Confessionally, Katsina state is among the luckiest states to have acquired five multi-billion Naira irrigation projects littered across the state. Conservatively, these projects – Zobe, Jare, Dallaji, Sabke, and Jibia dam projects have gulped over 150 billion Naira from the Federal government in the last three decades. For instance, Zobe water supply project Phase I and II alone was appropriated N3.227 billion in the 2017 Appropriation under a budget line, FMOWR64053426. This is in addition to the “little chip in” by the Katsina state government, “now and then”. For example, in August 2003, the then-governor Umaru Yar’adua’s government allocated a princely sum of N317 million for funding a 16-kilometer supply of water from Zobe Dam to Dutsinma town. One can only appreciate the staggering huge resources allocated to these projects after going through their financial audits. These projects, like all other civil engineering projects, have lifespan whether utilized or unutilized, and it will be a colossal loss of public resources, and a disservice to the nation if they attain their lifespan without reaping the expected benefits. Katsina state government must do everything possible to derive the maximum benefits from these projects. So, the major concern is how to make these underperforming, almost abandoned projects perform excellently for the benefit of Katsina state and the nation at large.
Browsing: Prof. M.K. Othman
Nostalgically, my hope of a better tomorrow for Katsina state was kindled in 2008 when I joined experts from ABU Zaria who were commissioned to make a project proposal for revamping agriculture in the state. On that note, I subconsciously dreamt of Katsina state gloriously galloping ahead of its peers at the envy of Kano and Kaduna states. The revamping project took us to all nooks and crannies of the state and dug out the actual and potential of agricultural resources littered across the state. I led the Irrigation team that appraised 25 selected irrigation schemes/projects under State and Federal Governments. The state has 36,200 ha of potentially irrigable land in the Fadama and over 10,000 ha of land that can be developed for irrigation under the irrigation projects of the Federal government for the Zobe, Jibia, and Sabke dams. Irrigation provides meaningful employment during the dry season, intensifies land use, and provides food during periods of scarcity. It is also a source of foreign exchange when food crops are exported outside the country. Additionally, irrigation prevents rural-urban migration with its consequent social ills and sure way of reducing poverty.
Peter Gregory Obi, a 1984 graduate of Philosophy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka is a dogged political fighter and appears to be a committed nationalist struggling to take Nigeria out of economic doldrums and developmental stagnation. His political sojourn is full of ups and downs, with each down making him a stronger and more ferocious fighter for the next round of fighting. As written in this Column, a few months ago. His tenure as the governor of Anambra state was marred by upheavals. Obi’s victory in the 2003 governorship election of Anambra was awarded to Ngige, which was overturned by the Court of Appeal on March 15, 2006. Obi assumed office on March 17, 2006, but was impeached On Nov. 2, 2006, by the State House of Assembly after seven months in office and was replaced by his deputy Virginia Etiaba. He was re-instated on Feb. 9, 2007, by the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu. In April 2007, Obi was removed from office after a new governorship election was held by INEC, but the judiciary intervened again and ruled that he should be allowed to complete a full four-year term. In 2010, he won re-election for a second and final term in office as the governor. Despite these happenings, Obi was able to perform “wonders” in Anambra. His testimony is full of fantastic stories.
The second part of this article was published on 8th March 2023 and then two key political issues crossed my mind, which made me discontinue this article. My esteemed readers, please, pardon my break and now, I am back to continue on the subject. Recall, the last line of part II of this article ended with two pertinent questions. Can Africa afford GMT? What is the viable strategy for Africa to benefit from cutting–edge technology?
Katsina State is the home state to two illustrious sons democratically elected presidents, the former President, the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua of blessed memory, and President Muhammadu Buhari whose two 4-year consecutive tenures winds up on May 29th. Katsina state dubbed as the home of hospitality covers a total land area of 23,938 sq. km and is ranked 7th in total land mass and 6th in population size-. Of the total land resource, 1.6 million hectares of land is under intensive cultivation, while the forest reserve is now mostly bandits’ den. The famous Rugu forest was the envy of all due to its rich array of fauna and flora now a dread that only men of the underworld occupy from where they unleash their mayhem on the peace-loving, hapless, and agrarian communities. The other forest, Kogo in Faskari LGA, which was recently converted into National Park has been a virgin land with the utmost potential for economic activities. Moreover, a large expanse of undeveloped, and underdeveloped land is sparsely available across the state for utilization. The land can be ostensibly utilized for rainfed and irrigated agricultural production. The state is blessed with plenty of surfaces and underground waters that can be harnessed for irrigation. Major rivers which originate in or traverse the state include Koza, Sabke, Tagwai, Gada, Turami, Karaduwa, Bunsuru, Gagare, Sokoto, Tubo, Chalawa, and Karma. Most of these rivers, which flow only during the rainy seasons, are dammed to provide water for irrigation. The state has a tropical continental and semi-arid climate with annual rainfall ranging from 600mm in the northern part to 1000 mm in the southern part.
Agriculture should be the next priority after education for the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) to reroute Nigeria’s pathway to glory. Agriculture can create 100s of millions of jobs, eradicate poverty, reduce social crimes, attain food security, and attract millions of foreign exchange-earning. Developing agriculture in Nigeria today is akin to plucking the low-hanging fruits, which requires simple effort, concerted determination, and focus. This is because Nigeria has unlimited agricultural potential and the capability of feeding the African continent. The development of agriculture depends on four key resources; education/knowledge, human, water, and land resources.
Miraculously, the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) as the next president was uniquely different from how the past three and current presidents became number one citizens. President Olusegun Obasanjo did not plan or dream of becoming Nigerian president before he was overwhelmed and persuaded to become PDP flag bearer and won the election in 1999. He garnered 18 million votes to beat his close rival, Chief Olu Falae who contested under a joined ticket of AD-APP.
In Nigeria, tension, apprehension, anxiety, and uncertainty enveloped the nation few days after the 25th February 2023 presidential election. On 23rd February, two days before D-day, I was on a trip to Kano from Zaria and found myself driving in the campaign train of one of the four leading political parties. A journey of one and a half hours took me four hours with all my maneuvers and knowledge of alternative routes. The mammoth crowd of youth, elderly and women campaigners shouting and cursing with euphoria made the scene look like a war zone. No one was talking about any political party agenda of good governance, economic emancipation, illiteracy eradication and the like. It was simply a show of political force with rented and other crowds to outwit other parties. That scenario was replicated in almost every nook and cranny of Nigeria in the name of political party campaigns from a few months to few days before the election. The scene created tautness and nervousness among the electorate while eroding hopes for a glorious Nigeria. With this scenario among the lower class of Nigerians, the political elites were spiritedly undoing each other in the spirit of “either I or my stooge get political power by any means or no one gets it”. Right from the parties’ primaries, Nigerian politicians showed their true colors as each one of them was pursuing personal and primordial interests above that of the nation. Delegates of the two major parties were transported, fed, camped, and teleguided on whom to vote for a handsome price in hard currencies.
This is a corollary to my article of 16th February 2023. The continuation of this article was disrupted by the topical issues of cashless policy implantation and the 2023 presidential election. Now, I am back to the topic. The enormity of food security issues in Africa is a major concern to both people of Africa and the entire world. It is pertinent to bring out major food insecurity indicators that comprehensively measured food security in the world. There are two major indicators “Prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) and Food insecurity experience scale (FIES)” for measuring the “Prevalence of severe food insecurity”. While the average PoU of North America and the European Union from the year 2000 to 2016 was 2.5 percent of their population, Africa recorded 24.3 percent in the year 2000, which reduced to 17.8 percent in 2013 and then increased to 20.1 percent in 2016. As of 2021, the prevalence of undernourishment in Africa stood at 20.2 percent. The levels of food insecurity and hunger on the continent overall increased from 2014 onwards.
A few years ago, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) rated eighty-six countries as low-income and food-deficient nations, thus, considered to be food insecure (http://www.fao.org/docrep/w9290e/w9290e01.htm). Forty-three out of these food-deficient countries are located in the African continent, which has a total of 58 countries. The most affected among the forty-three countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where chronic hunger, squalor, and abject poverty are widespread. This is despite overall gains recorded in food production and food security over a decade on a global scale.