Constitutional Role For Traditional Rulers Is Essential — Etsu Nupe

The Etsu Nupe, Alhaji (Dr.) Yahaya, is the chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers. In this interview with BABA NEGEDU, he outlines the role that traditional institutions can play in the political and social progress of the nation. ______________________________________________________________

NNW: Nupe tradition has come along way. We will benefit from your insight into its origin.

ESTSU NUPE: History has it that some tribes or group of people that today are called the Nupe originated from far River Niger, around the area of Egypt descending through Sudan. They carry that identity of Nupe from the tribe around the River Niger. They passed through certain stages of their migrating down to this part of the area. The name continue to change from Nupe to the slang that we have today Nupe. The period was around early 17th century or thereabout. It is a long and historic period. The history of the Nupe tradition is the movement of people from one stage to another. Coming down to the present Nupe, history had it that we had some common things with the Igala, what I am saying is that these were certain groups of people who journeyed together and came to settle in what is today referred to as the Nupe Kingdom. This kingdom extends from Kwara through Niger up to Kogi along the bank of River Niger. The rigin of these people apart from River Niger they saw another river they decided to settle down. It is like a natural movement. The Kingdom is all about certain groups of people from their original settlement and moving to a new settlement. As they moved, they discovered some anthropological similarities.

Having in mind the imperialist nature of the western civilization, how have the western tradition influence the culture and tradition of the Nupe people?

Before the coming of the Europeans, there was in existence African traditional system and certain forms of worship among Africans. There was traditional worshipping of water, fire etc. All these traditional ways of worship were going on before the coming of Christianity and Islam. In terms of education the western influence played very great roles. It came with modern western education to our area. Coming with western education was a new religion. The Arabs were coming with their goods which they exchanged with another item here in my kingdom. Trading contact was established between Egypt and the Sudan up to West Africa down to North Africa down to this area. Islam also took roots.

How would you describe the trend of former military officers becoming traditional rulers?

That some retired military officers are now tradition rules is coincidence. In the past, it was discovered that children of the emirs were the ones who got recruited into the army forces. They had palace privileges. There is now the awareness so that it is not only the children of the emirs that are in the armed forces. We only found ourselves in the military, not because we felt that was a stepping stone to being emir. Not that the military trained us especially for this assignment; we just found ourselves by providence.

Many people have suggested that because of their clout, traditional rulers should be allowed to take part in politics? How will you react to this position?

What we the traditional rulers are seeking, which some people misinterpret as the desire for power, is to have a constitutional role for them. The idea that we want to share power with local government or state government is not correct. We are asking for a legal and constitutional recognition for our role in the society. Meaning, whatever we intend to do should be within the ambit of the constitution. We do not advise somebody because we want to play a role, if he refused to take your advice and something along that line, what do you do? We feel that if the constitution says this and then we are given the role to advise both the local, state and federal governments on certain issues, it would be good for governance; this is what we are agitation for. We are not saying we want executive roles. I have people coming with problems to be solved in the palace. It could be that the problem is between wives and husbands, between brother and sister, these are the things we do on a daily basis. The government has no time for issues like these; rather they are after structural development. Polices like education, health, agriculture these are the areas where the government has interest. We have this problem of people trying to survive in peaceful co-existence. Our role is to make sure that daily needs of the people are met.

Alhaji Bello Abubakar Masaba, the man alleged to have 84 wives, was quoted in the newspapers last February that it was not stated anywhere in the Qur’an that Muslims are prevented from marrying more than four wives. How would you react to this claim? 

This issue generated a lot of problem in this state and Nigeria as a whole. The issue is in the court now. I don’t want to speak on an issue that is already in the court’s domain. Before now we have written a lot on this issue. We do this to let the world know our position. Let’s wait for the outcome of the court’s ruling in the case.

How would you relate your experience as a military man to that of a traditional ruler? Is there any thing you are missing now?

If I am missing anything at all it is the procedure of giving orders are expecting them to be carried out. Here, the notion of giving such orders does not exist. Rather, what we do is to persuade people to do things. Actually, I thank Almighty Allah for making it possible for me to serve in the military. Such service prepares you well for the task ahead. The self-discipline is one quality that a military man is noted for. Others are self-respect and respect for others. When you are under going this training, it is done in the hard way. At times you did gutter and other dirty jobs. In the course of doing this, you are being tested physically; and if you must ask somebody to do same you will think twice. Military training inculcates the saying that says “do unto others, what you want them to do unto you.’’ It is a blessing that we were able to get military training for over 30 years. As military men, we enjoyed a lot advantages during that time. We are making best use of our experience in the military to address issues now. Now you can only shout; you cannot give orders. You take it easy; convince people by persuasion and example to do certain things.

One of the major problems in the country today has been identified is lack of qualitative education, is there any programme towards enhancing qualitative western education to youths in your kingdom?

In my kingdom, we attend meetings of the council of chiefs. We address issues like education, agriculture and other issues. During the northern emirs’ forum or national council of chiefs that we are trying to established, we discovered that the standard of education is falling generally and more so in the north. The reasons are not farfetched, the government attitudes towards supporting the system, the people’s financial position are so demanding especially these days, by parents. Perhaps as a parent of six children he has to pay school, buy books etc all these are burden and the parents’ earning might not be big enough to cater for all these. We want to go back to records to ensure that children education in this country in being looked into. During our time, there were books, chairs and other things free, your parents’ role was just to wake you up and dress you ready for school. All the items required for learning were provided by the government. Look at the situation today, the reverse is the case. There is a situation where in the higher institutions where children are forced by circumstances to fend for themselves. Sometimes, they do menial jobs to support themselves. We are also looking at the possibility of suggesting which critical areas the government should intervene in. We hope to introduce proposals aimed at reducing the burden of parents towards educating their children. Schools should be established and provided with all that is required for learning; we are looking into all these. We are looking also at areas that could improve the quality of education. In my kingdom, the problem of girl-child education is hanging on our neck. We are looking at that too. We are discouraging the widely-held perception the girl-child does not need Western education. The more the girl-child is educated the better for the society. We are enlightening our people that it is good that they educate their female children.

What is your view about all the role of legislatures in the dismissal of some governors?

This question should be left for the government of the day to answer. We the traditional ruler, our part is to pray for whoever is in power. We are not concerned with the programmes of the president, or governor, but we are concerned for the stability and cohesion of the nation. We pray for peaceful co-existence of the people. Our country is a great and complex nation; we pray day in and day out for the peace and unity of the nation. We are right now praying for this government to enable it put all its structures on ground to ensure that people are placed appropriately and work done accordingly. We monitor the step that is unfolding daily in the country and keep praying for the nation. If there is an area for us to advice we do, where there is no need, we go back to our duty of praying for the nation. Since there were elected, they have the mandate of the people and have pledged to do certain programmes for their people. We pray to Almighty God to allow them carry out the programmes for their people.

The American electorate recently elected the first African-American, Barack Obama, as the country’s 44th president.  What are your expectations of the Obama administration with regards to US policies on Africa?

Let us understand first and foremost that Obama that is an individual; and he his American. So whether he is black or white, he is going to work for the interest of America. He is an American and he came out as an American and not as a black man. He is there to defend the American interest and that will be uppermost in his programme. As far as I am concerned, I see him as any other American president. They work on their policies which they continue to defend in all circumstances. Comparing the system in America to Nigeria’s, that President Yar’Adua today is the president of Nigeria does not make him the president of the Hausa, he is for all Nigerians so also if applied to Barrack Obama, he is not the president of only the blacks in America but the president of all Americans. He is there to defend American policies and interests in their relationship with other nations.

As an integral part of the traditional institution of Niger State, how would you describe your relationship with the government?

It’s cordial, honestly. We usually hold quarterly meetings of the council of emirs and we use that forum to address issues, where there are one or two problems. By the time we conclude our meeting, we move to the government house to brief the governor about the outcome of our meeting and suggestion in terms of the improvement in the aspect of education and other matters. Anything that has to do with the welfare of the people is addressed. The government of the day is a listening government, and even gives us tasks as traditional rulers to carry out. The government allows us to operate vigilante groups to beef up security in many parts of the state to check the menace of banditry. Financially the state is doing much for us to enable us help in checking insecurity in our domains and Niger State as a whole. As a result of that effort, the rate of crime is reducing. Honestly our relationship has been very cordial.

Has the administration in the state been able to meet its campaign promises to your people in the one year it has been in office?

Campaign promises in terms of the provision of amenities for the people are on-going programmes. Amenities like water, electricity houses, etc, in these areas we have seen lot of projects coming on board. If you are coming from Bida to Minna on you left you will see a housing Estate where new buildings are coming up. This is the first stage of the administration’s housing programme. If you are coming out from Minna, also to your left some housing estates are being built in that area. Similarly, the government is building another estate in Kontogara, you can see the roads are being built and the ones that are there are being improved upon. All these are part of his planned objective that he wants to achieve. In area of water supply, he is trying; he went down to local government level and even to the wards to be part of the development. He started by making available 500,000.00 Naira every month at the ward level for development projects and this is being monitored by us the traditional rulers. The committee is directed to come and liaise with us, to inform us and liaise with us, we are being tasked indirectly to see that we witness what is on ground. The money is not just being given like that; it is aimed to be utilized properly. We periodically go round to see if the projects that we see in the paper are actually on the ground. The projects in the paper have provision for water, hospital, drainage system, etc. All these projects that we see on the paper, it behoves on us to make sure that they on the ground.

As the custodian of the Nupe tradition and its people, what appeal would you like to make on their behalf to both the state and the federal government?

The appeal I would like to make to the federal government is that there are certain projects that the federal government is doing in the state that have been abandoned or are uncompleted. These projects include roads linking Niger and Kwara State, has been left uncompleted. Electricity projects that were awarded by FG, the poles are being erected and we are not seeing anything beyond the erection of the poles. I am appealing to federal government to look into these projects and do some thing urgently for our people. Frequent flooding is also a big problem here. The damns, power stations like Shiroro, Jiba, like Kainji, any time these power stations open their water, and our areas get flooded. I am making this appeal to federal government to once again look into the area of establishing Hydro Electricity Producing Areas Development Commission to handle the flooding that occurs yearly. We on a yearly basis lose farmlands, properties etc. Some people would just be sleeping the water will take over their rooms and submerge their houses. Some escape, some, unfortunately, die. In all these I am appealing to the federal authorities to look into them. Initially, like 2 to 3 years back, there were plans to settle the people affected by all these problems. Most of them are staying at the back of the water and are prone to this danger. I am appealing to government to look into the master plan to relocate these people who are staying at the back of the river, to where they would be safe. All these projects I mentioned are big ones. It is only the federal government that can handle them. Also the money involved is too much for the state or local government, or both, to handle.

There are ruling houses in every emirate, how many ruling houses are there in Bida emirates and which ruling house do you belong to?

There are three established houses in Bida emirate namely, Usman Zaki, Masaba and Umaru Maji ruling houses. All these houses came from the same father originally; but the old man decided to establish these houses to facilitate the administration of the area for the area to continue to grow and expand.  Intentionally, the leadership of this emirate is being rotated among these houses Usman Zaki Masaba and Umaru Maji and I happen to come from Usman Zaki royal house.