Leadership (Abuja)
Amina Alhassan
7 June 2008
interview
Mallama Zainab Goggo Bayero has been a human capacity builder, educationist, researcher, trainer and consultant with some United Nations agencies such as UNICEF, UNAID, UNDP, and the British Council and the BBC World Trust, for about 20 years on.
She tutors trainees in Universal Basic Education strategies and peace and conflict management. She also mobilises communities and stakeholders for their various responsibilities. She is presently the special assistant to the CEO, United States African Development Consortium (USADC World Group), and in 2006, through no deliberate effort of hers, she went into active politics.
The closest she had previously been to politics was as a researcher with the BBC- researching into women participation in politics, especially in the northern part of the country. She mobilises for her political friends - Mrs Sarah Jibril, and a few others. In 2007, she was picked as a running mate to Prof. Brimmy A. U Olaghere on the platform of the Nigeria Peoples Congress (NPC) in the 2007 presidential election. She has continued to run developmental programmes, which is part of the party's manifesto and agenda. She spoke with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND'S Amina Alhassan. Excerpts:
How were you picked as the running mate to the presidential candidate of the NPC, Professor A.U Olaghere?
The professor had his specifications on the kind of person he wanted to run with. Someone vibrant in development, with impecable antecedents. Somebody who is people-oriented and selfless. Mrs Sarah Jibril, the initiator of Human Development Foundation, an NGO that is in the welfare and development of destitutes, particularly the Al -Majiris, of which I am a foundation member and secretary, thought that the candidate that should run with the professor should be me. Having worked closely with Sarah Jibril, she was able to coerce and encourage me.
I also felt that as a woman, it was an opportunity to lend a voice to what is on ground for us. If men could be there, then why shouldn't a woman; moreso a northern Muslim woman come into the mainstream of development, so that a lot of the issues that have been bothering us, like the underdevelopment of some areas in Nigeria – the north in particular and the issue of educating the girl-child can be resolved. Some parents still do not realise that when you educate a girl, you educate the whole community. I agreed to come on board in order to continue to push these issues, and that is what I am still doing.
How do you feel about democracy in Nigeria today?
Democracy is the best strategy to governance, in the sense that it allows people to participate in governance and allows for collaboration, negotiations and consensus building. I see democracy as an opportunity for people to lend their voices to what is happening in the country and the world over. It is autocracy when governance becomes dictatorial.
With your research in women participation in politics, how do you think they have fared so far?
Compared with 10-20 years ago, I feel that women are doing relatively well, but not enough. This is in the sense that participation in politics shouldn't just begin at the state or national level. Women should be councillors or chairmen at the local government level. They should be in the mainstream development i.e in teaching, medicine, agriculture etc at the local level, so that they would be able to strive for the opportunities at the state and federal levels. We lack one of the important factors that would give us the impetus to come into politics, which is education and money. In Nigeria, democracy or politics is tied to money. But when we are educated, whether there is money or not, we can stand out. Take me for example, I had no money, but I had a good educational background coupled with experience.
What are the solutions to these problems that daily confront the women?
The women who are relatively informed, and have been courageous enough to join politics, should mentor other women. I will again mention Sarah Jibril, a household name in Nigerian politics, a woman of integrity and someone who via her persistence has struggled to be very relevant. She mentored many women, of which I am one. So it is also my place to mentor and groom other women who are educated and courageous. Being in politics is not business, but that passion to serve mankind. That big factor that gives a woman confidence to be able to make a difference is education. With education, leaders have a political will, and they must be passionate and sincere about human resource development. They must see development as a collective responsibility and an opportunity to develop communities and states, not just the individual.
What is happening now is that people are suffering from 'scarce mentality'; where everything is scarce, they have to grab as much as they can. But if they were generous and have a foresight, they would be able to see that Nigeria is blessed with abundant resources.
There should be a political will; passion for service delivery, not individual satisfaction. Here in the North, we must know that education is one vehicle for human resource development. Without education, one can't understand how to worship in any of the religions. If you can't read books, how do you apply the principles to your life? You cannot definitely live well and be comfortable with your Creator. In Islam, Prophet Muhammed (SAW) said we should look for education from here to China, and that whoever is willing to give you education, take it. You should be able to sieve what is being taught by choosing what is right and wrong, or relevant. Some of our youths have got it all wrong and think that being educated means drinking, partying, hair perming (male) etc. They think that is what makes them modern. You can hear that the language they use today is not proper. I have been a WAEC examiner for 20 years and rose to the rank of team leader in English Language, Literature in particular, and in the years that I have been marking SSCE, every examination has been a decline of the previous one. That's how bad it has become now, and something should be done about it.
At the last leadership conference on the Industrialisation of Northern Nigeria which you attended, there was severe agitation about the low turnout of women, what would you say contributed to this?
As you rightly put it, there was a lot of agitation because of low female participation. At that conference, we tried to raise some of the issues that border on mainstreaming. Issues that affect the woman more, and how to pull her out from the state that she is today. These issues were not however mentioned in the communiqué. It includes small scale industries being developed in our communities, and some kind of soft loan that should be made available to women.
This is because we have more women in the informal sector of food processing, using mundane tools like mortars, pestles and grinding stones. So we need to manufacture machines that will help them produce their products easily. Marginalising the women would not augur well for industrialisation of the North. When you say a man is poor, a woman is poorer. They are denied access to education, funds, information and that puts them at bay. It has been said that the North is lagging 30 years behind the South-East and South-West, educationally and economically.
What ways do you suggest this problem should be tackled to bring back the industries to the North?
There are strategies that have been put in place. One is: there should be another conference for the northern governors to be held in Kaduna, where they will focus on issues that border on development, industrialisation and education. My question however is, where are the raw materials for the industries coming from? The North used to have vast cotton fields in the past, Funtua (Katsina) in particular, which used to feed the textile industries.
There were also groundnut pyramids, but now we do not have these commodities in abundance. Does this mean that we no longer have the soil for growing these groundnuts or cotton? Now that we are thinking of re-opening these industries, in my opinion, it would be foolhardy to import the raw materials. What happens if the source of importation dries up, or if we are given impossible guidelines that we do not anticipate, do we close down our industries again? Shouldn't we therefore, revamp the cotton fields, thereby creating more employment opportunities for both men and women?
There are simple pragmatic solutions to our problems which do not require us going abroad. Burning up foreign exchange on training and courses will be of no benefit to us. We should generate our own strategies that will work for us because, before the colonial masters came we had our own history and ways of generating funds.
Our leaders should be reflective, have insight into the past, present and future of this country, even as we also divulge ourselves of the crave for personal aggrandisement. If we say, because we have been elected into top positions, we have the right to stash away public funds for ourselves, then this country will not move forward. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is too wide.
What is your vision for Nigeria?
I am hopeful for a Nigeria where a lot of Nigerians will be educated, especially the girl-child who suffers most. During a research conducted recently on the platform of the BBC, we asked some mothers of the risks that come with hawking. I pray for a Nigeria where one's antecedent would be the deciding factor in choosing a leader and not the amount of money one has. Someone who has done a lot for his or her community should be in a better position to lead them, and not someone enforced on them.
Some have taught their girls about being careful with men who want to 'play' with them; they educate them on how to conduct themselves, but due to poverty, they must hawk. Education has exposed them, because they now understand the importance of allowing their girls to go to school. They should be encouraged the more.
Because we are in a culture that is patriarchal and everything belongs to the man, for his ego, he puts the woman down, not realising that the educated woman would give him the kind of comfort he desires. She would be able to take care of herself and the needs of her family. But the fear in our men makes them relegate the women to the background; some even use religion as an excuse. Parents should teach their children to be responsible; both boys and girl should do chores equally, not one given a chore because he or she is supposed to do it due to his or her sex. Treat children equally and they will grow to appreciate one another.
It is a collective responsiblility for both men and women to acquire education for progress and development. Most importantly, muslims should apply the principles of Islam and allow Allah to be the judge. We should stop criticising others and practise our religion according to the doctrines of Islam. Giving out Zakat is one important pillar that a lot of muslims do not take seriously or are somehow ignorant about. Zakat is taking out a percentage of one's wealth to give out in charity. It is performed in order to raise the community from the dungeon of poverty. What many muslims do instead, is the act of Sadaqa (alms giving).
Any words of advice?
I would like leadership Newspapers to be the watchdog and keep check of the outcome of the conference. The paper should also be free and fair in its strategies by involving more women who are by nature, good monitors and passionate about development.
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