Nigerian invents power-generating machine, makes Africa’s first local car

By Ebele Orakpo
Perhaps, Nigeria would have joined the likes of Germany, Japan, India and Malaysia as an automobile manufacturer as far back as 1997 when Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu, an electrical/electronics engineer, a doctor of science and lecturer of communications and electronics engineering at the Federal Polytechnic, Owerri, made a prototype of his first ever all-African car which he named Z-600.
The car which BBC’s Hilary Andersson described as the all-African dream machine, was made for the family market with a top speed of 140km (86m) per hour.
Ninety per cent of its parts were sourced locally. For instance, the horn was a doorbell and it would have been the cheapest car on the planet as it would have cost just $2,000 to own one.
According to Izuogu who had demonstrated a great flair for inventive and creative knowledge from early childhood, he was working on adapting the engine to allow the Z-600 to double up as a lawnmower or an electricity generator.
With the usual Nigerian lackadaisical attitude when it comes to things that will help project the country’s image to the world positively, the authorities were not ready to invest money in the project and so in 2005, the South African Government invited him to build the car there. And since he who pays the piper dictates the tune, South Africa would have been the proud manufacturers of the Z-600 were it not for the incidence of March 11, 2006.

Made by Izuogo

Unfortunately, this dream was not to see the light of day. According to Dr. Izuogu, some armed men numbering about 12 broke into the Izuogu Motors factory on Saturday, March 11, between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m. and carted away various machines and tools including the design history notebook of Z-600, the design file Z-MASS, containing the design history for mass production of Z-600 car, and the moulds for various parts of the car.
Said Izuogu; “It seems that the target of this robbery is to stop the efforts we are making to mass-produce the first ever locally made car in Africa. Other items stolen included locally produced timing wheel, locally produced camshaft, locally produced crankshaft, locally produced engine tappets, all 20 pieces each.

Made by Izuogu

Also stolen were ten pieces of locally produced Z-600 engine blocks, ten pieces of locally produced pistons, four pieces of engine block mounds, four pieces of top engine block moulds, ten pieces of engine fly wheel and two pieces each of rear car and front mudguard moulds.”
The inventor regretted that not only did they lose over one N1 billion in monetary terms, but also time (about 10 years) and the energy it took to design and produce the moulds. “To worsen the matter, our design notebook was also stolen,” he stated.
He regarded the incident as a national economic disaster because  the nation had lost a technological and intellectual property.
Izuogu machine:
Before the Z-600 car, Dr. Izuogu had been working on ways to provide the nation and the world with clean, cheap and environment-friendly energy source. So, after 33 years of intense research, he came up with a new branch of physics known as Emagnetodynamics, the branch of physics that studies the conversion of the energy of static magnetic fields into work. Before now, “the conventional electric motor was built on the principle/law of Michael Faraday which states that Force is exerted on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.”
The two laws of Emagnetodynamics state as follows: Force is exerted on a composite magnetic pole in the vicinity of an array of like poles; and this force is in the direction of the composite polarity similar to the array.
Based on these two laws, he invented the Izuogu machine, also called the self-sustaining Emagnetodynamics machine, a kind of electric motor that draws atomic energy from the nuclei of permanent magnets and therefore requires no input power to operate.

Dr. Izuogu

According to Izuogu, there are two versions of the Emagnetodynamics machine – the non-self-sustaining and the self-sustaining machine which can run for upwards of 30 to 40 years. He added that soft iron machine or the hard iron machine could be built from each of them.
He noted that the machines named M-1000 and M-6000, respectively, could drive 100 KVA and 5 Mega watt electric power generators with no noise, no pollution, and zero energy input.
“The M-60 prototype machine has been built and demonstrated, while the M-1000 and M-6000 have been designed waiting to be built,” he said.
Scientists have experimented with nuclear reactors in their bid to seek energy source that is clean, cheap and environment-friendly. However, this could not work as the dangers inherent in that are enormous.
For instance, reports say that more than 20,000 people developed thyroid cancer and had to have their thyroids removed as a result of April 26, 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Till date, there is about 1,660 square-mile Exclusion Zone around the site of the Chernobyl disaster, 26 years after the accident.
Unlike nuclear reactors, the Izuogu machine draws atomic energy without the dangers and complications of nuclear reactors. Izuogu said that besides generating electricity, the machine can also power big luxury buses and trams.
Vanguard

“Stop chasing shadows, our nation is in decline” – David Mark tells Okonjo-Iweala

David Mark

Senate President, David Mark, had yesterday blasted the presidency for compounding the problems of Nigerians by creating untold hardship for the people due to poor budget implementation.
Senator Mark made this statement  during his opening remarks after the senate returned from its 8 weeks recess. He had stated that President Jonathan and his economic team should go for robust economic policies that will take Nigeria out of the current economic crisis instead of just chasing after shadows and coursing more problems for the nation.

He said: “Those who manage the nation’s economy cannot afford to chase shadows while the economy is in the doldrums. What Nigerians expect, and deserve, is the introduction of fiscal and monetary policies that will create jobs, fix healthcare and infrastructure, and stimulate the economy.”

Expressing his concern over poor the implementation of budget, Senator Mark had cautioned the president and his team to submit the 2013 budget to National Assembly on time to allow early deliberation and passage as has been the problem all these years.
He further affirmed that poverty had taken over the land because the executive arm had treated the issue of budget with all axity. He had assured his fellow senators that henceforth, the senate would treat budget matters with every sense of commitment.

He said: “We return to plenary session to commence a scrupulous consideration of the 2013 budget estimates, once it is presented. It is, therefore, important that the Executive presents the budget early to afford us sufficient time to consider and debate it exhaustively before we can pass it.“And our goal would be to pass it before the end of the year. When passed and signed into law, we will insist on full implementation. Over the years, our national budgets have raised hopes for a better life. Such hopes have remained largely unrealized.“The Senate will activate and deploy its weapon of oversight to meticulously monitor the implementation of the budget. We have felt the pulse of the people, and the condition under which they live has rekindled our resolve to ensure that their living conditions are substantially improved as a reward for their faith in democracy.“The war against poverty must therefore be an unrelenting one. Its ultimate objective should be total eradication of poverty, and not just poverty reduction. A nation as blessed as ours has no business with poverty.”On insecurity and poverty, the Idoma-born politician said: According to him, “We return from our recess to meet a nation sorely in need of healing, a nation previously free from strife and anomie, but now convulsing from a genre of violence that we all thought was alien to our shores. “A new but formidable evil has now combined with old and familiar perils to present our nation with perhaps the greatest challenge to its corporate existence since the civil war.
“I urge you all, therefore, to prepare to take on the unprecedented challenges facing our nation. The times call for sacrifice and statesmanship, and for everyone to rise above narrow and parochial interests”.
While Mark blamed the poor outing of Nigeria’s athletes at the just concluded 2012 London Olympics and the general dwindling fortunes in sports blamed on corruption, he advocated mass sacking of sports administrators.
Mark said, “one issue that worries me deeply is the decline of our nation even in areas in which we once excelled. The reasons for this decline are not far-fetched. Corruption, sloppiness and tardiness in preparations, mismanagement, degradation and lack of maintenance and vandalization of national assets, absence of rigour and thoroughness in planning – these, and more, are the reasons for the rot.
“Perhaps, no singular event reflects our current attitude to things, and exemplifies our decline, as the fiasco of Nigeria’s participation at the recently concluded 2012 London Summer Olympics. You will recall that our contingent failed to win a single medal in the games. Our fortunes are even more dismal in football, which is a national pastime, and a great unifying factor.
“This should not surprise you, after all, the National Stadium, Abuja, our supposed symbol of sporting excellence, was recently discovered to be decrepit, overtaken by weeds and reptiles”.
“What is surprising, and very worrisome, is that our psyche is beginning to accept this malady as normal. Ordinarily, such an appalling state of affairs ought to have been followed by voluntary resignations, or mass purges. But nobody has resigned, and nobody has been fired! Distinguished colleagues, there is no doubt that a drastic overhaul of our sports administration is long overdue.” He added
DailyPost

The North Is Not Poor (3&4)

 By Aliyu Aliyu
Sports:In which aspect of sports do we excel? Is it football, basketball, track and field events, gymnastics, combat sports? Oh! I forgot Polo – the sport of the princes and royalties of the north. While they play polo with aristocratic gusto, shouldn’t we wonder how many names it has put on the world‘s sporting map and how many jobs it has created? How many of our potentials are playing the world’s greatest game in England, Italy, Spain and others either in professional leagues or junior /feeder teams awaiting discovery and making money along the way? Need we ask how many lives the western union transfers of Mikel Obi touches or those of Osaze Odemwingie? Or the impact of   Kanu‘s Heart foundation on kids who would have long died unsung? Recall names  like Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael OlowoKandi, Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Segun Toriola, Bash Ali, Uche Chukwumerije etc ? Do they sound northern?

Literature, Arts, and Music: Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe exist in a class of their own  In tota fine erga omnes et omnia. (for all purposes, in regards to all and everything). Whether loathed, genuinely or enviously admired, the duo have occupied their places on the throne of Nigeria’s literary scene and the global honours list. With them as pioneers, there can be no other firsts. Other torch bearers include, without diminishing the status of those unmentioned here, Cyprian Ekwensi, Ola Rotimi, Niyi Osundare (whose poem) is going to be read at the London Olympics. Of the latter generation, who else would have won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and Orange Prize for fiction other than Chimamanda Adichie ? Who else would have won the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg poetry prize (2008) and the Arts & Culture Award [CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards (2009)] other than Tolu Ogunlesi? Who else would have won the Young Global Leader (YGL) 2012 other than Simon Kolawole? Nigerian writer and blogger, Teju Cole, has recently won this year’s Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a ‘distinguished’ first book of fiction in far away London and the list goes on and on. Who wins the NLNG prize for science and literature yearly? When these awards take place, where are the northerners?

Which songs do the DJs and Radio presenters across the north play? Seal, Lighthouse family, Dr Alban, Sade Adu; P- square, Whiz Kid, Davido, Wande Coal, T Y Bello, Mo Cheddah, 9ice, Asa, Brymo? When the likes of Femi Anikulapo Kuti set the target of a Grammy for himself where are the northern artistes and performers?

Do names like Bruce Onobrakpeya; Fred Okon Archibong; Muraina Oyelami; Yusuf GrilloYinka, Bridget Nwanze, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy; Bisi Fakeye; Yinka Shonibare; (Arts ); Sunmi Smart Cole, George Osodi; Emeka Okereke, Jide Alakija, Yetunde Ayeni-Babaeko (Photography); Chinwetel Ejiofor, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje; Sophie Okonedo , Rick Famuyiwa (Hollywood) ring silent bells in the ears of the north?  Even the popular
Argungu festival, the endless Durbars, the countless investitures are photographed,exhibited and promoted by non- northerners!

Advertising: Who handles the advert portfolios of  the blue chip companies  or better still the “Fortune 100” companies in Nigeria ?Whether through mainstream advertising channels or social media platforms? The advertising moguls are certainly not northerners yet MTN,
Airtel, Glo, Etisalat, Nokia, Samsung, Indomie, Coca-cola, have their products on gigantic bill boards across the length and breadth of Nigeria yet no northerner thinks it is a worthy niche. The billboards are even now going digital and perhaps in no time to touch screens and the north will most certainly not be there.

Who else would have established the Orange Academy (touted as Nigeria’s first and perhaps only school of practical brand advertising) other Kenny Badmus; and of course how many northerners are students of the academy?

Health Care:I am yet to see that world class hospital in every sense of that word world class in northern Nigeria. With common cold or slight back aches, our elite can afford to dash to Egypt, Europe and America , yet no single moneybags has had the initiative or patriotic zeal to build  any kind of world class hospital specialising in at least one area of medicine
whether Ophthalmology; Cardiology, Nephrology, Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. It could even be a hospital specially dedicated to women or children attracting the best doctors from all over the world; and over a period of time they would have trained our indigenous doctors on the job. By so doing, they would not have to fly their kids to France to treat common cold.

Why has the Yar’Adua family not established a pericadiatis centre in Katsina, or of such heart related diseases? Why has IBB not established a cancer research centre in Minna or Asaba? Perchance alternative therapy could hold the key to unlocking the cure to the disease
where orthodox medicine has so far not. If our elite and nouveau riche are not
establishing such hospitals, why are they then not sponsoring students and
giving out research grants to crush the frontiers of knowledge ‘beyond the
utmost bound of human thought’?

Motherless Babies Homes/ Hospices/ Special needs schools:I know not a world class motherless babies home, a hospice or special needs school in the north.  How are such children brought up and catered for? Does anybody ask these questions among our elite?
Do they care? Do they, while feasting on their assorted cuisines during Christmas, and Eid (sallah) banquets give a damn about the welfare of these categories of people in the north?

Almajiri as a way of life :The likes of Dr. Aliyu Tilde, Dr Galadanchi and a number of northern intellectuals have done varying degrees of work on the almajiri phenomenon. The blue prints and commentaries are all out there but I cannot help but be amazed at the sustenance and perpetuation of the system in its medieval state. The failure of successive governments of the north to see the existence of the tsangaya system as needful of integrative reforms with mainstream western education as is obtainable in countries like Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar etc. is completely incomprehensible. How could they not see the impending disaster?

How could such a system exist till this day that disconnects a child from his parents at such a critical stage of his formative years and expect him to come out whole? Like I pointed out to Dr Galadanchi during one of his visiting lectures in ABU, a child who has not been shown
parental love and nested in the warmth of a home cannot give it. I am a very strong believer in the psycho-emotional and psycho-social workings of human beings as it affects their personality traits and social interactions.

Of Beggars, the Physically challenged and bequeathing a legacy of poverty: Is the north the only region that has physically challenged people? Obviously not! But how is that it is northerners that are begging their lives away from Sokoto to Lagos; from Maiduguri to Ikom; from Zamfara to Aba etc? Is it any wonder that the almajiri system offers   an elementary apprenticeship in begging for alms? With no formal education or life skills, employability is very limited for this category of people.  Coming out of such a system, a pyramidal structure of the northerners outside the region presents the first-tier level base of the north’s blighted exports who end up in places like Lagos, Port- Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha etc as cobblers (shoe shiners) manicurists and pedicurists, water vendors [(mai ruwa), porters (mai kaya / dan dauko)], in the markets and motor parks, garbage collectors (mai shara); or as hawkers of sugarcane, carrots, tiger nuts (aya) and other such things.

The second tier levels who earn a more decent income than the first are the categories that end up as gatemen (maigadi),unperturbed by the sweeping wave of the private security industry.  Since his occupation is more of a sedentary one, he is more often than not permitted– implicitly or explicitly- to run a makeshift kiosk to sell trifles ranging from tom-tom, cigarettes , sugar , to kolanuts and bitter kolas. Others in this category include suya and kilishi merchants, okada riders, tanker drivers, cattle and sheep barons, tailors and embroiders (I have deliberately avoided the use of the expression “fashion designer” to qualify them which I shall explain later on.)

The third tier levels are the few men and women working in essentially government establishments like Nigerian ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration (NIMASA), Military formations, Police and other security establishments, Customs, Immigrations, NDLEA, NTA, EFCC, VON, FAAN, CBN, SEC, NSPMC, NNPC, DPR, ECOWAS, and the like. Then those that work in the blue chip companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell, MTN, Ericsson, Chevron, Saipem, Sahara, Halliburton, Dangote, BUA, MRS and the likes. The informal cadre in this tier captures the bureau the change Alhajis, and the few auto dealers.

I met a physically challenged fellow who came to study law in ABU a couple of years ago. Although wheel chair-bound, he had the heart and spirit of a long distance runner. I taught another in one of the primary schools in Bida and was impressed and encouraged by his determination and dream. But the question is how many northerners who are physically
challenged have not resigned to a life of begging?  As I write this, there is in UNILAG a visually impaired man pursuing a Master’s degree in law (LLM). With two degrees in his kitty (a B.A in English and an LLB) he is a sound lawyer that knows his onions and quite an engaging speaker. Another interesting thing about this lawyer is that he has another friend who is his computer programmer who is equally visually impaired; who installs softwares on his computer and updates programmes.

In 2010, Ayoola Efunkoya, a virtually impaired student graduated as the best student in the Department of Mass Communication, Unilag. Ever heard of Dr Ife Akintunde, J.D Matthew Olaiya? How about Cobhams Asuquo (award-winning musician, producer, and songwriter), Cosmas Okoli, a wheel chair bound motivational speaker? In LASU is a wheel chair bound surgeon. Sheikh Abdullah ibn Abdulazeez ibn baz was blind yet rose to become the first
Vice Chancellor of the Islamic University of Medinah and later Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia. So how is it that the entire army of persons with disability (and sadly even able bodied men and women) should, as a career, take begging to such obnoxious and incomprehensible levels even when Islam, the religion of the majority of most of them frowns at it?  Where in God’s name are the world class schools in the north to cater for kids with disabilities? Where are the special programmes directed at them?

Contemporary and Futuristic Engagements:
Who else would have championed the cause of climate change and desertification if not Newton Jibunoh. Newton Jibunoh it was who in 1965 at the age of 27 crossed the world’s largest desert (via the Sahara desert) alone.
He has had expeditions from London to Lagos and Lagos to London; all by road in a passionate attempt to create awareness on the issue of desertification. His ‘’Desert Warriors’’ reality TV was initiated to stimulate youth participation and bequeath an enduring legacy to fight desertification. He has carried out sensitization and tree planting tours in Kano and other places.
These were not established by the region’s cash Alhajis and retired Generals or even its professionals even when we are the ones most threatened by the impact of the raging desertification. It was Newton’s idea; solely his. In furtherance of this paradox, the 2010 third edition of the conference on climate change in Lagos had desertification as one of its themes. It did not hold in Yobe, Borno or Sokoto, it held in Lagos and the last time I checked, Lagos was not in remote or immediate threat of desertification yet she attracted professionals and experts from all over the world to come and brainstorm on the issue. How many northern Governors were there? Where are the SL Edus of the north, the Nnimmo Basseys, the Desmond Majekodunmis, and the Tunde Akingbades?
In other parts of the country, all sorts of groups are formed to draw government and even international attention to the groups interest, hence it is not unusual to hear of Albino groups coming together to protest against discrimination (and their agitation has recently made JAMB consider giving them extra time during its exams), market women associations, landlords’ associations, etc where issues of common interest can be discussed and which in real terms is able to draw significant attention than they would as individuals. These associations are also political rallying blocs. Who says the Iyalajes in Lagos don’t have a say in the ACN government?
Despite the age long dominance of northerners in the cattle business, no animal rights’ activist has come out of the region to fight for the rights of animals that are most often than not cruelly transported throughout the length and breadth of this country; and tormented before their eventual slaughter in the most furred and undignified abattoirs our local governments parade everywhere.
The Diasporan Alliance
All sorts of Nigerians in the Diaspora associations exist all over the world; from U.S. to Britain to Germany etc. Some of them have even established NGOs in London like Shola Lana of Nexgen. Northerners are neither the brains behind the formation of such groups nor the forces that propel them. Why bother?
Miscellaneous
Who are the dealers of electronics, phones, computers, milling machines, generators, and boutiques even in the heart of Kaduna, Sokoto and Kano? Who are the imports and exports barons, spare part dealers, building materials merchants, pharmacists and drug merchants? Who are those that dominate the printing industry from Kaduna to Zaria thorough Sokoto to Bauchi, Zamfara etc?
Do northerners parade the best of machinists, technicians, radio and TV technicians, auto mechanics, master welders, carpenters and exquisite furniture makers? Is dry-cleaning, fumigation, industrial / large scale cleaning our turf? In the fashion arena, the most innovations, the daring designs, the creative and contemporary designs in the fashion industry are not from the north. How on earth could they be? Our tailors and dressmakers have remained tailors, nothing more. Not a single one of them has taken his / her expertise to the next redefining level and become fashion designers with brand identities both at home and abroad. Not like those of Dakova; Frank Oshodi; Tiffany Amber; Deola Sagoe ; Tsemaye Binitie; Mike Asikolaye, Mudi (Fashion Design) Adebayo Jones, etc and hence my initial avoidance of the usage of the term. Not even our famous Bukar zanna / Kube caps nor the Muhadu a banki or Marufiya versions can be pinned to a designer north of the Niger.
Are our caterers and event managers in the north the pace setters in the field? Are we the most sought after chefs in Sheraton, Transcorp, Le Meridian, Oriental or Protea hotels? Do we run the most successful hotels in any part of the country?
On a tragic note you may remember the heart-rending story of little Pwashikai Nideno, the five-year old miracle baby whose vagina and rectum were mutilated and left to die in a pool of her blood in Dong Village, Adamawa State. Hospitalised at the Yola Specialist Hospital, all she needed was five million naira for a vaginoplasty operation in Egypt – a procedure to reconstruct her private part and rectum.
Pwashikai’s case put Adamawa State government to shame; put the entirety of its political gods to shame; its women folk without exception and by the same stretch of culpability the entire northern region. But the gold medal should go to the first ladies of Adamawa State (all four of them) and the deputy governor’s wife. In this regard, the newspapers reported: ‘’ ...the wife of the Adamawa State governor, Binta Nyako, was one of the contributors. She donated the sum of N50, 000 when she visited Pwashikai at the hospital... in company of the association of international female lawyers. The wife of the Adamawa State deputy governor, Bala Ngillari, also made a cash donation of N50, 000 when she went to see the little girl. “If Pwashika was the biological daughter of the first and second ladies of Adamawa State would a paltry N50,000 (which does not even equate the worth of their jewelry) be the best they would do for her? If they could not go the whole hog to give N5, 000,000 to a dying baby, could they not use their clout and ’’political goodwill’’ to marshal the millionaires’ wives of Adamawa and women of goodwill there to save a life? Was it not a motherly call? Ironically, the largest donation came from an individual in Lagos who insisted on remaining anonymous!
Recognitions and Awards:
Since its inception in 2005, the future awards have drawn the world’s attention to a crop of emerging youngsters in Nigeria but then how many northerners make the cut? How many of our people make the cut at the Thisday awards, Silverbird, The Sun, Media Trust, Leadership etc?
In Conclusion
Viewed from this prism, would it not be safe to conclude that poor may after all be a euphemism to describe the parlous state of our calamity? Is this how Allah destined it? Or to my Christian brethren north of the Niger, is this how Jehovah, Elohim, or Yesu Almasihu decreed it? Between 1931 and 1945, Japan occupied China and humbled them as a result. In 1945, Japan was brought to its knees by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; yet from these ominous recesses these countries rose to become global powers today. Were countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the likes not written off as having the remotest prospects of gargantuan rise as evident today? Despite all of the bleak and gloomy prophecies, they rose to become great nations the world admires and doffs its hat for today.
The north and indeed Nigeria can learn a lesson or two therefrom. I am not a self loathing individual; and my disquisition doesn’t in any way attempt to promote sectionalism nor regionalism, far from it, I only wish to draw the attention of a slumbering people to the  “very minute” details that actually make the whole worth calling whole after all.
What is it exactly that drives the peoples of the South-East, and South-West to dare and to achieve? Are they wired differently? So why do we settle for less? Shall we turn to science, eugenics, religion or even superstition for answers? But while we are at it, the fundamental questions still stare us in the face: Who made the north poor? James Ibori, Peter Odili, Dipreye Alameyesiagha,or Lucky Igbinedion? What strategies are being put in place to get the north out of this poverty trap both at the level of governance and at the individual/group intervention levels?
We can choose to remain in the back seat or choose to move ourselves by the bootstraps. We can begin the redemption now or wait till some distant future to earn for ourselves a place of respect – a place where we are not viewed as savages and with this much disdain – a place where we can compete and contribute to the sustenance, peaceful co-existence and prosperity of the one and only country we have and truly love – Nigeria.
• Concluded.
Saharareporters

The North Is Not Poor (1)

By Aliyu Aliyu

“Some people see things that are, and ask why? But I dream things as they never were, and I ask “Why Not? – George Bernard Shaw
An interesting article titled ‘’ Derivation and Deprivation: Why the North Is Poor’’ by a certain Ross Alabo-George which made the rounds in various newspapers and blogs has generated a cacophony of record breaking on-line responses, reactions and rejoinders. A corollary to the ‘‘disquisition’’, as its author christened it, is the number of articles that have come to life with the theme of the north’s usurpation of the Niger Delta oil. Two dominant categories of responses have emerged on account of the principal theme of Ross’s thesis and both betray the somberness of our fusion or confusion as a nation state.  The elections of 2011 brought to the fore in unprecedented measures the ethnic and religious cleavages evident in our existence. The Boko Haram menace has further compounded our national woes and like old times everything is being viewed through the Muslim/ Christian and / the Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba prism. The torrential reactions / responses from the Lagos-Ibadan axis; and of the south–south, south-east axis see Ross’s piece as a liberating one; a long awaited elixir to damn the north (both its elite and commoners).
To the Kaduna-Abuja press and its fans north of the Niger, the piece simply exposes a man devoid of objectivity, thoroughness and balance; with a premeditated agenda of painting the northern oligarchy as the major if not sole architect of Nigeria’s perdition. The northern oligarchy, in this view, is seen as being deliberately portrayed as villains by Ross as the region benefitting from the oil flowing beneath the soles of the Niger Deltans. This disposition suggests that the few northern barons listed in his article do not of course possess the monopoly of the oil blocs in the Niger Delta and he should have gone the whole nine yards to list the names of south southerners and south easterners who own oil blocs too.  In-between these two camps are those who were boldly objective and a number of those who towed the path of frivolous technicalities. Of the latter are those who spent time debating whether Mai Deribe, Nasiru Ado Bayero, Atiku Abubakar or Rilwanu Lukman are Hausa, Kanuri, Bachama, or Fulani  men; and whether Kano, Borno or Niger  is of the north-east, or north-west or north-central.
The strain of comments suggest that for every Mai Deribe, Nasiru Ado Bayero, T.Y. Danjuma, and co mentioned, a James Ibori, Dipreye Alamieyesiegha, Peter Odili or Lucky Igbinedion, etc exist who have fleeced the Niger Deltans  in unimaginable proportions. The question for me of course is not about whose loot is most mind-boggling or which region parades the bigger or more ruthless thief; or that with 13% derivation and the NDDC, the Niger Delta has not become the Dubai of Africa – no, but that if the north cries “we are poor’’, ‘’we are poor’’, who impoverished us? James Ibori, Dipreye Alamieyesiegha, Peter Odili or Lucky Igbinedion? The northern intelligentsia and its political leadership must deconstruct this hoax of inflicted poverty by others either by the perceived disadvantageous revenue allocation formula or the imagined sabotage of the oil drilling prospects  in the upper north basin  for we held the reins of power more than any other region in this country.
On the contrary the north is in such pitiable and unacceptable state of poverty because of the actions and inactions of our leaders who have helped themselves, members of their immediate families, friends and cronies generously with the public resources put in their trust. While it is true that at no time did the north go it alone – for where a northerner was the number one man, a different region produced the number two man; the Supreme Military Councils and the Armed Forces Ruling Council of the military governments past, the ministers of both military and democratic governments of the past were representative of all of Nigeria with their varied inputs to the development or underdevelopment of Nigeria; but my focus here is on the north.
While I do not in any way hold brief for Ross, I must say that his disquisition is a powerfully engaging and thought-provoking piece which places a giant mirror in front of the north. It would have been better if he had gone ahead to name the oil block barons from other regions, but then the context within which the article was written should be appreciated.
Flashback:
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (London) :  On January 27, 2012, Sanusi while granting an interview to the Financial Times of London alleged that the revenue allocation  formula skewed in favour of the south-south as it  were is unfavourable to the north, and by extension engenders poverty which in turn is fuelling Boko Haram and sundry violence in the north.
Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Minna): Taking a cue from the Central Bank Governor, the Chief Talker of Niger State (a title I think fits him much more than his current one) and chairman of the northern governors’ forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu called for the re- evaluation of the revenue allocation formula that gives a ‘’whopping’’ 13% to the south south and creates two Nigerias: a prosperous south and an impoverished north. But aside his loquaciousness, how has he changed the lives of Niger people  with the ‘’little’’ he gets from Abuja every month?
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Kano): On January 10, Sanusi  Lamido Sanusi made a most morally ambiguous, and professionally controversial donation of  N100 million to victims of Kano State’s  Boko Haram bomb blast. Kano is Sanusi’s home state of which he is a prince and nurses an open ambition of becoming its emir.
Let it be stated that throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria, the political class has been a disappointment having failed to chart a course of foresighted prosperity and to guarantee the people a decent life. The power they wielded and still do never bore and still does not bear the flames of altruism, patriotism and love. It was and still remains power merely for power’s sake. They succeeded and are still enriching themselves beyond comprehension and accountability – at least here on earth – and entrenching corruption along the way a la carte.
Beyond all of this however, we the people of the north must re- examine our socio-economic, socio-political and socio-cultural fundamentals with a view to understanding why we are where we are as the dregs of Nigeria’s socio-economic disaster. We must, in all honesty, equally re-visit the misinterpretation or misapplication of our religious fundamentals – be it Christianity or Islam. Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with a system that perpetuates and nearly glorifies and encourages endemic poverty?
Away from the political leadership and its statutory obligation to the people lies the question of individual/private and group intervention in the north and that shall be the thrust of my own disquisition; approaching it from neither of two major paradigms of criticisms mentioned above. Why are the billionaires in the north not the type that give back to society? Why are the northern billionaires not getting busy in touching lives? Does it not shame us and challenge them that the Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation is so passionate about combating the malaria and polio blight in our country? I cannot help but ask myself what goes on in the minds of our wealthy Alhajis and retired Generals. How about the Mac Arthur Foundation, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc and their interventions all around us?   Would building a dozen world class primary and secondary schools in Dangote’s ward or local government with the best of teachers and facilities be such a reprehensible act? Ironically it had to take Rochas Okorocha miles away, in Imo State, to build a befitting school in Kano and another one in Jos (which by the way is tuition free in addition to free lunch given to the students). How many Kanawa has Dangote sponsored to Harvard to go and study contemporary entrepreneurship or to Princeton; George Washington?
The same applies to Alhaji Dantata the construction mogul (now of blessed memory). How many people from his local government did he sponsor to go and study civil engineering in Paris, Germany or Italy? How many people did Rilwanu Lukman sponsor to go and study petroleum engineering or renewable / alternative/ clean energy having been in the petroleum industry both on the national and international scenes for ages? How many young men and women do these people mentor to follow in their footsteps? Who for the love of God inspires and influences their thought processes? How about the Abachas, the IBBs the Abdusalamis, the Atikus, the TY Danjumas, the  David Marks, the Bamanga Tukurs etc.
Is it not only logical and self-evident that a mass literacy revolution was and is still the way to go? Is the South West today not reaping the massive literacy investment of Awolowo? What then exactly do our leaders discuss at their ACF meetings?  What exactly do the 19 northern governors discuss when they meet – political power? to zone or not to zone? the perpetuation of PDP till eternity? the turbaning of dubious individuals and those of questionable characters with traditional titles (ably rubber-stamped by colluding emirs)? the marriage of Generals’ daughters to Ministers’ sons? The continued oppression, deprivation and neglect is sadly responsible for the menace of Boko Haram and as it were, it shows no signs of abating.
The thinking that the elite could amass wealth and unabashedly live in opulence next door to life snatching penury; send only their kids off to London, France and Dubai to come back as the new breed of oppressors to continue from where their parents stopped oppressing our parents and live in privileged exclusivity is being threatened.    Now that we all cannot sleep with our eyes closed because we don’t know where the next bombs will go off, the north should as a matter of sincere urgency go back to the drawing board and seek redemption from itself. Time is not on our side.
As the north battles with its grip on political power, it would be great to take a close look at every other aspect of the Nigerian project where it trails behind the south and east. The following are my observations.
Saharareporters

The North Is Not Poor (2)

By Aliyu Aliyu

MEDIA: The north’s lamentation over the years of a south-western dominated press and biased media coverage and reportage of events concerning the region has not birthed world class media options – the type Al Jazeera unleashed upon the world to the consternation and humbled admiration of CNN, BBC and others in the league. Knowing full well the role of the media in shaping public opinion and setting the news agenda, one of the pillars of politics in the South-West and perhaps its greatest political figure alive established The Nation newspapers, and the duo of TV and Radio Continental.
Another political figure from Ogun State founded the Compass Newspapers; and yet another undying flame from the south east established the Sun Newspapers. From Ovation to Genevieve, True Love, Complete Fashion, Arise, City People, Four-Four-Two, Research gate, where are we taking the lead?  In which of these sectors do our magazines flourish? Aviation, Agriculture, Automotive and Parts Construction, Consumer Goods, Business, Banking, Finance, Education, Environmental Issues, Food and Drink, Healthcare, Information Technology, Tourism, Logistics, Real Estate, Security, Telecommunications or Transportation? The north is left out of these niches.
How many TV and radio stations exist in Lagos alone? As at the last count I had listed a dozen TV stations and 28 radio stations. How many are there in the entire 19 northern states?  Where are the north’s media moguls both serving and retired who worked both on the national and international scenes? Are they not inspired and equally challenged by Ben Murray Bruce’s accomplishments with the Silverbird Group.
Out of the “ blues’’ came Jimoh Ibrahim’s National Mirror like a thunderbolt. In no time National Mirror has carved a niche for itself on newsstands despite the perceived saturation. Every day I stop by to take a glance at the headlines at the vendor’s, the one question I ask myself is where the north’s voice is in the newspaper and magazine industry. Not a single magazine exists that celebrates northern excellence and showcases the few success stories of the region. The only semblance to that came by way of the stint of the novel publication Sardauna Magazine which started out as a Student’s Union magazine in ABU. But it should interest you that Sardauna Magazine’s success had to take Rilwan Hassan, a Yoruba boy (though he calls Zaria home which is beautiful) to birth. Since 1962 when ABU was established nobody thought of the idea till Rilwan came by. Daily Trust, Leadership, People’s Daily and now Blueprint cannot do it alone for the north both as a voice and as a platform. The TV stations here in Lagos consciously avoid them during their headline reviews.
Academics: The north no doubt has men of great intellectual alertness and sound disposition of mind and judgment but is it not laid bare for all to see that the ratio of scholarship in the north pales to near insignificance when compared with the South West? How many northerners are actually pursuing second degrees or Ph.Ds? How many of our professors and Doctors are lecturing outside northern universities like Ife, Nsukka, Unilag, Ibadan, etc? How many of our professors and Doctors are lecturing in foreign Universities? I know quite a number of Nigerians who are lecturing in Harvard,  Cambridge, Oxford, School of African and Oriental studies and a host of others and you can guess where they are from. How many private universities are there in the north? Ogun State alone has 10. How many private schools (primary and secondary) are in the north and of those that do exist aren’t they established and run most competently by non- northerners?
From ABU to UDUS to Maiduguri to UNN, Uniport, Unical, Abraka etc you find south westerners and south easterners in search of education and not just that they are excelling in academics in all of these institutions and beyond. But how many of our Modibbos, Faizals, Jatuas, Ishayas, Mainasaras, Asabes, Rakiyas, Altines or Asmaus are in other institutions of higher learning outside the north?
Who else other than Prof. Ayodele Awojobi would have challenged the department of engineering in ABU to finish a four-year degree course in three and go on to become the first African to be awarded a Doctor of Science (DSc) at the Imperial College London, a degree which Wikipedia says is “only exceptionally and rarely awarded to a scholar under the age of forty.’’ He remained “the youngest professor ever in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos, and the first ever to be expressly promoted from associate to full professorship within a week’’
Who else other than Dr. Chike Obi would have been the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in mathematics? Who else other than Prof. Teslim Elias would have become Governor of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London? Which other woman would bag a Ph.D at the age of 26 other than Dr. Tope Adeyemi or rival Miss Adejoke Ogunlana as the youngest lecturer in Nigeria at age 22?  Would it ever have happened in ABU, BUK, UDUS? And even if it did happen would it still not be them? Who else other than Peter and Paul Imafidon (the wonder twins) would have made history in far away Britain becoming the youngest ever mortals to pass A level mathematics at age seven?
Since the establishment of WAEC in 1952 and JAMB in1977, who have been the top 10 students year-in year-out? Northerners? Certainly not! Is the north comfortable that in 2011, only 17 out of the 18,000 secondary school students who sat for the National Examination Council examinations in Gombe State, made five credits? What is the SSCE enrolment ratio that exists between say Yobe and Bauchi states on the one hand and Imo and Ekiti states on the other?
Permit me to ask: Which primary school did Dangote, Dantata, IBB and company attend? And what is the state of those primary schools today? Has Adamu Ciroma, who has been in government since independence; and so remained until he got tired and made way for his wife to carry the baton served as a catalyst to re-modeling his primary school to be one of the best in his state?
Is it any wonder that the reference bookshops from Zaria, to Kano, Minna, Kaduna, Sokoto, Maiduguri etc are not owned by northerner? We aren’t even among the big players in the books and stationery arena, yet year in year out thousands of students go to ABU, FCE Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, FUT Minna, UDUS etc to get an education.
Private Enterprise and Professionalism: Last year I started to write a number of articles which I later abandoned among which are: ‘’ Entrepreneurship and the Northern abyss‘’, ‘’Tony Elumelu, Jim Ovia and the rest of the north’’ and  ‘’Before Dangote’s Exit’’ among others. While a great number of the articles did not develop beyond their proposed titles, the inspiration behind their themes remains the same till this moment. Is it not worth asking today as ever before how many northern business enterprises dot the northern landscape? How many northern concerns provide consultancy services for services ranging from the establishment of new businesses to accelerated performance, growth or evaluation of existing ones?
How many retired policemen and women, personnel of the State Security Services (SSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) or the Armed Forces have gone the way of private security consulting? Need I say of course their inputs would have contributed significantly in the fight against the book haram wave of terror?
Just the other day I watched a documentary on the power sector reforms and as expected not a single consultant from the mass of consultants spoken with were northerners. Not a single energy consultant, analyst or expert of northern extraction. The only northerner I saw throughout the duration of the documentary was as expected in the government cadre! Yet from ABU to BUK, UJ, UDUS et all, our universities have departments of electrical engineering. To what use have our northern scholars put their Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Oxford and RGU trainings among others? Where are the gurus and thinkers of the region?
How many northerners have pursued ICT know-how to compelling levels of expertise? Of all the Microsoft certified Web developers, Microsoft this, Microsoft that; Oracle this, Oracle that; and the Java masters among other ICT levels of excellence I read about, northerners aren’t usually on the list. Who are the custodians of ICT expertise in Nigeria: its mastery, deployment and maintenance? Who are the pioneers and trailblazers of enterprise solutions?
The bulk of the legal luminaries and chartered accountants in this country come from a particular section of this country and the north doesn’t belong in the league. Any need to lose sleep over that? Who are the country managers, the trail blazing figures, of Nokia, Samsung, Standard Chartered Bank, Citi group, Ericsson, Siemens, Huawei, HP, Baker Hughes, Saipem, Coberon  Chronos, Toshiba, Accenture, Google, Ernst and Young , Price Water Coopers (PWC), DFID , World Bank, UNICEF, UNIDO etc? They certainly are not northerners.
Do we constitute the majority of pilots or aeronautic engineers in Nigeria even when NCAT is in the heart of Zaria? Who else but Imoleayo Adebule, 23, would be Nigeria’s youngest pilot? Do we run the most outstanding agencies in the heart of the north providing a one-stop shop for human resources solutions from recruitment to training; and outsourcing etc? .
Is it a case of a lack of platforms to showcase our achievements or the deliberate neglect or downplay by the media (dominated by the south west) that has consigned us to the back seat and to so remain or both and even more? Do names like those of FRA Williams, Afe Babalola, Diya Fatimilehin, Jide Taiwo & co, Osas & Oseji challenge the north?
Dear reader, how many northern owned franchises do you know? Shagalinku? Yahuza? And then… Well I’m scratching my head in case you aren’t. I could bet on both my eyes that if either or both businesses belonged to a Yoruba or Igbo man, Shagalinku would have been serving hot tuwon shinkafa  and man shanu in London and America in the least; and Yahuza would have been selling his suya on the streets of LA (Los Angeles), Dubai and Malaysia (lest I forget, Toks Odebunmi is already doing so in London and Kehinde Olajide has taken Zobo to the next level in the U.S). Interestingly, very recently I met a young and sharp boy in Unilag (University of Lagos) who had put arrangements in place to buy Yahuza’s franchise and spin money for himself in Lagos. No dulling.
Saharareporters

Northern Nigeria: The Disconnect Between Our Leaders And The Rest Of Us

By Zainab Usman

It is becoming a tired cliché to note that Nigeria is a country with vast potentials which have remained unrealized due to socio-political and economic challenges of which dearth 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.
A disturbing yet overlooked dimension of this leadership conundrum however, is that leaders who ought to be responsible for identifying the problems and finding solutions seem 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.
MISPLACED PRIORITIES
The summaries of various communiqués of meetings and fora involving northern political leaders (mainly the Northern Governors Forum) and most northern elders (mostly former public office holders) of recent, on the North’s numerous problems are baffling and frustrating as it is apparent the agenda of these meetings typically have little to do with the region’s gargantuan economic, socio-political and security challenges. Neither do the final recommendations.
The themes of these meetings usually revolve around increased revenue allocation to northern states from the Federal Government, lamentations over existing conspiracies to “marginalize” and “destroy” the North; emphasis on the North’s “turn” to produce the next President in 2015; hollow, rhetorical lamentations on the decline of the northern economy and the need to revive agriculture, countering the Boko Haram insurgency and occasionally, a passing reference is made on the need for good governance, and in the end, these ills are ascribed to bad leadership and that’s  about it. These meetings typically produce virtually no solid, detailed, implementable blue prints on how to methodically, systematically and effectively address the North’s well-documented problems.
As the communiqués and press briefings for these meetings become public, one’s hopes of tangible solutions are further dashed by the crushing realization that our leaders are running round in vicious circles. At best, they gloss over the most critical problems, and at worst, their recommendations have practically no bearing on these problems. While the last meeting of the Northern Governor’s Forum belatedly established a committee to propose ways of addressing the insecurity in the North, it is an open secret that many of the governors have their eyes set on and are working towards contesting the 2015 presidential elections. Recently, at least two prominent northern leaders have made the case for revisiting the Federal Government’s revenue allocation formula, while at least three northern elders have variously “advised” that President Jonathan “renounces” any intention of  contesting in the 2015 elections to “defuse political tension”.
While I am not disregarding the importance of these issues, there are more critical issues requiring the immediate attention of our leaders on which the fate of ordinary people and the region as a whole hang. The problems bedeviling northern Nigeria can be broadly classified into four distinct but interrelated categories: the steady economic decline of the region over several decades, the breakdown of social cohesion, the insecurity especially the Boko Haram insurgency and the gradual decline of the North’s political influence at the centre. The disturbing fact though is that the priorities of our northern Governors and many of our northern elders, are skewed towards the North’s access to political power and how to bring back the Presidency to the North come 2015 while the more important economic, social and security challenges are of secondary importance to them.
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.
THE DISCONNECT
Consequently, as our leaders and elders focus on issues which seem to have little bearing on the lives of the rest of us, we the rest are increasingly dissociating ourselves from what they have chosen to prioritize, while the rest of the country is moving ahead and increasingly dissociating itself from the North as a whole. Some of our leaders speak on behalf of the North and we wonder whether they are really speaking on our behalf. They speak of the North but we wonder if these are really the aspirations of the ordinary people.
While our leaders and many of our elders attribute the North’s underdevelopment to a lower share of federal revenues, many of us see how some non-oil producing states south of the Niger, some of which receive comparatively less revenues from the federal purse are embarking on relatively more transformational policies: free health-care scheme for pregnant women, children, the physically challenged and senior citizens in Ekiti state; free education policy from primary to university level in Imo state; the rail transit system and other transport infrastructure in Lagos etc. At the same time, we see our own state executives, spending N2.7 bn ($17 m) on Ramadhan gifts, more than that state’s entirely monthly revenue allocation or jetting-off to Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj in August as Boko Haram and Joint Military Task Force (JTF) slugged it out, further traumatizing the already battered residents.
We wonder when the communiqués of these meetings by our northern leaders and elders would shift focus from their obsession with the 2015 elections which is still 3 years away or revisiting a controversial revenue allocation formula laid to rest or from endlessly whingeing about a conspiracy to “cripple” the North by others or the over-flogged flashback to a glorious era of Northern agricultural buoyancy of decades past, and when the agenda of these meetings would actually table viable blue prints for economic rejuvenation of the region -- viable proposals for mechanizing the largely subsistence agriculture, making grants and credit available to farmers and SMEs, subsidies and assistance to the comatose industries, attracting investors and development partners with business friendly policies, tax breaks and land leases; exploiting the abundant mineral resources in the North such as gold in Zamfara which dubious (local and foreign) businessmen and impoverished villagers are already mining illegally anyways; employment generation schemes; road-maps for investments in health-care, education and transport infrastructure; engaging in massive enlightenment campaigns for the masses on their civic rights and duties, the list is endless. We wonder when these communiqués would demonstrate seriousness on the part of our leaders and elders to start looking inwards for home-grown solutions which are all around us.
Little girls crushing stones at home, to obtain gold in a remote part of Zamfara state. Source: Environment360
GENERATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF NORTHERN LEADERSHIP DEFICIT
It is worth noting that leadership deficit is not unique to the North as it is a general Nigerian problem, and arguably a global phenomenon. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, writing in June 2012 identifies two components of the global leadership deficit prevalent in many countries -- generational and technological. When this is applied to the situation in northern Nigeria, it becomes apparent that the disconnect between our leaders and the rest of us has much to do with the little generational change amongst those responsible for aggregating and articulating the North’s aspirations, with mostly the same people who have been in the thick of things since some of us were in diapers, whom we’ve read about in social studies textbooks in primary and secondary school, still dexterously recycling themselves continuously back in power – as governors, ministers, legislators, permanent secretaries, board members of parastatals – still calling the shots today.
The incredibly persistent longevity of many die-hard power-brokers in northern Nigeria has ensured that few neophytes have been genuinely groomed as successors. This situation of course is connected to the technological dimension of this leadership deficit which beyond the use of modern technology in governance, refers to the stale, archaic and retrogressive approach to leadership as a consequence of this generational gap, with little input of fresh ideas and approaches to governance. Therefore, the same top-down, gerontocratic and quasi-feudal approaches to leadership of decades past is very much the norm in the North today, increasingly incapable of addressing present-day 21st century challenges. In fact, a former Head of State of northern extraction (in)famously remarked that Nigerian youths are not ready for leadership.
Looking at northern Nigeria through the prism of generational and technological dimensions of leadership deficit put forward by Friedman enables us to understand the disconnect between what our leaders and elders regard as the North’s aspirations and what the rest of us really think are our aspirations, that they seem not to realize this gap exists, that the communication gap is widening and that it potentially has grave implications.
Now the danger is that as the North’s problems and aspirations keep being misdiagnosed, ignored and misunderstood by our leaders, with wrong solutions prescribed to non-issues, our problems continue intensifying rapidly, entrapping us further into the cavernous stranglehold of poverty, underdevelopment, political instability and conflict while other parts of the country forge ahead. According to a May 2012 report (PDF) by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), 7 out of 10 young women aged 20-29 in North-West Nigeria are unable to read or write, compared to just about 1 out of 10 young women in the South-East; while maternal mortality rate in the North-East is 1,549 deaths per 100,000 women, three times above the national average of 549 deaths.
As stale and musty ideas that pervade the northern atmosphere continue choking the very life out of a long comatose region with approaches that reinforce rather than address the glaring contradictions and atrocious inequality in the North, it is no wonder the incident of violent crime – something alien to the North jut a decade ago – is now a daily occurrence as the spate of drive-by shootings and assassinations have increased exponentially.
As our leaders and elders have chosen to focus on non-issues, pointing the blame outwards rather than looking inwards, conducting sincere assessments and proposing solutions, even the narrative about northern Nigeria outside the country is changing. I have come across many references to northern Nigeria on international websites and blogs as the “poor” “backward” or “violent Islamist North”, while Google image searches of our major northern cities such as Kaduna or Kano routinely produce stomach-churning images of mangled corpses of bomb blast victims, burnt vehicles, or arrested suspects of one vicious crime or the other.
GOING FORWARD
We need new approaches to our multifaceted economic, social and political problems as the current stale and archaic ways of thinking are grossly inadequate and incapable of addressing our numerous 21st century challenges. In order to do this, we ought to realize that leaders like all human beings are driven by self-interest, and as such they are not by default prone to accountability or altruism. It is pressure from citizens that forces leaders to act in the collective interest. It is agitation by ordinary citizens especially labour and trade unions in post-war Western Europe that was instrumental in pressuring the political elite to make inclusive social reforms of hitherto exclusive and aristocratic political systems and implementation of welfare policies (such as health care, housing and employment benefits which exist to this day) to cater for the less privileged.
Thus, a huge responsibility lies with northern academics, intellectuals, commentators, analysts, professionals and just about anyone concerned about their own future (or lack of it) and that of their children to continuously and consistently speak up on these burning issues that affect us all and ensure they are brought back onto the agenda of our leaders and elders. It is just not enough to assume our characteristically fatalistic position of “Allah Ya isa” or “God dey” and then resign ourselves to this sordid fate that certainly awaits us!
The intellectuals and columnists of northern extraction should beam the spotlight more on what state and local governments are doing with the same vigorous consistency that the activities of the Federal Government are scrutinized - how revenues and resources are managed, how investment decisions and contract awards are made, etc. because our governance challenges are mainly under the constitutional purview of states and local governments, and for the most part, information on the activities of these sub-national governments is a black hole of sorts.
Public opinion moulders should provide information to ordinary citizens on what these governments are doing, whether they are living up to their responsibilities, highlighting and applauding the efforts of political leaders who are performing well so that a performance benchmark would be set for others and proposing concrete recommendations no matter how idealistic they might seem. Public debate and public opinion moulding are enabled when conversations are started on important issues that others can relate with, build on and carry along and thereby creating mechanisms for vigorous discussions, actions and demand for accountability.
For our leaders, they ought to realize that the situation in the North today is completely unsustainable and it doesn’t require the clairvoyance of a seer to foresee the imminent disaster of chaotic proportions that awaits the North as a whole. Thus it is in their own self-interest that the North is brought back from this dangerous precipice, by providing good governance we tirelessly complain about and being true representatives of the people and their aspirations at best to ensure the region does not tear itself apart and at worst maintaining the grossly unequal, predatory and destructive status quo.
For some of our “elders”, who have had rewarding careers in public service, they could use their good names and influence in proposing concrete steps towards containing the Boko Haram insurgency and plans for reviving a post-Boko Haram North. They could also take their campaign abroad to counter and disprove some destructive narratives emerging in some Western publications (at the prodding of some Diaspora based Nigerian lobby groups) that Boko Haram is a religious war against a certain religious group in northern Nigeria.
With their influence, some of our elders could also play instrumental roles in enlightening the masses on their civic rights and duties, what to expect from the government, being more proactive to demand accountability from their representatives at the grassroots level, resisting electoral fraud and selling their votes for peanuts and so on. Importantly for other “elders”, it is just time to BOW OUT, as the standing ovation has long died down, RETIRE for good and allow others to take the stage. Overall, more links between the citizens and the state need to be established with more communication channels between the leaders and the led.
Really it is time we woke up from our deep complacent slumber and started playing our roles in rescuing not just our future but our present from this steady free-fall into the dark pit of misery and underdevelopment. For in the end, what will probably kill the North faster than any insurgency's bullets and bombs is our own silence, complacency and lack of pro-activeness in demanding accountability from our leaders and representation of our interests in their actions.

Independence lecture: I need more time to develop Nigeria – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday pleaded with Nigerians to allow the government to work first before unleashing criticism on them.

The president said this as part of his remarks at Nigeria’s 52nd anniversary lecture which held at the auditorium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja.
President Jonathan condemned political conflicts and what he referred to as media war against government activities and called on Nigerians to be patient because the issues of development are not like a hundred meter dash.
“I will plead with us as Nigerians that whenever we elect a government into power, whether in the local government level, at the state level or at the federal level, at least for the sake of the country allow the government to work before you go into unnecessary overheating of the system,” he said.
“When you think about Power for example, everybody knows that even if it is only infrastructure or even to provide water, there is nothing that you use the magic wand to provide for the people, it takes time,” Mr Jonathan added.
Delivering the lecture titled Nigeria: Security, development and national transformation, former Ghanaian president, John Kufour asked – what is responsible for the stumbling block in the transformation of a country seen as the giant of Africa? He also attempted to answer it-insecurity on the part of the citizens.
Stumbling blocks to development
Mr Kufour said only a government that delivers on security and development could earn its continued stay in office and that despite their diversity, Nigerians as individuals are proud, intelligent, industrious and entrepreneurial.
He however regretted that this resourcefulness had not yet impacted fully to the advantage of the nation or to the rest of the continent which expects Nigeria to become a major growth pole.
The former president said with the appropriate policies and institutions in place, Nigeria could fulfil that expectation.
He said: “The challenge is to accelerate the pace of development by using institutions of the Federal Constitution as a nursery ground for producing leaders who are national in outlook and with a missionary zeal to transform this nation.
“This will help to mould the contending ethnic and religious groups into harmony and help to remove the perceived mutual distrust among them.
“Leaders so emerging would not be limited to championing the causes of their home state, tribe or religious group, but rather focused on deeds and pronouncements which convincingly and positively impact on the entire citizenry of the federal republic.
“Nation building is the systematic evolution of the political, economic, social and cultural well-being of all the various component parts of the state.
“Indeed the transcendent factor should be the common citizenship of all the stakeholders no matter the tribe, gender, religion, economic or social status as your Constitution stipulates.
Mr Kufuor identified history, tribe and religion as factors that conspired to put a major stumbling block in the path of Nigeria’s destiny.
He advocated the cultivation of a national identity based on shared values, tradition, history and aspirations.
He said Nigerians should develop a high national consciousness where they consider themselves first as Nigerians before anything else, saying, those in leadership should also share in the vision of one nation and one people.
The former President said political leadership must collaborate with businesses, public organisations and institutions to ensure that public security is guaranteed to maintain a stable environment for development of both the people and the state.
“If there is no security, there is no liberty and if there is no liberty, life is not meaningful and society reverts back to the law of the jungle i.e. the survival of the fittest and man’s primary objective of forming a state is defeated,” he added.
Leadership infidelity
An Economic Historian and a discussant at the event, Professor Ihedu Ivwerebo, said Nigeria has been attempting to enshrine democratic system which is a culture. He said all the past 13 years experience was part of the culture.
He stated that the challenge facing the country was leadership infidelity.
“The elites are unfaithful to Nigeria that made them. They go out and speak evil of the country”, adding that, impatience of Nigerians that we ought to have arrived was also contributing to the challenge.
Leaders should listen
The Director, Center for Democracy and Development, Jibrin Ibrahim said the crisis of insurgency, indigeneship, access and control over petroleum, political crisis was also a problem.
“The conflicts we have are deep and serious but we have the resilience to subdue them. Presidents don’t transform a society except the people play a major role in the transformative process.
“Nigerian leaders play minimal roles in transformation. Unions and the masses demonstrated against military rule. The January protest in which I was part of, the issue was not fuel subsidy but massive corruption.
“It is too easy when you are in power to think all powers are with you. Those in power should listen more to those out of power as we search for the way out.”
The Secretary to Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, said the lecture marked another critical milestone among programmes of independence. He said deeper knowledge of national issues would offer solutions to national problems, assuring that the President will remain committed to discussions.
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