By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Alhaji Abdussamadu Rabi’u, better known as BUA, are known to most people to have five things in common. These are: You are both from Kano State, the commercial capital of the northern part of Nigeria, you all are successful businessmen, you are all stupendously rich (Dollar Billionaires), vanity is not among your weaknesses and you have a tremendous love for your state of origin and are proud of being so without apology to anyone.

Put, although your state of origin is ‘falling apart’, in a manner of speaking, you do appear not to be doing enough to stop the bad state of affairs. This is affecting the entire north negatively, a situation that seems not to be a cause of concern for some people, because of the two broad fault lines dividing the country.

No where this unfortunate development is more visible than in the closure or even the total death of some companies that served the entire nation, but more so the north, in particular. The companies served the north in two practical ways. They produced their products for use in the country and they employed most of their teeming workforce from the people of the area.

This is all in the past, because of the reasons outlined above, all of which were a factor of the non availability of power supply in the state. Or, in one word, ELECTRICITY. The non regular supply of electricity led to the closure and, in some cases, the total death of many companies in the state and elsewhere in the northern region.

The not too long ago hike in the tariff of electricity in the country might not have been targeted at a particular region, but its effect is more felt in the north, as a result of which many manufacturing companies folded up. The hiked tariff and the exorbitant cost of premium motor spirit (pms), locally known as ‘fuel’, mean that it would be unprofitable or even impossible to run manufacturing business on generators.

Where are the textiles companies, the beverages companies, some of the vehicles assembly plants and many cottage industries that run on electricity that could be found almost everywhere in the north? They have all folded up or gone to total extinction because of the total failure to provide enough electricity in the region, among other reasons.

The comedy of the Kano Comic, Dan Abba on the epileptic power supply in the state, is as apt now as it was then. I first wrote about it on Sunday 16, June, 2024. And now, just as I was taking an afternoon nap, the joyous shout of NEPA by both elders and children awoke me. It was the first time electricity was brought to us during the Sallah break.

For the information of those who know very little about them, apart from being very successful businessmen from Kano state, the duo of Dangote and BUA are into many businesses in the manufacturing industry. They manufacture and produce their products for local use/consumption, and export beyond the shores of Nigeria to the outside world, including the advanced societies of the western world.

They manufacture and produce such goods as cement, sugar, flour, spaghetti, macaroni, and noodles. But Alhaji Dangote, who had a head start in business earlier than Alhaji Abdussamadu, is also into refining petroleum products, chemicals, fertilisers and trucks manufacture. But Alhaji Abdussamadu also hopes to be into the rest of the areas before the year 2025 runs out, when he would have finished constructing his state of the art 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) integrated refinery complex.

Alhaji Dangote should recall his second interview with Eleni Giokos of the Cable Network Television (CNN) on the occasion of the completion of his behemoth of a 19-billion-dollar-650,000-barrels-per-day-(bpd)-capacity integrated refinery, where he said, among other things, that, “We Africans are the only people that can develop Africa. If we are waiting for foreigners or foreign investors to come and develop Africa, it will never happen”.

The two and any of the ‘hidden’ very rich individuals calling Kano state or anywhere in the northern part of the country, home, should take note that what Alhaji Dangote said about developing Africa is also TRUE about developing Kano. The  word ‘Kano’ should replace the word ‘Africa’ so that the statement would read, “we from the region are the only people that can develop Kano. If we are waiting for foreigners or foreign investors to come and develop Kano, it will never happen”.

Developing the northern part of Nigeria does not seem to feature in the reconning of the federal government for now. But the region does not have the luxury of waiting for the ‘tommorow’ that may never come. Besides, the other areas who are already ahead in terms of development, are not going to wait for it.

Let the northern people not be allowed to have themselves polarised by any fault line, because they (the northerners) are all the same in the eyes of the other people, regardless of the various beliefs in the region. All northerners are considered to be Hausa/Fulani whether or not they actually are.

The job therefore falls for the two of you to lead the way. Of course, there are other very rich ‘hidden’ people in Kano state and other sister states in the north, who could, either individually or in partnership with like minded individuals, contribute towards reviving the many dead or moribund companies in Kano. 

But many of them could not explain their sources of income, because they are into all sorts of ungodly practices such as ‘ritual sacrifices’. Others prefer not to take the ‘risk’ of ‘taking the bull by the horns’ and invest in projects that would only yield benefits later. In other words, they prefer investing in ventures that would yield benefits immediately. These are ‘mercantile’ form of traders, who abhor risk taking.

Ajhaji Aliyu Dangote and Alhaji Abdussamadu Rabi’u might be doing somethings else to assist the government and, in particular, the economy and the people of Kano state, but whatever the importance of those things, they could not compare to the importance of electricity in the lives of the people. In the 21th century, every development centres around electricity, because it is powered by nothing else. Even schools, whatever level they may be, operate better with the aid of electricity.

In failing to find like minded individuals, the two, or in collaboration with the states in the north, must think of a way out of the non power quagmire for Kano for the sake of the development of the entire region.

Being the human beings that the two of you are, no one expects you to be apolitical. But you are expected not to be partisan in your approach to politics, because as business people you are expected to relate with every organisation on equal basis. At least, in the open and the glare of everyone under the sun. This comes down to the fact that the two of you should not take sides on any mundane engagement outside your businesses. It is a fact that both of you know only too well, anyway.

And being already household names in the country and beyond, you two would do well to also develop where you come from, NOT just the places where the headquarters of your companies are located. We are not asking you to relocate, but you can do the ‘business’ of developing Kano hand in hand with doing your better-known businesses across the globe.

And unlike other rich people who like to show off their money to ‘prove to the world that they have arrived’, the two of you are not known to be vain about your financial clout and very deep pockets. Moreover, in addition to the two of you being very wealthy in your individual capacities, you both came from very wealthy families, enough to give you ‘bragging rights’, but you refused to allow the fact to go into your various heads. 

You remained focused in going about your business, hence the tremendous success you have achieved and are still achieving. But your detractors and enemies of progress have refused to acknowledge the fact that your achievements came from God, and therefore nothing anyone can do would undermine or  ‘unmake’ that success of yours.

May Allah continue to protect you and the legacy you are both going to leave behind.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.