Arewa in disarray (1)

As if we need being reminded, the Vice President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Federation are all northerners! Aside these, the strategic offices of Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Air Staff, the National Security Adviser and Head of […]

As if we need being reminded, the Vice President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Federation are all northerners! Aside these, the strategic offices of Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Air Staff, the National Security Adviser and Head of the Civil Service of the Federation are all occupied by northerners. The picture gets clearer against the background that northerners, either as elected or unelected leaders, have ruled for 37 of the nation’s 52 years of independence. Has this dominance, especially in the present dispensation, benefited the north and its peoples?
Let’s get this clear. Deficit of transformational leadership is a national tragedy, but it is in the northern part of the country that the phenomenon is more magnified. Today, the north is grappling with deficit of transformational leaders which has continued to widen the gulf between the few rich and the majority poor. Most of those who found themselves in leadership positions since the death of the first northern region’s premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardaunan Sokoto, do not appreciate the burden of leadership and merely go into office to amass wealth. Aside inciting northerners against each other, most of the so-called leaders devise dangerous means of funding militia groups to haunt political opponents. The result of this misrule is that red-eyed adhesive-sniffing and reefer-reeking youths are now the lords of the manor.
A cursory look at the statistics produced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and other agencies are scary. Subsisting statistics show average unemployment rate for the 19 states of Northern Nigeria of 28 per cent is higher than the national average of 24 per cent. What this means is that about one out of every three adult employable citizen in the north is unemployed. With an estimated population of 83 million, about 27 million or less than one third qualified working population of the region is unemployed. This is on the safe assumption that the working population is half of the total population of the region. The working population of the region therefore would be about 41.5 million, out of which 27 million are unemployed. Problem of high unemployment in the region has significantly contributed to high poverty rate which the NBS estimated at nearly 74 per cent for the three geo-political zones in northern Nigeria in 2011. This is higher than the national incidence of 69 per cent. In simple statistics, this means that at least seven out of every ten people in northern Nigeria are poor.High unemployment and poverty rates are largely a reflection of low economic activities in northern Nigeria. Of course, the security challenge in the north calls for an upward review of the figures.
Until the recent past, northern Nigeria enjoyed a comparative advantage in agriculture.  In fact, it was agriculture that provided the platform for the defunct northern regional government to embark on positive transformation of the region as well as contributing hugely to the federal purse. Under the guide of today’s clueless northern leaders, agriculture lies comatose with hitherto arable land being gradually lost to desertification. Over the years, government intervention in agriculture has been politicized and reduced to fraudulent importation of fertilizer with the ultimate beneficiaries being political godfathers, contractors and government officials.Poor incentives to farmers, lack of storage facilities and access to credit have led to a decline in agricultural productivity as state governments are embroiled in one fertilizer corruption scandal or the other. What is more, buildings that hitherto housed bustling factories lay derelict and abandoned in former commercial cities of Kano, Kaduna and Zaria among others.
The criminal neglect of agriculture, manufacturing and other economic activity for easy oil money coming from the federal government by state governments have aggravated the situation as the federal allocations are hardly directed towards reviving infrastructure, capital projects, empowering the populace or investment in non-oil sectors of the economy. After all, the relatively easy art of sharing oil driven monthly federal allocations has killed whatever initiative is left in a rudderless leadership to even contemplate other means of generating revenue. In place of creativity, monthly allocations which run into billions of naira are cornered by a few and, where they are seen to be applied, large chunk of allocations are expended for unproductive ventures such as allocation of free Hajj and Umrah seats and distribution of rams and other essential commodities to those who ordinarily can afford them.
Magaji is based in Abuja and can be reached at: magaji777yahoo.com