Insecurity, Underdevelopment: Wither the North?

By Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE

There is no gainsaying the fact that the North is bedeviled by myriad of intractable problems ranging from poverty, malnutrition, insecurity, economic, social, religious and cultural challenges. Such things are not new if one looks at it from historical perspective. Nations from time immemorial face one challenge or another. In the final analysis what matters is the approach towards finding solutions. For this reason there is the urgent need to go back to the drawing table, strategize and come up with the solutions. Our value system, historical relationships and the number of experienced people in our midst will come in handy. As much as possible we should avoid blaming others for our woes and face them squarely.

The economic, social, political, cultural, religious and developmental indices in the North reveal a near hopeless situation. This is occasioned by the level of unemployment, poverty, insecurity, corruption of unimaginable proportion and lack of unity among the people fueled by selfish, lameduck politicians bereft of ideas on the way forward. Our educational sector is in tatters, unemployment alarming, number of out of school children scary and inequality unwarranted. Managing this complex situation requires a background knowledge of what led to where we find ourselves. An appropriate response will then be marshalled out. As Mathematicians will say ” in order to optimize there is need to juggle constraints in order to arrive at an objective function.”

The situation we find ourselves that leads to sorry state of things are the jettisoning of those lofty ideals of honesty, religious tolerance, aversion to corruption, commitment and dedication to duty, well organized and functional civil service, religious piety, empathy and the desire of our political, religious and traditional leaders to proactively deal with situations as they arise. In other words well honed strategies were always in place to deal with any situation. The more things change, the more they remain the same, therefore whatever is happening now has happened in another form before. Let’s use the benefit of hindsight in order to find our correct bearing. The North with more than half the country’s population and three fifth of the landmass, imbued with agricultural and mineral resources and with high level of political sophistication can not allow itself to degenerate to the level we find ourselves. The lofty ideals enunciated and practicalized by our forebears is readily available. We can easily mobilize our people to restore the culture of unity in diversity that used to be the hallmark of our competitiveness with the rest of the country. But in a situation where our traditional institution has been politicized, our religious leaders compromised, our electorates confused and our elites reduced to toothless bull dogs is a serious cause for concern. Doubtless, with the current state of confusion hopelessness reigns supreme. Our people are traumatized due to insecurity. People in many states of the North can not go to their farms neither can they move freely for commercial activities within or outside their states. This state of affairs issue of development will therefore continue to illude us and the wide gulf created will continue to widen as the people will not be in a position to coordinate a response towards resolving the problems.

Going down History lane, the North has, over the years developed in to a well respected entity described as “monolithic.” This is notwithstanding the multi ethnic and multi religious composition of the area. The question some may be tempted to ask is “what makes North monolithic?”, “What is the secret of unity in diversity for the constituent parts which made up the North?” and “What went wrong?” The answer to these questions is leadership. Whenever you have leaders who are selfish, corrupt, compromised and bereft of ideas then you have very serious problem on your hand. I am of the firm believe and conviction that if the issue of leadership is addressed all will fall in to place. The pre-jihad, jihad and colonial periods of course came with their own challenges but were well managed because the leaders then were patriotic, knowledgeable, focused and farsighted. An example suffices; other regions got independence earlier than the North because of the level of readiness which our leaders felt would affect us negatively. And whenever there is any issue in contention our leaders will bury whatever differences they have to confront the problem. Our collective resolve to develop our areas through ensuring peaceful coexistence remain sacrosanct and a necessary and sufficient condition for our survival as a group. Let us do things without let or hindrance. The virtues of honesty and being our brother’s keeper should be encouraged. To survive and operate in a complex setting like Nigeria you need to speak from a position of strength.
Everything from the civil service, public service, traditional institutions, religious establishment, business groups have lost their values as avenues for development because the people manning them are overwhelmed and dazed to the point of submission. This is crystal clear for all to see.

There is the need for leaders of North to come together, eschew violence, encourage the virtues of honesty, present a united front to confront the challenges facing us. Nobody can do this for us. This is to prevent the North and by implication the nation from entering the state of anarchy. What is happening all over the North is worrisome and is a disaster waiting to happen. The earlier we understand this and frontally address it the better for us. I believe we have what it takes to do so if only we are determined and committed. A stitch in time saves nine.