By Dele Sobowale

Read Standing on the graves of Agatu before crisis turns to tragedy-3 here

“It is unthinkable that wisdom should ever be popular”. Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 275).

This is second longest series since this column first appeared in 1994. The record holder is till the series on Petroleum Technology Development Fund, PTDF, detailing how Obasanjo allegedly mis-appropriated over N100 billion in PTDF money during his eight years in office. (See Chapter 6 of my book,  PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED.) Fair-minded observers would understand how Obasanjo established the template for corruption and why any selective probe of the Jonathan administration, without touching OBJ is itself promotion of corruption. An estimated N8 trillion was missing by 2007 – when Obasanjo left office.

But, unlike the PTDF series which was mono-topical, the series on Agatu is multi-faceted. It is no longer sufficient to ensure that the sort of atrocities visited on Agatu don’t occur anywhere else in Nigeria, there is a need to address all the related issues thrown up by Agatu, Nimbo, herdsmen and host communities and the direction management of animal husbandry would take in Nigeria. As mentioned last week, one of the most popular suggestions offered by sages, scholars, commentators, legislators, governors, as well as comedians and know-nothings is RANCHING. Invariably, quite valid references are made to the fact that Nigeria remains one of the few large nations still to embrace ranching. I completely agree that we need to address the issue now and develop a national policy that will eventually solve all the problems associated with the idea. However, the best and most practical ideas are those which create the least discrepancy between the suggestions and how the people live currently. Ideas cannot exist in a vacuum but must be wedded to planned action which will produce the desired results. Many of the people regarding ranching as a simple and problem-free solution to the existing problems are self-deluded. Once the cattle go behind the walls of ranches, an entire new pattern of living will be created nationwide – many of which we have not even foreseen or made plans for. I hope to touch on some of them soon. But, first, let us take a quick look at our recent history.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, under Professor Soludo, attempted to criminalize spraying of money at social functions in a bid to stop what was generally considered a bad social habit. We all know it failed. Most of us just never asked why it failed. Good and desirous as it was, there was a great deal of discrepancy between the intention and the way Nigerians choose to live their lives. The first people to violate the rule were top government officials.

Babangida administration’s “Housing for All by 2000”, programme was as laudable as Awolowo’s “Free Primary Education” in the old western Region. Today, there is neither housing for all nor free primary education in the region. While IBB’s idea was aborted early, Awo’s idea had taken a lot longer to kick the bucket. Of the two projects, IBB’s offers us more lessons from which we can learn before rushing like, well, a herd of cattle to push for immediate implementation of a ranching policy. Even the Professors who have made valuable contributions, in this regard, had fallen far short of acceptable scholarship when advancing an idea which will re-shape our society in many ways. At least, none had told us how much it would cost. We are being rushed into making decisions on a matter that would cost trillions of naira to implement and nobody had told us how much. We have another disaster on our hands at the moment – the privatization of power distribution. Like lemmings, those rodents known to commit mass suicide repeatedly, we created DISCOS which now cannot operate like other global DISCOS because nobody calculated the costs before jumping into it. Each time I meet another advocate of ranching, the question is always: do you have an idea how much it will cost? The answer is always a blank expression. That signposts the danger we face unless we take our time studying this proposal in all its aspects. We might end up cutting our noses to spite somebody else face; meaning we might create other problems. As James Baldwin, 1924-1987, black American writer wrote in TELL ME HOW LONG THE TRAIN’S BEEN GONE, (VBQ P 201), “If they go about solving the problem this way, how many more problems will they have created by the time they are through?”

AGATU PEOPLE NEED YOUR HELP; NOT WORDS

“Well, my friend, get me out of danger. You can make your speech afterwards.” De La Fontaine, 1621-1695 (VBQ p 68).

The two pictures tell some of the story of the Agatu people after the invasion. The Stone Age Primary Health Centre is gone. Senator David Mark’s proposed modern replacement, started in 2008, remains uncompleted. So, there is no primary health centre. If you love Agatu people, please donate to get them one. They also need clothes, food, OTC drugs, shoes, blankets, beddings, your kids old boots, football, writing materials, books.

They have their own traditional ruler whose name was mentioned in the first part of this series. I have his GSM numbers if you want to help without falling for fraudsters. God bless you for acting instead of just talking or writing about Agatu.