Taiwo Olawale
14 September 2008
analysis
Lagos — About a year ago, the Sule Lamido-led government of Jigawa state made history when it signed the first ever social security bill into law.
That September afternoon in 2007, thousands gathered at the Kam Salem Parade ground (now Aminu Kano Square , named after the late defender of talakawa) in Dutse to witness the signing of the bill by the Governor. Speaking at the gathering, an emotional Sarkin Makafin Kazaure (Chief of the Blind in Kazaure), Alhaji Abdullahi Ahmed, captured the situation aptly when he said the lowest of the low in the society stood before the high and mighty to make history.
Then, Ahmed had declared , "Today, we are in the midst of our leaders. We stand before our traditional leaders and the political leaders of the country and we are the reason for this all important gathering. This is almost unbelievable. Before now, we dared not stand before our leaders like this. We only hear them from afar. But today, history is being made and we are part of the very important history."
One year after that epoch making event, the state is again seeking history as it prepares to host the poor in a summit aimed at giving them a voice and finding a lasting solution to their collective plight. At last year's event, the physically challenged had the opportunity to show gratitude for getting government attention in a practical way. This year, the government is going a step further by organising a summit which would give them and all other poor people in the state, an opportunity to demand action to make their lives better. That summit is expected to coincide with this year's "Stand up Against Poverty" day. But what is the summit expected to achieve? Who would attend and how would the outcome impact on the lives of the people?
As the story goes, the idea of convoking the poor had original emerged just a few days after Governor Lamido was elected. Then, while preparing to take over from Saminu Turaki , the Governor-elect's think tank had met to fine tune the emerging regime's programmes. And, according to a source close to the meetings, one of the recurring issues was how best to tackle the "historical nightmares of the talakawa." It was at one of such meetings that the question was popped by the Governor-elect: "What does the poor really want?
The question was said to have been asked against the backdrop of the fact that even when issues concerning the poor are being discussed, they are discussed by civil servants, technocrats, governments and the organised private sector. These groups which have little or no real practical experiences of poverty then churn out policies to tackle poverty. But over the years, most of these policies have done very little to stem the tide of poverty. It was the frustrating lack of tangible progress that prompted the then Governor-elect's question. He was said to have wondered whether the limited success in the fight against poverty is not due to the fact that nobody is asking the poor what should be done to rescue them from the pangs of poverty.
The in-coming administration was said to have decided to ask the poor that simple question at that moment. But a combination of factors which included planning, logistics and the realities of governance delayed the convocation of the poor. Now, preparations are in top gear to host what may be the first ever Talakawa Economic Summit in the country. A three- man committee saddled with contacts and logistics was set up by the government last month to coordinate the pre-summit organisation. The committee has made remarkable progress in the little time it has existed by reaching out to United Nations agencies and other international groups that deal with poverty. Led by Dahiru Dau, the Special Adviser to the Governor on NGOs, the committee has also reached out to coalitions of Campaign for Democracy Development, CDDs, NGOs and experts on the subject. These organisations and experts are to participate in the summit as partners. According to the conveners, this set would listen to the poor along with the government and help make sense out of the thousands of presentations and materials expected at the gathering. A team of moderators has also been selected to anchor the summit.
So, later this year, the world would witness the first convocation of the poor in the "poor" state of Jigawa. At the end of the summit, the world must learn first hand, what the poor really suffer, and what governments, policy makers, NGOs, international and local organisations as well as experts need to do to help them. The summit's agenda would no doubt play a vital role in helping the world get the correct picture. According to planners of the summit, the bottom-line is to determine the "actual state of existence of the poor" as well as what should be done about it by listening to them.
This seems fair enough. But the question is how do you achieve this objective? The planners say the methodology is to bring the poor together and listen to them. So, who are the poor? If statistics are anything to go by, there are about four million of them in Jigawa alone (according to the CBN which says Jigawa's poverty level is about 90%). And, no venue is big enough to accommodate such a number in the state. So, how would the summit listen to all the poor in the state? The organisers expect to listen to "the symbolic and actual leaders/representatives of the talakawas" to capture the realities of the lives of the poor and get their explanations on "why life is like that for them and what they think should be done and by whom."
In this methodology lies a big problem. While it is natural to take representative opinions in a case like this, some of the opinions may not be correct and honest representations. It is common knowledge that most of these leaders are opportunists who pimp the ordinary members of their various groups to become rich. Many of them have become immune to the sufferings of those they represent because they see them merely as opportunities to make money and score political gains. Pray, how would the Chairman of the Butchers Association who rides a Mercedes Benz and lives in a six bedroom apartment properly represent a poor member who lives in the slum and worships the chairman to remain in employment?
There is hardly a leader or representative of groups which represent shoe shiners, butchers, mai suya, peasant farmers, drivers and petty traders that is not a millionaire. How can a millionaire represent the poor then? Apart from this, most of these so-called leaders are also politicians. In fact, many use their positions as bargaining tools with governments. And, as politicians, if they speak at the summit, they would fall upon themselves to say things that would please the government. To this set of "representatives", the poor may as well go to hell.
Therefore, if the summit would be successful at all, leaders of peasant groups cannot be asked to speak for the poor. The poor must speak for the poor. Selecting representatives of the poor should not be difficult in spite of the fact that there are millions of them. Random selection is not a bad option. A two minute visit to Dutse abattoir would surely reveal scores of poor people eeking a living from the physical and social challenges of their chores. The same can be done with shoe shiners and other petty traders. And the selection must be free from the influence of the leaders of these groups.
Another option may be the use of government statistics. The state government has comprehensive statistics of the physically challenged in its Ministry of Health and Social Welfare just as the Department of Guidance and Counselling has that of the poorest of the poor under its Conditional Cash Transfer programme. Some of these people could be included on the list.
In selecting the poor this way, the organisers may be as close as possible to getting correct feedback. The question must however be asked as to who a poor person is. Care must be taken to avoid straight-jacketing. Identifying the poor only based on class or profession may be inadequate in some cases. Just as some have pointed out that leaders of grou[ Home ] [ Contents ] [ Archives ] [ Contact Us ] [ Off Topic ] [ Courts/Police Log ] [ Street talk ] [ Society ] [ Street Talk ] [ Breaking Barriers ] [ Meditation ]ps may not be strictly classified as poor, there would be other exceptions in each of the classes. So, the poor must be properly and unambiguously identified. There are several known measurements for poverty. The organisers must spell out their criteria for selecting the poor and make them public long before the summit. This way, the organisers would be properly guided and observers would know what to look out for.
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