Taking the express way that leads
into the heart of Gusau from Sokoto, I was amazed by the road sign reading “Com.
Jamilu Zannah Road”. The first question I asked is who was this Comrade Zannah that
deserved to have an important road such as this named after him. Although the struggle
and creation of Zamfara State was done when I was grown up enough to know the
principal protagonists and I have not been so detached from the State as to
know who is who in its development, I called some friends to confirm my
judgment that Jamilu Zannah would hardly be that important. By the way, the
mere mention of “Jamilu” will tell you that one is at best dealing with an upcoming
young man -I am yet to meet Jamilu of 50 and above.
The best I got of information was
that Com. Jamilu Zannah was a former NUT Chairman and later NLC Chairman of
Zamfara State. In addition to this, he owned the biggest house on the street
and possessed greater part of the land in the area. Period!
COM. JAMILU ZANNAH AND COM. ADAMS
OSHOMOLE
In the life of any society, any
person is important. Prominence, therefore, depends largely on how well a
person plays his role in social matrix. It is as a result of this that you find
prominent people among politicians just as among praise singers, scholars as boxers,
Male as female, young as old. In spite of this, however, prominence is relative
to the society that defines it so also its reward and attendant benefits.
In Nigeria, one of the best ways
of rewarding people is by naming roads and schools/buildings after them. In
most occasions, the bigger the name, the bigger the road/school to be named after
a person. Look at the Ahmadu Bello Ways, Azikiwe Roads, Awolowo Roads, Aminu
Kano Roads, Obasanjo Roads in Nigeria as well as places like Ladi Kwali Hall,
Shehu Musa Yaradua Centre among others. These are names that need no further query
even from the least informed member of the Nigerian society.
Going by the above, I must state
that much as I have to respect Jamilu Zannah for his ‘achievements’ in the
union affairs of the Zamfara State; at the same time, I question the appropriateness
of naming the road that carries his name in my state capital. How do you
compare Com. Jamilu to Adams Oshomole who was the National President of NLC and
now the Governor of his state? Yet, on visiting Benin City, the capital of Edo
State, one would hardly find a road named after Com. Oshomole that is so conspicuous
as that named after Com. Jamilu in Gusau.
IMPLICATIONS
This naming mistake may look so
simple to certain minds. But to my humble critical mind, it is so serious and
grievous that it needs to be addressed because of the following implications:
*Celebrating low level achievement and
obstructing higher aspirations in our dear state.
*Institutionalisation of mediocrity
*Mocking the achievements of
great men and women that we have in the state whose names do not feature in the
smallest of roads in the state –Islamic scholars, season educationists in the
western sense, administrators, praise singers, traditional rulers, farmers,
politicians, military and paramilitary officers among others.
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