‘Grassroot communities in Northern Nigeria facing marginalization
By Naomisophyblog
A civil society activist, Mohammed Chiroma Hassan, has asserted that communities at the grassroots level in Northern Nigeria are often faced with significant marginalisation, including lack of access to government resources and exclusion from decision-making processes.
He made the assertion while facilitating the empowerment of various community members in Bauchi with essential skills to promote social justice and foster positive development at the grassroots level.
Addressing newsmen shortly after facilitating the training, Mohammed Chiroma Hassan said, “Even when government interventions occur, they are frequently poorly implemented, failing to address the true needs of the community.”
He further stressed that this lack of inclusivity among the grassroots communities stems from limited community awareness of their rights and limited access to information on government processes, hence the need to work towards closing the huge gap.
“As civil society activists, our aim is to empower individuals at the grassroots levels, actively promote and advocate for the rights, interests, and well-being of citizens, communities, or marginalised groups so as to rise up and hold those in power accountable, promote social justice, and foster positive development,” he added.
He then explained that the initiative represents a crucial step towards empowering grassroots communities in Bauchi State to become active agents of change in their own development.
According to him, “By fostering community-led development, this project titled ‘Building Powerful Community Influencers’ aims to ensure that the voices of the most marginalised are heard and that development initiatives are truly responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people.”
He stressed that building strong influencers at the grassroots levels will result in more positive development as communities will be empowered to speak for themselves, thereby making them active in fostering community-led developments.
The project, supported by LEAP Africa and the Nigeria Youth Future Funds (NYFF), has been implemented in Gar and Kungibar Wards in Alkaleri Local Government Area, where community members comprising youth groups, community and religious leaders, women, PWDs, and other important stakeholders in the two communities were trained on how to develop strategies aimed at bridging the gap between marginalised communities and government institutions.
The first phase of the project, which kicked off earlier this year, has empowered people in two communities of Dingis and Tiffi in the Ningi Local Government Area of the state and has already yielded positive results.
Participants at the training in the four communities of the two LGAs of Bauchi State have expressed enthusiasm for the initiative.
A participant from Kungibar Ward expressed gratitude for the opportunity and emphasised that the training provided invaluable insights on various community issues.
“This is the best training we have ever had; it has shed light on the challenges we faced. It is now time for us to take action, serve our community, and continue to enlighten our people to meaningfully engage them for inclusive and sustainable developments,” he stated.
He called on the organisers of the initiative to expand the scope of the project to many communities in rural areas, as most of them face a lot of marginalisation challenges.
