Reverend Father Alia

By Nkrumah Bankong-Obi

Governance at Nigeria’s subnational entities has pitifully been at intensive care unit status. Darkness is in-charge, light vanquished and the core of government business left to some of the most undesirable elements one can think of. And it is not difficult to hazard a guess why cohesive growth and development elude our nation. The constitution delineates the structure of governance into three – the Federal, State and Local Government Area. The administrative powers are each vested in the federal government, the state government and the Local councils, headed by a president, governor and chairman, respectively.

But the honeycomb that power is, has retreated [like a drying lake] to a tiny ball of the system. At the bottom, the local councils have frozen up, laying at the fringes, forgotten. The state capitals froth once the governor is in town, whereas the seat of the federal government is always a beehive of activities because everyone tends to gravitate to where the petrodollar is shared and where corruption has situated its corporate headquarters.

It is precisely the case of near-free petro-dollar for the ruling class that has dealt our nation, this gruelling blow. It is easy to see that the projects and programmes that defined the root of governance have not only been jettisoned but have been blotted from this hard ground of a geopolitical entity. The scorched earth manner of eking an honest living and/or of getting access to money flowing from petrol via the so-called Federal allocation has driven beyond reach, governance as a collective to governance as a selective engagement, with those who have amassed wads of hard currency able to determine who has what and how.

From 1999 when Nigeria became a democracy again after a long interregnum, the management of states fell on the shoulders of civilians. The match to rebuilding has been tasking for all tiers of government. The new chief executives who immediately succeeded the martial men set about running the states in different ways. It is hard to identify the borderlines of their programmes and manifestoes. It is tough to say authoritative what many of them represented and it will be eternally impossible to say what, in concrete terms, they handed over to their successors to continue the rat race.

In one state, the baton changes from one hand to another as is always the case with others but progress towards inclusivity, growth and development has not only been poor but disgraceful. This position is based on the premise that this state is bountifully endowed. It has the unmatchable capability to do grand things, to light the opaque channels and shine a light on the fat and lean of this parch of the earth. But Benue State, North-Central Nigeria, remains stunted against all indices of potential progression, dangerously deprived and politically balkanized when compared to most of her peers nationwide who suffer a similar fate.

Perhaps, this is why, on March 18th this year, Nigerian voters in that state– which by the way prides itself as The Food Basket of the Nation- decided to have a break. But they broke from the new to unite with the old. In hindsight, we can say the voters peeked backwards, where a glimmer of salvation once shone. They turned to the Catholic Church which once gave them a temporal saviour, albeit, a human being. Like Reverend Father Moses Adasu before him, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia offered himself, promising to bring succour to his beleaguered people. While Fr. Alia’s emergence is not sui generis on that firmament, the socio-political environment and dramatis personae in Benue have greatly evolved in a most decrepit direction. Individual good versus public interest is in fisticuffs with one another. Tolerance and encompassing good neighbourliness and the space for collective bargaining has shrunken beyond recognition. Indeed, nearly all that is a virtue has given way to everything that is wrong with any dying society.

So, Alia’s cloth is properly cut out for him. It is up to him now to decide the sartorial offering he intends to hand to the Benue people. He knows the challenges – the workers have been reduced in terms of dignity to peasants, the agricultural products continue to rot away in the vast fields while the youths roam cities in search of white-collar jobs and of course the protracted header-farmer clashes which became the most prominent cash cow of the outgoing administration. The subsisting governor’s admirers call him “The Defender of the Benue Trough”. His detractors say that sobriquet is derisive and spineless, if not, why are more than half of the twenty-three local councils in rural Benue in the hands of the so-called terrorists?” What has he been defending? Alia has promised to bring everyone to the table. This is tricky but with tact, he can succeed. After all, no human geography has historically ever made progress in an atmosphere of chaos. The clergyman deserves all the encouragement to walk this path of peace – fashion a framework for cattle breeders, preserve land for farmers and ensure the mass production of raw materials for the industrialisation programme that he has drafted.

Sometimes the picture of George Akume in Father Alia’s entourage pinches me. As the first governor of the State in 1999, completing his term in 2007, I’m yet to hear Akume complain publicly about any development plan he had which may have been pushed aside by his successors. His performance in office was abysmal. Besides his trader-sense politicking, nothing renowned is attached to his name. I’m frightened that his positioning as the new godfather will threaten the flashing of this torch in Alia’s hands. Again, I’m aware that Akume is a Papal Knight, perhaps he has received communion and spiritual counsel at the feet of Father Alia. So, there might be a limit to any rancour, if one arises, as both men paddle the Benue boat. It will appear nothing just yet is blotting that light, especially if a careful delineation of roles between Partyman-godfather and governor-priest is undertaken before inauguration day.

The greatest impediment to effective governance is the vaulting quest to amass wealth at the expense of the State. It is widely reported that most Nigerian political leaders assume office as paupers but exit as wealthy emperors. That happens chiefly due to what the journalist, Mikela Wrong has called ‘It’s Our Time To Eat,’ the uncontrollable appetite which leads people in positions of authority to confuse their holding with public estate. We have seen this happen via barefaced robbery, shoddy privatization programmes, contract inflation, absolute lack of accountability etc. If he stands by the dictates of his calling, Father Alia has this Nigerian elite syndrome under check. He knows his calling. He is bound by the oath of celibacy, to be poor and to the church through his bishop. So, he has no business drifting his hands into the public till. Alia knows that in the end, divine judgment will begin from the House of God and those who hold the keys to the temple will be most queried for their deeds. Indeed, as the Catholic Bishop of Awka, Most Reverend Dr Paulinus Ezeokafor only recently admonished priests in his Diocese, “You must shun accumulation of riches. That is not your calling. Priests neither have children, nor (sic) families, so how will someone who has no children seeking to make a lot of money, when their task is to propagate the gospel?” For Benue people, you have a father and you are all his children. It behoves the priest-politician to ensure that he brings his calling, his oaths, his work ethic and his humanity to bear on the governance of Benue State. Yours is to be like the lay faithful, subtly probing so he doesn’t deviate from the set goals.

I think that if Father Alia just takes a cue from the Holy Father, Pope Francis or even his Bishop in the Gboko Episcopate, he will let the light shine brightly across Tivland, Idomaland, Igedeland and importantly, Nigeria. The pope does not need to nudge any priest to go say Mass in his parish or station. He only sets the template drawn from Church authority. Alia does not need yes men, eye service-meddlesome officials. He just needs to introduce and impart a culture- his Catholicism. And we will see the promise of light come alive and the end of flashes of false hopes.

*Bankong-Obi is a journalist and poet. He is reachable via [email protected]