All politics is local and the impact on the economy affects individuals personally. So, like the rest of Nigeria, the people of Kano say they are hurting. The catchphrase on the streets of kano now is, “Governor Yusuf Abba, we are yet to feel your Joseph”
Nigeria’s democracy is unravelling very fast. Unfortunately, this is happening at the market square in a global village where citizen journalism has left no stone unturned. The royal rumble in Kano and the river of trouble, red with human blood, flowing freely on the streets of Port Harcourt are two poster images that tell all onlookers that all may not be well with the largest democracy in Africa.
While the madness in Rivers State may be a needless fight that has been nurtured to become a monstrous brawl may be, because someone in the corridor of power has a vested interest, the same cannot be said about the festering inferno in the ancestral home of Malam Ibrahim Dabo which must be put out fast before it engulfs the entire metropolis.
As it is common knowledge today, Muhammadu Sanusi II dan Chiroman Kano Aminu dan Muhammadu Sanusi I dan Abdullahi Bayero (2014-2020) and Aminu dan Ado dan Abdullahi Bayero (2020–2024), both protagonists in the current tussle for the emirship of Kano, are all grandchildren of Abdulahi Bayero, the eighth Emir of Kano (1926-1953) and a grandchild of Ibrahim Dabo, the first Emir and founder of the Dabo Dynasty.
The reign of Fulani rulers of Kano has enjoyed relative peace and growth over the years. This continued until the late 1970s and early 80s when the late Governor of Kano state, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi attempted to balkanize the Emirate Council into five, namely; Gaya, Karaye, Bichi, Rano and Kano. Of course, he paid dearly for it as it caused him his re-election. Being not one known to be restrained by the huge moral demands of his office, former Governor Abdulahi Ganduje embarked on a repeat of this controversial exercise when he split the Council into five same Emirates and went a step further to depose the fourteenth emir of kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II in 2019.
Governor Abba Yusuf, like his predecessor Sabo Bakin Zuwo in 1983, has also gone ahead to reverse all that Governor Ganduje did by reverting to the single emirate structure, deposing Alhaji Aminu Bayero and re-instating Muhammadu Sanusi II. Now the dye is caste and there is bedlam in Kano. The clan of Abdulahi Bayero, the Kano populace, the State Government and institutions of the Federal Government have locked horns in an Olympian duel with potentials for massive upset of the peace. Unfortunately, the prospect of an early resolution of the conflict is now being progressively encumbered by the same judiciary that should lead that charge, as courts at various levels give orders and counter orders and judgements without adequate recourse to established cases.
Every politics is local and the impact on the economy affects individuals personally. So, like the rest of Nigeria, the people of Kano say they are hurting. The catchphrase on the streets of Kano now is, “Governor Yusuf Abba, we are yet to see your Joseph.” This is an apparent reference to both the Quranic and Biblical reference to the suffering of Prophet Joseph (Annabi Yusuf) before ascending to the position of leadership over his people and the redeemer of Egypt and the surrounding nations from the seven-year famine.
Located at the North Western part of Nigeria, Kano, with a GDP of $13.6billion, is the commercial capital of northern Nigeria and the country’s second largest economy after Lagos with a GDP of USD 29 billion as of 2020. Kano, unlike most states in Nigeria is essentially a one city state with Kano city contributing most of the attributes that define the state. Growing at 3.06%, the population of Kano metropolis is estimated at 4.35million as of 2023, while the state population is put at 16.25m. With 415,598 Kano State had the highest Registered Live Births in the country in 2019. The huge population size, coupled with a GDP that is almost the size of the population makes Kano to rank as the 35th state in terms of GDP per capita. Kano also ranks poorly at the 12th position in terms of business environment, being able to list only 1,829,843 enterprises, compared with 3,345,948 in Lagos and 2,133,096 in Rivers states. About 72 per cent of the population of Kano state or 7.1 million people are actively engaged in economic activities and generating $978 GDP per capita.
As it is the case with most states in northern Nigeria, most indices of underdevelopment are still looking up. For instance, it is painfully a valid assertion that poverty in Nigeria is essentially a northern phenomenon. As of 2019, 55.1 percent of Kano live below the poverty line. Whereas only 4.5 per cent of the population of Lagos state fall within this bracket. Indeed, apart from Kaduna state with 43.5 per cent more than half of the population of all the states in north western and north eastern Nigeria live below poverty line with Sokoto leading the pack at 87.73 per cent. These figures worsened due to the abysmal economic record during eight years of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency.
Take out of school population as an example, with a national estimate of about 20 million, accounts for 989,234 children out of school.
Added to this is the current cost of living crisis precipitated by wrong policy choices, timing and implementation by the Tinubu Presidency. In an effort to spur investment and raise output, Tinubu has enacted measures since entering office in May of last year, including cutting back on gasoline and energy subsidies and twice depreciating the naira. Which, according to him, are measures required to set Nigeria up for sustained growth. However, President Tinubu’s goal of six percent annual economic growth is far too ambitious compared with the economy’s current growth rate, and the changes have increased inflation to a 28-year high, exacerbating the country’s cost of living crisis, with a direct causative effect on crime wave. These negative headwinds impact Kano state also.
All of the above, not to mention the challenge of decrepit physical infrastructure, go to show the enormity of challenges that confront the administration of Governor Abba Yusuf. Moreover, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), under which banner he won the governorship election, had promised to provide the basic necessities of life that include, but not limited to the provision of qualitative mass education, free primary health care, food and water, housing roads and security, economic empowerment for all Nigerians. Even though a pleasantly surprising sanctuary from the incipient scene of violent crimes that most of Nigeria, especially northern Nigeria had become, Kano, nonetheless shares a lot in common with the rest of the country that is now in the firm grips of cost-of-living crises. And the people are reminding Governor Abba Yusuf to tread carefully as to how well or not he manages the emirate tussle and go on to deliver on his campaign promises are critical to determining his second term ambition.
