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North is not a liability to any part of Nigeria- Kano Youth political forum to southern Governors .
Mukhtar Dauda Raula
It’s high time northerners look at some of the historical facts and do away with the stereotypes that the North is a liability and a burden in Nigeria.
Northern Nigeria was an autonomous region within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country coupled with different customs, foreign relations and security structures. In the past , the Nok culture dominated most of what is now Northern Nigeria, its legacy in the form of terracotta statues and megaliths have been discovered in Sokoto, Kano, Birnin Kudu, Nok and Zaria which is all in northern Nigeria.
From time to time, the region had different kingdoms which unified to form the solid North, in a nutshell, the region was long known for it’s diversity, strong leadership and attractive customs , this helped immensely in metamorphosing the land to a unified one. In 1959 the region gained it’s Internal self government led by Sir Ahmadu Bello as the first premier of the North.
Later, during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon in 1967 he broke up the four regions and constituted the Federation of Nigeria through the creation of 12 states structure.
In terms of geography, Northern Nigeria is blessed with a serene weather and vast land of agriculture, with two main rivers of Benue and Niger.
There are differences in subdivision in Savannah belts in the region which varies the rainfall among the belts.
Northern Nigeria was divided into group of provinces with our dear state Kano as the largest province in terms of population and economy.
There are high populatuon of farmers and merchants in the region, referring back to some areas like Kano which was known for large production of agricultural products like, groundnut and cotton provided, the main source of revenue for Nigeria, whereas in Plateau Tin mining, Benue known for steel mining, and sorts of metals extract from Sokoto and Bauchi province.
Though the land is still under threats of Boko Haram militants, cattle rustlers, Igbo youths as kidnappers,armed robbers in the region and invaders but the land doesn’t slip into a prolong slumber, commercial and agricultural activities are still active likewise seeking for knowledge and political sagacity.
Everybody in this country will easily agree when we say we are not a liability nor a burden, yes we are saying it from the land that was hardly breached by the foreign invaders due to our long system of rules, administration and knowledge, before the foreign colonization, the land is a haven for commerce and knowledge, we already know how to read and write, we sew clothes and build houses, we were shelved from atrocities and ruled by monarchs, and interestingly up to this moment we managed to maintain this.
So,let’s southern governors be fully aware that if we are ready to ask those northerners residing in their various states to come to the north we can do it,but they should also prepare for accommodating their people living peacefully in northern Nigeria .
Despite the economic recession in Nigeria in which some southern states couldn’t pay workers, non of the Northern states hold wages.
Let’s talk about the recent policy of President Muhammadu Buhari about the banning of importation of food and other products, if not for our vast land of agriculture how would the country manage to take such strict measures and survive food crisis?
We repeat, the North is not a liability, we are not handicapped as the south is insinuating, for God has blessed us with numerous blessings on which we’ll thrive on and survive!
Mukhtar Dauda Raula is the
Chairman,Kano Youth Political Forum and he wrote this from Kano.