By Ishaq Abdullah

The last few days have been somewhat depressing for me as a freeborn of Kwara State – no thanks to a newsletter I received from one of the online pan-African groups sarcastically titled 'the richest and poorest states in Nigeria.' To be sure, the senders never meant any harm. Neither did they intend to hurt my feelings nor those of fellow Kwarans who may have read them.  The link listed the GDP (gross domestic product) of all the states in Nigeria including the FCT, culled from Wikipedia. And Kwara, my state, ranked 28th on the list with $3.84b, beating only eight states all of which were created in the 1990s. For the avoidance of doubt, the states are: Taraba (1991), Kebbi (1991), Nassarawa (1996), Jigawa (1991), Ekiti (1996), Ebonyi (1996), Gombe (1996), and Yobe (1991). Kwara was created alongside 11 others in 1967. All indices weighed, it is safe to conclude that Kwara is the poorest and the least developed of the first, second and third generation states in Nigeria. Yet it was among the very first (generation of) states ever created in Nigeria, that is, the successor states of the old regional Nigeria. Note that Niger and Kwara belonged in the old Northern region. Niger, created in 1976, placed 18th on the list, while Kogi State, a big part of it carved out of the old Kwara State in 1991, came 23rd.

The GDP sums up the level of development of a particular state, particularly as related to the poverty, human development and or standard of living. This rating clearly says a lot about the political leadership of Kwara State which has the responsibility of mobilising its population for productive engagements and of using its resources, however meagre, to develop the state.

This is a clear indictment on the political leadership of the state, which has been in the hands of a family for the past 40 years. My generation grew up hearing about the Sarakis: how influential they are in deciding who gets what in Kwara, especially in political offices and appointments and allocation of state resources. That Kwara remains abysmally underdeveloped and its people terribly poor tells it all about the sort of leadership this family has offered, contrary to outright lies being bandied about the giant strides in the state. It is a perfect case of "figures don't lie but the liars will be figured out."

It is not strange to have a particular family dominate the political scene for generations as the Sarakis have done. It happens in many places worldwide. But such domination or influence can only be justified or sustained where such family represents what is good for the society. In Nigeria for instance, the truth is that the Awolowo political dynasty, in spite of its alleged shortcomings, cannot be equated with the Sarakis. While the Yoruba will continue to deify the Awolowos for many decades to come for reasons of advancement in education, better living standard and clear political thought, the people of Kwara are already rejecting the political style of the Sarakis which is built around tokenism and systemic enslavement of the people.

Americans will forever revere the Kennedys because of their noble contributions to childcare and health-related matters. They had the influence and they used same to advance the popular cause. We were all witness to how the endorsement of the Kennedys saw Obama through the Democratic Party's primaries. And when Senator Edward Ted Kennedy died in 2009, we saw what terrible effect it had on the American healthcare debate. The leftwing media remembered Ted at that moment, while the rightwing Washington Post ran stories somewhat rejoicing at the passing of Ted. With Ted around, Obama and millions of Americans could not have suffered the sort of humiliation and heartache they endured in the hands of the Republicans. That is a political family known for its positive impacts on the people of America. With Kwara ranking 28th in Nigeria and its people continually being impoverished, can we say the same of the Sarakis?

The excuse the political leadership often give for the terrible state of things in Kwara is the paucity of funds and meagre federal allocation. The excuse falls flat. History has shown to us that the availability of fund does not necessarily translate to development. And paucity of it does not mean a state cannot develop. Nigeria is a perfect example here: the more petrodollar we get, the poorer the people become. Singapore, on the other hand, offers an example of how purposeful leadership can propel a nation/state to greatness, even without the benefit of petrodollar.

Over the years there have been conscious attempts to keep Kwara people poor and perpetually answerable to the Sarakis. There have not been any concrete steps to mould independent-minded Kwarans able to stand their own and live outside the usual political patronage. While this policy has bred generations of poor masses queuing to collect crumbs at political rallies and election times, it promises to breed an army of aggressive youth no longer amenable to N200 and N500 per vote. The violent fuel subsidy protest Kwara recorded in 2012 is a pointer to this. That the protesting youths allegedly torched the PDP secretariat speaks volume.

It is a matter of years, not decades, before Kwarans rise to challenge the style and form the so-called agricultural revolution is taking. It is clear that the Shonga Farm project is a big fraud, contrary to the pictures being painted by commissioned write ups, advertorials and radio jingles. Nothing points to this fraud than the perpetually and suspiciously changing ownership status of a venture that began as though it was owned largely by Kwara and the fact that the business has proven to be a drain on the public purse. Although the state government now grades Shonga Farm a private business concern, Kwara money is still being used to pay its debt. Yet nothing is said of what the state benefits there from. An article in the Newswatch of March 9, 2012, titled "Another Operation Fool the People of Kwara, says it all. And as I write this, thousands of hectares of Kwara people's land are being allocated to 'foreigners' for similar purposes. Yet no genuine and conscious effort is being made to build and empower the local farmers. People will ask questions someday, maybe sooner than expected. Anybody who has read about the Asian Tigers, especially the Singapore story, will easily dismiss the so-called agricultural revolution as wicked and fraudulent ventures because the people stand to gain nothing to make them a part or beneficiary of a prosperous Kwara. I therefore doff my hat for the way Lee Kwan Yew built Singapore around its own people.

Much as this GDP is an indictment on the Saraki's political leadership it is in fact a slap on the face of the Kwara elite who have watched while their state – and people – suffers perpetual underdevelopment and national disgrace. All you need to confirm this national disgrace is to tell a non-Kwaran you are from Kwara. If the outsider is not bold enough to say you belong among those "eru Saraki (slaves of Sarakis)," the expression in his face would capture what he thinks of you. As a young professional I always had horrible time debating political developments, especially when a laughable event has occurred in other states. As the Yoruba will say, oro odun lenu omo iya ole (the child of a thieving mother lacks the moral stamina to pontificate). It was that bad! The elite and indeed the people of Kwara have a historic duty of rescuing the state from a political leadership not willing to pursue any meaningful development. As for the elite, keeping quiet while our resources are being misused is not the best to secure a place in history. Interestingly enough, my generation is already asking questions. Those coming after us may go beyond asking questions!

I expect the Sarakis within and outside the state government to cry blue murder and hit back on this article. But it would do them a lot of good if their riposte is issue-based and not their usual name-calling, mudslinging and sabre-rattling, the fastest and surest way to know when a party is guilty.

Abdullah writes from University of Ilorin