The Non-Monetary Cost Of Rebuilding Jos Main Market By Jaiz Bank
The Oasis Reporters
August 13, 2022
Image credit – Sunnews Online
Written by Datong, DG
On the 11th of February 2002, Plateau State woke up with disturbing news of the “fire” incident at the Jos Main Market, also known as the Terminus Market. The Market only lasted 17 years since its unveiling in 1985, and had not been able to pay for the funds used to build it.
Plateau prided itself as having the largest indoor market in the whole of West Africa with 3500 shops and an outdoor market that can sit over 2000 traders. There were lots of insinuations about the fire incident; for some it was a bomb blast for others it was just a fire.
Those that theorize it as a bomb blast link it closely to the Jos ethno-religious crisis of September 7 to 13, 2001 where it was believed that as many as 1000 people were killed and many injured while over 50,000 people were rendered homeless.
Same class of thought opine that the twin Bomb blasts at the Market which occurred in May 2014 leaving over 118 people killed and the mid-night fire of 21st July 2018 that caused loss of property worth millions of naira were in addition, related.
All those events were believed by indigenes (mostly Christians) to be a grand plan by settlers (mostly Hausa-Muslims) to take over or destroy assets belonging to the Plateau people.
Years preceding the events of the various Jos crisis which remotely led to the allegations of plans to take over properties of Plateau people include the various ethno-religious crises in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and other areas where the Muslims were accused of instituting sharia law in secular states where non-Muslims also live in.
This to the non-Muslims was a form of domination of Islam (and Hausa) on indigenous communities in form of laws.
This became more obvious to the Plateau people when Mukhtar Muhammad a “non-indigene” and a Muslim was appointed the head of poverty reduction for Jos North by the Federal Government in October, 2001 having been petitioned and removed earlier in 1998 for not having the required certificate to be appointed as the Jos-North Local Council Chairman.
These events have led to tensions between the “indigenes” and “non-indigenes” especially in the political arena where a Muslim of Plateau descent, especially those that migrated from Hausa states, generations ago, are not considered by many to be eligible for political appointments. This attitude is prevalent across Nigeria.
While the indigenes blame the “destruction” of the market on the “non-indigenous” Muslims, it is noteworthy to mention that the Hausa Muslims owned a lot of shops there which would be foolhardy for the same people to blow-up the market.
The strong attachment to the Market has led the administrations of Botmang, Jonah Jang and subsequently Simon Lalong to bring various strategies to rebuild the coveted market with several submitted proposals. Some have proposed a repair, while some recommended a complete demolition and rebuilding of a new one.
Viewpoint Nigeria, a Jos based online Newspaper reported that after requesting for proposals to rebuild the market in 2016, 12 companies submitted while four where shortlisted. Subsequently, Messrs. Roughton International London (UK) Limited in collaboration with Cynergy Associates Consortium signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Lalong Government on 2nd of August 2016. The MoU was for Messrs. Roughton to implement the phase 1 of the reconstruction which was to gulp a sum of N230 million over a period of 12 months. It is not clear if Roughton carried out this public-private sector partnership until the fire of 2018.
What is known is that the Market was the pride of the Plateau People. It was suspected to have been attacked several times by Islamists extremist groups, the market was occupied by both Muslims and Christians and above all, every administration since the first incident had made attempts to repair the market without considerable success.
The most recent attempt by the Lalong Government was to allow Jaiz Bank to rebuild the market. From some sources, it would be gathered that Jaiz Bank would provide the funding while on completion, it would own 60% of the shops which it reserves the right to either “sell” or keep while the Plateau State Government would own 40% also to “sell” or to keep.
Each shop, after the “purchase”, would be owned by the buyer for a period of 40 years after which the Government takes it back. This is the basis for which Plateau People have alleged that the Lalong Government is mortgaging the coveted property to an Islamic institution.
On the surface of it all, it sounds to be a very good idea; at the least the market would come back to life and economic activities would be carried out indoors as desired, the pride of the Plateau People would be back. However, from the foregoing paragraphs, there are some other conflictual costs that needed to have been “paid” or “cleared” before engaging Jaiz Bank as the funder of the market. Jaiz Bank prides itself in Nigeria as an Islamic Bank with profit-oriented approach to business without interests charged on their financial products.
The Word Islamic Bank alone scares the Plateau Man who has a deeply rooted belief that Islam is first responsible for the destruction of the market and secondly, is coming back to take over its asset for 40 years.
For such Plateau People (majority from my interactions), take pride in their heritage, their attachment to Christianity and abhor the perceived sense of defeat by Islam.
These, they feel are more important and can not be swapped with a market. The current opportunity cost of rebuilding the market far outweighs the value of the Market itself.
It is by far a great loss to the Plateau People, that an opportunity to rebuild this market would be lost. This is primarily as a result of inadequate investment in the reconciliation of the peoples of the Plateau over the years creating a sense of oneness and collective responsibility for the state.
More opportunities would be lost in the future if this reconciliatory step is not taken in an immediate term. I will urge the Government of Plateau, its functionaries and peoples to start a genuine dialog to build trust between each other to grow the Plateau of our dream.
Written by Datong, Dominic Gwaman.
Conflict, Security and Development Expert Leadership Professional
dgdatong@gmail.com
