Violent protest in Northern Nigeria signified imminent explosion, ADAPHAI warns

A Non-government Organisation, Advocacy for Advancement of Peace &Harmony in Africa Initiative (ADAPHAI) has called the attention of political leaders as well as other leaders of thoughts in the Northern region to quickly wake up to their responsibilities to avert imminent explosion through violent revolt by the majority of idle youths in the region.

ADAPHAI, in a press statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Sulaimon Suberu,  in Abuja on Wednesday raised the alarm while reacting to the recent act of brigandage embarked upon by the Northern youths in various states in the region during the ongoing nationwide protest against bad governance.

The group said the looting spree and level of vandalism recorded in the North was a total departure from the notion behind the nationwide strike,  but a reflection of a volatile society of the North, where the majority of the youths are practically uneducated and idle.

It explained that there is an accumulated education deficit in the North since independence, which according to the group has not been addressed by successive leaders and is subsequently responsible for the complete erosion of values and critical thinking among the majority of youths in the region, with attendant polarisation and social turmoil.

The statement further stressed that the region, despite producing the largest number of military and civilian leaders since 1960 has remained neglected in both physical and human capital development, making it highly vulnerable to array of social vices.

ADAPHAI hinted that the high consumption of illicit substances among northern youths, both male and female has adversely contributed to the degenerated nature of the region and intrinsically endangered the society.

The group, therefore, called for an immediate education and social summit in the region to address various fundamental issues as it relate to education, youth employment and the fight against illicit drugs that have ravaged the Northern States in the last decades.

“The embarrassing and less cognitive reactions of Northern youths to the call for nationwide protest by some of the Southern youths clearly indicated lack of critical thinking and sound reasoning among the youths, the development that signalled dangerous trends in the region.

“Of course,  what else can someone expect from a society where the majority of its youths are out of schools and under the influence of drugs on the streets; it has become so bad and porous that young ladies and married women are quickly becoming addicted.

Unfortunately,  leaders of the region in different capacities have not been able to stop for a while and comprehensively evaluate the situation with the aim of finding lasting solutions to their endemic problems, rather, they have been busy with the struggle for power and influence at the peril of their home.

“This has been the trend since independence in the region, when a region like the South West was being prepared for egalitarianism and social sophistication by its leaders through free education, the best being offered by Northern leaders was military enrollment, for the sole aim of hijacking power through the back door.

“The result of that thinking and action is what is presently happening in the region since 2009, where thousands of people had been murdered in cold blood by insurgents and bandits across religious and ethnic divides and millions displaced.

“To this end, it is now incumbent on the Northern political elite and other stakeholders to quickly wake up to their responsibility and rescue the region from the imminent disaster of unimaginable magnitude and dimension”, the statement read.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE