Emir Sanusi And His Poor Underst

Emir Sanusi And His Poor Understanding Of Northern Nigeria

Abubakar Abdulmusawwir

I was certainly not caught by surprise when I read that Emir Sanusi in his key note address during the opening ceremony of Kaduna State investment programme said that the Northern Nigeria will be the poorest if the country is broken into components. I was not surprise because he is known to be making statements that are not correct or half truth.

The same Sanusi as CBN governor alleged that an estimated $49.8 billion had not been remitted to the Federation Account, after an official denial by NNPC and public outrage, he was later to revise the figure to $12 billion and $10 billion before settling at $20 billion at a public hearing held by the Senate to investigate the allegation made.

If Sanusi as a CBN governor with all resources at his disposal and access to all financial institutions could not have the patience to wait an investigate before making a statement that could heat up the polity, am pretty sure he never make a research about the potentiality of Northern Nigeria and how the region is contributing for the development of the nation and above all how it presence helps to keep other tribes in Southern Nigeria in peace.

After reading his statement, I set myself a tough assignment for the sake of the people that his statement might have misled and after I conclude my work I found that it is actually the South that cannot do without North and without North some Southern tribes might not live in peace and harmony with one another.

I hope Emir Sanusi and gullible Nigerians will find my assignment useful and draw their attention to the contributions Northern Nigeria is making for the development and unity of Nigerians.

Peace in Niger Delta

Niger Delta tribes have not been at peace for many years, the situation now remains fragile and they face a precarious future if Nigeria is broken into components

Just of recent, less than six months, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Youth Wing, Udu, gave ultimatum to Ijaws to leave Udu within 14 days. Few months after Udu incident, another group under the aegis of Benin Solidarity Movement (BSM) alleged that Ijaws and Itsekiri are plotting to take over Gelegele oil bearing community in Ovia North East local government area of Edo State and the Oba of Benin too, Oba Ewurare II, while welcoming Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President to his palace in Edo State pleaded with the federal government to wade into the case which was resolved by Nigeria’s Supreme Court in their favour but Ijaws and Itsekiris were still claiming ownership of the community.

Niger Deltans are always bickering about something or other, they are always at loggerheads, and they fight even about location of a project

Now they do not control their resources but they do not live together in peace, what do you think would happen if they become a country on their own with total right to control their resources?

The crisis in South Sudan can best be use to predict what would happen if they eventually become a country

After many years of agitation, A referendum was held between 9 and 15, January 2011 to determine whether South Sudan should become an independent country and separate from Sudan or not.

98.83% of the population voted for independence and they became a country. After they became a country, war started with at least seven armed groups in 9 of its 10 states

The fighters accuse the government of plotting to stay in power indefinitely and not fairly representing and supporting all tribal groups

According to Wikipedia, up to 300,000 people estimated to have been killed in the war, including notable atrocities such as the 2014 Bentiu massacre and about 3 million people have been displaced in a country of 12 million, with about 2 million internally displaced and about 1 million having fled to neighbouring countries including the Sudan they campaigned to leave

Dr. Luka B. Deng Kuol, Director and Associate Professor at the Centre for Peace and Development, University of Juba, South Sudan said two main reasons that cause instability in South Sudan are the problem of oil and institution and two the chaos of liberation

If what happens in South Sudan is anything to go by, one would be correct to say being together with the rest of Nigerians is helping Niger Deltans to live in harmony with one another.

Population

If Spain which has the fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP in the world and with population of over 40 million people created a Ministry of Sex and appointed a minister in order to boost the nations population because it believes that a nation needs to have a certain population before it can possibly attain the status of a major power in the world. Then Northern region which is more populous than the South according to all the census we had should be seen as a region which if carve out of Nigeria, the Southern part would be reduced to an unimportant region and no black nation will ever attain any position of power in the world.

Contribution and Potentiality

In Pre –oil Nigeria, The Northern region was Nigeria’s most thriving, it was the Nigeria’s wealthiest region by GDP and helped to feed the nation, good economists and good students of history will never underestimate the Northerners that created the ground-nut pyramids, cotton farms and textile factories and with good leadership these sectors will surely be revive

So, for Sanusi to say the region will be among the poorest parts of the world if Nigeria is broken into components, I must say he has not done his assignment well and is yet to understand the region

The same oil in the South region which he has been blinded by has been discovered in Borno State that he said will be poorer than Niger, Cameroon and Chad if it was a country on its own. Borno will soon become oil producing state.

The North has the 70% of Nigeria’s land mass and a significant number of Southerners, especially Igbos lives in it, doing lucrative business and making money from the Northerners and receiving equal treatment with Northerners

If today Nigeria cease to exist, they will be required to pay huge money as a tax and they will not have option but to pay because their land cannot contain them and their business. The tax which the North will get from them will be use to boost Northern economy.

The North is the breadbasket of Nigeria, virtually all the southern food and livestock comes from the North

There is no tropical agricultural crop that cannot be grown in North. With good policies and leadership, the North will earn Nigeria more than what it is now getting from the oil that will surely expire. However, Northern land and agriculture will never expire.

Northern resources

North has mineral resources far more than the South. Gold deposits are found in the North, most prominently near Maru, Anka, Yauri, Birnin Gwari; tin – ore in Plateau; pegmatite in Nassarawa; iron ore in Kogi; gypsum in Gombe; limestone in Sokoto and Uranium in Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi and Kano State. Even the hydroelectricity for the country is provided from Northern Nigeria. Southerners have been deceived and blinded by the oil that will expire within the next 50 years.

Nigeria is a blessed country of great potentials and whoever is talking about separation is an enemy of this great nation and should be treated as such. They have the means of living in any country, the same way they are now junketing across the globe and whenever they succeed in dividing us, they will relocate to wherever they want.