Reviewed by: Redefining Moments for Project Nigeria in the Twenty-First Century Olayiwola Abegunrin Jibo Nura. Redefining Moments for Project Nigeria in the Twenty-First Century. London, England: Authors OnLine Ltd, 2010, xiv + 282 pp. Tables, Notes, Bibliography, Index. $13.95 paper. ISBN 978 07552 0632 2 Redefining Moments for Project Nigeria in the Twenty-First Century is a collection of published newspaper articles, conference papers, commentaries, and interviews on the Nigerian political situation, written between 2000 and 2009 and compiled into a book by the author, Jibo Nura. What strikes me most is the dynamism in northern Nigeria about which the young generation of northerners are speaking and writing on Nigeria’s political decay. As a Nigerian political observer who has written on the country’s development and political situation since independence, I am surprised. This is healthy and welcome development and is good for the country. It also shows that northern Nigeria is not as monolithic as it used to be. We are witnessing a new north in the Nigerian political equation of the twenty-first century. The author begins the first chapter with this statement: “Fellow countrymen, today we are going patriotic; patriotic in the sense that Nigeria, from independence to date, has undergone a series of metamorphoses and yet fails to develop into an adult. The transformation processes are gradually getting worse and seemingly, nobody cares to ask him/herself emphatically, the basic question: What went wrong?” (p. 15). It is very interesting to see a new generation of northerners admit that the British came to Nigeria as a basis for leadership manipulation and for the colonial need for political and constitutional advancement of the British system in order to exploit Nigeria’s economic resources. It is very rare for a northerner, and especially the older generation of northern leaders, to state openly that the British came to exploit Nigerian economic resources as this author has stated. Times are changing. In the chapter entitled “French Diplomatic Missions and investment in Nigeria,” the author points out that France provides technical military assistance agreements to most of its former African colonies, which in turn provide the latter with facilities. Likewise, Chad and Cameroon have defense agreements with France, with considerable military latitude and facilities (p. 44). In Nigeria, French investment as of 2006 was $4 billion (p. 47), which is [End Page 170] the largest in all of West Africa; hence, French investment in Nigeria is very vital to the French. As a true northerner, Jibo Nura defends the former and first governor of Northern Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, whom he called “Gamji—meaning the oak tree that endured and survived the most unfavorable conditions; . . . the bonafide son of Northern Nigeria; the father of northerners who sacrificed his energy, skills and leadership ability to the upliftment of Northern Nigerians” (p. 76). Comparing his leadership to that of the current leaders in Northern Nigeria, Nura writes, “[I]f Sardauna were alive he would have seen how north is being discredited by its treacherous sons, who have destroyed the grand design of Ahmadu Bello’s one north, one people and one destiny” (76). The author spends much time on the political corruption in his home state of Jigawa. He points out how Governor Ibrahim Turaki corruptly mismanaged the budgets of the state by enriching himself and his cronies and left office after eight years with a debt of $250 million and nothing to show for this. Jigawa remains one of the most backward and poorest states in Nigeria educationally, where only 105 students in the whole of the state were admitted to university in 2000, compared to thousands from other states. Besides accusing Governor Ibrahim Turaki of Jigawa State and the current northern political leaders of corruption, he also accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption and neglect of the northern states, failing to provide them with the dividends of democracy and better opportunities that he has provided to the southern states of Nigeria. One important point that the author does not mention is the role of the military in Nigerian politics. It is very important to know and pay attention to the role of military in...