A crowd of men seated in the shade of a tree as they wait to be granted an audience with the Emir of Kano outside the Emir's Palace in Kano, capital city of Kano State in northern Nigeria circa 1950. The current Emir of Kano is Muhammadu Sanusi I. (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

The Future of the North in the Nigerian Project; Imperatives of a Youths’ Manifesto

By DrNuruddeen Muhammad On Dec 4, 2019

Dr Nuruddeen Muhammad

MBBS, MWACP, FMCPsych

Former Minister of State Foreign Affairs & Minister of Information Federal Republic of Nigeria

Sule Lamido University Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State

Wednesday the 4^th of December, 2019

I have a very special and sentimental relationship with the Sule Lamido University in Jigawa State for three good reasons. First, about seven years ago, at the invitation of the founder, the then Governor Sule Lamido, myself and other colleagues at the Federal Executive Council accompanied President Goodluck Jonathan to a large parcel of land here in Kafin Hausa to lay the foundation stone of what today is the picturesque SLU. Second, the founder was very proud of the ambitious project that a year later when I paid him a private visit in Bamaina, he asked that I visit the site again. It was a work in progress then and I hadn’t set my foot here since. He requested that I give him my feedback, which I did. Third and final, this is the highest learning institution owned by Jigawa State. I am accordingly filled with so much pride and most importantly hope and inspiration from the fact that it is still possible to conceive an ambitious idea, roll out the plans, clear the grounds, get started, and yes, make it happen too. We shall inshaAllah use this model to fix our society even if it is just one block at a time. SLU is an audacious idea that didn’t only happen, but excels while it does. I wish to congratulate the University community for yet coming tops at the west african quiz competition. The success is yours while the joy, all the joy, is ours

Your Highness, Vice Chancellor Sir, invited guests, Ladies and gentlemen, I am naturally excited at the prospects of speaking to the youths, especially the students in our campuses. Because no matter what shape the future decides to come, here is the future in front of us. They are the future faculty, lawyers, judges, journalists, doctors, business leaders, teachers, emirs, university administrators, agric entrepreneurs, lawmakers, governors, ministers and presidents. There is therefore no better audience to discuss the future than this

Again, University students have the capacity to comprehend anything and everything under the sun. After all they teach and learn quantum physics, matrix, engineering mathematics, economics jurisprudence, and neurosciences here!

This is what I see here. And that is why the choice of the topic; The Future Of The North In The Nigerian Project; Imperatives Of A Youth Manifesto is most apt, timely and appropriate. I therefore congratulate the organisers and thank the University community and management for the very rare honour and privilege to be part of this collective soul searching

I am tasked to speak on a topic that l have no formal training about. I am a Clinician by training, and I am accordingly very nervous to have to speak before this distinguished gathering. I do sincerely hope that, in the end, my views would be seen for what they are; just my personal views and attempt to interpret them within the obvious limitations of my background and experiences. I shall look at trends and analyse them. Where l appear very critical and harsh shouldn’t be of any partisan or ideological concerns to no one. All mistakes shall be mine and are already regretted. What eventually is sound and useful shall be to the glory of Almighty Allah.

One of the dictionary meanings of the word ‘Future’ is “time regarded as still to come”. This definition places future as that moment between the next fraction of a second to infinity and both are abstract concepts. What lies in between however, like the next five minutes, tomorrow, next month, next year, in ten or fifty years time are precise and concrete concepts. I accordingly told a friend a couple of months back that any future that isn’t specifically defined is only but relative and may not exist as a milestone. We all talk about the future and our plans for it. That is fantastic. But there is no generic milestone marked as ‘welcome to the future’. The future will come to us as just another day, another year or decade if we fail to consciously imagine it, specifically mark it, meticulously plan it and faithfully pursue it. All societies that have made reasonable breakthroughs since the beginning of time had imagined, signposted, planned and pursued their visions. Nigeria, and most specifically the North will and shall not be an exception

Allah SWT begins the surah Asr by taking an oath – ’Wa al-‘Asr’ – which means ‘by time’. Anything that Allah the Most High swears by in the glorious Qur’an is a tremendous matter, and time is one of such things!

It is the tradition to always link the future with the younger elements. The youths in every society should naturally have more stake in it’s future, in both their unique and strategic role in shaping it and how it will eventually influence and determine their existence in it. They accordingly need a sufficient grasp of their past, with a clear understanding of the present, so as to have clear insights into that future. That way, they can deploy specific demands and manifestos to not only achieve but also shape it. But before that, first, who is a youth?

The 2009 Nigerian National Youth Policy defines the youth as all citizens of the Federal Republic aged between 18 – 29yrs. I understand that the upper limit is now up to 35yrs. This effectively puts all those within the standard and narrow youth range today within the Millennial Generation (the generation Y).

The Millennial Generation is defined in popular media usages as those born between the early 80s and the mid 90s to early 2000s. This definition I guess captures most of my audience here. The Millennials are generally marked by their coming of age in the information age and are very comfortable in their usage of digital technology and social media. This is very relevant to our conversation today, and we shall come back to it later.

As of midnight the 10th of August 2019, the Nigerian population clock read 201.5 Million. This makes Nigeria the 7th largest country in world and about 2.35% of the entire earth’s population (one out of every 43 people on earth calls Nigeria motherland)!

This population is relatively young with a median of about 18.4yrs and 50% of it are less than 30yrs. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the classical textbook description of the youth bulge, and the nation must square up to face it’s attendant consequences on the economy, jobs, social services and security, as well as appropriately position ourselves to reap and benefit from it’s enormous potentials

In all human societies, each generation as a distinct epoch would have it’s unique challenges, and from that will flow it’s unique roles and how history will both record and remember it. Now let us step back a little in history to enable us adequately understandthe present

In Nigeria, the first generation of the Balewas, Azikiwes, Sardaunas, Aminu Kanos, Awolowos, Tarkas and Enahoros and their older cohorts, the Alvan Ikokus and Harbert Mcauleys were committed to a free, independent and sovereign country. All their politics, activism and intellectual efforts were to make Nigeria free of it’s colonial lordship. The immediate post independence period saw similar conscious struggles by the same cohort in building the three regions along clearly defined ideological and economic principles. Nigeria was very competitive globally and well on track to greatness and nationhood. The North was physically secure, economically prosperous, culturally proud and socially cohesive. Revenue mobilization was top bottom. Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. And our traditional institutions were central to it with guaranteed and specific constitutional roles

The first military coup in 1966 threatened that stability and indeed the corporate existence of the then young nation itself. Another generation of leaders, relatively young and without much experience rose to the occasion and thank God we still have a country today. Nigeria was saved by young and patriotic military officers in their late 20s and early 30s, but not without altering it’s constitution, abolishing the regional structure and distorting it’s political economy, thereby setting the stage for the problematic federation of today. Revenue mobilization and allocation became top bottom. Crude oil, that was then just discovered became Nigeria’s new foreign exchange earner. Agriculture and the growing manufacturing sector were to be neglected overtime. The culture of consumption from exotic lifestyles, insane greed and wanton corruption was born and bred. The Federation was more of a huge military barrack with command and control structures from Lagos and later Abuja. Security became centralized, so were to an extent some key basic education and health policies. The local governments and the traditional institutions gradually lost their relevance. Nigeria was drunk on oil and the North, because of our peculiar history was to be more intoxicated and dependant than the South.

Then the struggle to democratize in the late 70s to late 90s. Despite the turbulence, inefficiencies and even the wastages and frustrations, we can today stand tall and declare that Nigeria has democratized, or at least it has gotten the military out of the way. For twenty years now, elections are conducted periodically, predictably and in some instances, even freely. It is to the credit of the generation that perfected this that we can stand here today and speak freely without much harassment or censorship by the state or it’s agents.

Hundreds of years before what today is Nigeria existed, most, if not all of the territory referred to as the North was an organised, competitive and industrious society. We had a well organised central governance structure with reliable mechanisms to support any system of administration. The reason why the British creatively settled to colonise us indirectly through that awesome establishment. Our legal system was robust, well adapted and culturally compliant. Security was a priority and everyone was accountable and accounted for. The economy, heavily reliant on agriculture boomed. Our ancestors traded far and wide; to the east up to the Mediterranean and up to the shores of the Atlantic in the west. They settled and established prosperous communities that are still relevant till date. Scholarship was thrived. Volumes of contemporary literature in science, medicine, sociology, law, and family were produced by indigenous intellectuals for more than 100yrs before the Whiteman came to our shores. A dedicated system of education (the tsangaya and zaure system) was both cherished, respected and protected by the both the high and the mighty. It produced intellectuals and philosophers of global reckoning, spread Islam and enabled a literacy system that was well on course before it was deliberately frustrated. The little scholars known as the Almajiris and their teachers were directly the responsibility of the host communities and through them, the state. The magnificent Badala/ Ganuwa is a testimony to the ingenuity of our forefathers. They meticulously assembled those blocks, one at a time, to erect tens of miles of the imposing walls that could rival the pyramids of Egypt and the great wall of China. We had melted iron and aluminium to provide for both the defence, agricultural and domestic needs of the society. They ginned cotton and tanned the leather to sufficient levels that the white intruders found them proudly and appropriately clothed. We were a proud and virtuous people, and the British had to fight acrimonious wars with casualties on both sides to subdue us!

Despite the confusion and near anarchy of the present, those pride and virtues are still with us. The people referred to as the northerners even in today’s Nigeria are largely known for their modesty, humility, honesty, respect, simplicity, honesty contentment, peacefulness and generosity!

This is our heritage and collective history. We are a good people with a great civilisation who were destined for even more greatness. America was fighting it’s war for independence a little over two hundred years ago when Sheikh Uthman Bin Fodio was putting the last pieces of his Caliphate together. But while the Americans, their European allies and even some African countries are marching forward, Nigeria, and specifically the North, your North, my North, our North, is pathetically marching backwards

The Royal Father of the day, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is obvious ‘jiya ta fi yau’!

With all due respect and deference to the previous generations of northerners, I would want to say that they have done their very best in the best way they can. I also strongly believe that they have responded to the challenges of their times in the best ways possible, perhaps within the limits of their individual capacities, history, mindset and other enablers, most especially technology and the information at their disposal. Though it is true that we could have been better, but it is also equally true that things could have been worse as well. Hundreds of thousands if not millions have been liberated of ignorance. Roads, bridges, train tracks and airports have been built across the region and within our states and townships. More hospitals were built and indigenous manpower provided. Transportation is better and better even if not safer. Schools, colleges and universities exist were none existed a couple of years back

I was discussing with an elder statesman who was narrating his experiences travelling from Jahun to Kano as a primary school pupil more than 60yrs ago. He narrated how he had to trek to Kiyawa on foot to catch the Kano Maiduguri bound trucks. I further appreciated their sense of accomplishment when my father told me that the only doctor he had ever known from his primary school to early career were all whites. Over time, I began to really appreciate that accomplishment they always radiate while marvelling at how far things have gone for the better as actually genuine. That elder statesman has lived long enough to have several options of good roads from Jahun to Kano. My father has also within lifetime saw not only white doctors but also the reality of about three of his children as medical doctors. That generation has every reason to feel accomplished and fulfilled.

A generation that watched when the first car moved fast their community may not be able to conceive and deliver a speed train. A generation that knew only fax machines and typewriters may not be able to conceive and deliver smart schools, smart learning and smart curriculum. My father and his generation who had in their formative years thought only whites could be doctors may not able to conceive a universal health coverage and let alone apply robots and artificial intelligence into our healthcare. A generation that didn’t learn molecular biology and biotechnology in school may not be able to conceive and deliver modern agricultural and food production practices. A generation that had felt secured with the native authority police may not be able to respond to global terrorism and translational crime. A generation that didn’t know codeine, rophynol and tramadol, will naturally look helpless while these drugs are hawk on their streets.

Problems of 2020 cannot be solved with the mindset, orientation and education of the 70s and 80s. It is accordingly the sole responsibility of the younger generations to first, draw inspiration from our past, then understand the present difficulties, and next imagine, plan and consciously march into a different future

But first, the very disturbing reality we exist today as a people;

Security:

Over the course of the last four decades, we have had the Maitatsine riots in Kano, Jimeta and Bulunkutu in Maiduguri, tens, if not hundreds of major ethnic and religious riots, the Boko Haram terrorism, Banditry and farmers/herders clashes and the kidnap enterprise. Parts of our forests in about four North Western states is occupied by armed gangs who were so daring and comfortable to the extent that Governors had to openly negotiate with them. The clash in Zaria of December 2016 between the members of our armed forces and the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria where hundreds are reported to have died and the events that followed should be a cause for serious introspection. A group of Nigerian citizens almost exclusively northern muslims, have over decades constituted themselves into a state within our state with complete and total allegiance to a foreign power. The significant part of it is that they were to face bullets to prove that loyalty. Over the years, the Nigerian state has lost the exclusive monopoly for organized military grade violence!

Our borders are among the most porous and unprotected on earth. No reliable citizens’ identification and no national crime database. Intelligence gathering and policing are still very rudimentary. Accordingly, these transnational bandits, armed robbers, terrorists, kidnappers and other forms of organized criminals have taken over a significant parts of the North.

Nigeria operates a centralised security structure with the command control of all the legitimate weapons in the country vested on the President. He in turn exercises this awesome powers by delegation through the various service chiefs. The primary drivers of internal security in any country are the police. In matters of internal security operations, the police calls the shots. They are supposed to be the most visible, professional and equipped layer in the security pyramid. Unfortunately, over the course of decades, the morale, dignity and competence of our police and other law enforcement officers are not on the national priorities list. The dysfunction has more to do with this neglect than the centralized command others may wish to blame

Poverty:

Measured by the number of people who fall below a certain level of income. According to the world bank, a person can be said to be living in extreme poverty if they live below the poverty line of $1.90, which roughly is #693.5 per day.

We are to officially become the poverty capital of the world in June 2018 with 87 million people living in poverty according to the world poverty clock. As at June 5th, 2019, the clock read 46.5% for Nigeria

The United Nations Development Programme’s Multidimensional Poverty Index has indicated that poverty is more endemic in the North West region of Nigeria. Out of the ten states with the least MDI in Nigeria, eight are from the North; Sokoto, Jigawa, Yobe, Kebbi, Gombe, Kano and Katsina

Multidimensional Poverty Index tracks deprivation across three dimensions and ten indicators; Health (child mortality & nutrition), Education (years of schooling & enrolment) and living standards (water, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, floor & assets)

3. Education:

Northern Nigeria has one of the least net school enrolment in the world with an unusually high gender parity against the girl child. The drop out rates for girls is also one of the highest in the world. And at 10.3Million, the number of school aged children who are out of school in northern Nigeria is highest on earth. Like with the police, the morale, competence and dignity of our teachers isn’t also on the national priorities list

4. Health:

At 52yrs, the life expectancy in Nigeria is unfortunately the lowest even in West Africa. Infant, child and maternal mortalities are one of the worsts in the world. Fertility rate at 5.5/woman is also one of the highest in the world. So is the population growth rate at 3.2%/annum. We are among the last remaining reservoirs of immunization preventable diseases, and other preventable non communicable and communicable diseases like VVF and leprosy. And even in Nigeria, maternal death, infant mortality, immunization preventable diseases, leprosy and VVF are essentially a northern problem

5. Gender Issues:

Right to education

Of the 56.5 million young females not in school worldwide, 10 million are in Nigeria, and over 6.5 million in northern Nigeria alone. The numbers keep rising annually (UNDP & Women’s Right Watch Nigeria

According to a Nigeria’s gender report in 2014, 62.8% of females are without education in the North West, 61.1% in the North East and 38.8% in the North Central. Infact, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa, Zamfara, Katsina, Bauchi, Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Niger have Nigeria’s worst girl child education and highest illiteracy levels

According to the Women in Law and Development Africa, 45% of 15yr olds are married against their resolve in the North of Nigeria, exposing them to high risk difficulties and even death during pregnancy and of course child birth….(my story and Nicole at General Hospital Jahun)

6. Corruption:

Nigeria scored 27 points out of 100 on the 2018 corruption perception index by the Transparency International. Corruption Index in Nigeria averaged 20.76 points from 1996 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 28 points in 2016 and a record low of 6.90 points in 1996

7. Drug Issues:

Northern Nigeria has one of the world’s worst cases of drug abuse with particularly young people, including teenage girls worst hit. Availability of these dangerous drugs in our neighbourhoods, alongside a corrupt, weak and inefficient law enforcement with absence of modern rehabilitation services, combine to make the picture even more scary. This scenario causes the proliferation of traditional drug and mental health healing houses across the region where inmates live in cruel, debased and subhuman existence . Additionally, drug culture is an enabler of crimes, affects health indices and destroys the productive economy.

8. Adult Destitution and the Almajiri Child

The sight of grown up adults and hungry, unkempt and barefooted children with their signature bowls (the Almajiris) moving around our major cities and townships is a permanent stain in the conscience of all of us in northern Nigeria. These are our people, who for reasons of diseases, poverty, deprivation, ignorance and sometimes even lack of self pride engage in a behaviour that is almost exclusively the preserve of our people. We are a people of great history, compassion and Islamic civilisation. Children are protected human beings and The Holy Qur’an is a sacred book. How then do we forsake the little ones among us who of all books study the holy book. There are elements of injustice in the Almajiri enterprise; in one part to the children and on the other to the Qur’an itself. How we care less and still think we could curry Allah’s favour still baffles me. Sheikh Uthman Ibn Fodio had famously said, “ a society can endure with disbelieve but not with injustice”. The society of our forefathers that had respected the Quran and it’s scholars didn’t witness as much fitnah as we witness today. The Shehu was right. We will never prosper if we didn’t change our ways

9. Competitiveness, Skills & Employability

Broadly speaking, we are generally not competitive with the south in so many fields of human endeavours, and the honest truth is we don’t even desire to. But the reality is we can and we must. Certain aspects of our history that could explain this mindset are long overtaken by time. Gone are the days when Northern school leavers had employment opportunities waiting for them. It was difficult for cultural reasons to get us to school. The only immediate attraction was the automatic employment opportunities the certificates were to offer. And even that were not enough to break the resistance. Different examinations scores were designed in favour of the Northern candidate to reflect this mindset and difficulties. While some measure of affirmative action could be desirable and even beneficial in the short to medium term, it certainly will continue to weaken competitiveness in the long run. Our brains are the same and we can compete anywhere in the world. My medical degree and postgraduate fellowship certificates aren’t quota based. I acquired them competitively. Same is true for anybody with any certificate here. We must overtime begin to confront the mindset that teaches my 11years old child in primary six that he can actually get ahead of his southern friend with less scores in any form of examination. We must stimulate our children and the youth to compete even at all level. This mindset affects our skills content and employability. Thousands of young southern NYSC members have created self employment opportunities up North while our graduates wait endlessly for the few little paying public sector jobs that may never come

10. Environment, Deforestation & Desert Encroachment

Nigeria looses about 0.6km annually to desertification and almost all of it in the North. Desert encroachment is the primary cause of draught, leading to poor harvest, hunger, household poverty, migration and conflicts. In the 60s and 70s up to the 80s, afforestation and general environmental protection were top priorities. Where are the tree plantations around our major townships. Where are the shelter belts in bushes. What happens to the duba garis? Where are they? Who did this to us?

Chinua Achebe had famously declared in his seminal work The Problem With Nigeria, ‘The problem with Nigeria’ , he had said ‘is squarely that of leadership failure’. That is absolutely true. But Achebe’s ingenuity in the above statement doesn’t completely answer one remaining question. For example, why is the South faring better than the North under the same failed leadership? There is probably another concept he had perhaps overlooked; the failure of followership! While both the leadership and followership can be said to have both failed across the country, the followership failure in the North is in certain ways (specifically in responsibility for self) more development non compliant

We all know that leadership can fail either because of corruption, lack of patriotism, incompetence or both. And the problem with chronic leadership failure is that it overtime bequeaths wider failure at the followership level. Leadership had failed in Nigeria for so long that the followership is also failing or has failed. And the problem with failure at the followership level is that it can make even a good leadership fail or block the emergence of a good leadership. We may never get that leadership we want if aspiring leaders have to buy their ways into office. First, by bribing their way through their respective political parties. Then pay off the electoral officials, security and thugs. And finally by directly buying the votes from willing sellers. Leadership is about trust and ethics. What is on offer here is simply a business transaction.

Even this could also be explained away as yet the exploitation by the greedy elite class of the ignorance and poverty it had overtime imposed on the people. But that too is simplistic if you factor in the self aggrandising behaviour of middle class officials involved in the perineal electoral heists in Nigeria. It is beyond material poverty. There are aspects of the poverty of the mind too!

“While it is unfortunately true that the Talakawas have been denied quality education and their prosperity stunted through long standing social and economic injustices. And that these ignorance and poverty is eventually exploited by the predatory elite class to perpetuate and widen existing class and social gaps.

This sole victimhood narrative is however of limited validity. Because under certain circumstances, and with some behaviours while choosing our leaders; selfishness, vote buying, sectionalism and tribalism over and above competence, the Talaka, to that extent appears happily complicit in his own dehumanization and oppression.

The Talaka must accordingly be challenged to selflessly participate in his own emancipation. Those who oppress and benefit from it will never have any cause to stop. It is their victim who must stand to resist them”

Your Highness, Mr Vice Chancellor Sir, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, anyone that is 15 years today, is going to be 40 in the next 25yrs. And those at 25 and 40, will be 50 and 65 years within the same period. These groups fall roughly within the national youth demography. Moving into the future, they would have to respond to these uncomplimentary statistics with specific demands, clear manifestos, sound strategy and new progressive politics!

A new Progressive Activism has to start. It shall be anchored on sound philosophical, ethical and moral principles with clear ideological sentiments around; free, fair and credible elections, secure and prosperous society, universal freedom, rights, and equality of all men, right to life, free, compulsory and qualitative basic education for all, universal health coverage, gender fairness and inclusion, social and economic justice, child’s right, freedom of thought, association and conscience, cultural renaissance and environmental renewal. And declare thus;

The territory referred to as the North of the Federal Republic of Nigeria isn’t a hunting ground for violent ideological extremists, murderous gangs and other opportunistic conflict entrepreneurs! Enemies of our people and the state must always go to bed with the fearful certainty that our agents will get them anytime anywhere. We must never again negotiate with any criminal from the position of weakness. This is nationhood 101!

Accordingly, the morale, competence, and dignity of our police and teachers are our top priorities. Because these two are the basic foundation of any secure and prosperous society. No society can ever develop without sets of conscious, consistent and deliberate national actions to dignify it’s police and teachers. The recruitment, training, logistics support, welfare and compensation system for these two shall be world class. No much is too much to secure a nation and empower it’s citizens with knowledge!

Our best brains must be recruited and compensated to teach from primary to tertiary levels. An incompetent and poorly motivated teacher is a much bigger hazard to the society than even an incompetent or poorly motivated doctor. While the doctor destroys one citizen at a time, the teacher does that to an innocent multitude in their formative years, among whom will be future doctors, teachers, judges and police. No society that is serious about it’s development can tolerate as much indifference to the flight of it’s teachers and education generally!

All school age children must have access to education. The Almajiri system cannot continue to remain in it’s present form and direction. The Koranic schools are as important, if not more and should be modernised through skills, numeracy and broader literacy addition to it’s curriculum. All children shall have rights to a free, compulsory and competitive basic education!

The girl child is a special child. Our noble Prophet Muhammad PBUH had, about 1500 years ago strongly recommended educating the girl child, which he prioritized over and above the boy’s. He (SAW) had empathised that educating a girl is like educating the Ummah. Predictably, about two of his wives and a daughter were scholars of note. Nana Asma’u, the daughter of Sheikh Usman Ibn Fodio was a writer, a philosopher, and a scholar in her own rights. Who then do we look up to when our girls turn out among the least educated, healthy and empowered in the world? This has to change!

Our curriculum shall be totally overhauled and upgraded to make our people competitive and match new global realities of access to information, globalisation, and exciting breakthroughs in biotechnology, space technology, communications and robotic sciences. This is the only way we can create a knowledge economy. An economy that is driven primarily by the competence, skills and inputs of individual citizens. Knowledge economy engages all citizens, multiplies employment and economic opportunities, shares prosperity and ultimately reduces poverty and unemployment. In an established knowledge economy, no citizen is left behind, let alone the millions and tens of millions!

Our people need to be healthier than they presently are. Women shouldn’t die as much during childbirth and more of our children should be able to celebrate their fifth birthdays in health and total wellbeing. Our life expectancy is embarrassing, just as are our doctor to patient and nurse to patient ratios. We must totally and immediately eradicate diseases like leprosy and VVF!

We must completely and immediately clean our neighbourhoods and streets of illicit drugs, and establish modern and scientifically driven rehabilitation services for the multitudes that are already victims of abuse and dependence. Drugs enable crimes and destroy the productive base of the economy!

Agriculture, which employs majority of our people, contributes highest to our GDP and directly determines our food security must rise above a 1000 years subsistence existence. We must inject knowledge, research, innovations and capital to completely modernise our farming. Agriculture must evolve into a business backed up with actionable agro industrial and commodity exchange blueprints. Agriculture is too important to our existence to exist as it is!

We shall halt desert encroachment! Nigeria looses about 0.6 kilometres every month to desertification. All of it in Northern Nigeria. Desert encroachment reduces rainfall, causes poor yield, exacerbates poverty, induces water shortage, necessitates migration and enables conflicts. We must plant hundred of millions of trees over the next one decade to both reclaim lost grounds and prevent further desertification. It is possible and we can!

We are bearers of a great heritage and history built on the principles of competitiveness, self reliance, sound ethics and hard work. I shall be responsible for myself and only depend on the state to the extent that it is it’s responsibility to provide me with opportunities. Begging and destitution are neither part of my culture nor religion. Those who are truly weak and the infirm shall the responsibility of the state. This is social justice!

We are solemnly committed to these principles and are disposed to pursue all necessary constitional and structural changes to the Nigerian Federation to the extent that it will enable their implementation. No constitution is too sacrosanct to stand on the way of development!

“…Take Jigawa as a specific example. As at today, the state is probably among the five poorest in the country with one of the lowest literacy index ( third from the bottom in the WASSCE results for two consecutive years), high maternal deaths and infant mortality. We are among the top 3 states losing their land to desert encroachment with all it’s attendant consequences on subsistence farming and animal husbandry (the two major drivers of our GDP), food security and poverty. Family nutrition, dependency ratio and female literacy remain one of the worst in the world.

With it’s population of about 6 million; 3 million of which are under 30yrs, reasonably educated and capable, the youths ls in Jigawa can, in the next 25yrs, initiate a possible sub revolution that can effectively change perception and reverse the fortune of the state

Specifically, with an estimated landmass of about 22,410 square kilometres, an international boundary, modern airport, about 250km of railway track, impressive road network, two new universities, a teaching hospital, three polytechnics, an informatics institute, a historic college of education, schools of nursing and health technology and a reputation for peace, Jigawa, can with the right mindset, big daring ideas and patriotism generate a self sustaining prosperity compared to many sovereign territories around the world

It’s diverse and rich landscape comprising of all the savannah types (guinea, sahel and sudan), expansive and extensive network of wetlands, bird sanctuaries, rock formations and flood planes can provide Nigeria with a significant fraction of it’s food’s demand, create economic opportunities for our people and earn hundred of millions of dollars in foreign exchange annually. In fact, with such endowments, Jigawa is a potential international tourism sensation that can support various chains of hospitality and agro allied industries and services

I am of the strong believe and conviction that our generation can, within our lifetime, realistically deliver this ‘new world’ at the national stage and launch it’s economy at both the sub regional and continental levels.

All that is required in the short to medium term is the right collective mindset and consensus, strategic vision, clinical planning, diligent implementation and deliberate political actions to modernise our education, health, local economy and environment over the next 25yrs….”

To achieve all these, no resources, human or material shall be spared. In areas of policy and governance, our traditional institutions are more or less redundant and grossly underutilised. While we remain totally ignorant and clueless of the utility of religious clerics, their places of worship and the opportunities both can offer for positive social engineering.

We are due as a people for yet another comprehensive round of traditional and religious institutions reforms. For example, in Northern Nigeria, some of the social and to an extent even the economic constraints that ail our development could benefit from the reverence, stability and the solid network of our Emirs and their Emirates. So is also the case with, if appropriately harnessed, the authority, legitimacy and knowledge of the Islamic Clerics and their pulpits. Islam and contemporary development are inherently complimentary!

The present confusion where both the traditional institutions and the religious establishment are only barely tolerated, must give way to a future where the two institutions would play a predictable and constitutionally guaranteed supporting roles in our social, economic and development policies and actions

Malaysia, Singapore, China and India all had this moments of national self regeneration and cultural revolution. Like Malaysia, northern Nigeria too desperately needs it’s own Dr Mahathir Mohamad. If there is presently none, it must look inward to create one. Malaysia because it parallels the North both in culture, Islamic and colonial heritages. Dr Mahathir because he was the daring revolutionary with the big ‘weird’ and ‘theoretical’ ideas whose imaginations were first in the realm of utopia before it (the utopia) became the reality that today is Malaysia!

Hear him:

“If you want to be a leader, you must have ideas, if not, you are simply a follower”

“The Malays are spirituality inclined, tolerant, and easy going, the non Malays, and especially the Chinese, are materialistic, aggressive, and have an appetite for work. For equality to come about, it is necessary that these strikingly contrasting races adjust to each other”

“Being a medical practitioner enables me to get in touch with the people, understand their problems, feel sympathetic towards them, and the natural thing is to want to help them, and if you become a politician and if you are successful, you can help them even more”

Dr Mahathir Mohamad

And George Bernard Shaw’s description of ‘unreasonableness’ in his classic; Man and Superman, is an enduring tribute to individuals with big impossible ideas who refuse to succumb to the concensus of their settled world, but create their own instead. He concluded that all progress depends on them!

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

My fellow compatriots, we must approach fixing the North with similar clarity and mindset. No idea is too big when it isn’t tested and failed. When leaders lead without any specific demands from the from the people, the default is, they may mistake their selfish demands as that of the people. Accordingly, to capture the future, we must consciously organise towards these very specific regional goals and demands

But the big questions are; do we even behave as if we are aware of these possibilities? If we are aware, are we ready to march forward? If we think we are ready, are we capable as a generation?

This now is the appropriate moment for an honest, frank and critical self reflection as a generation;

1. We are too selfish, ideologically incoherent and fragmented:

The generation that struggled for independence knew that while the end result of their struggle was power and economic opportunities for most of them, what bound them together were however more of strong decolonisation sentiments, freedom for their people and even pan Africanism

The civil war sacrifices were as much about one strong and indivisible black African nation than it was about personal differences and ethnic sentiments

Even the recent democratization struggles were as much driven by ideals of democracy, free society and individual franchise as it was about power and its contest

Unfortunately, we are too ideologically incoherent and fragmented and very selfish to pursue any competitive and meaningful political movement.

What is our ideological and philosophical sounding board as a generation? Beyond asking the old to leave and give us power, what higher ideals unite and propel us?

2. Organisational defects:

We are bad organisers. Very bad ones. My involvement in politics from the local to the national levels exposed me to the reality that politics is all about organisation. If one likes, one can spend a whole life time agitating. But in the grand scheme of things politically, he might achieve little or nothing if the traditional organisation bit of it is missing. My generation is all talk no organisation! There are instances where people who didn’t pass through any formal training do much better in organizing and executing political tasks

Finance and Logistics challenges:

Globally, coordinating successful political activities will involve a lot of resources. We just don’t have those resources. No one was ever generous enough to finance another’s political adventures.

Nobody will fund us but us! Every kobo counts and shall be volunteered. There is a serious power in numbers. Presidents Obama of the USA and Macron of France were crowd funded by young people. The sad reality here however is that even some of our young educated elements would rather ask for what they will get out of the process than what they will volunteer into it

4. Ethical & Moral Challenges:

No matter the sentiments my generation might have against those running the status quo, one cannot take away their sense of purpose and responsibility towards what they consider a priority. Perhaps because of the advantages of better education, purposeful mentoring and the exposures they had, they come across as more hardworking, ethically conscious and disciplined than most of us.

While we condemn corruption in the open, most of us secretly wish to benefit. We only seem to gloat at corruption that we aren’t beneficiaries of. Money and patronage buy our loyalty. Greed, envy, hate and jealously determine to a large extent our political attitudes and opinions especially towards people of our generation.

5. Emotional Intelligence:

We are too emotional. Our interactions on social media are literally hateful shouting matches. We only attack, disrespect and mock each other’s political leaders, cultures, spirituality and ways of life generally.

There is even no universal and acceptable concept of what constitutes corruption of performance in office. We use derogatory expletives to shout down the other not to establish any consensus around issues at broad, ideological and actionable levels.

Our public debates are essentially emotional sound bites around partisan and personal sentiments. This takes our attention away from the real issues and eventually even breed contempt and hatred among us!

But all hopes cannot be lost. The prospects are very bright if from today, we commit to do all the right things, at the right time and for the right purposes. The political space, much more than any other aspect of our national life needs our fresh ideas and innocent minds.

First, we must quit the politics of next elections. The youths made so much noise in 2015, and by 2019 they almost run the political space into the frenzy of not too young to run. If no one is too young to run, then the fact has been no one was ever too to old run. Such unrealistic timelines and expectations only help to further portray us as an ambitious lot who seek power only for the sake of power.

Nigerian youths must learn to toil, organise, shoot blank, fall and rise again. We must never reduce this generational call to any meaningless debate about ageism. It is not a ‘we’ the young versus ‘them’ the old in the context of age but the specific realities and roles expected of the two generations. We need both the collective wisdom and accumulated experiences of the old to properly harness and guide the energy, innocence and the modernity of the young.

Good politics isn’t about the next election or grabbing power but organising a society and moving it forward.

And make no mistakes about it, the youth demography has all the progressive resources and elements necessary to initiate these actions. Though they are presently littered across various class and geopolitical divides and interests. They must eventually locate themselves, quit their shouting matches and link up to disrupt this gory status quo.

This is what Development Politics is all about. It promotes big daring ideas, and ethical, moral and intellectual competence. It must accordingly be able to mobilise and own it’s political resources, set the minimum standards of rights and obligations for both the elected leadership and citizens, finance it’s activities and sponsor candidates with specific mandates, then monitor them and enforce compliance while in office.

Ladies and gentlemen, this may be the hard way, but it is probably the only way to fix things. It was done by other societies that may not even be as endowed. The older generations have taken all the real political bullets, endured tortures and served the prison terms on our behalf. Nobody is in prison today because of the political views they hold.

We are the Northern Millennials. A totally free, fully franchised, reasonably educated and technology enabled citizens of Nigeria and the global community who must stand up to the peculiar challenges and opportunities of our generation and time. We can change the world with a smart phone and internet alone

We can start that from today, or tomorrow, next month, in a year’s time or even in ten. But let this generation never refuse to stand and deliver what both time and destiny demand of it

Yes, we must stand!!!