PROBLEMS AFFECTING THE PEOPLE OF NORTHERN NIGERIA PAGE 2

PROBLEMS AFFECTING THE PEOPLE OF NORTHERN NIGERIA

(PART 2. CRITICAL PROBLEMS REQUIRING. URGENT SOLUTIONS)

             Written by: Suleiman A Gamawa


It is becoming a clear to notice that
Nigeria is a country with vast potentials which have remained unrealized due to socio-political and economic challenges of which dearth or scarcity of transformational leadership is at the heart of all. Again, it is common knowledge that this leadership deficit is more severe in northern Nigeria relative to other parts of the country.
Why? I will tell you why;

In northern Nigeria A disturbing overlooked dimension of this leadership conundrum or question however, is that leaders who ought to be responsible for identifying the problems and finding solutions seems to have little understanding of what these problems are, they prefer to ignore them or both, and hence have little or no solutions to them. The leaders are also becoming progressively disconnected from the ordinary people and their concerns. And still people with death heart follow them and they treat them just like a slaves.

The Problem is Divided into Five (5) :

1. MISPLACED PRIORITIES

2. CRITICAL PROBLEMS REQUIRING URGENT
SOLUTIONS

3. THE DISCONNECT

4. GENERATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL
DIMENSIONS OF NORTHERN LEADERSHIP
DEFICIT

5. GOING FORWARD



2. CRITICAL PROBLEMS REQUIRING URGENT
                    SOLUTIONS

As our leaders and elders focus on these non-issues, one wonders how these would actually translate to a better life for the ordinary northerner when 8 out of 10 people in most northern states live in abject poverty, how President Jonathan’s shelving of his 2015 ambition would translate to better equipped schools and medical centres, or how abrogating the Onshore-Offshore Dichotomy Bill and revising the “unfair” distribution of Federal revenues will attract needed investments to a region where in many state capitals it’s a herculean task to find one large departmental store (an indicator of modernization), when the. current revenues are clearly being mismanaged. These are the leaders and the "voices" of the North and from what they talk about, one can reasonably conclude that these are their main priorities.
The tragedy here is that not only is there an
acute misdiagnosis of the numerous problems bedeviling the North and its people by our leaders and elders, those ideally best placed to know the problems and formulate solutions, but that even their proposed solutions to the misdiagnosed problems are deficient, while the region continues to decay, collapse and burn, literally. Few of our “leaders” and “elders” have for instance, actually proposed realistic and pragmatic steps in containing the Boko Haram insurgency, the most glaring manifestation of this decay and impending collapse.
Beyond the usual mantra on the need “to engage in dialogue” with the sect, is there any concrete plan on the sequence of events that would follow in the event that the sect does agree to negotiate and is somehow convinced to lay down its arms whether by an amnesty-type cooption into the system or via another means? Is there a blueprint on integrating the brainwashed flock back into society, to guarantee the safety and security of those who agree to cease fire or for
massive disarmament of arms now overflowing the North? Is there any incentive (or protection) to encourage those who genuinely want to renounce violence or to convince the militants that it’s in their best interests to lay down their arms in an environment where upward social mobility for the unprivileged is almost non-existent even to the educated ones? Are there
plans for engaging these youth and other legions of unemployed, disillusioned and frustrated young men and women in our northern cities to prevent their co-option by other such anarchist groups? If any of such plans or proposals exist, they surely haven’t been regularly featuring in the communiqués of these fora involving our northern leaders and elders.


             Article By: Suleiman Gamawa


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