The North, fix it

When President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023, many in the North hoped that a new era of balance and inclusion would begin. Two years later, the bitter truth is undeniable: the North has never felt more sidelined, insecure, and economically battered than it does now. But if we are honest with ourselves, this marginalization […]

When President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023, many in the North hoped that a new era of balance and inclusion would begin. Two years later, the bitter truth is undeniable: the North has never felt more sidelined, insecure, and economically battered than it does now. But if we are honest with ourselves, this marginalization is only one side of the coin. The other side—the more uncomfortable truth—is that Northern Nigeria is complicit in its own decline.

This is a call not just for federal fairness, but for urgent internal reform. Fix the North. Or lose it.

From the forests of Zamfara to the streets of Maiduguri, from the IDP camps in Yobe to the abandoned schools in Sokoto, Northern Nigeria is in crisis. Bandits control large swathes of the Northwest. Boko Haram still strikes with impunity in the Northeast. Intercommunal violence simmers across the Middle Belt. OCHA reports over 2.5 million displaced persons in the region as of early 2024. Hunger and malnutrition now threaten not just livelihoods but lives (ReliefWeb, 2024).

Meanwhile, youth unemployment is explosive, educational outcomes are abysmal, and poverty is deepening. With five of Nigeria’s 10 poorest states in the North-West alone (NBS, 2024), it’s clear the so-called “giant of the region” is surviving on a shrinking legacy.

The Tinubu administration has managed what many believed was politically impossible: the systematic marginalisation of Northern Nigeria at the federal level. From top-level appointments to federal contracts and budgetary allocations, the South-West dominates, the South-East threatens, the South-South negotiates, and the North is expected to clap and move on.

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Worse, there appears to be a coordinated attempt to politically isolate Kano, the commercial and intellectual heart of the North. Is this by accident or design? Northern leaders must answer.

The result is a North that is divided, weakened, and reduced to political spectators in a country it once steered.

Let’s be honest: this didn’t start with Tinubu. Northern Nigeria has long suffered from a chronic leadership vacuum. Its governors are more loyal to Abuja than to their people. Its federal legislators are invisible. Its elite class lives in gated comfort while the people rot.

Even the once-sacred traditional institutions have been weakened, politicised, or entirely dismantled. The Emirate system—once the pride of pre-colonial governance—has been reduced to pawns in state-level political chess.

Meanwhile, our youth—ignored, uneducated, unemployed—become tools in the hands of criminals, politicians, and extremists. The Almajiri crisis remains unresolved, and illegal mining continues unchecked in resource-rich states like Zamfara and Niger, enriching cartels and leaving behind environmental devastation.

There is another threat on the horizon: the slow, quiet acquisition of Northern lands under the guise of agribusiness, renewable energy, and development partnerships. In reality, this is land capture. It is a new form of internal colonisation, enabled by corrupt local actors and disguised as national investment.

This must be resisted—not with emotion, but with law, policy, and regional unity. No people should lose their land under a federation that offers them no protection.

What the North needs is not pity or handouts. It needs visionary leadership, strategic self-development, and a new political orientation:

1. Economic Sovereignty: Invest in our agricultural and mineral resources with or without federal backing. The North must become an exporter, not just a voting bloc.
2. Regional Institutions: Form an Arewa Investment and Development Commission, managed by Northern states and focused on infrastructure, education, and industry.
3. Land Protection: Enact state-level laws preventing the wholesale acquisition of communal land by outsiders.
4. Security Autonomy: Establish a regional security force to complement or replace federal presence in high-conflict zones.
5. Political Cohesion: Demand unity among Northern governors, senators, and traditional rulers on core Arewa interests.
6. Federal Restructuring: Push for devolution of powers. If the North cannot thrive within Nigeria, a referendum on autonomy or self-determination must not be off the table.

Nigeria cannot succeed if the North fails—but the North cannot wait for Nigeria to save it. The time for begging for inclusion is over. We must build, defend, and define our own future. Fix the North.

 

Gambo Hamza wrote from Kaduna.