Backwardness or progress, what does the North want? (II)

That the North needs a fundamental reality check in view of its continuing slide and degeneration cannot be overemphasised. The North must accept the large chunk of the blame for the deteriorating conditions because it was never so. In this regard, the overarching question the North must have to ask itself is how and when did this come about?

The truth is that the trajectory of real progress in the North stopped with the demise of Sir Ahmadu Bello, its premier in the First Republic. He was the thinker and driver of the development strides that the North was achieving before he was killed in the January coup of 1966. His agenda was for the North to develop using its own resources. He was also perceptive enough to run an administration of inclusiveness, drawing from the ethnic diversity of the North. Although oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1957/8 and part of the resources that went into developing the oil industry came from the North, Ahmadu Bello never gave it as much as a glance. His party, in coalition with the NCNC, was in power at the federal level and he could have made a move to help the North to the oil revenues to finance development objectives. His development template was to rely on the resources generated in the North and to prioritize on projects that had relevance on the people of the North. Thus projects were centred on developing the capacities of the people and adding value to their lives. Needless to say such interventions were cost effective and enduring, both in physical terms and in the impact they made in the lives of the people.

Ahmadu Bello himself walked the talk. He was not given to frivolity and hideous ostentation. As premier, he had enormous temptations and opportunities to misuse power and resources at his disposal. He was after all a scion of the northern aristocracy being a direct descendant of the great Usman dan Fodio. But while he may have looked larger than life to outsiders, he was accessible and down to earth to his associates and even subordinates. He could have sited many projects in his hometown, Rabah, or Sokoto, his provincial capital. He could have reserved choice appointments in government for Sokoto persons. And he could have helped himself to choice properties in Nigeria and abroad without fear of being questioned. But he resisted all of these temptations and instead concentrated on developing and implementing a template to tackle poverty and underdevelopment in the North.

Upon his demise, however, all this went into abeyance. Under the political economy of the military regime that took over, power and resources were concentrated at the centre. And significantly Nigerian government business came to be run more on the basis of oil revenues than from the revenues derived from produce from the regions. Northern political elites joined other elites to shift focus from the template of northern development devised by Ahmadu Bello. They took advantage of the political naivety and novelty of the new military rulers and advised them to build gigantic projects that were more for the purpose of personal aggrandizement than development of human capacities. Gone were the emphasis on values and relevance. Gone were the focus on cost effectiveness and enduring quality. In the new states that were created out of the North, the continuation of Ahmadu Bello’s template would have brought comparative development to the states and helped uplift the people. But because the scope and focus of the new development initiative was not people oriented, it never really made a difference to their lives. Thus the gap between the elite and the people began to grow because the political economy was not meant or designed to bring the people out of poverty but more to entrench the elite.

Cumulatively, the North has been by acts of omission and commission, developing poverty all these years in the name of development. The inclusiveness, diversity and consensus which were once its strength and pride have now become a source of unremitting divisiveness leading to routine sectarian violence and bloodletting all over the North.

The northern elite are at odds at these developments. Some among them adopt indifference as a strategy. Others like to wallow in denial. Others say it is the machination from southern elements to keep the North divided. Yet others say in a fit of hubris and hollow superiority complex that it is the northern culture and nobody should tell the North how to organize itself.

Amidst all these denials and buck passing, very few in the North are willing to admit that the problem may actually come from the North itself. While the other parts of the country have at least laid emphasis on development of human capacities in various ways, by contrast the North lags behind in that critical area of human development. The North is also way behind in entrepreneurial mentoring. How true this is can be seen in virtually every northern city on Sundays. You will hardly be able to buy basic items or get services as simple as a photocopy. Of all the former regions, it is the North that has jettisoned fully the development plans bequeathed to it.

All this has now come to full circle. The development of underdevelopment over the years is what the North is reaping now and it seemed the North cannot wrench itself from the vicious circle this has created. The North is locked in this and the danger is that because the North constitutes the majority of the country both by landmass and population, whatever happens here will affect the entire country.

In the midst of all this, any rationale for continuous dominance of political power in the country by the North can only be dubious and counterproductive. This issue will definitely be one of the major themes of the 2023 elections.

He could have sited many projects in his hometown, Rabah, or Sokoto, his provincial capital. He could have reserved choice appointments in government for Sokoto persons.