South-South does not produce oil–Al-Bashir
Photo: Sun News Publishing Al-Bashir
By: ISMAIL OMIPIDAN AND NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna Date: Sat, 06/02/2012 - 23:10
Abdulkarim Al-Bashir, a veteran journalist and former Editor-in-Chief/ Managing Director of the defunct The Democrat Newspaper, is one of the few northerners with a leftist bend.

In this encounter with a team from Sunday Sun, he x-rays the problem with the North and even Nigeria, with declaration that, contrary to the posture by the South-South leaders, the area does not produce oil, it is just endowed. He spoke on other issues, including Boko Haram and 2015. Excerpts…

Northern governors are asking for more money but some Nigerians are kicking saying the region doesn’t produce anything. What is your take on this? You see, there is no point saying some Nigerians, it is the South-South people who are saying so. I have been following the series in your paper. But do you know that the South-South does not produce oil? It is produced by others. The South-West, the North and the South-East do the actual production: their farmers do actual production, their miners do actual production.

So, when you are talking of who is producing on its own, it is these people from the West, from the North, from the East who are in production. I was reading a statistics recently by the Federal Bureau of Statistics and it said, between the year 2009 and 2010, the agricultural activities in Nigeria was worth N80 trillion, that is the total agricultural activities in Nigeria.

So, who is actually producing? Now, if we take that argument, you don’t produce anything, I make bold to say the South-South is just endowed. How many of them even participate in the actual oil production? But you see, the man talking, I mean Chief Edwin Clark, is a man who is used to certain languages, which ordinarily should not come from an elder like him.

Like I am saying, South-South is oil endowed, there is no doubt about that, but South-South does not produce oil. We are talking about production: let’s understand the word ‘production’, the Yoruba man produces Cocoa, and the northerner goes to the farm and produce. But what do the South-South produce, nothing! I will tell you this very interesting story, with due respect. During the June 12 crisis, I was a discussant at Ota; I can’t remember who the Minister of Agriculture was then. But there was Gambo Jimm eta and others, at the occasion. So, at the programme, a colleague of mine who was a General Manger of Osun Radio told me ‘Malam! Malam!! Malam!!! You Northerners are cowards.

Then, I said, what happened again? He said ‘are you not aware of June 12 crisis where a lot of people ran away, came down here? I said yes, I am aware. He said ‘Segun Osoba called us and said please tune down your insults on these people (northerners), because we are finding it difficult to maintain Government House.

He said the tomato which was costing Government House between N500 to N700, had suddenly gone up, because the Hausa traders stopped their trailers from heading to the South-West. And he said the goat which they were buying for N20, 000 had gone to N80, 000 and N90, 000. That was what Osoba was said, according to him. He went on to say that ‘he discovered that if you people close the two bridges in Benue and Jebba, you don’t need a gun to fight and I am not going to be surprised if you conquer the East with hunger.’ We talked and laughed. But that is the bitter truth. The problem we have in this country is that we do not value each other. That is our problem: you look at yourself and you think you are the best for Nigeria and others are not good Nigerians.

But, in the real sense of it, northern leaders have been complaining of pervasive poverty and the argument from the leaders in the South-South is that, ‘look, for all these years, it is your people that had been in power and failed to improve the lot of northerners.

Let us look at it from two angles. The first angle is the people of Niger-Delta are getting each what the six states of North-East were getting. What did they do with the money that led to the crisis in the Niger-Delta? That is one way of looking at it. Another way is that, are you now saying that, because a northerner was there, the northerner must do things that suited the North and not the other parts of the country? I think, if we look at this argument, you will even say, that the northern leaders who were in power didn’t discriminate against others.

That is another way of looking at it. But there is also another way of looking at it; how much of this money has been pumped into the welfare of the people? That is a solid argument. Some of these resources are diverted, largely into self-sustaining projects like political campaigns. And so, northern leaders must justify their demands for this. But, why should this demand be, when for instance, statistics have shown that 65 to 70 per cent of mineral deposits in Nigeria is in the North but they have never come together to exploit these potentials. But, there was another statistics by the World Bank which says that Nigeria can earn three times from solid minerals, what it is earning from oil.

They also ignored that. Then, agriculture: the World Food Programme once said, although that is an old statistics, that Nigeria can earn five times from agriculture what it can earn from oil. That was also ignored. I will tell you on interesting story the Israeli Ambassador paid a courtesy call on The Democrat Newspaper, when I was the Editor-in-Chief and she said, Israel does not produce a single drop of solid mineral: there is no single drop of solid mineral under Israeli soil. But, that Israel was the third largest producer of solid minerals.

And I said, your Excellency, how was that possible? She looked at me, laughed and said, it is we the Israeli that are exploiting the solid mineral resources in Nigeria, because your government abandoned it. She went on to say that ‘you northerners have more of these solid minerals, but you are always looking at oil’. In other words, because of the neglect of the northern leaders, they ignored what they have to behave like beggars, waiting for oil money.

That was part of the problem here (in the north). But, let us not argue that, okay, what did you do with the money? Because what did the other states do with their own money? We cannot say their people are all exposed. But, it is a valid point here that they ignored certain resources. And that is why I am suggesting that the Nigerian government should make deliberate policies to diversify the economy.

For instance, since large deposit of bitumen was discovered in the South-West, it has been ignored. Obasanjo wanted to do something about it but I don’t know how he went in trying to exploit the bitumen deposit in the west. So, my position is that, if the Federal Government is not interested in exploiting the solid mineral resources, what the National Assembly should do is to devolve the right to exploit the solid mineral resources to the states.

And you see, that is why we are having a lot of problems. Look at Zamfara where a lot of people were killed because they were trying to exploit this thing illegally and the Federal Government was not doing anything about it. Not even the state government was doing anything about it. So, there is no doubt that the Northern Governors are capable of ending some of the problems that they are having here. And if you look at it, the so-called Boko Haram, how did it start? It was started as a kind of political thugs, just like MEND. If you go through some of the papers, I can give you some of the copies where some of the governors were named as those people sponsoring MEND at that time.

At least, five of them were mentioned, they were the ones supplying arms to MEND. In Borno, they were used equally by the political forces. So, all over the country, these people were being used and at the end of the day, they are dumped, and then, they say, they cannot take it and start a struggle. So, I have to admit one thing, the culpability of northern governors in not trying to exploit the resources they have at their disposal, which is responsible for what is happening. I also have to admit the culpability of the Federal Government in not trying to solve the Nigerian problems.

Now, the in thing is about 2015. What is your position: North or South? This idea of North and South, is not in our best interest. Let’s go back to the states. In my own Gongola State as it was then called, and in fact, in my own village, the total number of legislators UPN had were from my own local government. I think they were about four of them at that time in the State Assembly and our representative at the House of Representatives was also UPN. There was no idea of North-South at that time.

Later on, the North- South dichotomy crept in, because the Nigerian youths have never been properly educated on what I call the ideals of the Nigerian nation. They have not been properly educated on that. So, the leadership of the Nigerian people and the rulers now discovered that, and they have to use tribalism, ethnicity and regionalism to keep the Nigerian people divided, because, once the Nigerian people are divided, then they can have their way easily.

However, talking about 2015, I don’t believe in this concept of this turn- by- turn kind of thing, but then, you cannot even achieve it until you have a full constitutional provision for it. What will make you think for instance that the PDP will continue to rule? Now, if for instance CPC picks presidential candidate from the South, and that presidential candidate wins, it is against the so-called concept of zoning. So, the point I am trying to make is that, you have to make this thing constitutional and say, all the political parties must pick their candidates from one particular zone at a given time. Otherwise, there is no way you are going to have this, except if you are surrendering Nigeria to the PDP. But that appears to be the situation today.

Yes, I think I agree with you. From all indications, except miracles happen, it seems the opposition is not ready for power. In addition, with what is going on now in PDP, it appears PDP for a long time will continue to determine the fate of Nigeria. And we suspect that, that is probably why we are seeing these insults from South-South to North. I think they are coming because of 2015. It’s true because already, Edwin Clark is saying Mr. President should ditch his pronouncement that he was not going to contest in 2015 which was carried by your paper.

And already there are meetings that are putting pressure on him (Jonathan) that he must contest in 2105. Again, the insult falls into my categorization that the South- South wants to keep Nigerian people divided. But let me ask one candid question: What has Obasanjo done for the Yoruba more than he has done for other parts of this country? What can the Yoruba say ok, we got this thing because of Obasanjo?’ There is nothing. Unfortunately now, because of the behavior of our leaders, we are made to understand that except your own is there, you cannot get anything. That is because of the behavior of the leader. But this is most unfortunate.

Why do you think it is difficult for the North to come together and speak with one voice over this 2015 matter? Go into the history of the North, it is one region in Nigeria that has never belonged to one political party. During the First Republic, you had NEPU, UMBC in the minority area and then you had the Borno Youth Movement, all of them contesting for power. During the Shagari era when politics returned, you had NPP at that time, we had the PRP, NEPU, NPN and all the others. So, the North has never moved along one political path throughout its history partly because of its diversity. Of the 250 tribes in Nigeria, 80 percent of them are in the North.

The Niger Delta I understand is made up of just about 15 tribes. So there is lot of contending forces in the North that makes it very, very difficult to move along one political line. You saw it during the last election too; there was no of unity in the north. The Middle-belt actually moved along the First Republic track of UMBC, which was very prominent in that part of the country as at that time. Therefore, it is very, very difficult. Many of these northern governors for instance would not even want to belong to the Northern States Governors’ Forum, but it is just that they have no way of getting out it. So, if you look at it from that historical part, you cannot but conclude that, the North has never moved along one political track and that is what is still going on.

While in secondary school in those days, we were made to believe that, the North has the political power and the South the economic power but today, it appears the North has lost both economic and political power. What could have been responsible for this trend?

Through the carelessness of the North, because even the economic power they. Going back to your question, political power because of the motivations of this other strong economic resources. We lost sight of our agriculture and other mineral resources and went to sleep hoping that the oil will continue to come in. So you have to blame that on the carelessness of the North and the carelessness of the Nigerian leadership over the years of trying to put all the Nigerian eggs in one basket.

That has been the problem and this is what I called the imperialism of oil. Oil has dominated all other sectors of the economy and has reduced all other sectors to nothingness. That is the problem, so it is not that the North has no economic bases, it is just that the North has been very, very careless and negligent in the management of its economic potentials and today as it were, it has neither the economic power nor the political power.

So, what is next? Only God knows, and that is why we are having these problems and it is a very serious problem and I wish one northern governor was here to answer this question. What is next for them? What are they going to do? How are they going to survive all these kind of attacks in quote when we are very, very divided, when everything they want is to go to sleep and in the process they dream big and that do not come to reality.

Lots of arguments have been going on in the North that those who have taken the front seats politically, from the region, should withdraw for younger elements to take over. What is your view on that?

Yes, I am always very, very happy about youth leadership. I want Nigerians to go back into history. Throughout the history of Nigeria from pre-independence, take it from the time of Herbert Macaulay, how old was he? Awolowo, Azikiwe and Tafawa Balewa? They were within the youth age bracket but since then, we have consistently been complaining.

I think Obasanjo retired at the age of 38. Gen. Gowon came to power at the age of 32, Buhari perhaps was the oldest at about 41 or 42 and Babangida. Therefore, they were all within the bracket. 90 percent of our commissioners and ministers were also from the youth bracket but since pre-independence, we have been complaining about the attitude of our leaders. Are we now not justified to say that, the youths have been ruling this country and have been ruining this country if you go into that? Look, it is not the question of age, or how ok you are because some of the atrocities being committed in Nigeria today, half of it were carried out by the youths.

Those people fighting in the Niger-Delta, the Boko Haram people, the MASSOB and even OPC as at that time were all young people that were taking on their societies. So, the Nigerian youths have to re-orient themselves to go back into history. If we are going to look into Nigerian’s situation, let us leave sentiment out of it. I can justify to you that the youths have been destroying Nigeria since pre-independence.

Recently Yakassai said of all the banks in Nigeria just one, and in which the north does not own 100 percent, belongs to the region. What is your take on this? Now, looking at the positions of the bank before consolidation, the North had substantial interests in several of them. The consolidation process consumed most of the regional banks and I am sorry to tell you that, there are people who believed that, the consolidation process was to pack the northern foot off the bank. How true this is, I am yet to investigate because I have no facts. However, it is believed that it was another way of cutting down the economic power of the North and that is why they ended up with one bank; the Unity Bank.

Back to security matters, how in your own view do you think we can end the Boko Haram insurgence?

Well, first, what caused Boko Haram? Boko Haram has been in existence in Nigeria for some time under different names. They operated in Yobe where they were known as Talibans. The late Mohammed Yusuf was their leader. Some of them actually left him and settled in Yobe because they saw that he was soft. Mohammed Yusuf was arrested several times by the Nigerian government and each time he went to Abuja, the next day he was released. I think the late Sheik Jafar said there was something going on and the government of Nigeria and that they did not say anything about it, he was going to expose it and I think that was why he was killed.

This man knew that there were problems and he said it and alerted the Nigerian authority but they did nothing about it. He even said in on the tape that, there was a time Yusuf vanished from this country and he said on his return he was going to be arrested but nothing happened after Yusuf returned. So, Boko Haram went on preaching their own kind of ideology. Once I listened to a lengthy discussion with one professor and late Yusuf, where he actually denied saying that Western education is Haram.

What he said was that, there are some aspects of Western education that conflict with Islamic teachings and he said such ones are Haram. For instance, he said a man and a woman sitting together is Haram and the late Jafar actually condemned the Boko Haram concept. But in spite of all that, their leader Yusuf was killed in Maiduguri. And the security drew the first blood when the members were on their way to bury their dead, they had an encounter with the security, and 14 of them were killed for not wearing helmet.

The excesses of our security forces which has been highlighted in the media, their penchant for extra judicial killings is the root cause of all these things. We have to face the truth, even if Boko Haram was a kind of violent organization, up till that time they had not demonstrated it and even if they did, it was not a licence for the security forces to kill them without judicial processes. Mohammed Yusuf from the information gathered made some contacts and told even the police commissioner that they have to pay some compensation for killing their members but nobody listened to him until they decided to show their grievances.

Recall also that the father in-law of Yusuf was one of those that had been reporting Yusuf to the police. And when he went to the police station after the 2009 uprising, the next thing we saw on Aljazeera was how the police were killing them. There was no justification for that. There was no justification for the Boko Haram to have attacked the police for they must respect the institution of the Nigerian State. And the police too should also respect the right of the Nigerian people and also protect them. But this concept of killing people extra-judicially is part of what is causing the problems.

I remember when Yar’Adua was travelling out in 2009, he said ‘don’t have sympathy for them hence they are dangerous people in the society.’ Yar’Adua said that when he was going to Mexico or so. When he came back, a committee of inquiry was set up comprising the very security forces that carried out these atrocities against these people. But nobody heard anything afterwards. Now, back to your question, the Nigerian Government has been handling it as if they are interested in what Boko Haram is doing.

The manner they have been handling this thing shows to me that they are interested in it, and are using it for political purposes. Sorry, I don’t have any evidence to back it, but I can read it. Otherwise, I cannot even see the justification for all this delay okay. They took some people to court, have we heard anything about it since then? Recently, some people were caught in Ghana with 32 million ammunition. Up till today, the Ghanaian people are prosecuting their own, the others who are one British and one German are being prosecuted in London, the Nigerian Government applied for the two Nigerians, but have you heard anything in court?

I don’t even believe that the whole thing is caused by Boko Haram. I still think that there are certain things lurking in the corner, pretending to be Boko Haram, taking advantage of Boko Haram. A lot of evidences have emerged, like for instance, what happened in Mubi, very close to my own village. It was discovered that it was not Boko Haram, and the Adamawa State government was very kind enough to do a lengthy statement on that, which was published in some papers. So, there are groups already using Boko Haram for one particular reason or the other.

Two days ago, I was discussing with somebody and he said, ‘have you noticed that Boko Haram is only operating where Jonathan lost? I said, what do you mean? And he named them; Kano, Maiduguri, Yobe, Gombe and bla, bla.

eh...

Na gode dattijio, he spoke my mind but I must point out that he does not fully understand the issue here.

In as much as "northern" leaders have not benefited the people, I would categorically say he was baised by not pointing the fault of the northern leaders like IBB and co.

He cannot justify the almajiri crisis because the so called "Ibb" and atiku are caring about the SW, SS, SE. I find it very comical and full of lies.

The reason why northern leader have not helped the people of the north is NOTHING SHORT OF GREED !!! Greed to enrich themselves, Most of them have become muiltbillionairs within 20 years without any substantial business they run, thus I ask where did they get their muilti billions from ?

Al-bashir I am not justifying their southern counterpart but please the fact remains that majority of these retired northern generals are the cause of the problem facing Nigeria thanks to their southern counterpart as well "OBJ".

Couple with their southern counterpart, you get a country like Nigeria.

The Middle-belt actually moved along the First Republic track of UMBC, which was very prominent in that part of the country as at that time. Therefore, it is very, very difficult. Many of these northern governors for instance would not even want to belong to the Northern States Governors’ Forum, but it is just that they have no way of getting out it.

This is the different between the north and south.
In the south we love and cherish freedom and enjoy our diversity,
While in the north they love it when people are in the cage and bondage.

Why shouldn't middle beltan governor's form their regional governors forum, because of fear on what will the core north do next to them.
You see, you can't be save when all your neighbours cries and leave in fear of you, i see core north as time bomb.

Take for example, south west are mix with pagans, christians and muslims infact even all southern region.
But we have never heared of any geo region in the south declear their region as belonging to one religion.
The core north did it, do they think that those pagan's and christian among them are happy.
they are just waiting for the judgment day.

Anyway mr.al bashir thanks for your one sided view of nigeria situation.
when you see middle beltan's going 1st republic path, it simply mean that they have huge reservation against the core north.

The Middle-belt actually moved along the First Republic track of UMBC, which was very prominent in that part of the country as at that time. Therefore, it is very, very difficult. Many of these northern governors for instance would not even want to belong to the Northern States Governors’ Forum, but it is just that they have no way of getting out it.

What happens to the way of their getting out?
What will happen to them if they try getting out?
Can some one esplain why they couldn't go out?
Who is Al bashir to say such words with full courage and pride?
Why did the north enjoy keeping slaves?
When will they treat others fairly as humans?
The southern path ways to enjoy freedom, why not the north?


Do they think when East and west come togather the north and their evils will see the light of the day.
we in the south love it when our neighbours are free and happy.

The simple fact of the matter is that people need to be weaned of this oil matter...every state has one resource or the other but because of the laziness induced by waiting for oil, people can think normally again...when we advocate for this...the proponents of the current system will accuse us of asking for the country to be broken up...i.e if you are saying we have to look inwards and work hard then the country must be broken up...this kinda logic baffles me..

This guy just doesn't have his facts right. Doesn't Cross River 'produce' cocoa in significant amounts? So why is he mentioning cocoa? Or is Cross River suddenly Yoruba?

Cocoa and rubber are the largest non-oil exports from Nigeria and the production is spread out across different ethnicites and political regions. Anyway, the agricultural sector is nowhere near where it should be so it's a waste of time trying to argue about who contributes the most to it.

I can't be bothered to dissect his rant but I should point out that anybody actually claiming that the non-Western, non-Eastern, non-Northern states can't or don't produce anything other than oil is a fool.

PhysicsQED: This guy just doesn't have his facts right. Doesn't Cross River 'produce' cocoa in significant amounts? So why is he mentioning cocoa? Or is Cross River suddenly Yoruba?

Cocoa and rubber are the largest non-oil exports from Nigeria and the production is spread out across different ethnicites and political regions. Anyway, the agricultural sector is nowhere near where it should be so it's a waste of time trying to argue about who contributes the most to it.

I can't be bothered to dissect his rant but I should point out that anybody actually claiming that the non-Western, non-Eastern, non-Northern states can't or don't produce anything other than oil is a fool.

Most times Cross River, akwaibom and Edo are not looked at as Niger Delta.Even Delta North. That man has the qualities of those Northerners that are surprisingly exceptionally intelligent.I've met a few of them and several dunces.

[/b][b]

Azaw:

Most times Cross River, akwaibom and Edo are not looked at as Niger Delta.Even Delta North. That man has the qualities of those Northerners that are surprisingly exceptionally intelligent.I've met a few of them and several dunces.

[quote author=Azaw]


Definitely an ignorant person, why surprisingly and you dont seem to know the meaning of several - which is simply a number between 2 to 9. Few may even be greater than several depending on the population you are dealing with.

[b][b][/b]

[img]http://www.50centloseweight.com[/img]Good point

PhysicsQED: This guy just doesn't have his facts right. Doesn't Cross River 'produce' cocoa in significant amounts? So why is he mentioning cocoa? Or is Cross River suddenly Yoruba?

Cocoa and rubber are the largest non-oil exports from Nigeria and the production is spread out across different ethnicites and political regions. Anyway, the agricultural sector is nowhere near where it should be so it's a waste of time trying to argue about who contributes the most to it.

I can't be bothered to dissect his rant but I should point out that anybody actually claiming that the non-Western, non-Eastern, non-Northern states can't or don't produce anything other than oil is a fool.

It's well known that oil production in any place greatly destroys the eco system making it agriculturally unproductive. Rivers, Bayelsa and southern Delta are totally oil producing areas thus the un-ethical method of production pollutes the land and water making survival alone hard enough.
Why Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and northern Delta can farm is because of the absence of oil production on-shore. Even in Imo, Abia and Ondo,it is the same story in the oil producing areas.
Please don't join issues with these biased northerners who are only out to deceive the ignorant ones.

Al Bashir, is technically correct and he probably should add that most of the oil production is done by corporations wherein Northerners are the largest shareholders. Don't ask me why that is the case.

Bashir is indirectly saying that the SS is really the Parasite here. In addition to Bashir's claims, most of the oil revenues is from off shore oil anyway, far away from the SS in Nigeria's waters.

If I were Edwin Clark and others, I wouldn't push this thing too hard, there may be more to lose than gain.

ndu_chucks: Al Bashir, is technically correct and [size=14pt]he probably should add that most of the oil production is done by corporations wherein Northerners are the largest shareholders.[/size] Don't ask me why that is the case.

Bashir is indirectly saying that the SS is really the Parasite here. In addition to Bashir's claims, most of the oil revenues is from off shore oil anyway, far away from the SS in Nigeria's waters.

If I were Edwin Clark and others, I wouldn't push this thing too hard, there may be more to lose than gain.

Perhaps we should try to find out why the bolded is the case in Nigeria. How exactly did these Northerners corner large shares in oil companies?
I laughed at this comment below:

He went on to say that ‘[size=14pt]he discovered that if you people close the two bridges in Benue and Jebba, you don’t need a gun to fight and I am not going to be surprised if you conquer the East with hunger.’[/size] We talked and laughed.

I laughed because all my life growing up in Eastern Nigeria where I stayed till adulthood, I only ate Yams from Anam and cassava from local Nnewi sources. I also ate rice from Abakaliki and Anaku, both in SE. The tomato he brags about is not an Igbo staple food. Igboman can live a whole like without eating tomato or onions (which BTW are easy to cultivate). So the comment is what I call pure hubris.

He made some other points that are true though.

ndu_chucks: Al Bashir, is technically correct and he probably should add that most of the oil production is done by corporations wherein Northerners are the largest shareholders. Don't ask me why that is the case.

Bashir is indirectly saying that the SS is really the Parasite here. In addition to Bashir's claims, most of the oil revenues is from off shore oil anyway, far away from the SS in Nigeria's waters.

If I were Edwin Clark and others, I wouldn't push this thing too hard, there may be more to lose than gain.

F**k you!!