief Solomon Lar was appointed Minister of Police Affairs ( a Public Office), the ban order was a mere vindictive stance, or was it a colourful ploy to Justify the overthrow of the Second Republic by the Military that sent these politicians to jail, without fault and without choice? Here, both the Bar and the Bench, will do well to re-examine and possibly expunge this phrase “Self-enrichment” charge from our Law Books all together, because its Ordinary and Natural meanings, does not imply committing a criminal act. Its existence and usage therefore, makes the mind burgle!.
Secondly, all those who call themselves Political gladiators from 1999 to date, are mere beneficiaries of S.D. Lar’s Political Emancipation Programme and they should be grateful to him. Why because, he craftily dislodged the Military out of power and saw to the emergence of the Third Republic. I am therefore of the strong opinion that, a great man like Chief Solomon Daunshep Lar, merits not only a National Honour, but also his name should be immortalized by printing his photograph in one of Nigeria’s Currencies as an astute democrat and a true Representative of Democracy in Nigeria.
Thirdly, the PDP as a party, which has produced three consecutive Presidents: namely Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar Adua and the incumbent Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in that order, was technically his hard work. This is not counting States elected Governors and members of the Legislature, both at the Federal and State levels, as well as Local Government Chairmen and Councilors. They all benefited from Solomon Lar’s political emancipation programme. Therefore, the P.D.P will do well to appoint S.D Lar as its BOT Chairman.

“Education makes people easy to lead but difficult to drive, easy to govern but difficult to enslave.” Lord Henry Brougham.

Twenty years ago, five young people from Zaria dared to dream. Dr Alimi Bello, late Aminu Jamoh, Alhaji Abubakar Tamimu, Dr. Abdulkadir Kassim and Dr Isah M. Abbas sat down to review the lamentable state of education and the living conditions of people in Zaria, and resolved to initiate a movement to reverse a trend that showed all signs of worsening. They worried that if the trend then, captured by the statistics “degenerates a little further, there will hardly be anybody from this part of the country that will be qualified for admission into any institution of higher learning.” Yet institutions in Zaria admitted people from all over Nigeria, and these young people asked whether Zaria people should continue to allow themselves “to sit and watch others attend institutions of higher learning located in our environment to the exclusion of our brothers and children”? That dream was what culminated in the Zaria Education Development Association (ZEDA)
The dream was not about stopping other young people from attending institutions in Zaria, a tradition the people of Zazzau had inherited and maintained for centuries. The vision was to improve the quality of the education provided by schools in and around Zaria in such a manner that more and more children from Zazzau emirate will compete favourably with others for places in all institutions. The more Zazzau children qualified and gained admission at higher levels, the more the chances that the decaying economy of Zaria will be improved. Fewer numbers of children will finish primary and secondary schools without qualifications to proceed to higher institutions, or any hope to acquire skills or vocation as self-reliant adults. You will arrest crime and destitutions, and limit the damage which almajirai schools dropouts and barely-literate secondary school leavers cause to themselves and the community.
The dream of creating a community based-initiative to reverse a most damaging trend could not have had a better setting than Zaria. Zazzau Emirate, the capital of which is Zaria, has been a center of learning for centuries. Zaria accommodates quite probably more quality institutions of higher learning per capita than any other city in the country. Its legendary contribution to national elite from institutions such as Alhudahuda College, Barewa College, St. Paul’s College (now Kufena College), Nigerian Military School, and the octopus that is now the Ahmadu Bello University, numerous tertiary and research institutions and a number of relatively-new excellent private schools place it squarely in the forefront of the development of Islamic and western education. It is no exaggeration that the institutions of Zaria educated more than half of Nigeria’s elite. Sadly, it is also no exaggeration to say that the number of Zaria people that attended them dwindled with the expansion of the many opportunities which these institutions provided.
Fortunately, the dream of those young people was given substance by the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji (Dr) Shehu Idris, CFR and a number of prominent people of Zaria, all of whom had played pivotal roles in the development of education in Zaria in the past. The clarion call was answered by notable and distinguished people such as late Abdurrahman Mora, Muhammadu Lawal Sambo, Balarabe Mahmud, Engineer Abdullahi Nuhu Bamalli, late Muhammadu Bello Aliyu and Professor Mukhtar Abdurrahman, all of whom served on the Board of Trustees. Those who died were later replaced by equally distinguished and committed people such as Prof Yahya Aliyu, Dr Stephen Kitchener, Alhaji Muhammadu Jibo, Prof Idris Abdulkadir, late Engr Garba Yaroson, Alhaji (Dr) Gidado Idris, Hon Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, Mrs M.D. Akanya and Alhaji Ahmed T. Mora. Dr Alimi Bello has been the ubiquitous and indefatigable Secretary from inception.
Last week, the Zaria Education Development Association (ZEDA) celebrated its 20 years of existence with a series of events. The week of activity provided an opportunity for much stock-taking, congratulations and some lamentations over missed goals. There were many achievements to celebrate. A dream that become a reality and survived and developed over a twenty year period in our nation today is well-worth celebrating. It is even more a cause of celebration because it was a dream borne out of the desire of an elite to reach out and reduce the pains and deprivations of the underprivileged and the unfortunate. The anniversary celebrated many notable sacrifices which allowed excellence among school children to be recognized and celebrated. It acknowledged good teachers. It thanked those who provided scholarships and bursaries so that hundreds of students studied medicine, engineering, Arabic and political science; something they may not have been able to do. It acknowledge the uncommon spirit of communal self-support among the people of Zazzau Emirate; acknowledged their intellectuals, politicians, businessmen and leaders who supported the Association’s Remedial Programme, Vocation Training Programme, Prominent Indigene and Friends Scholarship Scheme, Workshops on Career Guidance and Counselling and the many competitions involving quiz, spelling and essays involving schools in and around Zaria. It received information that many communities and governments have sent study teams to learn how Zaria people did it.
On the whole, the 20th anniversary provided an opportunity to assess how privilege can build bridges within its community in a manner that prevents irreversible damage. Sadly, it also took cognizance of failures to achieve targets set by communities because a lot of intervening variables come into play. One of these is the failure of leaders to recognize that investment in quality education and skills acquisition is singularly the most important objective of northern governments today. Another is the absence of vision among political and community leaders which should guide the imperatives of good governance and reduce the damage of corruption and impunity by leaders. The week was also a sad reminder that the absence of a comprehensive programme to reverse the decline in education in the north, including the failure to come to terms with the limitations of the almajirci system and the widening gulf between the quality of education of children of the rich and those of the poor; as well as those between the north and south of the country, represent the biggest handicap in the desire of the north to heal itself and develop in a nation where education makes so much difference.
The people of Zazzau emirate had a good reason to celebrate a very important initiative last week. They would also have sent signals to other like-minded associations and governments that it is possible and necessary to adopt a holistic approach to the problems of education in the north. Charity can make difference, but it cannot replace sound policies, investment and vision. For Nigerians living in the North, the yardstick to apply in electing people in any election should now be how they intend to tackle the education of the young, and create an economy that allows them to get jobs. No one should get our votes if they have their children studying in England, Ukraine, Dubai or Ghana. The rich and the powerful cannot be safe and secure when children of the poor receive no education, no skills and no guarantees of life better than those of their parents. ZEDA reminds Nigerians that communities can help themselves. But communities must also elect and insist that leaders spend public funds to reduce the gulf between wealth and poverty. No child should be deprived of the opportunity to study to the limit of his or her ability because they have poor parents.

Since finishing fourth behind President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 presidential election as the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the immediate past governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, Sardaunan Kano, is one politician whose political or presidential credentials have been on the ascendancy and continued to enjoy nation-wide acceptability based on the gentlemanly, sporting and mature way he conducted himself and his presidential apparatus before, during and after the said presidential election. Not only was he able to perfectly handle all the pressures associated with vying for the hottest office in undoubtedly Africa’s hottest country, he was also able to impress many Nigerians, including a large section of the ever-critical Nigerian press with his sense of humility, vision, informed and correct grasp of issues, firm believe in the politics of ideologies/issues, strong faith in the Nigerian project despite  current challenges, nationalistic views on fundamental state matters, hard stand on corruption, genuine attachment to principles, commitment to true democracy, fear of God and intelligence.
These were the factors responsible for the high rating that Shekarau’s presidential ambition has been receiving across all the political, sectional and religious divides of the country in the last 2 years, which made him among the few serious contenders to the presidency in 2015. In the North in particular, only Buhari is ahead of Shekarau in terms of massive grass roots appeal and political value owing to his (Buhari) long-standing political romance with the generality of the masses as testified in his ability to consecutively ‘win’ the last 3 presidential elections (2003, 2007 and 2011) in the north. But Shekarau is slowly but steadly gaining grounds in the voting equation of the north and with greater determination, hard work and focus by his party and political machinery, the next 3 years leading to 2015 may prove both helpful and fruitful in his voter-hunting and mobilization drive.
The strong need for Shekarau and his team to conduct political advocacy tour to states in order to aggressively promote his presidential imperatives ahead of the 2015 elections can not be over-emphasized, just as it is also strategic for him to identify with CLOs since they are mainly concerned with advocating and defending the rights and privileges of the ordinary Nigerian who is, of course, supposed to be the central target for vote by a progressive-minded politician like Shekarau.
But of greater significance is the necessity for Shekarau/ANPP to initiate or enter into a credible alliance with other opposition parties against the 2015 presidential election. This is inevitable if Shekarau is to stand any serious chance of winning the election and emerge president! If Buhari with all his millions of votes in the north still “failed” to win 3 successive presidential elections largely because of the seeming inability of any of the parties he had so far contested the presidential elections as their respective candidate to enter into a credible alliance with other opposition parties with strongholds in the south-east and south-west, then Shekarau does not have any option but for his party to enter into a credible alliance if he truly wants to be president in 2015.
It must be mentioned though, that a stumbling bloc to the emergence of a credible political alliance in favour of Shekarau’s candidacy is the recurring Buhari question which is impossible to be overlooked in view of his large support base in the north. And in the event the alliance included the CPC, who will be the preferred presidential candidate? Shekarau or Buhari? But is any political alliance that excluded the CPC credible enough?
As an intelligent, pragmatic and successful politician who holds the enviable record of the only politician in the political history of Kano State (widely regarded as the hotbed of politics in the north) to have been elected back to back as governor in 2003 and 2007; a feat that even the flamboyant former governor, late Alh. Abubakar Rimi and the “kwankwasiyya” engrossed incumbent, Alh. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso could not achieve, Shekarau fully understands the fact that only a presidential candidate enjoying the backing of a credible alliance is capable of wrestling power away from the firm grip of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). And to achieve this, he must deploy all his persuasive, diplomatic and bargaining skills in order to emerge as the presidential candidate of a credible political alliance involving principally, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ACN, his own ANPP and Buhari’s CPC.