By: Salisu Suleiman
It is easy to construe the violent protests that broke out in several northern states following the April 16th presidential elections as signs of intolerance or do or die politics. The mathematical miracles reflected in the results make a categorical endorsement of the elections as free and fair difficult, but even before the results of the elections had been declared, protests had broken out in many parts of the region. If any church or Christian was targeted, it is condemnable and completely uncalled for. It is totally indefensible and can only be explained, but not justified as the result of mindless, directionless mob action.
In reality, the targets of the uprising are the so-called leaders in the North – the political, military and business elite as well the traditional institutions that have held the region back and truncated any attempt to educate the people and free them from the yolk of illiteracy and poverty. In the same manner that sit tight rulers in North Africa and the Middle East are being toppled by popular movements in the Arab Spring uprisings, the protests in northern Nigeria can be viewed as rebellion against a backward and anachronistic feudal system. Karshen Zalunci (End of Oppression) might be an apt description.
As far back as 1955, the Western Region introduced free education as a policy. Today, the products of that forward thinking strategy and their offspring dominate education, the civil service, business, financial services, medicine, law and a host of other professions in Nigeria and beyond. Even now, which of the north’s 19 states has a free education policy? So the region has millions of uneducated and unskilled young men and women with little opportunities today and worse prospects still, for tomorrow.
It is this disillusionment that is fueling the anger and resentment. It is an extraordinary development that mobs are approaching the palaces of Emirs not with reverence, but with intent to attack and destroy them and their occupants; the masses finally understand that when their leaders say ‘north’, it is not the north as a viable, coherent geo-political entity, but one where a few individuals usurp power and resources to the exclusion of the majority who wallow in poverty and illiteracy.
To illustrate the level of decay and neglect, a few examples are vital: today, a single state in the South has more school enrolments than an entire geo-political zone in the north. A primary school in Rafin-Pa in the outskirts of Zaria has 300 pupils who share two classes. A chalk line on the floor serves as demarcation for the different classes. It has two teachers, including the headmaster; there are more private universities in a state in the South than all federal, state and private universities in a northern zone. There is only one state owned university of science and technology in the entire north. A single university in the south graduates more students than several in the north.
Healthcare is not any better. Most states in the south have more doctors than any zone in the north. Recently, a volunteer group organized a medical caravan to assist a small village with basic medical services, only to be confronted with many patients requiring surgery and other more serious medical attention from surrounding settlements. Government healthcare has never reached majority of people, so they die from preventable, treatable diseases that should have been long eradicated. Cholera, dysentery, meningitis, polio and other preventable diseases are prevalent in the region which has stalled the elimination of polio from Africa. The region’s elite would rather keep their stolen wealth in Switzerland, Dubai, Hong Kong and South Africa.
Agriculture, the region’s great area of comparative advantage and mainstay of its economy remains subsistence and dependent on the vagaries of weather. This is in spite of the many dams and huge tracts of fertile land the region possesses. The Sahara desert is inching downwards every year. Entire settlements have been engulfed. Water sources are drying up rapidly; deforestation is exposing millions of people to the elements and making the region vulnerable to drought, flooding and other environmental catastrophes. Rapid population expansion further puts pressure on existing resources, while armies of unemployed youth troop to towns and cities in search of non-existing opportunities. Northern elite would rather compete about who lives in a more expensive part of London, the French Riviera or Dubai.
Of course, many Northerners have worked and succeeded in many fields, but the region’s political elite only use public offices to divert funds for personal use. Corruption is central to the region’s poverty and maladministration. The stolen funds are used to buy homes in Europe, America and the Middle-East. It is warped thought process: grab as much money as possible; open foreign bank accounts; buy estates in Europe and America, with a stopover in Dubai. And never forget to visit Mecca every year to feign religiosity.
For those seeking to understand the outbreaks of violence, there is another north. There is a north that has nothing to do with the usurpation of political and economic opportunities to the exclusion of other Nigerians. There is a north that is poor, hungry, illiterate and devoid of hope. There is a north that is as much a victim as the south of the corruption and arrogance of these narrow clique of northerners that is often presented as representing the entire region.
For this north, the various administrations headed by northerners have not resulted in better lives, education or improved opportunities. This north does not send its children to school in the US, UK and other locations while local schools are systematically ruined. This north does not fly to Europe or America every fortnight for medical checkups or shopping sprees in Dubai. This north does not own foreign bank accounts in London, New York, Dubai, South Africa, Jordan, Beijing and Hong Kong; they own no bank accounts at all. This north that does not allocate all the best positions in the country to its children, qualified or not. This north simply wants change.
This is the north that is coming out to fight for its survival. As long as they stick to the objective of forcing out the corrupt and visionless elite, they need our support and understanding, not the usual ‘almajiri’ taunts. Perhaps, a better Nigeria might yet emerge.
It is easy to construe the violent protests that broke out in several northern states following the April 16th presidential elections as signs of intolerance or do or die politics. The mathematical miracles reflected in the results make a categorical endorsement of the elections as free and fair difficult, but even before the results of the elections had been declared, protests had broken out in many parts of the region. If any church or Christian was targeted, it is condemnable and completely uncalled for. It is totally indefensible and can only be explained, but not justified as the result of mindless, directionless mob action.
In reality, the targets of the uprising are the so-called leaders in the North – the political, military and business elite as well the traditional institutions that have held the region back and truncated any attempt to educate the people and free them from the yolk of illiteracy and poverty. In the same manner that sit tight rulers in North Africa and the Middle East are being toppled by popular movements in the Arab Spring uprisings, the protests in northern Nigeria can be viewed as rebellion against a backward and anachronistic feudal system. Karshen Zalunci (End of Oppression) might be an apt description.
As far back as 1955, the Western Region introduced free education as a policy. Today, the products of that forward thinking strategy and their offspring dominate education, the civil service, business, financial services, medicine, law and a host of other professions in Nigeria and beyond. Even now, which of the north’s 19 states has a free education policy? So the region has millions of uneducated and unskilled young men and women with little opportunities today and worse prospects still, for tomorrow.
It is this disillusionment that is fueling the anger and resentment. It is an extraordinary development that mobs are approaching the palaces of Emirs not with reverence, but with intent to attack and destroy them and their occupants; the masses finally understand that when their leaders say ‘north’, it is not the north as a viable, coherent geo-political entity, but one where a few individuals usurp power and resources to the exclusion of the majority who wallow in poverty and illiteracy.
To illustrate the level of decay and neglect, a few examples are vital: today, a single state in the South has more school enrolments than an entire geo-political zone in the north. A primary school in Rafin-Pa in the outskirts of Zaria has 300 pupils who share two classes. A chalk line on the floor serves as demarcation for the different classes. It has two teachers, including the headmaster; there are more private universities in a state in the South than all federal, state and private universities in a northern zone. There is only one state owned university of science and technology in the entire north. A single university in the south graduates more students than several in the north.
Healthcare is not any better. Most states in the south have more doctors than any zone in the north. Recently, a volunteer group organized a medical caravan to assist a small village with basic medical services, only to be confronted with many patients requiring surgery and other more serious medical attention from surrounding settlements. Government healthcare has never reached majority of people, so they die from preventable, treatable diseases that should have been long eradicated. Cholera, dysentery, meningitis, polio and other preventable diseases are prevalent in the region which has stalled the elimination of polio from Africa. The region’s elite would rather keep their stolen wealth in Switzerland, Dubai, Hong Kong and South Africa.
Agriculture, the region’s great area of comparative advantage and mainstay of its economy remains subsistence and dependent on the vagaries of weather. This is in spite of the many dams and huge tracts of fertile land the region possesses. The Sahara desert is inching downwards every year. Entire settlements have been engulfed. Water sources are drying up rapidly; deforestation is exposing millions of people to the elements and making the region vulnerable to drought, flooding and other environmental catastrophes. Rapid population expansion further puts pressure on existing resources, while armies of unemployed youth troop to towns and cities in search of non-existing opportunities. Northern elite would rather compete about who lives in a more expensive part of London, the French Riviera or Dubai.
Of course, many Northerners have worked and succeeded in many fields, but the region’s political elite only use public offices to divert funds for personal use. Corruption is central to the region’s poverty and maladministration. The stolen funds are used to buy homes in Europe, America and the Middle-East. It is warped thought process: grab as much money as possible; open foreign bank accounts; buy estates in Europe and America, with a stopover in Dubai. And never forget to visit Mecca every year to feign religiosity.
For those seeking to understand the outbreaks of violence, there is another north. There is a north that has nothing to do with the usurpation of political and economic opportunities to the exclusion of other Nigerians. There is a north that is poor, hungry, illiterate and devoid of hope. There is a north that is as much a victim as the south of the corruption and arrogance of these narrow clique of northerners that is often presented as representing the entire region.
For this north, the various administrations headed by northerners have not resulted in better lives, education or improved opportunities. This north does not send its children to school in the US, UK and other locations while local schools are systematically ruined. This north does not fly to Europe or America every fortnight for medical checkups or shopping sprees in Dubai. This north does not own foreign bank accounts in London, New York, Dubai, South Africa, Jordan, Beijing and Hong Kong; they own no bank accounts at all. This north that does not allocate all the best positions in the country to its children, qualified or not. This north simply wants change.
This is the north that is coming out to fight for its survival. As long as they stick to the objective of forcing out the corrupt and visionless elite, they need our support and understanding, not the usual ‘almajiri’ taunts. Perhaps, a better Nigeria might yet emerge.
pretty nice and well articulated write up.We, Northerners in diaspora must think of how best we can contribute our quarter towards salvaging this sorry state by planning to come back home and participate in the polity of the land.
ReplyDeleteyou put that one down...as those americans would say.
ReplyDeleteWell said!...we must also address the almajiri factor..cos what has burning churches got to do with vexation against the elite? We must learn to be responsible if we want to be treated as such! THis country has tolerated such childishness for so long its now detrimental to the region!
ReplyDeleteSadly but true, youth corpers, Christians and Southerners have equally been targets of this protests. Infact he have some people openly canvassing for the death of all Christians around. How do you rationalize that? Do we regard them all as "collateral Damage" in the process of 'the other North' fighting for their survival? is that rational at all?
ReplyDeleteVery good write up. I believe however, that the 'other north' as you so eloquently put it, is still being used by the same political elite in this struggle. A careful look at the situation today shows that it is still following the same pattern of old. I may be wrong but i think that the attacks on the emirs is the 'collateral damage' as Nze said. In order for this to really be a true uprising against the status quo in the north, there needs to be an articulation of the position and the emergence of a leader (not president) of this movement. It should be a battle for the hearts and minds of the people, a battle to demand accountability from the politicians, otherwise it will end up as just another of those pogroms which have dotted the history of Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteAs long as in fighting for their survival they do not go after non-Muslims/non-Northerners, they will have the support and understanding of all non-elite Nigerians.
ReplyDeleteThere is strength in numbers and if we can unite ... a better Nigeria will emerge.
In rowdy situations like what transpire now in the north 'stray bullet tendency' is inevitable. It is not about targeting the non-Muslims and their places of worship. That's purely a matter of deep-seated suspicion belying our regional dispositions. The same is happening down south so much that, many I know of had to relocate to the north for fear of falling victims. I know of Muhtari from Port Harcourt, Ali Elvis and Ado from federa palace Lagos,to mention but a few. I encouraged them to go to INEC to see how they could register as citize ns who have relocated if they insisted not to go back. So, it's a collective responsibility that we address the senseless killings and maiming of one another. But above all, GEJ's breach of the zoning/rotation political arrangement has gone a long way to worsen the situation. We have to have a sense of mission of making Nigeria a better place to live in. It is a fact that even the Nigerian elites are tribalistic in nature. Let's be honest about it.
ReplyDeleteWELL SAID. I ADVOCATE AN ARAB-STYLE REVOLUTION AGAINST THE NORTHERN ELITES. THEN, AND THEN WILL THE NORTHER PROGRESS! KILLING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE IS HOWEVER REGRETTED AND SHOULD BE CONDEMNED BY ALL! PLS, SEND THIS PIECE AS AN OPNE LETTER TO THE BABANGIDAS, ATIKUS, CIROMAS AND CO PERHAPS THEY WILL KNOW THAT THE REVOLUTION HAS STARTED!
ReplyDeleteThe issue is that the rioters have no organised political leadership, they are a group of disgruntled youth who see the mostly educated and better off non-muslims as part of the problem. If and only if, the mob had a leader at the head that would organise them and send them in the direction of the so called leaders without killing innocent christians then indeed it would be a revolution. All in all, wonderfully written piece looking at the remote reasons behind the violence.
ReplyDelete