Challenging the Leadership of the North
By
Zayyad I. Muhammad
zaymohd@yahoo.com
Northern Nigeria, a
region that had for long-time dominated the political scene of
Nigeria; but crawling behind other regions of the country in both
human and infrastructures development. And it also seems that the
leadership of the region is unbothered or simply confused on what to
do.
The question some
observers are asking is; who are the people that constitute the
leadership of northern Nigeria? Is it the State Governors? Is it
Nigeria's ex-leaders? Is it the current political office holders at
the centre? Is it the business moguls? Is it the educated elites? Is
it the traditional class or the religious leaders? Or is it that there
is an unobserved vacuum in the leadership of the north? Or can we say
that the current situation in northern Nigeria is the consequence of
complete leadership failure?
The answers to these
questions seem difficult from one angle, though they appear easy or
even interesting from another angle. To the 'talakawas' in the streets
of the north, confusion is their best answer- because they have bad
impression of the leadership.
It is not far from
the truth, if we say State Governors are very powerful in the present
day Nigeria; because they control the resources of their States and to
a large extent determine who get what from the centre, but to say the
truth, the notion most people in the north have on their Governors is
that of corrupt, non-performing and completely beating the bush in
terms of proffering developmental ideas; thought to be fair, we can
not say that all northern States Governors fall into this category.
The bulk of
Nigeria's ex-leaders are from the north, and the society expects them
to have a say or at least some power of control in term of
developmental issues in the region, but the reality is, they have
loose or no say in term of development efforts in the north; which
some observers are of the view, it is because of their elitist
attitude and non-chalant mind-set; while some people see it as a sign
of absent of dependable leadership qualities, but we must admit that,
without political authority one is powerless, regardless of the
position he or she had once held.
It is now a common
believe in the north, that the traditional institution have lost its
influence on the public; which some observers are of the opinion it
was mainly due the fact that the traditional class are today chasing
what they don't need. Though, we must acknowledge that, the
traditional class is powerless, due to the fact that governments at
the three tier levels are their bread winners; however, the
traditional class can still play a significant role by 'striking the
shepherd to frighten the sheep'.
It is not far from
the truth that faith based institutions in the north has large
followers, but we are in a situation where the religious leaders
preach fasting in the morning but practice gluttony in the night- the
religious class is fast becoming tools in the hands of politicians,
and have lost its traditional position as an avenue of giving
corrections to the society- though the situation the religious class
found itself is nothing but the reflection of the society's rot.
The business moguls
and the educated elites of northern origin have woefully failed to
give back to the society. Though, this statement is contentious in
some quarters, but it is the plane truth- the elites of the north are
sons and daughters of the commoners, who resources of the north was
used to transformed them to what they are to do. They were given such
opportunities not because of the influence of their fathers nor
because of where they come from, nor their faith; this is the main
reason why at any slightest instance they will mention the sterling
leadership qualities of Sardauna. Today it is a different story; same
people that were not discriminated upon, are busy discriminating
against class. Two interesting things here are: those sons and
daughters of theirs never for single moment appreciate such
opportunities given to them, because they know it is an unfair
advantage given to them, courtesy of the influence of their parents,
and the society sees these leaders as nepotistic.
We have mentioned
the shortcomings of our leaders in the north, however, we must own
up to the fact that we are in a society that criticise other people
initiatives but always fail to give an alternative feasible one, or we
condemn others, but when we found ourselves in their positions we
perform worse than them. Since we are calling for a new approach and
new thinking in the north, what do we expect the leadership to do?
The north has from
the time of the death of Sir Ahmadu Bello to date, woefully failed to
utilize its natural resources and that of greater Nigeria. Should
northern leadership go back to the drawing board to see how the north
can mainly concentrate on how to utilize its natural resources?
Certainly no, this is the twenty-first century; an age of human
capital development.
The north most as a
matter of urgency formulates policies and programmes that would
improve the economic well-being and quality of its people, by creating
and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes. Policies
that would improve literacy rates, life expectancy, and free the
people from the prison of poverty. The north should go for 'reductionistic'
approach rather than 'holistic' though it has to be 'systemic' in some
instances. For example, the nineteen northern States should institute
contributory scheme, where each State should contribute a certain
amount of money in a month, for instance One Hundred million per
State, i.e. a whooping N1.9billion in a month, this can be employ to
fund the development of large scale farms, small scale industries,
support artisans, sports, movie making, music, innovation and
inventions, and information technology; these would propels jobs
creations- thus a strong human capital development is ignited which
would have a multiplier effect on the entire economy of the north.
This is a
challenge to the nineteen (19) northern States Governors; Gen. Gowon;
Former President Shehu Shagari; Muhammadu Buhari, IBB, Atiku Abubakar,
Sultan Abubakar and other traditional rulers, Aliko Dangote and his
likes, the Ulamas and the clergy; and the educated elites to design a
practicable and sustainable scheme that will transform the north from
a poverty-ridden region to a vibrant economy. Let the north do it, it
can!
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