World Bank, North-east and Buhari

By Louis Okoroma

The past couple of days saw the outbreak of what might be referred to as a needless controversy over a request made by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Chief Executive of the World Bank, Dr. Kim Jong, for the World Bank to focus attention in its operations and activities in Nigeria, on the troubled and devastated North east region of the country.
The controversy arose following a media briefing by the World Bank President where in passing he mentioned that the President of Nigeria had requested that the bank give special attention to the North east region of the country and that the World Bank has largely complied. He then proceeded to reel out the challenges facing the bank in achieving desired result on this very important request.
Ordinarily, the President deserves commendation for the request he made to the management of the World Bank and not condemnation. Unfortunately, because of the state of politics in Nigeria today, and frayed nerves over numerous agitations, the Nigerian people seem to easily forget that all of us have a supreme and joint responsibility to rescue the nation from anything that negatively impacts its well-being.
President Buhari is a concerned patriot who has empathy for the country at large but specifically remembers those parts of the country that have special needs. Northeast Nigeria is a basket case. A lot is wrong in the area, and a lot needs to be done in terms of development and infrastructure provision for the economic development and proper integration of the area. Boko Haram insurgency worsened the situation to the extent that for some time, between 2011 and 2015, swathe of land were in the hands of Boko Haram terrorists.
As Boko Haram held sway, destruction and dislocation of the population followed, the social and economic life of the people were adversely affected and set back several decades while thousands were forced to flee their homes, farmlands and businesses while insecurity became the order of the day.
Today, more than 20,000 people have been killed by the terrorists while close to two million people are dispersed, dislocated and currently live in internally displaced people’s camps in the Northeast and other states of the federation.
Insecurity and underdevelopment in the Northeast was such a big challenge that it was among the campaign issues in the 2015 national elections that brought President Buhari and APC coalition to power at the expense of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The majority of Nigerians were in agreement on the special challenge posed by the Northeast and the need to put in place a government that would deal with the problem and others bedeviling the country.
Before the coming of President Buhari, in little but significant ways, local and foreign non-governmental organisations had been trying to deal with the security and developmental nightmare that is the Northeast. The Nigerian government, through the security forces and private and concerned Nigerians like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Aliko Dangote, Murtala Mohammed Foundation and later, the Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG) have all lent their best endeavors to draw attention and deal with the humanitarian challenges and nightmare in the Northeast courtesy of poor governance of the past and the impact of Boko Haram terrorism.
It was under this atmosphere of national need and uncertainty that Buhari took power in May 2015. It was, therefore, logical that when on the 21st of July 2016, Buhari had the opportunity to sit with the top management of the World Bank which does development work across the world, he seized the opportunity to put some demands to the international bank to look with attention and favour on a devastated part of the country. This was because the resources and expertise available in the country cannot make much impact in delivering much-needed infrastructural amenities and development in general.
Therefore, it is not fair to accuse the president of bias or partiality and even if he is so accused, he has committed no infraction in this case bearing in mind that it is acceptable practice that special care and attention should be given to the weaker part of the whole, to prevent total collapse of a system. It should be clear also that President Buhari did not ask the World Bank to neglect or ignore the developmental needs of other parts of the country.
The misplaced controversy on the president’s request to the World Bank president, is borne out of misunderstanding of some of the liberties granted leaders of nations. Second, it has again brought to the fore, the fact that most Nigerians look up to the federal government to provide all their needs which is an affliction of our present system of government and the type of federalism in place. In a truly federal arrangement where the constituent parts and the citizenry are educated to take charge of their affairs, this misunderstanding and confusion would not arise.

Okoroma is a media consultant and political analyst based in Abuja

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