By Jerry Obanyero, Esq.
The North, as a region, is being destroyed and made inhabitable for people, unattractive for investors and hostile to development not by anybody but its people.
In the early 2000s, when the Islamic Sectarian Movement led by Mohammed Yusuf started preaching against Western education and influences and recruiting homeless and out-of-school children and youths in Maiduguri, Borno State, North East, Nigeria, the Northern government and elite did not immediately show interest in curbing its activities. It was alleged that some politicians were even enlisting the nefarious services of the group to intimidate and harass their political opponents. This continued until the group which came to be known as Boko Haram became a cancerous carrying out assassinations and unleashing acts of violence on the people and government facilities.
At the height of the conflict between herders and farmers over water and arable land in the North Central and some parts of the North West, the Northern Governments were reluctant to form a common ground and address the conflict head-on. Some religious clerics were taking sides and scheming to see the group they were sympathetic to triumph. This continued until the stick-wading herders turned armed bandits became sophisticated and started adopting women and children, destroying farmlands taking control of large territories of lands and enforcing their rule.
Many Northerners, besides the direct victims of violence, remain silent or indifferent. Politicians and elites pursue the oil money of the South and amass enough to buy property in Dubai, and highbrow areas in Abuja and Lagos, fly their wives and relatives for pilgrimage and their children overseas for studies, caring little for the plight of the impoverished millions. Poverty is weaponized to blind and silence the people.
Our lack of concern towards addressing this issue may stem from a generational seed of discord sown by those who oppose unity and progress. When people from different backgrounds unite to bring about positive change, it threatens the elite and politicians. They use religious clerics to stoke division and turn people against each other. Interestingly, there are more religious wars in Northern Nigeria today than anywhere in the world not because the people love God or piously abide by His dictates but because the politicians and elite in the region know that is the greatest weakness of the people, so they use it effectively for political and selfish gains.
In conclusion, although the Federal Government has not done enough to address the insecurity in the region and our sister region, tackling insecurity and making the North habitable and attractive for investors can only be achieved with the absolute resolve of the people.
Jerry Obanyero, Esq., writes from Abuja.
