Tinubu seeks to strangle the North

By Sani Sabo  Giving the backdrop of ‘northern economic exclusion’ in the last eight years of this administration, the North was looking forward to a manifesto that will reflect the levelling-up of the economy by introducing favourable policies and intervention that will ensure dividends of democracy reaches every corner of the country in a fair […]

By Sani Sabo 

Giving the backdrop of ‘northern economic exclusion’ in the last eight years of this administration, the North was looking forward to a manifesto that will reflect the levelling-up of the economy by introducing favourable policies and intervention that will ensure dividends of democracy reaches every corner of the country in a fair manner. On the contrary, Tinubu’s manifesto seeks to maintain the status quo, and further plunder the  region into eminent collapse. 

If Tinubu truly supports the North, his manifesto entitled ‘Renewed Hope’ should reflect that. 

Critically looking at the manifesto, one realises that it seeks to reduce the North into a war-ridden region, permanently waiting for hand-outs and social intervention. This is indeed not a progressive idea, and given the fluidity of insecurity and underdevelopment, any concerned person irrespective of where he may come from should be worried. 

Before we dive into the manifesto proper, it will be imperative to lay a background. 

This administration rolled-out various social intervention schemes. Since that approach, we’ve come to realise it was nested on a grotesque economics that is counter-productive, and utterly malnourished of any developmental idea.  How do you allow insecurity to go unchecked but happy to build shacks for internally displaced persons (IDP), and come around to provide aides and incentives for them – and out of notoriety, count that as an achievement? This is the way we look at all the condescending social policies introduced by this administration.  

Now, when we look at Tinubu’s manifesto and see ‘continuity’ we see a looming North, strangled. And if Tinubu wishes to continue from the latter – it is glaring that the North will bleed to a coma given the imbalance and obscene practices that have been rationalised in this administration.  

The Tinubu manifesto made mention of utilising established instruments of government with particular emphasis on CBN, to create suitable incentives for commercial banks where youths can leverage and access loans, in a quest to drive youth-led entrepreneurship. This sounds like a brilliant idea, only that it is not novel. This is exactly what the CBN has already been practicing, and most of the intervention coming from the FG under this administration follows this exact pattern. 

The manifesto went ahead to stipulate other youth economic initiatives, and carefully combing through those proposals – hardly was there any novel and tangible idea that seeks to level up our economy. It is not news that headquarters of almost all the commercial banks are not in the North, critiquing any socioeconomic intervention prescribed in the Tinubu’s manifesto will mean screening and selection processes are carried out in a different clime altogether, since we don’t have any of such institutions in the North, it makes the entire process unnecessarily cumbersome for any Northerner, hence trimming our chances. If Tinubu’s manifesto was granular and honest, these institutional bottlenecks ought to be addressed before we feel we are part of his agenda. The statistics are there for everyone to see. How can my application be vetted by a commercial bank ED in Lagos before I have the approval to start a local business in Kankia LGA of Katsina state for example? How is this fair? 

On the issue of security, Tinubu’s manifesto made mention of creating Anti-terrorist battalions (ABATTS), whose objective shall be to seize the strategic and tactical initiative, giving terrorists, kidnappers, and bandits no respite. For starters, choice of word ‘respite’ is alarming, but moving on, the manifesto further stated targeting economic assistance programs in close collaboration with state governments and expanding emergency and economic support offered to local communities. 

Sincerely, the sheer effrontery in this section of the manifesto is astonishing, no mention whatsoever of halting the insecurity challenge, but a great deal into recruiting and adding more military presence across the North just to provide ‘respite’ and providing affected communities with stipends. The plan in a nutshell visualises the North as a war zone and seeks to deepen that. 

Furthermore, in the same section, the manifesto mentions strengthening civilian assistance and introducing an outreach arm of the armed forces, i.e., the military will be integrated into these programmes. Now, this is outright, a poor plan by any measure. If Tinubu will deploy one million army across the North, peace will continue to elude us, if military presence solves insecurity, the North will by now show some decline. What the North really faces is ‘economic exclusion’ and since his manifesto is not addressing that, our root problem will remain.

Crime is a social phenomenon – both in its causes and its effects – and penal policy must be seen in the context of wider social and economic marginalisation and exclusion. To solve our insecurity challenge, it will be worthwhile to consider the relationship between economic exclusion and crime, and the connection must be examined in a nuanced and unbiased manner. The North aligns with this position. Therefore, any measure that is not seeking to level up the economy will continue to plunder the economically marginalised sections of this country into despair. 

We will advise Tinubu, to campaign on neutral ground, he owes the North wealth of gratitude for availing him a fair chance, even as he looked the other way when the nation’s resources were cornered to his state,  he should also expunge himself the entitlement of Northern votes, revisit his manifesto to reflect a level-up economy, as the North is not convinced of any hope in his ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto, all it sees is imminent collapse.

Sabo, PhD is a member of Arewa Renaissance Group.