By Sanusi Jimoh
It remains a mystery why the Nigerian economy is designed to NOT develop the natural resources in Northern Nigeria but rely heavily on oil and gas from Southern Nigeria. Apart from fertile land with varied agricultural products, the North is rich in other resources such as tin, barite, zinc, limestone, columbite, lead and gypsum. Imagine the amount of jobs that would have been created in the North if these solid mineral industries were thriving like oil and gas.
Rate of poverty and unemployment is directly proportional to insecurity in a society. This reality is brought to bear as we see how easy it is for bandits or Boko Haram to recruit the poor population into their fold, making the war against insurgency and terrorism almost impossible to win. The more the army kills, the more they recruit. Terrorism, kidnapping and all forms of banditry has become a form of industry amongst the impoverished population in the grassroots in Northern Nigeria. The pseudo federal system of government and the fraudulent 1999 constitution that renders local government ineffective has increased the amount of ungoverned spaces in Northern Nigeria.
As government presence is more or less absent in the grassroots, social amenities and grassroot economy are absent. And as the pseudo federal system of government requires all focus to be on Abuja, most elected political leaders who ought to focus on grassroot development are busy playing Abuja politics. Only few live with the people they are meant to govern. Several local government offices in Northern Nigeria are not opened most days of the month except month end when it is time to pay salaries to mostly ghost workers.
The North is summarily like a vast expanse filled with sheep without shepherds. This leadership vacuum enables radical religious leaders and terrorists to step in and provide misdirection and radical ideologies to the population. Instead of considering the human population in the North as resources that should be harnessed by going back to regional government and granting local government autonomy, the people are left to rot in ungoverned spaces at the mercies of terrorists. It seems the Northerner Political elite only care about using the population to win elections. Else, why are the leaders not fighting hard for Nigeria to revert back to regional government and for local government autonomy?
What more proofs do we need to arrive at the reality that the current system of government and constitution of Nigeria will never ever be able to develop the North? Rather, it can only get worse. Our problem is not poor implementation of our current system of government, rather it is the fact that the system is designed to fail. Only the political elite benefit from the current system of reliance on oil and gas money from Southern Nigeria while tens of millions of Northerners roast in extreme poverty. This is extremely unfair, unjust and wicked of our political elite.
The North has the highest population of people in extreme poverty with violence and high crime rate.
The poverty rate in the North East and North West zones of Nigeria is 77.7% and 76.3%, respectively, and 67.5% poverty rate in the North Central zone of Nigeria. The Northern people in Nigeria are predominantly subsistent farmers with traditional skills and tools for farming. But the increasing insecurity makes it impossible for many to even go to their farms. With so much hunger.
Poverty in the northern regions of the country has been increasing especially in the north-west zone. Almost half of all poor lived in the north-west and the north accounts for 87 percent of all poor in Nigeria according to the world bank.
The Northern political elite must wake up and begin to demand for full scale restructuring of Nigeria back to regional government and local government autonomy before things get out of hand. We are gradually approaching the worst case scenario in which the poor in the North may pick up arms against their traditional rulers, and the political elite. We all saw during the #EndSars protests how angry youths plundered the palace of the Oba of Lagos. Our people in the North have been extremely patient. But our political elite are pushing the people to the wall by not championing what will cater for the interest of the people in the grassroots.
Giving the poor food and sharing cash gifts which the Government does is not going to solve anything, it will not even scratch the surface. The system has to be overhauled. Thankfully, Southern politicians are also clamouring for this full scale restructuring. Our Northern elite must also key into it because our grossly impoverished population in the North will benefit from it the most if we restructure and focus on our own resources. It will provide the needed attention and focus required for massive development of Northern Nigeria.
