Opinions

Poor North and the rest of neglected Nigeria

NOT long ago, a conference was held in Kaduna State where Alhaji Dangote, the richest man in Africa, was present. In his keynote address, Alhaji Dangote lamented the extreme poverty in some northern states of the country. He charged the governors of those states to come up with initiatives that would elevate the states under their control out of extreme poverty. Well, I believe the keynote address missed the point by an inch, or perhaps deliberately ignored the part considered too sensitive. We must note that no future plan could be laid for the country or any of its parts if the population of the northern states and Nigeria’s population as a whole is not put under check. Sadly, in Nigeria, you cannot control the population without tampering with the religious beliefs of certain people. But for how long do we shy away from the truth? The God we all serve hates untruthfulness.

We should bear in mind that Nigeria is seen as the poverty capital of the world. Therefore, being economical with the truth will add little or no value to whatever attempt is made to develop the northern states. In any case, which state is not impoverished in a country tagged as the poverty capital of the world? No economic strategist in the world can turn things around in Nigeria if the mindset by which we operate is not rewired. We should bear in mind that both the military and the civilian governments since independence gave special programmes and interventions to the northern part of the country. They had tried on several occasions to pump funds into the northern region, but all the efforts appear to have proved abortive. From the political perspective, politicians seem to derive some benefits from the uncontrolled population in the North, as this is where they harvest the highest political yields during elections. And this has given the northern part the scorecard as the most powerful region politically in Nigeria. However, while this could be an advantage on one side, it is a minus on the other.

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From the economic perspective, there seems to be nothing to write home about, but who do we blame? Come to think of it, all developed, advanced and successful countries in the world put their population under check. No country has ever recorded success with an overwhelmingly uncontrolled population. Even China that evidently battles overpopulation with 1.386 billion has, for decades now, put its population under check. China has turned its population crisis to an advantage; the Chinese are the most technologically advanced people in the world. They are financially buoyant enough to grant loans to Nigeria, the most populated black nation in the world. My stance is that no matter the amount of money, fund or plan for the Northern region, there will be failure unless the status quo is reversed. The reason is simple: population growth in the northern states must be put under strict control.

How do you utilise social infrastructure to support a population that you cannot control nor determine? The available schools and health centres in the North cannot sustain the population. Out of the 36 states in Nigeria, there are 19 northern states. Kano has 9,401,288, Kaduna 6,113,503, Katsina 5,801,584, Bauchi 4,653,066, Jigawa 4,361,002, Benue State 4,253,641, Borno 4,171,104. Niger State 3,954,772 and so on. If the government is to sincerely cater for these numbers, the rest of the country will suffer. A system whereby a man is permitted to have over 40 children is very wrong. A country cannot flourish if much of the religious creeds, beliefs and doctrines its people practice are not modified to suit its national development plans. In this part of the world, the evils of religion outweigh its benefits. Religion is used by some people to achieve their selfish goals and to further plunge the country deeper into economic crisis.

The government must come up with structural templates driven by pure national interest and designed to overcome negative religious and ethnic sentiments. This is how to lift the country out of its curremt ugly status as the poverty capital of the world. With strong zeal and putting negative sentiments aside, Nigeria can rise from grass to grace.