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By Ehichioya Ezomon
Members of the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuffs and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria miscalculated the other day, in their belief that the South would capitulate under the supplies blockade to the zones.
But media reports, on which this piece rests, spoke of Southern ethnic nationalities laughing-off the stage the union members, who clamped a not-well-thought-out embargo on innocent citizens.
Unknown to the dealers, the strike, to quote a local parlance, has thrust on Southern people what they’ve been “looking for in Sokoto,” whereas “it’s in their sokoto (Yoruba native trousers).”
And that’s control of resources, alias “resource control” – a system in which owners, for instance, states, control and exploit their resources, and pay taxes and royalties to the central government.
The people of Niger Delta, “true owners” of oil and gas for quick-access revenue that runs the Nigerian State, have led agitation by the South for fiscal federalism, true federalism or the catchphrase, “restructuring,” driven mainly by the control of resources.
With the North boasting that it feeds Nigeria, and its dealers blackmailing others with agro-products, the South could as well deploy its most vital asset – oil and gas – for immediate leverage.
The Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF), the umbrella body for the peoples of the South-South, hinted at this possibility, while reacting to the dealers’ products blockade to the South.
PANDEF’s national publicity secretary, Ken Robinson, relayed the body’s message thus: “What this (embargo) means is that those foodstuffs the South gets from the North will be scarce. Good enough, no section of the country has monopoly of everything.
“Perhaps, this is their (North’s) own way of clamouring for restructuring and telling others ‘to your tent, oh Israel!’ The ramification of what they are doing, if they continue, is to tell us to also stop the flow of oil and gas from the South to the North.
“If the government does not act promptly, and continue to handle this issue with kid gloves, as it is handling the issue of killer herdsmen, it will spell doom for the country. We have always said if Nigeria fails to restructure, the country will restructure itself. Perhaps, this is the beginning of that narrative.”
Other Southern nationalities are in accord with PANDEF’s position, including the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, which faulted the blockade as the handiwork of people “who cannot understand what will happen to them if the South decides to shut them off of essentials from this area.”
National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said northerners can’t threaten the South with withdrawal of supplies that can be sourced elsewhere, such as Togo and Benin Republics, noting that the dealers’ action would benefit the South.
Highlighting other sources of protein besides cow, Odumakin said: “If they withdraw their cows from the South, no problem about that. It will encourage our people to do more in the area of agriculture.
“They (dealers) should also not forget that petroleum goes from South to the North. So, when you are throwing stones at your neighbour, you should be careful what he throws back at you.”
The Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) said the blockade was a wake-up call to the South, and “we congratulate the northerners for taking that action because they will wake us up from our slumber.”
The council’s former national chairman, Dansaaki Samuel Agbede, said: “Let them (North) take back their foodstuffs and eat them… But the herders should stop grazing their cattle on our farmlands because it’s their cattle that eat our fresh maize and cassava.”
To the spokesman of the Agbekoya Farmers’ Society, Olatunji Bandele: “This is practically a cold war against the South-West. When you block the transportation of food items to a particular set of people, you have declared war on such people.
“We don’t have to deceive ourselves again. Nigeria is in crisis and on the brink of collapse. The northerners are ready to overrun the South because they believe they are the owners of Nigeria.”
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s publicity secretary, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, simply said: “This is strange. Instead of addressing the complaints from across the country about herders’ destruction of farmlands, they are threatening to block food supply.
“In any case, these goods are perishables. They (North) will suffer more, not the South. There is no food item in the North that cannot grow in the South. Efi Igbo (Igbo cows) and other cattle can be reared here… We will look inwards, and be more creative.”
Perhaps, gauging the loaded reactions from Southern Nigeria, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) struck a conciliatory, rather than a bellicose tone, like that of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).
Chief Audu Ogbeh, the chair of the ACF, called on the leadership of the foodstuffs and cattle dealers to halt the embargo, as “Nigeria is not at war with itself, and such a drastic action is not necessary.”
Ogbeh said the “ACF is willing to talk to security agencies and the government” to help resolve the union members’ reported severe losses during #EndSARS riots and the violence in Oyo State.
“There is no need mounting a blockade by one section of the country against the other,” Ogbeh said, adding that, “whatever may be our differences, the ACF, as an ardent believer in free trade, believes that goods should be allowed to move freely.”
“This extreme measure is not progressive and even counterproductive. This is not the way to go… The blockade will only further complicate the socio-economic and political problems facing our country today,” Ogbeh said.
Similarly, ACF’s national publicity secretary, Emmanuel Yawe, affirming the grievances of the dealers, said “they’re going about it the wrong way,” by imposing an embargo of the South.
“Their (dealers’) grouse is that neither the states nor federal government compensated them,” Yawe said, adding: “We believe they have a point but are going about it the wrong way… There should be free flow of trade; otherwise, the problems we are going through now in the country will be compounded.”
But NEF’s director of publicity and advocacy, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, came out swinging, stating that the forum “will not abandon northerners to the lawlessness of fellow citizens,” even as he considered vital the ferrying of agro-products to the South.
“The whole nation knows that northerners and northern interests have been attacked, harassed and intimidated in the last few weeks without any provocations. Drivers and others conveying goods… have been attacked, looted or destroyed,” Baba-Ahmed said.
“The Forum is keeping a close eye on developments. We will advise the union as appropriate, but our involvement will be contingent on evidence that northerners will be safe as they travel the length and breadth of Nigeria… in lawful economic activities.”
Equally bombastic was the leader of Northern Consensus Movement, and publicity secretary of the dealers’ union, Awwal Aliyu. Likening the South-East, South-West and South-South to sovereign states, he boasted that the dealers had resorted to channeling their products to West African markets.
Aliyu said: “It is more profitable for us to export to other countries than taking them to Southern Nigeria. Our people make more money from other West African countries than taking their goods to the South-East, South-West or South-South.”
What manner of approach to resolving a contentious problem! Had the ACF and other bodies in the North acted as NEF and the movement did, the dispute could’ve lingered, and dragged Southern Nigeria into the fray, as some entities had wished for.
But despite the fiery rhetoric by the likes of Baba-Ahmed and Aliyu, wise counsel prevailed, and doused the unnecessary and avoidable power-show by the agro-products dealers.
* Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
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