In Niger state, the majority Nupe-speaking Niger South Senatorial District is the largest part. Arguably, for the two remaining districts, Niger South is socio-politically the pace-setter. Notwithstanding, it hasn’t been viable developmentally.
Since 1999, Niger South has often been dogged by effete representation at the senate. Between 1999 and 2007, the legislative achievement of the representative was his infamy for slapping a female colleague reportedly over bribery money. Between 2007 and 2015, the representative was not voted two times out of competence but out of loyalty to her husband, an ex-governor.
Between 2015 and 2019, the representative was so ineffectual to the level that the people could not help but deny him a re-election. That was their first time doing so.
And then Mohammed Bima Enagi comes into the fray. The retired director at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has so far spent only 14 months out of his supposed 48-month term as a senator, yet his legislative activities starkly indicate that he is a remarkable departure from the past.
He seems to have mastered what ails and what heals Niger South and uses the mastery as a guide as he discharges his responsibilities. Niger South is majorly agrarian, and Bima’s legislative agenda is apparently designed not only to reflect that but also to harness it.
Over the years Niger South has been ranking high on the rice production chart in Nigeria, even though the farmers are peasants. In 2016, FADAMA reported that no other part of Nigeria ranked higher in the production of the staple food. What would have been the feat if the peasants had access to technologies? Nigeria would have achieved rice sufficiency and would have started exporting it. And the feat would not have boosted the economy of Niger South or Niger state alone but that of Nigeria in general.
To lead to the feat, Senator Bima has sponsored a bill for the “Establishment of Rice Development Council of Nigeria.” It is billed to foster the adoption of best practices in the production of rice in Nigeria. It was first read at the plenary on August 10, 2019. The second time it was read was on December 10, 2019. It is currently undergoing paperwork at committee level as it awaits third reading. Given the place of rice in our nutritional life, the bill will fly. I am optimistic the president will promptly sign it into law, considering his flair for agriculture.
In consonance with his legislative agenda, the senator has also sponsored the “National Shea Development Council Establishment” bill. It was first read during plenary on November 6, 2019.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in 2017, Nigeria is the largest producer of unrefined shea butter in the world. Although karite trees are grown in 20 of Nigeria’s states, Niger state is said to be leading in times of number and quality. However, even though Nigeria is the largest producer, Ghana is the highest exporter in Africa, and it is Nigeria that supplies most of its exports. Nigeria can export it directly but it has not created a proper value chain for it.
Let’s envision what Nigeria stands to gain if it establishes the Shea Development Council. It is noteworthy that in 2017, Business Day reported that a cluster of 20 village women were able to raise close to N4 million each through local processing of shea nuts into shea butter. The process used in our villages is manual and energy-sapping, hence many people evade it. If modern technology is eventually deployed, we cannot yet quantify the number of people it is capable of employing and lifting out of poverty.
Nigerian Export Promotion Council reported in 2017 that the annual demand of shea butter is about $30 billion. If Nigeria can harness its potential in shea butter, it will become the new oil. Bima’s proposed council will go a long way in harnessing the potential.
Earlier this week, the lawmaker presented yet another agricultural bill. This time around on animals dubbed, “National Animal Identification and Management Bureau.” In Nigeria, in the light of incessant animal rustling, clashes between herders and farmers and lack of regulations on our owning and consumption of animals, this is long overdue. In the US, a similar bureau was created to boost the contribution of animals to the economy through premises identification and animal identification and tracking. The bureau would allow verification of ownership, biosecurity control, and tracking for research or agricultural purposes.
At the moment, over 50 percent of the total cattle population in Nigeria cannot participate in the export of meat and dairy products because the country has not been able to abide by the standards laid down by the World Organisations for Animal Health (WOAH). Having at least 80 percent participation will go a long way in boosting Nigeria’s forex inflow.
Bima has also sponsored the amendment of the “Agricultural Guarantee Scheme Fund Act.” First established in 1977, the scheme was designed to encourage banks to lend to those engaged in agricultural production and agro-processing activities, for the purpose of stimulating viable
agricultural production to meet food security and export. But in the course of the scheme’s operations, a number of problems have been identified as impeding on its optimal performance. With the conviction that his agrarian constituents will fare better if the scheme becomes viable, Bima is spearheading the amendment of the Act.
Each of the four bills, if signed into law and duly implemented, is capable of liberating his people and the whole Nigerians out of poverty. Let’s not forget that experts have not been resting in their oars in pointing out that the scathing poverty in which the majority of Nigerians are mired will not reduce if agriculture is not religiously embraced. Whether it is deliberate or a pure happenstance, for agriculture to be the fulcrum of Bima’s legislative agenda, he deserves a ‘BRAVO.’ Given his projection I was thinking he is an agricultural-economist, but he is a quantity surveyor.
His fifth bill, “Generating Set Prohibition/Ban” deservedly caused a lot of raucous among Nigerians. Apparently, it will not fly. Given the epileptic supply of power in Nigeria, for someone to call for the ban of generating sets, from which alternate power is generated, is a blatant proclamation that the country’s economy be killed. But I somewhat see wisdom in Bima’s ideation. If generating sets aren’t available to offer alternate power, the government cannot help but take whatever measure it ought to take to solve the problem. Remember that the big guns have more to lose if the ban materialises.
Bima seems to believe that power is a key component in the agricultural value chain, hence has started powering agrarian communities in his constituency with solar. Gbara and Muregi have been powered, I learned.
