Dare Babarinsa
Nigerian Former Chiefs of State, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar. It prided itself as the Power- State. In the face of all these, Governor Bello would have felt so powerless.
Those who are deploying the tomatoes war were only expressing their frustration about a government that is unable to protect its citizens. The tomatoes challenge that shown that Nigeria has really grown from the era of the 1960s when every region was virtually self- sufficient. If the truth be told, since then the Northern part of Nigeria has developed its agriculture tremendously. The South- West especially has neglected the same. As of today, less than seven percent of land in Ekiti State is under cultivation. Yet this was the area famous as the power- house of cocoa farming in the old Western Region. Ekiti was the grower of the best cocoa in the world market. Today Ekiti cocoa farmers have no spot in any market. Instead some of the farmers are facing regular battles with the operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, over the cultivation of Indian hemp. Ekiti, Ondo and Edo States are the most troublesome area for the cultivation of cannabis. There are now few farmers growing yam in Ekiti State. Thank God, Ekiti still remains the home of the best pounded yam in the world.
The truth is that the game has changed and it has changed forever. The idea that open grazing of cattle can be tolerated is no longer sellable. Thank God for the initiative of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State who first introduced the idea to ban open- grazing in this dispensation. We have seen that it is the idea of open grazing that led to herdsmen carrying arms to protect themselves from cattlerustlers, and then to kidnapping, to open conflicts with farmers and then to the tomatoes option.
Nigerians are becoming increasingly impatient with the inability of the Federal Government to protect life and property. It is time the Federal Government and the National Assembly think of fundamental changes in the structure of the federation so that substantial power, especially to protect life and property, would be domiciled with the state government. The current system is not working. Too many Nigerians have already paid the price. No one knows whose child would be kidnapped or worse next week. We don’t know how long the system would keep Sheik Gumi and members of his tribe busy. We now have more people in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, Camps in Nigeria than we had during the Civil War. There is a rat- race for everyone to practice the act of self- defence. But it is a ratrace no one can win. Let us try something else like the restructuring of our federal system. We cannot be repeating the same thing and expect a different result. Chinua Achebe, the immortal novelist, advised us: “if the rat cannot run fast enough, let him give way for the tortoise.”