Saturday, 19 February 2011 by Aisha Umar, Daily Trust

The best part of the Annual Trust Dialogue is the question and answer session, at least to me it is. Even if I was late for the actual lecture delivery, I feel fulfilled if I didn’t miss the Q&A. Yes, sometimes you get such a superlative presentation that gets the speaker a standing ovation, but the real dialogue to me, is when the audience challenges the presenters in a game of wits. Last year’s Q&A took the day when young Buhari Jega asked former president Obasanjo, who was chairman of the occasion, a question that led to the following day’s headlines in all of Nigeria’s leading papers.

The young man had asked Chief Obasanjo whether he was aware of Late President Yar’adua’s failing health when he single-handedly imposed him on Nigerians. The former leader rose to the occasion in the best way he could, by launching a staunch defence of his actions. He concluded by advising then ailing President Yar’adua to take ‘the path of honour’ by resigning his position from his hospital bed in Saudi. The rest, of course, is history.

This year the Q&A was interesting and yes, Buhari Jega was there again, but since the chairman was the relatively non-controversial retired General Yakubu Gowon, he had to ask a rather innocuous question on why our elders continue to lie to us. Needless to say, it didn’t make any headlines. But the comment of the day, if I were to give an award for that, would have gone to Bala Muhammad, Director-General Kano Societal Re-orientation Directorate, who observed that good governance can be measured in terms of maintenance of peace and stability in the polity. He added that in the last seven years Kano has had no sectarian violence and said he attributed it solely to the presence of good governance in Nigeria’s most populous state.

I had honestly expected to see reporters falling over themselves to reach Malam Bala in order to ask how this was attained. I mean, that very morning of January 27th our lead headline was on a communal clash in Tafawa Balewa local government of Bauchi State. And of course we are all living in the shadow of the protracted Plateau crises. I only saw one reporter talking to the man and couldn’t tell from a distance what their chat was about. But I was definitely interested and was determined to find out how the Kano feat was achieved.

I know that Kano still makes news for all the wrong reasons. A young man allegedly wiped out almost his whole family in the most unusual and bizarre murder case in the history of the ancient city late last year. Three police men reportedly harboured and continuously raped a teenage girl for several weeks. Another policeman commandeered a runaway bride and converted her to his own in the same city. So, yes, Kano is still notorious in other respects, which is not unusual given its size and cosmopolitan nature, but to have warded off communal/sectarian clashes for seven years is a curious phenomenon.

When I reached out to Bala Muhammad with a request to share the secret of Kano’s newfound communal harmony, I was amazed to find out that both the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies NIPSS, in Kuru and the Nigerian Governor’s Forum had requested the same information from Kano State, having noted that no less than six incidents which normally led to sectarian crisis had happened between 2004 to 2010, yet none had elicited either an original clash or a reprisal.

Knowing that I was in good company – I mean, NGF and NIPSS are elite class members any day – I pressed on with my request. ‘So, how did you do it?’ The documents he sent to me showed a deliberate and concerted effort, mainly championed by the directorate to foster inter-communal harmony amongst the diverse ethnic groups living in the state. For several weeks, after the inception of the directorate in 2004 it organised meetings with the various tribal leaders resident in the Sabongari Quarters of the state. There were meetings held with the Sarkin Igbo of Kano, Sarkin Yarbawa, Sarkin Igala, as well as the others living in the state. Every weekend saw a meeting with one of these leaders and the crux of the meetings were the peculiar problems of that particular ethnic group and how they can be made to live peacefully with others and the indigenous people of the state.

Next the directorate met with leaders of Christian groups and especially priests and pastors, where the main message was peaceful co-existence among all residents of Kano State. Then there were meetings held with teachers of Qur’anic schools, the Alarammas, where they were told that they were now totally responsible for the young almajirai under their care. They were told to reign in their followers, especially in times of crisis because henceforth they will be held responsible for whatever their disciples did.

After this, the directorate called a stakeholders meeting during which all members of the above-mentioned groups were invited to a roundtable on peace in the state. This stakeholders’ forum continued to meet every three months as a routine and held emergency meetings at the onset of any crisis anywhere in the country. The main message to them was ‘don’t panic when you hear about a crisis, remain calm and rein in your followers.’

With the general populace, the directorate’s approach was through the mass media. They embarked on a vigorous campaign targeted at parents and youths. Parents were advised to always monitor the movement of their children and wards as well as to watch the company they keep. Youths were advised to shun violence and idleness, as well as urged to embrace education and self-reliance. Moreover, they were counselled never to take the law into their hands no matter the source of provocation. With these steps diligently pursued the societal re-orientation agency A Saidaita Sahu and the Kano State government as a whole are celebrating seven years without communal crisis.

If this was really the Kano secret, should we not share it with our brothers on the Plateau and those in Bauchi and other lately volatile areas? The recurrent bloodshed in Jos and environs calls for immediate and positive action and the Kano blueprint for multi-ethnic and interreligious harmony entails essentially one thing: dialogue. So a dialogue with all stakeholders, indigenes and settlers alike is truly the secret of the Kano model. The time to start a dialogue on the Plateau is now.