Open Letter To Middle Belt Leaders On Need For MESAP

BY DIO MAISAMARI

Dear Middle Belt Leaders,

I crave your indulgence to provoke you with my habitual idealistic or utopian hallucinations. This is a clarion call to the full complement of the Middle Belt’s Who is Who for once, to put its act together. The object is to embark on a pace-setting regional project for the recovery and survival of physically, psychologically, socially, culturally, religiously, politically and economically traumatised Middle Belt people. Perhaps this may sound like a pipe dream in the face of the current debilitating national turmoil arising from our regional dislocation. On the contrary, I believe the ugly scenario provides the perfect setting, stimulus and impetus for such an epoch making venture.

In this open letter, I fear that I may not be able to make this case convincing and compelling enough. Even so, I believe my target audience has more than it takes to further refine my arguments so as to understand the kernel of my thought. Furthermore, making this letter public is my own way of conscripting any other enthusiasts of the idea to help me out in the process. I call on such enthusiasts to engage me on how we can make this dream a reality.

The end of the Buhari Presidency has provided a long awaited opportunity for Nigeria to opt out of its self inflicted national regression.  Middle Belt ethnic nationalities are probably the greatest victims of the Buhari earthquake that has badly shaken even hitherto well established interest groups. As should be expected, the disunited, poorly mobilised, unorganised and unmanaged Middle Belt region suffered the greatest religious, socio-cultural, political and economic devastation. The effects of the mass and multi-dimensional disaster can rightly be equated to impacts caused by a war, natural disaster, a great economic depression or national pandemic. The effect is that a substantial population in the Middle Belt is practically living in captivity and some have outrightly been banished to exile, probably never to return to their cherished ancestral homes, especially with neither economic nor political advantage on their side, Middle Belt people are gasping for much needed relief and recovery more than any other region.

Characteristic of our blunted national conscience, all sorts of crises and scandals of international proportions have been ignored or even rationalised at home. When similar or even smaller scale disasters occurred in saner climes, they attracted most appropriate remedial responses. But the Nigerian state is clearly drunk and blighted by political rascality, endemic corruption and ethno-religious bigotry. Consequently, the Nigerian state is not giving the victims of its failed system the humane attention and treatment they deserve. The most telling evidence of this callous nonchalance is the complete absence of any institutionalised and effective social safety net in our present subhuman conditions. It does not occur to us that the level of our civilisation is gauged by our humanness.

Unlike the Middle Belt region, other more established interest groups in the country have better shock absorbers and survival mechanisms. The South-west has a more robust and integrated socio-economic and political agenda. It maximally exploits its intellectual, political, cultural and entrepreneurial prowess. This enables the region to better manage and survive national crises and shocks. Even with its extremely republican nature, the South-east has its own unique economic survival mechanism that has served it relatively well. After suffering the nationally orchestrated civil war cataclysm, the region has survived and bounced back even stronger than some regions. This is a great credit to their unique and strategic ingenuity. The very rich resource base, coastal geography and maritime economy of the South-south are its joker. Even with its relative disadvantage, it has enough capacity to wither national storms.

The grand scheme of the core North seems to be the entrenchment of its ethno-religiously inspired ideology above everything else. The strategy enables the region to effectively service its elitist regional interests, using national resources and institutions. The success of their strategy can be seen by the obviously skewed national narrative and access to all forms of government patronage in favour of the core North. As far as most northern demagogues are concerned, the system is okay. That is why even when their North is leading from behind in all real indices of development; all progressive changes are staunchly resisted. Clearly, this leaves only the Middle Belt in the middle of the road. Therefore, it is now a moral urgency for the Middle Belt’s Who is Who to conjure recovery and socio-economic development momentum. Or else, we will be crushed by those who are already in motion.

Unfortunately so far, the Middle Belt has not sustainably evolved and aggressively pursued a strategic and coordinated approach to its socio-economic and political survival or development. Fortunately, it has marginally continued to exist by default, and at the mercy of other more purposeful regions, particularly the core North. That happened because, even with northern hegemony and perennial ethno-religious aggression, the region had naively taken its survival and development for granted. There is also the illusion that, with its vast potentials, its land and people serving as a cultural bridge and national glue or stabiliser, the region is indispensable to others and the nation as a whole.

But I believe by now, all serious-minded Middle Belters must have realised how wrong we have been all this while. After the disasters of the Buhari presidency, all other regions still retain the capacities to autonomously and effectively rally their regions in their own different ways and directions. Meanwhile, the Middle Belt is merely savouring its potentials without practically cultivating and exploiting the same. So, how will it fare, being the most devastated and ill-prepared of them all? Or have our illusions still survived the barbarism inflicted on us to permit the luxury to again take our survival and development for granted going forward?

For sure, there are several bodies that seem to be standing in the gap for the Middle Belt. For now, the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and the Conference of Autochthonous Ethnic-nationality Community Development Associations (CONAECDA) are the most visible. While the former is a notable political hub, the latter serves as an emerging technical assistance and grassroots community development engine room. Considering the gargantuan tasks or battles ahead, any number of cooperative and complementary regional bodies will not be too much. The real issue is not the number, but the strategy. To begin with, all responsible and serious minded middle belters must get involved and be truly committed to these and other apex regional and even state bodies.

The usual carelessness or cynicism must give way to show that we have discarded our harmful naivety and illusions. In any case, disillusionment and withdrawal are illogical because our bad situation can never improve by itself.  Let all state and regional bodies be more seriously organised, strong, articulate and proactively focused on their legitimate visions. It is only when stable balances of power are created everywhere that the concerns of legitimate interest groups, and also fair and just regional and national consensus can be forged. Logically, only relative equals can negotiate and arrive at mutually beneficial agreements. Also, all existing state and regional bodies, socio-cultural and pressure groups must, as a matter of obligation and urgency, engage with each other and create critically needed synergy. This is first and foremost, a survival imperative that should eventually serve as a catalyst for regional self actualisation.

The creation of formal, regular and meaningful engagements between state and regional bodies should immediately be a top priority. This should be followed by the articulation, adoption and coordinated pursuit of the Middle Belt Emergency Survival Action Plan (MESAP). The key word is EMERGENCY, because the plan should prioritise immediate (especially economic and welfare) needs of our people without completely neglecting the others. This is necessary to kick start recovery, rekindle hope, confidence and empowerment to face future challenges. History gives us many good examples of emergency actions that leaders took in the aftermath of very harrowing and devastating events like the Great Depression, the world wars, civil wars, earthquakes, etc.

I believe our people are currently enduring the equivalence of such unspeakable sufferings. We must not simply continue business as usual after narrowly surviving such unimaginable calamities. That will mean our leaders do not truly understand or appreciate their seriousness, impact and implications.  Or are our leaders practically clueless of the appropriate leadership responses? None of these can be true as the Middle Belt is well endowed with specialist expertise in relevant fields. Some of our distinguished icons have even won national and international acclaim in their service to humanity. Certainly, the conception and execution of MESAP is neither too little nor too great for our Lords Spiritual and Temporal.

My leaders, this is a clarion call for urgent action. Agreed, Middle Belt leaders, elders and elites do not have a central authority or government. But you can and must create a central emergency response coordinating body for a start. If you are truly Middle Belt leaders, then you have the mandate to mobilise and galvanise our people in and out of government to pursue any worthy cause. I am very strongly of the view that we should not demand of others to do for us what we are capable of but willingly unable to do for ourselves. Yes, we can be begging, sometimes putting pressure on others and governments to have mercy on us and help our people. However, it is far more dignifying to make meaningful and sustained efforts to solve our problems by ourselves than depend on outside forces for assistance. That in itself has the potential to attract more help for us beyond what we ever imagined possible.

In conclusion, I passionately appeal to my dear leaders not to continue being typical Africans content to endure, groan and survive our problems. That is why we find it too difficult, almost impossible to cooperate voluntarily to pursue and accomplish bigger or seemingly impossible common goals. And that is why we only rely on government and numerous commendable private and solo efforts working at far smaller scales to solve our ravaging monumental societal problems. Even I, in my own small way, have been happily involved in providing educational assistance through my NGO’s school since the year 2000. I am currently again planning to venture into establishing an economic empowerment foundation so as to practically go beyond mere advocacy on MESAP.

This open letter is a call to scale up such efforts to create a functional system and institution that will serve our people in the uncertain future. We must not plan to fail by failing to plan. Therefore, let us remember the wise advice of our western mentors. It is better to rely on strong, predictable and enduring  institutions than strong, unpredictable and limited or expirable individuals. Let our leaders start building the needed coalition, systems and institutions for this noble mission. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Please accept my highest regards which will be substantially increased by your positive and prompt action on this all important matter.

I thank you.

Maisamari writes from Kaduna and can be reached via: 08033234602