Date: 2017-08-01

By Ahmed 'Lateef

A renowned social entrepreneur, Alhaji Yakubu Garba Gobir, has advocated a non-partisan role for traditional rulers as a measure to tackle some of the challenges bedeviling the country.

He warned that it would be a pity to sideline monarchs in the discourse about the way forward for Nigeria knowing full well their primary role as custodians of traditions.

Gobir, a frontline pharmacist, spoke at the first royal public lecture, award presentation and launching of a book titled "The Royal Stools: A Fluorescence of Traditional Rulers and Communities" authored by an Ilorin-based Journalist, Arowona Abdulazeez.

The social entrepreneur, who was among award recipients at the ceremony, explained that traditional rulers can contribute a lot to the life of the country if incorporated.

He emphasized that the monarchs needed to be recognized because of their education, exposure and wealth of experience.

The social entrepreneur, who recalled the success of traditional institution system in the North prior to the arrival of colonialists to Nigeria, maintained that there was a need to reflect on it. 

He also called for the need to accord critical attention to history, saying that a country without history is lost. 

"If you look at our (royal) fathers today, they are highly educated, highly experienced, highly exposed and highly connected. It will be a pity to leave such people out of the discourse about the way forward in this country, and I'm not just talking about politics. 

"I think there is always a confusion when people try to talk about the role that our royal fathers can play and politics; there is a difference. We are not talking about politics here. We are talking about matters that affect their communities, matters that affect the progress of the communities at large. So, it is not about politics. There is a lot our royal fathers and traditional institution, as it is, can contribute in the life of our nation.

"Our colonial masters, when they came and got to the North of Nigeria, they saw the traditional institution well structured and actually left it intact more or less. They indeed put in place district officers and all of that, but essentially, they left the traditional institution to run itself. So, if they (colonial masters) had that kind of wisdom, I think we should reflect upon it once again", Gobir said.

"I don't want to confuse politics with what I'm talking about. When we talk about democratic institution, you see the traditional institution and our royal fathers by pure definition of who they are, when you say somebody is your father, they have to be neutral; they have to be balanced; they cannot be seen as partisan. 

"So, I would not encourage discourse about royal or traditional institution with politics or democratic institution. There are always issues surrounding a community. To be specific, if I'm to talk about Ilorin now, the big issue is poverty, youth empowerment and lack of jobs. There is a lot of contributions that our royal fathers can make towards that. 

"When you talk about other parts of the country or you want to talk about Nigeria as a whole, and talk about agriculture, our royal fathers have a role to play as well. You have heard of days in the past when fertilizers were brought in, to be distributed to farmers. It doesn't get to the right recipients. If you involved the royal institution in that kind of process, you would have much and more wider impact. Those are the kind of things I'm referring to, I'm not talking about politics", Gobir said.