THE NORTHERN WAHALA!

2007

Nigeria was born through the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 under the British colonial rule. Earlier on at the dawn of the century, the British military might subdued the last remnants of the Sokoto caliphate with the fall of Kano in 1903. The yet to be names northern region was then a union of emirates spread from beyond the banks of Argungu river in the west to the banks of lake Chad in the east and from the edge of the Sahara desert in the north down to the banks of river Niger and Benue in the south, all controlled from the seat of the caliphate in Sokoto.

The colonial masters having appreciate the efficiency of the political and civil administration of the empire based on Islamic principles decided to leave it intact but use the indirect rule system copied from the Indian experience. The western system of education was introduced to be greeted with skepticism by the society as it was deemed alien and ungodly, except for the few sons’ of the elites drafted. This was the biggest disadvantage the region as a whole encountered. The Ahmadu Bello’s, the Tafawa’s and Aminu Kano’s that embraced western education were destined to be the future political leaders of not only the region but the country in general. The Katsina middle school, modeled to suit the culture and religion was the only institution in the entire region as against several in the southern part of the country. The school rolled out more than 80% of the political elites during the first republic.

With the introduction of the parliamentary system of government, the debates and agitation for independence divided the country’s politicians. Enahoro, leading the southern clamor for immediate independence while Ahmadu Bello led the northern voice for delayed independence. The hot debates culminates into the first civil disturbance in the country, the Kano riots of 1953 in response to the humiliated treatment the northern delegation suffered as their train rolled across the south western region. The first major victory the northern politicians gained was the eventual delay of the independence till 1960.

With independence and regional government, the first northern leaders made an accelerated effort to catch up with their southern counterparts. There was an unprecedented achievement in human and physical development as several northerners were enrolled in various institutions and sponsored abroad while institutions like the NNDC, ABU, BON etc were founded. As the north begins to catch up all of a sudden putschist’s, pretending to be nationalists, toppled the government and killed the Prime Minister, Ministers and the Premier all of northern extraction. This had been the second greatest tragedy to befall the north. The successive military regimes for the next 13 years, except perhaps the brief reign of Murtala that lasted for six months, institutionalize corruption and bad leadership by a gallery of opportunists. The first super rich leaders that owned billions in property and investment appeared, as against our past heroes that died in debt and leaving not a penny for their families. The set of military rulers from 1966-1979 are still holding the nation in ransom as they are still the kings or the kingmakers in our society, and the root of Nigerian rottenness will ever be traced to this inglorious 13 years.

The second republic was the first chance for politicians to redeem the country’s woes but unfortunately they tread the path of their forebears and become looters too. Northern misfortune was confounded as the institutions created by the founding fathers bequeathed only sycophants and opportunists that could not look beyond their noses. Educational system, on whose back they rose to their status, was allowed to disintegrate. The military struck again with excuses and promises, though this time around they have the support and goodwill of the unsuspecting masses. The Buhari/Idiagbon regime with its revolutionary zeal tried to change things but the kingmakers felt alarmed and a palace coup toppled them. Darkness fall across the land once again that lasted  for 15 years.

The northern elites that went to universities and academies with the taxpayers money became so insensitive to the right f education for every child, instead looted the treasury and stashed it away in foreign banks. The 750 million dollars of the Abacha loot recovered could at least build several needed factories in the north and employ thousands of youths across the region. This amount could be a fraction of the loot and Abacha is only one out of hundreds. From IBB’S regime to Abdussalam’s one could not find any individual with an indigenous investment worth a billion yet under the same period over 25 billion Dollars was looted. In cities across the region one could see mansions with fleet of the latest exotic cars worth millions of dollars belonging to retired military officers and politicians that could not offer a simple scholarship to a neighbor’s son let alone build a factory. At every function they extol Sardauna’s legacy but none of them has the character or the will to imitate him, but whenever they are politically threatened they appealed to the masses sense of northernesss.

An euphoric sense of newness dawned on the country with the coming of the fourth republic, the kingmakers went to Yola prison and brought out Obasanjo and put him in the Villa. In the entire Nigerian history not a single government enjoyed support and goodwill of yje Nigerian people like the Obasanjo second coming. This, I believe, was a result of being tired with the military and the naïve forgetfulness that the Obasanjo/Yar Adua were the first leaders that left office stupendously rich.

In the now eight years of Obasanjo second coming he has really put in place excellent policies that could help the economy but the process of implementation undermines the whole effort. Take for example the EFCC, it is the greatest reform measure ever undertaken in this country and the commission was lucky enough to be headed by a gallant and fearless person like Ribado, but I suspect Mal. Nuhu’s hand is somehow tied because he cannot pursue people like the president and his men. The liberalization policy in the energy sector is a must but implemented without a human face. The current windfall in oil revenues made Saudi Arabia reduce the cost of a litre for local consumption by 40% while Nigeria increased it by 300%. U.S. and European governments are warring with WTO over agricultural subsidies for their farmers while IMF is forcing or rather conniving with our leaders to withdraw all subsidies.

State governments in the north have nothing to show for the billions they received in grants over the years. They do not have common platform to fight educational decline but condone under the guise of Islamic scholarship millions of children, some as young as five, turned into street beggars and are boys. They spend millions for a Shari’ah that is not properly understood and wrongly implemented, which eventually propagated religious intolerance and violence. Every index has left the north at the bottom line except in unemployment, mass hunger, illiteracy and abject poverty. Few years ago one could get up at 3:00am and travel anywhere in the region feeling secure but nowadays even in broad daylight one is apprehensive of certain highways. Is this the north our founding fathers dreamt of? Is this the way our elite are supposed to be repaying what the Sardauna and Co bequeathed to them? Are the masses going to keep being fatalistic about the status quo?