North and the rest of Nigeria
By MUHAMMAD KHAMIS UMAR
WHEN Nigeria was nick-named the giant of Africa, Northern Nigeria formed two thirds of the giant in both population and landmass. It boasts of major cultural, political and economic centres of the country. Many people remember Kano, one of the most important and strategic cities with famous groundnut pyramids, large industrial sites such as Bompai and Sharada Industrial areas. These industries employed tens of thousands of people from various sections of the country. It can not easily be forgotten that this country depends on the North for the supply of meat, skin and hides for consuption and for processing. The region was and is still noted for the production of high quality leather works and other arts and crafts. The Tiga Dam irrigation project embarked upon by the then Northern Nigeria Government was one of the most advanced irrigation schemes in the country. With irrigation water crops like wheat, rice and vegetables are grown. It harbours alot of fish and is a source of water for domestic uses.
Beautiful holiday resorts were built, the Bagauda Lake Hotel was highly patronised by tourists. Cotton textile factory owned by Kano marchants. Meat stew and jallof rice were canned in a canning factory. Groundnut mills, using local groundnuts produces tonnes of groundnut oil. Zaria which is located in the heart of the cotton belt had industries which include a tobacco factory, a cotton ginnery, a groundnut oil mill, a shea butter mill, dye pits and leather tanneries. Still in the North, Jos was famous as a mining town and having a weather similar to that of the mediterranian Europe, which makes it conducieve for foreign nationals. Sokoto as the cultural and political capital of the Fulani Empire from where Usman Danfodio led the Jihad against the Hausa states, still remains the unbrella uniting Northern Nigeria and to a large extent the whole nation. Kainji Dam project was to provide the much-needed power for the expansion of Nigerian industries. Native dress such as babbariga and zanna (cap) are mark of prestige and respect to the person who wear them. It is still fresh in our memories the great turban of the late Premier, Sir. Ahmadu Bello, the symbol of Northern power and unity.
Changes as the time turned has not been favourable to the Northern section of this country. By error of omission or commission today, the North is in pitiable condition with virtually nothing to take pride in. To be a northerner in some areas means to suffer a complex because we are looked down with scorn and disdain.
Almajiri system which used to be a proud network of learning passed on to us through generations has along the line degenerated into something else, initially, after the Jihad of Sheikh Usman Bin Fodio, his disciples travelled to distant places away from home in search of religious knowledge and therefore are given names such as almuhajiroun meaning the holy migrant. During that time as recommended in the Glorious Qur'an, their basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter was being taken care of as a kind of sponsor to scholarship, but over a long period of time parent started to abuse such privilage by sending their wards, say to Borno without proper provisions to cater for the basic needs of the children, making the system so lose and vulnerable and eventually expose the children to any societal ills provided it can fetch them some food and satisfy their immediate needs. These gangs of Almajirai are now a nuisance to any society be it the North or South. While this is going on, the whole North is made the culprit for its inability to arrest the stuation. One can ride the best car on earth but that does not stop others from associating him with the menace of almajirci since it is his brothers that are on the streets begging. Only heaven knows when this trend will stop so that the energy of these innocent African children would be channeled to productive use.
The belief here is that northerners are more politically concious than their counterparts from the south, but think this is also another misconception. For over the 30 years that Northerners had ruled this country, have they been able to turn the region into industrious Japan or self-reliant Libya? The answer is capital NO. What we had is advanced extra-ordinary treasury looting to the detriment of the whole country including the North. It is said that if you want see poverty, come to the North. I wonder if the political conciousness, of the North is true.
An average Northerner believes religiously in whatever is broadcast on the radio station as a mass media outlet in contrast to the South, where they have many print media houses and a single media house has no monopoly of the news, this made them well informed about the state of affairs of the nation, up here in the North we rely much on the radio services and so we are seriously manipulated.
At my moment of reflection I used to ponder over the good gesture of one fellow country man in the person of Rochas Okorocha who came all the way from the east and built a model school for the children of the poor with all the modern facilities one can think of in any modern school, and it is free, he does not need a kobo in return, no school fees! no levy nothing. In fact he has taken responsibility for any cost accruing as a result of expenses from that school. Fellow Northerner, let somebody help me with a single name of any northerner anywhere who has extended his hand of philantrophy as valiant Rochas Okorocha has done.
When people began to lose confidence in the banking sector because of its weak financial base, Charles Soludo decided to consolidate the banks and shrink their number to only 25 mega banks, that also affected the North, financially, because after the whole exercise, the North has been systematically schemed out of the financial sector of the country. Even the much celebrated Bank of the North could not survive. This is a very good indicator to any person with a conscience that it is not only the Bank of the North that was laid to rest but anything North, mark you, I am not blaming Soludo, the North is the architect of her own downfall even before the emergence of Soludo.
In spite of the enormous changes recorded in the field of agriculture as a result of science and technology over the last century and more at the turn of the millenium, this has not reflected in anyway in the Northern peasant farmer who still uses hoe to till the land and cutlas to clear the bush. What suprises one is, where are the billions allocated to agriculture, each year in our budgets.
I was listening to a radio programme one evening about Northern youths that are living in the South as seasonal migrants, the presenter was interviewing one of them as to why he left the North to come to Lagos, his answer was that he was there to supplement his income to be able to take care of his family. When asked about how he coped with life in Lagos, his answer was that "to stay in Lagos is not easy, accommodation alone poses a great problem, about eleven of us are sleeping in the same room because we can not afford individual rooms. And some of us do disappear without trace, they may have lost their lives" Most of these northerners engage in jobs such as cleaning, night watchmen, shoe-making, nailcutting and other degradable jobs. Hence, they appeal to their respective state governors to improve on infrastructure and favourable environment for them to secure a decent living.
During the recent programme of sanitizing and decongesting Lagos’ major roads embarked upon by the government of Fashola. It found it necessary to dislodge and evacuate the destitutes and beggars that over the years had made major roadside their homes. They were packed and sent back home only to be dumped at 'Yankaba motor park. They were to remain there for a long period of time because some of them could not easily trace their way back home or their families.
It is warrisome, the way and manner some Northerners conduct themselves in foreign countries such as Libya and Saudi Arabia, they are into all sorts of illegal businesses such as drug and human trafficking, thuggery, theft, prostitution and other social vices. No wonder we are being denied visa entry to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In the same vain, many northerners are deported from Saudi Arabia, Libya and other countries.
Epidemics such as cholera and malaria fever are as common as the air we breath. North-estern Nigeria is rated as the first in the ranks or the geo-political zones that suffer from the scourge of maternal mortality. No enough fund is allocated to the maternal health budget compared to what is budgeted to sports or protocol in the North. So many things are happening which are unacceptible, however, all hope is not lost. If we put a stop to the philosophy that brought us to the present condition we will witness the one-time giant standing mahogany taking its rightful position among its peers.
DAMBATTA’s e-mail is: khameeso@yahoo.comm