When Nasarawa state’s Accountant General slumped and died recently, I was in the state capital, Lafia, and couldn’t help but be struck by the irony of it. And although my heart went to his grieving family, I find myself day-dreaming about how things might have played out were the educationally disadvantaged state not further paralysed by an on-going strike. The AG was first rushed to the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) but because the doctors were on strike, was moved to Abuja where he was said to have passed on. Now what would have happened, I thought, if the doctors and nurses were at work at the time the AG was brought in? I know what you are saying; that life belongs to God. Ok, I get that but what if the staffs were at hand to admit him into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)? May be a tragedy would have been averted. My point really is this is how what you consider not your concern could eventually affect you. I don’t know what roles the AG played in the current stand-off between government and labour in the state but no one would have imagined that an industrial action could have come to this. Many big men believe the adverse effect of a labour action is borne by the poor. They may have to think again. They may think only the masses need the government hospitals, schools, offices, and other public institutions. That may be the reason why a strike means nothing to them. And for many indolent workers too, a strike is one beautiful bonanza of a free holiday. Some workers secretly look forward to the spectre of staying at home, doing nothing and still able to get by. There isn’t any work to do any way, many of them reason. They might as well be on strike for all they care about. It says so much about the productivity level of our civil service that a strike action is not really felt by all and sundry. In some developed economies a day’s strike would harm the fortunes of any community more than a pestilence. And no government would even allow for that. But not here where government, rightly or wrongly, feels they don’t owe some indolent people any explanations. Many governments out here have nothing but a certain disdain for workers whom they view as parasites; ghost workers who undeservedly get paid for doing nothing. Workers too add to their troubles as they portray themselves as unserious people: the excuses, the lack of zest or interest in work, the lackadaisical attitude to work, the petitions and other wicked acts, the activism bothering on the ridiculous, the lack of training or personal development, the graft, the insubordinations, the inter-fighting, gossip, the file disappearing acts, the state of mind that believes government work is no body’s work, negative attitude towards government properties, the lack of will to change, the sabotage and all the other things that makes the civil force part of our problems.
Yet, in all of these, there are still a few good men and women who dutifully go to work each day. When I was in office, I know of this cleaner who doubles as a messenger who was always at his post. He makes my day each morning with his smile. And there is the very dutiful cleaning lady who always smiled up at me each morning. These are the heroes of the civil force. As I write this, I know they would be patiently at their post, quietly contributing their modest but profound quota to nation building. Unfortunately, they are the first to be hit by labour actions. They get hit first at the psychological level because they truly love what they are doing and have been forced to stay at home. Then they are hit by the economic reality of it all. Either way, life remains unkind to them. In Nasarawa state, such people would wonder what kind of a governor flies over their head with a chopper to Abuja that is just miles away. I can understand big men flying into Abuja from far flung places but why should a governor fly from Lafia to Abuja? Some of the workers are alleging that the governor spends 30 million naira monthly to fund the lifestyle. If this is true, no wonder the state government don’t bother about roads. And now, the governor is embarking on building an airport in Lafia- a development that further annoys workers. Ok, again I get it: we all need airports to open up the sky for investors and all of that. But with Lafia’s proximity to Abuja, what airport does the state need again, abeg? Why can’t the governor and his team think of a better way to tap into the possibilities provided by this proximity to the nation’s capital? I just can’t fathom the lack of creativity by states very close to Abuja and why they are not taking advantage of that to boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Niger state hasn’t been able to turn that Zuma rock into a tourist attraction up till now. When you drive pass, you see the lack of ideas in the form of a decaying hotel structure. It stands there as a sad reminder that no one has been thinking in that direction. Who cares? There are always the billions to be shared at the end of the month. One governor in Niger state expended energies on ensuring he established a faith based legal system. If he had expended half of that energy in developing the Gurara water falls or that Zuma rock facility, many people in Abuja would have had where to run to at weekends for relaxation. And Niger state would have gained. But the biggest culprit in this regard is Nasarawa state. I mean almost forty per cent of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) workforce lives here. While Keffi (one of the big towns in the state with a university) is struggling to become a city, Mararaba continue to remain an eyesore. With its potential for real estate and even tourism, the state government doesn’t even have any presence in Mararaba it seems. Roads are allowed to literally rot away leading to unbelievable traffic gridlock. No attempt to even make it liveable for the high level civil servants who live here. I’m sometimes tempted to think Mararaba is actually no man’s land: far from Lafia and rejected by the FCT. Residents here sometimes turn themselves into the ministry of works to fix roads. They provide their own water and electricity. Even security is up to residents to provide with ill-equipped vigilante watching over defenceless citizens as they hope to see another day in dread land. Can you imagine the state government taking more than a passing interest in those communities: fixing roads with vigour; building housing estates; drainages; motor parks; malls; amusement parks; markets etc. There is a community called Aso here that is home to close to a million people. Yet the road to this beehive of commercial activities is a symbol of why Nasarawa state is sentenced to backwardness. The road to Aso is not by any definition even a road: it is just a stretch of mud, clay and potholes not fit even for cattle to trudge on. And as I look at Nasarawa state deteriorate daily; I see the metaphor of what is wrong with almost all the states in these parts: cluelessness, lack of innovations, political wrangling, tribal, religious wars, over bloated, uncaring godfathers, crass and insensitive leadership, an even crasser followership, anachronistic traditional institutions and a backward civil service that can’t ever think beyond the “almighty” salary. Can someone please whisper all of these into the governor’s ears?
Attention, Governor Al-makura!
