Maigida Mass Transit: Did Abdulrazaq O Hamzat got it wrong?
Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

In 2012, when Former President Goodluck Jonathan increased the pump price of fuel, Nigerians trooped out enmasse to protest the increment in a popular mass revolt known as #OccupyNigeria and after several days of protest in which the country was basically shutdown, the Government was forced to reverse its policy, though not as demanded by the people.

As part of measures taken to cushion effect of the fuel price increment, FG gave some of the poorest states Mass Transit Buses to reduce transportation problems. Kwara is one of those poor states that received those buses. Between 2012 and 2017, it’s just 5 years interval and if I may ask, where are those Mass Transit buses given to Kwara State? They are no where to be found.

Some say they are dead due to lack of sustainability, other says they simply could not survive due to lack of patronage. Some people that spoke to me after my opinion piece about the Maigida Mass Transit even claimed that the so called Maigida Mass Transit were the same refurbished buses donated by the former President. According to them, the buses could not survive then and wouldn’t now, they will soon pack up. Though they may be needed in the future, but definitely not now. The Mass Transit Scheme is doomed to fail, they reaffirm.

I gave you the above background due to an opinion piece widely circulated yesterday by government propaganda agents from Kwara and Abuja yesterday. The piece was titled, ‘’Maigida Mass Transit: Abdulrazaq got it wrong’’. It was in response to my piece titled Mass Transit is doomed to fail is Kwara.

I must concede here that the writer is free to express his views about my opinion. However, i was surprise that despite the huge budget set aside to oil propaganda machine by the Kwara State government, none of their home ground agents could come up with a response, they had to go all the way to Abuja to author a rejoinder. Since the author like me is resident in Abuja, i don’t know if he visit Ilorin regularly like I do. Nonetheless, i may invite him to break Ramadan with me some of these days.

In his the fact less rejoinder, the upper part was used to attack my person, while the other part was concentrated on the subject. Since i do not respond to attacks against my person, the writer of the rejoinder won in that aspect. I shall thereby concentrate on the issues.

According to the writer, my condemnation of the Soludero (Confusionist) project is fundamentally flawed because according to him, ‘’I am still locked in the past’’.
I think I agree with the writer.

Since 1979, when Saraki came into Kwara political equation, the state has remained in standstill. It could be that I and the rest of our people remained in the past because, while we are in 2017, development in the state still remains in the pre 1979 era. Conversely, one may not even say Kwara development had been on stand still, instead, we may say without fear of contradiction that Kwara development had actually been on retrogression.

This is so because the pre Saraki Kwara is a developing state, with several striving establishments, whiles the Saraki Kwara is a perfect example of an under-developed state. Probably, this is why Kwara progressives and i prefer to remain in the developing era, while the writer and the gang who held kwara to ransom choose the opposite.

Some time past, I came across a report titled, ‘’Bacita: Kwara's forgotten industrial town’’Let us read together from that report:

‘’The mention of Bacita immediately evokes memories of the now comatose Nigeria Sugar Company. The image of the defunct firm still lies in the town which used to be a commercial hub in Kwara State. But today, the town is a shadow of itself, with the once-known industrial town lacking in development. The absence of good roads may have contributed to the deplorable nature of the town. The collapse of the Sugar Company and Nigeria Yeast and Alcohol Manufacturing Company has made life in the town unattractive. "Bacita used to be tourism and excursion center for students and visitors who came to the state. It really assisted the economy of the country then because of the Sugar firm and NIYAMCO that were functioning. But now, the moribund nature of the companies has led to the collapse of most activities in the community."

The above clearly tells the difference between pre Saraki and Saraki era in Kwara State, as the above description isn’t just the case in Bacita, it also applies to every sector, town and communities across the then developing State, now in comatose. From once-known industrial state, we became DE-industrialized state and from a road developing state; we became a state synonymous with deplorable roads. In other words, Kwara is a shadow of itself and this is what kept us as the 32nd least paying state.

Additionally, the writer had claimed that, ‘’anyone who has witnessed the harrowing experience students go through looking for transportation will understand why there is need for intervention in the sector in the way the state government has done, but Mr Lanre Sahad, a decent observer of trend in the state while responding to my previous piece on Kwara Must Change succinctly presented the arguement.

For the purpose of argument, let us assume that 2 of the buses will ply Challenge to Unilorin road, it can only carry full passengers from challenge to Unilorin during rushing hours between 8-10am and return with low or no passenger at all. If the driver insists on carrying passengers while returning to challenge, he or she should be ready to wait like forever. In this jet age, no reasonable person will sacrifice the time to wait in a Mass Transit, even if it is free. Conversely, rushing hours from Unilorin back to Challenge last between 4 – 6pm. The bus will equally return to Unilorin with low or no passengers. Same analysis goes for the 2 buses that will ply Kwara Polytechnic via Teaching Hospital. These are the only places with considerable passengers that may board the buses, but unfortunately, they are only there occasionally.

Can such concessional passengers sustain a Mass Transit bus? You decide.

Furthermore, the writer also dived into the Internally Generated Revenue drive by the Kwara State government. According to him, ‘’when this government started the internal revenue revolution, many critics condemned it because to them, there is no money in a civil service state like Kwara. But today we know the difference; from N600 million monthly to N1.2 billion.

It is funny how the writer reason in such a questionable manner, because it appeared that collecting money from Peter to pay Paul is now seen as a good virtue. To start with, nobody ever doubted the fact that money can be collected forcefully from the people, what we maintained was that such forceful collection of money from already improvised people will further push the people into deeper poverty. This is exactly the case.

Those following the trend must have read my piece on the Kwara Internally generated revenue few weeks back. Let me reproduce some part of what i wrote here.
Kwara State Government received in tax from hard working Kwarans, a whopping sum of Seventeen Billion, Two Hundred and Fifty Three Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Nine Thousand and Five Hundred and Fifty Nine Naira (N17,253, 829,559) just in 2016. With this huge amount generated as Internally Generated Revenue, The Confidential Tax Index say Kwarans are the fifth most paying tax in Nigeria, despite being one of the least paying states.

While Kwarans are earning lesser income than their colleagues in other parts of the country, we are forced to be paying more in taxes and in spite this higher rate of tax compliance, Kwarans are not getting half of what other states are getting. In 2014, i wrote a piece in which i quoted all the earnings of Kwara State workers. In that report, which was based on the pay slip of Kwara workers available to me, i stated thus, '' that, from level 1 to 15, no one single civil servant in Kwara State earn up to N85,000 salary, no matter their years of service or qualification. Level 15 civil servants in Kwara state earn N84,114.66'' and till date, the situation has not changed. It is in spite this low income that Kwarans paid higher taxes than most states of the federation.

And what does this mean? It means poorer citizens, wealthier government. The government is forcing the poor masses to part with their hard earned resources, thereby making itself richer, yet the citizens continue to get poorer, with no meaningful development. If this is what the writer termed as progress, I can’t help but say, sorry.

Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
Kwara Must Change
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