, after they have enriched themselves with the oil wealth from the south, the south can go to hell.
The southerners have been impoverished in the midst of the black GOLD

[center]Northern governors and the politics of oil[/center]
[center]By Reuben Abati [/center]



THE big news of the week in my estimation is the declaration by the chairman of the Forum of Northern Governors, the Chief Servant of Niger State, Dr Mua'zu Babangida Aliyu at a programme tagged First Northern Agricultural Summit on Monday, July 28, to the effect that Northern Governors have resolved to turn their back on oil revenue and develop the agricultural resources of the North. Dr Aliyu was speaking on behalf of the 19 Governors of the Northern states of Nigeria, and at the same forum, his views were further echoed by the Adamawa state Governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako. Dr Aliyu declared: "The future of the north lies in our hands. We should today begin to shape our destiny. As a Nigerian of Northern extraction, I feel very unhappy when somebody describes me as a parasite because of oil, when I know that I have the capacity to solve my problems and probably do even better through agriculture and education." And so the North wants to go back to agriculture, with the hope that the financial sector of the economy will provide necessary support.

The politics of this declaration is important: the Northern Governors are responding directly to widespread insinuations in the Southern part of the country that the North is rather parasitic, contributing little to the commonwealth and yet getting more than a lion share of the national cake. Over the years, this distrust of the North has been expressed ever so loudly by Southern leaders and interest groups; thus turning geography into one of the more delicate sub-texts of Nigerian politics. Issues of contention include the population of the north, the political delineation of the North, resource allocation, the relatively low contribution of the North to national GDP, and the unusually large presence of the north in positions of power and authority. At the centre of this is the politics of oil, the allocation of federal revenue accruing mainly from the sale of crude oil.

The ThisDay newspaper in reporting the Northern Governors quoted them as saying: "North can survive without oil". The Champion gave the story an even more provocative edge in its headline: "To hell with your oil: North tells South". This is perhaps the most radical response coming from the north so far on the question of oil and its control since 1958. Before now, the Northern intelligentsia had tried to argue that the crude oil in the Niger Delta belongs to all Nigerians and not to the owners of the land from which it is extracted. The late Dr Bala Usman on many occasions even pushed a curious argument based on geology to wit: the oil deposits in the Delta flowed, over the years from the Northern parts of the country, and so the real owners of the oil in the Delta are the people of the North. A second notable response was the attempt by the then North-dominated Federal Military Government to find oil by all means in the North. So much money was spent on a search for oil in the Chad Basin, until the explorers got tired of searching. And now in 2008, the Northern Governors, for the first time have declared that "the Niger Delta can go to hell" with its oil and that without oil, the North can and will survive.

One of the earliest reactions to this came from the Arewa Consultative Forum, the social and political forum for Northern leaders, with the ACF saying that Northerners are indeed "lazy and parasites who rely on other regions for survival. There is no reason to run away from the truth." But in s strange balancing act in the same statement, the ACF blames the Niger Delta for the economic woes of the North because according to it, people of the Niger Delta raided the Middle Belt for slaves during the slave trade era. All of these seemingly entangled issues can be taken apart.

The intervention of the ACF is at best a form of damage control, for if prompt effect were to be given to the wishes of the Northern Governors, the development process in the north which is essentially dependent on oil revenue will grind to a complete and final halt. But Dr Aliyu and his colleagues could not have been calling for a sudden stoppage of the sweet and free funds coming for the Federation Account. Their statement was clearly politically inspired and aspirational in terms of their development projections for the North. But talk is cheap. However, it is not only the North that is dependent on oil, it is not only the Northern states that are parasitic, nor is it only the people of the north that have become lazy. The curse of oil affects every part of Nigeria and all the people. Nigeria's national productivity index is one of the lowest in the developing world.

The black gold is at the root of most of the ills in the Nigerian society: the laziness of the leadership elite, the bowl in hand, beggarly conduct of the states and the imposition of unitarist modes on the governance process in spite of the federalist principles in the Constitution. It is the entire country that is lazy and parasitic therefore: and it is one of the reasons why the people and the militants of the Niger Delta have had to continue to remind the rest of the country to become productive and make a contribution to the national pool instead of stealing Niger Delta resources in a greedy and unfair manner which leaves nearly nothing for the real owners of the resources. This wake up call had been long in coming but it is now more strident with the insistence of the people of the Delta on federalism, the militancy in the creeks and calls for resource control.

It is perhaps not difficult to see why the North is specially targeted and labelled an unproductive part of the Nigerian Union. The ACF accuses the people of the Niger Delta of raiding the Middle Belt for slaves during the slave trade era. The slave trade ended over 200 years ago. Where is the connection with the development crisis in the North? The ACF's statement in this regard is meaningless, and this is unfortunate coming from the same ACF that is humble enough to admit that the South is saving the North. The problem with the North is its elite. Nearly every politician who becomes a big man in the North wears a big babaringa and refuses to work. More than any other group in Nigeria, the northern elite have had more access to state resources and more control over the same resources, but this has not been used to bring development to the people.

The same oil resources that Southerners claim Northern leaders have taken have largely been used to oppress the poor in the North and sustain feudalism. In this regard, the average Northerner is just as aggrieved as the average Southerner, for in the end, the patterns of dispossession imposed on this society by successive governments at all levels have produced uniform grief. The underdevelopment of the North has nothing to do with the slave trade; it has a lot to do with the attitude and lifestyle of the Northern man of power. Northern Governors trace the de-industrialisation crisis in the North to "international conspiracy against the North", If there is any conspiracy at all, it is internal and it is the conspiracy of the northern elite against their own people.

One example: Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe state has approved for himself and his predecessor in office a sum of N200 million as "executive pension". The North, like the South, is in need of new leaders, not rent-collectors. If Northern Governors want development, they must begin with changes at the level of attitude and lifestyle. Nothing in Northern agriculture as proposed can sustain their present lifestyle. Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako, the Adamawa Governor, was right when he lamented as follows: "No nation has ever enjoyed lasting peace and stability or could ever survive when only a few of its citizens wallow in wealth and affluence at par with the rich of other nations, while the rest of its citizens are entrapped in poverty,  the simple truth is that the above reality obtains more in the North than other parts of the country".

Northern Governors have been holding meetings since 1961, and at every meeting, they talk about the same issues - agriculture, education and development. But nearly 50 years later, there are more poor people in the north than other parts of Nigeria. The streets are full of distracted kids, with bowls in hand begging for alms during school hours. When UNICEF reports that more than ten million Nigerian children of school age are out of school, they can be found mostly in the North.

Northern Governors want to focus on agriculture, but to use agriculture as a launch pad for growth and development, the states must invest first in education. Who will work on the farms that the North will set up? In a few years, the growing population of almajiris on Northern streets will be old enough to be mobilised for riots not for any productive activity. It is a shame that many years after independence, the North continues to enjoy an affirmative action privilege in education and politics, which easily annoys Southerners who feel that they face much stiffer competition in seeking and gaining access to opportunities. Who will manage the agricultural renaissance of the North? This same set of fertilizer-stealing, rent-collecting elite? And where is their blue-print?

North-South relations in Nigeria are often constructed in form of rivalry and competition, and this is discernible in the tone of the statements by the Northern Governors and also the ACF. But it is an unhealthy competition that promotes further divisions. Rather than dismiss the Niger Delta and its oil, the Northern Governors should show humility and gratitude. If they are serious, they should be more interested in raising constitutional questions and seeking reviews which would free the North and other parts of Nigeria from the tag of "parasitism", and which in the long run will ensure a return to federalism under which every state in Nigeria will be required to become productive. Under that new arrangement, the Niger Delta people will be glad to go to "hell" as advised.

he northerners have fed fat enough.its high time we cut off their probosis

never fight an ugly man cos he s got nothing to loose.guys wize up o this na 2008.

flicking page by page and comments from Nairalanders, am not sure if this argument is a tribalistic or religious one. Am a full blown southerner, but it amazes me that this same people we call cattle rearers and aboki's have been ruling us for ever, the have always been vital to the Nigerian government even more influencial than the Yorubas. And we say they are cattle rearers and abokis, yet we have been ruled by them for this long. This alone should tell us something is wrong whichever way we look at it especially with us in the South, cos all we are good at is talk, talk and talk but no action, lol, life is full of ironies, never really imagined this much tribalism in Nigeria, especially with our own generation. I though we were alot smarter thant the archaic generation but with most of the most by nairalanders? i get soo scared of Naija

jeebeewell:

, after they have enriched themselves with the oil wealth from the south, the south can go to hell.
The southerners have been impoverished in the midst of the black GOLD

lwise:

he northerners have fed fat enough.its high time we cut off their probosis

We humans are always playing the blame game but rarely take responsibility for the part we play in causing our problems.We talk about the Northerners taking advantage of the Southern resources.Let me ask you a question.Who aided them.Is it not the Southerners themselves.Did you ever see any Alhaji near any oil wellhead ? Ofcourse not! They colluded with some Southerners. Peter Odili was governor of Rivers State for so long and instead of using the resources to develop the state, he used it enrich himself.Alameisigha of Bayelsa didn't do any better.So when we keep talking about the North lets also remember that the South is just as guilty.

it is not line perpendicular to the coast. it is done base on a compass. You have a compass that have north and south. My father use to sail. so i know how compass work and i was in the boy scout. A compass is a scientific instrument use to determine direction.

What they do is they take a compass and use it determine how it works. that why even why perpendicular BAKASSI look part of nigeria. the world court says no way. If you use the north and south of a compass. Bakassi is in camerron. I am sorry. please find out . read more story. you can have a large coast but own nothing.

If the line is not, then nigeria should hand over all the oilfield offshore of the coast of cross river , akwa ibom, ivers and bayelase to cameroon, because they are all perpendicular to cameroon. zDo you want nigeria to lost all of that oilfield to cameroon, justice should be done to ondo, and return all of the 800,000 barrel of oil per day back to ondo state. See map.

do you know what a compass look like , here is a picture below.

st_nonymus:

We humans are always playing the blame game but rarely take responsibility for the part we play in causing our problems.We talk about the Northerners taking advantage of the Southern resources.Let me ask you a question.Who aided them.Is it not the Southerners themselves.Did you ever see any Alhaji near any oil wellhead ? Ofcourse not! They colluded with some Southerners. Peter Odili was governor of Rivers State for so long and instead of using the resources to develop the state, he used it enrich himself.Alameisigha of Bayelsa didn't do any better.So when we keep talking about the North lets also remember that the South is just as guilty.

true talk o!

some of your responses show a lot of ignorance!

some one suggested separating the country and said the hausa north should go with the tivs while the central north should be seperate, pray the so called minority tribes are kwararafa tribes (that is hausa children from slave mothers) apart from the tivs who are actually later day migrants,so if there is anything middle belt it is actually the tivs(read about the tiv riots of 1957,the umbc,the tiv jukun crisis e.t.c) and if there is any tribe inthe north that is completely distinct from the hausas it is the tivs and beroms.

some else said northerners are lazy!, thats funny,cause no one has denied that the northerners are farmers,so i ask is it the one who sits and fights over oil he never planted that is lazy or the one that actually farms that is lazy?, well i guess if the oil runs dry we will know the answer

skfa1:

@ WilyWily

You make no sense at all. Can`t you read other making at least some sense. Na wa for you o. Abeg change fast 

Lazy Parasites are not only the Hausa/Fulani Desertmen,
but the real truth is that Yorubas are the most Dangerous Parasite.

@ Dranoel: you've made some very good points here.

I was also surprised to hear Tiv being grouped with hausa. When I was in the middle belt region, the Hausas and Tivs/other middle belters kept themselves distinct from each other. Its here on Nairaland that I'm hearing Tiv being called Hausa.


@ Nigeria1: maybe Cameroon should take over all the oilfields. Its about time they also had the curse of oil.


By the way, isnt Dokubo an Alhaji? When and where did he convert to Islam, or was he born a Muslim? because all this militant talk may be a cover for a jihadist agenda.  No be naija?

tpia:

@ Dranoel: you've made some very good points here.

I was also surprised to hear Tiv being grouped with hausa. When I was in the middle belt region, the Hausas and Tivs/other middle belters kept themselves distinct from each other. Its here on Nairaland that I'm hearing Tiv being called Hausa.


@ Nigeria1: maybe Cameroon should take over all the oilfields. Its about time they also had the curse of oil.


By the way, isnt Dokubo an Alhaji? When and where did he convert to Islam, or was he born a Muslim? because all this militant talk may be a cover for a jihadist agenda.  No be naija?

dude you are off point, this thread isnt really a religious contest. Asari Dokubo is probably a muslim so what? havent you seen muslims in Edo state, lots of auchi muslims sef.

gabuu:

As usual we are missing the POINT. we as a people are plain LAZY!!! If you all take the pain to look at Nigeria objectively, you will notice that no single unit adequately cater for itself.

The North + Middle Belt
Agreed it is arid, no sign of activity, the industries are comatose, but it is the only region that has the CAPACITY to feed the nation if properly hearnesed.

Western Nigeria
Plenty of activity, especialy economic. Major advantages, the nation's gateway to the world, large pool of human resources etc,. All the colanut produced in the region must go NORTH for it to translate to money. All the products produced in the industries, need a ready market, East Nigeria, North, South-South are ready markets.

East Nigeria
Enterprising people, ability to see oppurtunity where others see challenges. Need to move out because their is just not enough unit space available for all to leave comfortably, beside, the need to stay close to the market is paramount to survival. My NYSC commandant gave me a rule of thumb in surviving in any part of Nigeria: were ever you find yourself, if withing 4 weeks you don't get to see an Igbo guy, please move on,  that place aint wont staying.

South-South
plenty of OIL. THE question is, If OIL caused Nigeria so much pain, what guaranty do they have that it will solved their problem. Be carefull what you wish for, for you might get it,  Dreams do come true!!.

Collectively as a Nation, we need to change our way of thinking!!!

P.S
For some of you guys that are Experts in Personal attacks[/color]: Note,

I am a Northerner, Married to an Igbo lady. I refused to beleive the propaganda our leaders feed us with. We can only make this country great if we look beyond our geographic limitations. [color=#006600]No Single unit of Nigeria can survive [color=#006600]EFFORTLESSLY withouth the other.[/color][b][/b]
Do have a great day!!

True Nigerian, you give me little hope for this yeye country. I hope Nigeria comes up with people like you. The hypocrites will always ignore a post like this

Whether Nigerians like it or not, it is the Niger Delta Oil money that is sustaining the nation. But it is even more embarresing to hear what d northern governors has to say, i don't blame them sha, because we av been feeding them for so many years if not they all would av been lost in their cattle grazing field.
bla bla bla bla

abeg enough with the cattle grazing analogies jo.

cattle grazing no be job? Abi oyibo sef no dey graze cattle?

If cattle grazing is paying people's bills, then let them be.

What does cattle grazing have to do with this topic anyway? The people causing the problem in the Niger Delta, if not for oilfields in the area, isnt fishing their main occupation?

There is dignity in labor. Please let us hear word.

All you southerners are just a lazy ignorant bunch of people! I declare fatwa on all of you!! ^{clear throat, spit kelebe for ground!}  

Shagari2:

All you southerners are just a lazy ignorant bunch of people! I declare fatwa on all of you!! ^{clear throat spit kelebe for ground}

Read your post again and tell me now who is ignorant?

skfa1:

Read your post again and tell me now who is ignorant?

the user id is a fake moniker.

the person is probably Yoruba or Igbo.

I wish the northerners good luck, they have taken a very good step. They can do well and even better without the f*cking oil of the south. Once again Good luck.

But i would have preferred to just one Nigeria owning everything in Nigeria.

North benefits little from oil wealth – Maitama Sule
From Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano, 08.05.2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Kano

Former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nation, Alhaji Maitama Sule, had declared that the north has "benefit little," from the country's oil wealth, ever since petrol became the main revenue earner.


Maitama Sule, who is the traditional title holder of Danmasanin Kano, said this during an interactive with the minister of Energy (Gas), Chief Emmanuel Olatunde Odusina, on the Nigerian Gas Master Plan in Kano, which drew wild applause from northern stakeholders in attendance.

He said he wondered if such discriminatory action by successive governments in the country is not deliberate.

"I was the first Nigerian minister of Oil, Pa Ribadu and I were around when oil was discovered in 1957, we thwarted attempt to swindle the country, introduced competition in the sector, made selfless sacrifices, but today, the north has benefited little from oil wealth, I hope the action was not deliberate," Maitama Sule said.

THISDAY learnt that Maitama's declaration coincided with growing apathy among northerners, who feel that despite the region's thick population base, it earned little from the pool of the commonwealth.

According to him, a UN Report in 1962 listed Brazil, India and Nigeria as emerging industrialised nations, explaining that while others had since achieved technological breakthrough, Nigeria still wallows in confusion.

He said "it is so pathetic that while Brazil and India had achieved cognate technological breakthrough over the years, it is, however, painful that the Nigeria owned Defence Corporation set up to launch the country on the industrial path now produces furniture."

He said the oil wealth introduces a "negative culture of extravagance," adding that it has become a past time for Nigerian money bags today to bankroll frivolous overseas trips for mistresses and expressed optimism that the country can still get it right, going by the commitment demonstrated by the present regime to harness the abandoned natural gas for desired industrial growth.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/aug/5/214.html

i don laugh tire, d northen cows" northerners" cannot survive without feeding on ND oils. That is just d plane truth. Pls advise ur Governors to use dis oil money to lift the standard of living of the Amagiris by giving them good education b4 d oil dries up.

Lmao, This man called Nigeria1 is a character. He's turned the same map in every angle and direction and posted it 20x.


[size=16pt]"Statistics is like the bikini, what it shows is revealing, but what fails to show is the thing that is quite intriguing" - Chuba Okadigbo
[/size]

read before you post. What happen was some ask a question. why the line was a straight line. I just state if the line was not perperndicular, Then all the oilfield in River state, cross river , bayelsa, akwa ibom if we look at the map below, should also claim to be that of cameroon.

It is double standard, if the scale of measure is different for state within a country. they should just return ondo state oilfield back.

Why not split the country once and for all So everyone will stop insulting the other,after all the birds of the Air do not work yet GOD Almighty feeds them,no one will die of Hunger if the country is split

@ Nigeria1
Enough already with the maps and the nonesense about Ondo state oil. Abi u wan hijack this thread? stick to the topic abeg.

@ topic,
Meanwhile, the truth of the matter is that all the regions have become lazy. Even the people of the ND cannot survive without oil revenue and they're the laziest of the bunch. Those who consume the oil are already looking for alternative fuel. The day they perfect it, the S**t will really hit the fan.

As for the Northerners, they act as if they're always at war with the south and never take anything lying down and always generating tension. Must they react the way they did? How does the comment made by one person from the south merit a communique from the 19 governors of the North? The North reminds me of the soviet union back in the days of the cold war. What they had, they flaunted and what they didnt have, they made up for with properganda, misdirection and deception. They showed a hard exterior to the world while their people were slowly sinking into poverty. If this debate goes on long enough I bet there will be mass riots in the North that will target southerners just to show that the North can still do something.

the summary of every thing said and done here is that the south is lazy, or how else do you call a man who keeps blaming his neighbour for his woes?

DRANOEL:

the summary of every thing said and done here is that the south is lazy, or how else do you call a man who keeps blaming his neighbour for his woes?

I am not going to absolve the South from the many problems of Nigeria. We have contributed our own fair share.

Point now is not who is guilty or who is not. My major concern is the way foward. If the Nigerian union can no longer work due to percieved genuine or speculative reasons, is it not about time we found some way else. The North is calling the South lazy, the South is doing the same thing. Tell me how Nigeria is going to prosper with all these finger pointing.

Every tribe in Nigeria seems to bear some major misgivings about the Nigeria set up. It is either we face the truth and find a way foward , or we move foward independently or we stay together as one unhappy union and keep on having the same round about arguments. Does it not bother anybody that Nigerians  are still having the same argument decades after independence. This was the problem that faced the pioneers of Nigerian independence, I grew up listening to these kind of argument from my parents, Now I am holding the same kind of conversation with You guys here. If the status quo remains the same, my kids might also end up having the same kind of arguments.Is that the kind of union we want

@ Dranoel,,,

U call the South lazy? Is it not an irony that it is the south that is for the most part fed up with this kind of union and would want a change?

@uche2nna

remind me apart from biafra any other serious agitation from any body

@ tpia

So if am yoruba or Igbo whats your problem with me let me know. I think i like all the tribes.

haba- I was referring to shagari's post, not you.

DRANOEL:

@uche2nna

remind me apart from biafra any other serious agitation from any body

Well if U are asking me if any other region engaged the whole nation in a civil war, then no. But those problems that led to the civil war is exactly what is playing out all over again. Only that this time it is not coming only from the Igbo's quarters. The events folding out know show clearly that all is not well. And my point is that, if it is continued to be ignored, overlooked or de emphasized, then we dont know where the hell it is gonna lead. The civil war did not start over night. Cumulative events led to the secession attempts.

U want a serious agitation? Like what? A blood bath

@Dranoel,

Are you saying all the agitation currently coming from the Niger Delta is not serious enough?