They are: Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Dr. Babangida Muazu Aliyu, Governor of Niger State. Sanusi was quoted to have told an influential foreign newspaper, the Financial Times of London that, "there is a direct link between the uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence". In reference to the prevalent violence perpetrated by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North, he stated, inter alia that, "those states (Northern States) that are the breeding ground of the Boko Haram do not have enough money to meet basic needs while some states have too much money". He was comparing the resources accruing to the Northern States on one hand and the South-South States on the other. At a separate platform, Governor Aliyu expressed misgivings at the current revenue allocation formulae. He called for a review of the existing mode of sharing the federation account, alleging that the North was being impoverished.
In a democratic setting such as ours, there is nothing wrong with the above-stated views of these leaders. The only reservation one may have here is the sectional character of the campaign which implies that a more appropriate approach ought to be adopted in pushing such issues. The Governor of Niger State, being the Chairman of the Northern Governor's forum is eminently qualified to agitate for the North, because he is already accepted as their spokesman. But that cannot be said of Sanusi, who is not the Governor of the Central Bank of the North. It is professionally unethical for Sanusi as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, to use his office to serve or pursue a sectional agenda. Talking about the North and the South has become the past time of some misguided elites who deploy the worn-out jargon to undermine the unity of the country. Sanusi's statements are rather inciting and inflammatory and should be condemned. He should be working towards the overall financial well being of Nigeria and not just the North alone. Moreover his idea of North/South dichotomy is even very archaic and smacks of ignorance of Nigeria's political structure. Nigeria was a union of three main regions - the North, East and West. In 1963, the fourth region, the Mid-west came into being. So, let Sanusi analyze the allocation of resources to these old regions and stop being particular about the North. He should talk about the East and the West at the same time, because these are independent entities and groups that existed and have continued to exist in the Nigerian Union. The arrogant attitude of assuming that the North is more important than any of the other old regions is a backward mental posture. The mere fact that the old North has 19 States at present only reflects the sectional disposition of Northern military rulers who created the states. In fact, it has been observed that some of the Northern states were created to milk the federation account.
The main argument by some of the Northern leaders is that the granting of the 13% derivation fund to the Niger Delta has diminished the Federation Account, thereby impoverishing the Northern States, whose share of the account has correspondingly been drastically reduced, as a result. But this argument is teleological and does not take into account the decades of economic deprivation suffered by the oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta. The 13% derivation fund was a product of political agitation which involved legal and constitutional issues and terminated at the Supreme Court which handed a ruling on the matter on 5th April, 2002. It was not an imposition by fiat. Therefore, it will be illogical for the implementation of the derivation principle to be blamed for causing the Boko Haram rebellion in the North, because it is not only the Northern States that are affected by the relative shortfall in revenue allocation. Most of the South-Eastern and South-western States are not beneficiaries of the 13% derivation fund. The problem of the North can be located in three related factors: the character of their ruling elite, an unproductive and docile population and a rigid class structure.
The Northern elite since independence have essentially been made up of state dependants. They see political power as an end in itself instead of a means to an end. This has been the crux of the political agitation and conflict in Northern Nigeria between the Northern progressives and the conservatives. As far back as 1951, the Sawaba declaration was made by the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), led by late Mallam Aminu Kano. It stated that "the shocking state of social order as at present, existing in Northern Nigeria is due to nothing but the family compact rule of the so-called Native Administration in their present autocratic form". The Sawaba declaration went further to describe the administrative system in the North as "unscrupulous and vicious" and was responsible for "deprivation and poverty" in Northern Nigeria. Northern leaders are used to living on public privilege, at the expense of the people. Their opulent lifestyle is sustained by some hardcore principles bordering on the proverbial "blue blood theory" which argues that the ruling elites are the only ones in society created by God Almighty to remain on top of the rest. They and their offspring and siblings life in lavish feast and splendor. Their instinct for accumulation of wealth, using instruments of state, is rapacious. They are neither accountable nor transparent because they derive their status in society from traditional sources. In such a setting, development is contradicted in the light of the existence of an army of the dispossessed, the talakawa - the ordinary folks for whom life has no meaning. They are thus compelled to live on the progenitors of false generosity.
The Northern Region, especially the core North is one part of Nigeria where leaders appear to have given up on what to do with its human population. The leaders are fond of discountenancing the potential of the human factor in the development process. They ignore the fact that it is human beings who create wealth. They allow their human potentials to waste, while focusing all their attention on sharing the national cake. Of course, they made use of their opportunities, while they lasted, empowering the few privileged ones, but they ignored the masses, who are supposed to be the main pillars of development and wealth creation. It was this policy of deliberate mass impoverishment that gave rise to the almajeri phenomenon. Some people have argued that why the North cannot deal with the almajeri problem is that it was created, nurtured and sustained as an instrument of violence, to be used by rival power blocks against perceived enemies or opponents. The almajeris are the dregs of the Northern society, who even in the 21st century still drink from open and infested gutters, with the bush-lantern as their variant of electricity. Their numbers have kept increasing since independence as if their material condition has defied all the logic of social reform.
Privileged people like Sanusi should look inwards in articulating a solution for the Northern development dilemma. He should develop a blue-print for the Northern states to generate internal revenue if they must be viable. They can revitalize their groundnut pyramids and pursue increased productivity in their food chains such as carrot, onions, potatoes, cabbage and dawa. They should also deal with the problem of ghost workers in their public services. They should take steps to create task forces on taxation and collection of levies from individual citizens. If any of the Northern States ceases to be viable, then some of them can be merged. After all the idea of having 19 states in the Northern Region with 414 Local Governments while the Old Western, Eastern and Mid-Western Regions were split into 17 states and 306 Local Governments, was not equitable. Now that the economic situation has started compelling the states to fend for themselves, something more drastic may be thrown up.
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