Poverty as the face of Northern Nigeria

Last week, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja spoke blunt home truths to Northern Reawakening Forum Summit. Said Osinbajo, “our history reminds us of the visionary leaders in Nigeria, who fired our imagination through their vision, diligence and selfless service, who did not live or fight to enrich themselves, they did […]

Last week, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja spoke blunt home truths to Northern Reawakening Forum Summit. Said Osinbajo, “our history reminds us of the visionary leaders in Nigeria, who fired our imagination through their vision, diligence and selfless service, who did not live or fight to enrich themselves, they did not leave vast personal estates behind, but their names and legacies live in the hearts of the people.”……….“Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mallam Aminu Kano, J. S. Tarka and countless others who clearly understood the varied issues afflicting the region, thought through them, laid the plans and worked selflessly to realise them”.
Prof. Osinbajo decried the derailment from the foundations set by the founding fathers which has led to the challenges confronting the country, expressing concern that Nigeria is “a nation of 170 million people, the sixth largest producer of oil, over a hundred varieties of solid minerals and precious metals, hundreds of thousands of hectares of arable land, the largest economy in Africa, yet desperately poor”.
Hear Vice President Osinbajo – “the Northern States occupy about 70 per cent of the land mass of the country, they also have the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the country, the lowest rate of child enrolment in schools, highest number of unemployed young people, highest levels of poverty and faces the challenge of inter-ethic and inter-religious conflict including the Boko Haram terrorism.”
This is an old topic that Nigerian leaders love to talk about when they want to patronise Northern Nigeria as a region. Conversely, well fed Northern elite love to take on the topic at the advent of new regimes, when they can afford to turn their backs on their squalid poverty stricken backgrounds, as if unmindful of the over 9.5 million out of school children, many of whom are a begging eyesore on our streets.
The facts are glaring. The United Nations’ Global Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index Published in June 2015, and based on data collected on years between 2004 and 2014 reveals that as at 2010, 46% of Nigerians lived below the national poverty line (Only 28% in Urban areas, and near 70% in The rural). Although a Report by the World bank, released in 2014, showed that only 33% of Nigerians could be considered Poor, all Northern States of Nigeria fell below the national average of 46.5%. Damning is the following summary of Regional Averages:-
1 = South West – 19.3% Poverty (+ Average)
2 = South South – 25.2% Poverty (+ Average)
3 = South East – 27.36% Poverty (+ Average)
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** National Average 46.0%% Poverty
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4 = North Central – 45.7% Poverty (+Average)
5 = North East – 76.8% Poverty (- Average)
6 = North West- 80.9% Poverty (- Average)
This drift has been obvious since the discovery of oil which though is only 2% of our national wealth, gradually became the earner of over 90% of our revenue. Further worsening the dichotomy is the lopsided allocation of revenue, in the absence of a developed agricultural base that would have helped improve the lot of Northern Nigeria.
When Northern elite sit down to jaw jaw about the poverty and backwardness of Northern Nigeria, they pay glowing tribute to past leaders specifically Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto, just as the names cropped up at the Northern Reawakening Forum Summit. Here were leaders, not given to as much book knowledge as is being bandied about by today’s Northern Elite, and with little revenue that compares badly with trillions that minuscule States receive today. Yet while the Sardauna could affect education, health, infrastructure, and empowerment over the vast region, it is shocking to find the inadequacies prevalent in many States of the North today.
The tragedy of Northern Nigeria is that for most of the years since independence, Northerners have held the reigns of power and have as well been the determining captains and players of commerce and industry. Yet, for the leadership that Northern Nigeria has given the country, all it has to show is that poverty is its own face as described by Osinbajo.
In 2000 in Kaduna, all Northern Governors gathered at Ahmadu Bello Stadium, to promote then Vice President Atiku Abubakar as heir apparent to the Gamji Sir Ahmadu Bello Sardauna of Sokoto. Atiku Abubakar would have none of that. He angrily told the Governors then that each one of them should return to his State and provide the Sardauna type of selfless leadership to their States. This is the crux of the matter on poverty in the North. The responsibility for wealth creation and empowerment of vulnerable groups lies with the Governors who need to be imaginative in their different approaches.
It requires for all Governors of Northern States to forge a unified approach to a common problem. Simple solutions to what seems a complex problem of poverty exist. As much as he is vilified, Former Governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido has developed a model that Northern Governors need study, copy and improve upon. Entry point in the fight against poverty is the revamping of Agriculture in the whole North that takes account of rain and underground water for all year cultivation of food and cash crops. The North can ill afford tractors and in any case, past tractor hiring attempts have failed woefully. Yet the local farmer can manage two work bulls, a plough, and a carte to great impact. It is this individual holding and effort that has accounted for the food sufficiency prevalent in Jigawa State.
Of course there must be linkages with other facets of development, namely social security legal instruments that commit governments to the outlawing of begging, compulsory and free education at all levels, generation of skilled artisans through skills acquisitions with direct targeting of idle youth for engagement. Others are zero tolerance of even petty crimes, access to instant justice, as well as transparency and responsiveness in governance.
The Northern Reawakening Forum may hardly go beyond the photo opportunity with Vice President Osinbajo if Northern Governors do not pick up the challenge to confront the regional poverty predicament of the North as a united front.