For a while now, I’ve had reason to believe that the people
of Northern Nigeria, especially the (in)famous “dominant”
group, the Hausa-Fulanis seem to be in terminal decline.
Could this conviction have stemmed out of the aftermath of
the 2011 Nigerian general elections and the rampage of the
Northern youths against the so-called Northern leaders or
the recent spate of Boko Haram attacks in the northern cities
of Kano and Kaduna? Perhaps it is the intensification of the
unfair media bias and the recent vitriolic, virulent and
hateful diatribes against the mostly Muslim Hausa-Fulani
Northerners in the mainstream and social media or the serial
decline and retardation of the economy in the north and/or
the region’s growing political irrelevance in the scheme of
things in Nigeria. This conviction is coupled with a growing
realization that little or nothing is being done by us, the
victims, of our mostly self inflicted problems to salvage our
future which is in dire jeopardy.
The most obvious problem is the serious leadership deficit in
the North which became magnified before and after the
2011 general elections. There is almost a general consensus
that Northerners who were at the helms of affairs in the
country for several decades did little to better the life of
ordinary people in the region in terms of provision of
healthcare, education and other infrastructure, direction of
useful investments and creation of economic opportunities
for the population. The leaders are seen to have enriched
themselves and their cronies while using an adept mixture of
religion and ethnicity to keep people subjugated in the
shackles of illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, and misery. Few
leaders have utilized accumulated wealth towards
establishing profitable enterprises that employ people,
philanthropic organizations that empower others or other
productive ends. Rather accumulated wealth is squandered
in consumerist behaviour, in opulence in the midst of
absolute and abject poverty. Interesting exposés on the
leadership deficit have been written by analysts such as Dr.
Hakeem Baba Ahmed and the columnist Adamu Adamu
amongst several others.
While the deficit of transformational leadership is not
exclusively a Northern phenomenon, it is more magnified in
the North. It is these leaders who are perceived by many to
have “sold out” the north during the 2011 elections hence
the rampage of the youths against various emirs, a former
speaker of the House of Representatives amongst others.
Consequently traditional, religious and political leaders who
used to command tremendous respect from people have
lost their credibility, and to an extent legitimacy to speak on
behalf of the people. Certain enigmatic “geniuses” have
been de-robed of their toga of mystique. The people in turn
are plagued by frustration, helplessness and hopelessness in
the wake of un-inspiring leadership. The newbreeds like
Nuhu Ribadu and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who are viewed with
suspicion or seem more interested in embroiling themselves
in political controversy provide virtually little solace.
Closely following the heels of the leadership deficit is the
economic decline and retardation of the region. This
economic decline has been accelerated by the Boko Haram
insurgency, thanks to which the holy grail of foreign
investments will now become ever so elusive. Once the
basket of the nation on account of its agricultural
productivity – the legendary, towering groundnut pyramids
of Kano come to mind – and its budding industrial activity,
the north is now plagued by rapid de-industrialization.

Buildings housing hitherto bustling factories lay derelict and
abandoned in ominous gloom in Kano, Kaduna and Zaria.
Poor incentives to farmers, lack of storage facilities and
access to credit has led to a decline in agricultural
productivity as state governments are embroiled in one
fertilizer corruption scandal or the other. With the exception
of Kano and to a lesser extent Kaduna, few businesses, and
enterprises especially SMEs are owned and managed by
Northerners. In many state capitals, the bulk of the labour
force engaged in the formal sector are civil servants. The
neglect of agriculture, manufacturing and other economic
activity for easy oil money coming from the federal
government by the state governments has aggravated this
situation as the allocation is hardly directed towards reviving
infrastructure, capital projects, empowering the populace or
investment in non-oil sectors of the economy. The CBN
governor recently stated that many states, especially in the
North are economically unviable without such allocations .
Instead, monthly allocations which run into billions of naira
each month are expended towards recurrent expenditure
and unproductive ventures such as subsidies on annual Hajj
and Umrah pilgrimage trips mainly to reward cronyism. This
dependence on oil revenues which has done little to benefit
the ordinary Northerner has created an impression of the
North as an unproductive region, a “liability” which
contributes virtually nothing to the nation’s kitty but
consumes so much because of its population and its size.
Though a cursory look at history deflates this impression
since the proceeds from agricultural produce of the North
virtually sustained the nation before the discovery of oil.
A socio-cultural aspect of our numerous problems and
which lies at the heart of it is our mind set as a people,
especially amongst the Hausa-Fulanis . We have developed a
mind-set that paradoxically makes us feel culturally superior
when infact we are progressively retrogressing in many
aspects. We look down on fellow Northerners of a different
religion and ethnicity, we feel our own brand of Islam is
better than the Islam practiced by a Yoruba man, an Igala or
a Tiv such that you’d forgive anyone for thinking the Holy
Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in
Hausa language somewhere in Kano. We feel many career
choices especially those which involve working our way to
the top are demeaning; our educated youths have been
brought up with the mind set to only aim for the ultimate
“secure government job” or bust, and as a result many an
enterprising and creative youth’s dreams have died at
stillbirth by the patriarch’s final fiat.
This paradoxical superiority complex has pitched us against
other “minority” groups in the north who used to be our
brothers but now regard us with contempt and derision and
has been played upon by mischievous people to ferment
ethno-religious tensions. Many are quick to blame Islam or
the mixture of religion and politics, but a comparison of
predominantly Muslim societies who are doing relatively
well-off such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia
and Indonesia for instance shows Islam is not the problem,
rather a crude cocktail of ignorance, and the perversion of
religious teachings and cultural prescriptions. While in Iran,
women outnumber men in Universities as many are highly
educated and articulate, female literacy in Northern Nigeria
by contrast remains abysmally low, one of the lowest in the
world and ditto women empowerment though attitudes are
positively changing at snail pace. The problem appears as a
friend once stated that we haven’t found the right interface
between culture and religion in the North.
Lastly is the all-out media war and propaganda against the
North. From the mainstream media to social networks,
online forums to blogs, it is hunting season for anything
Northern (in this context, synonymous with the Northerner
of Hausa-Fulani extraction but also any of the
predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in the north: Kanuri,
Nupe etc). At most you need an advertorial on the pages of
the numerous dailies, at the very least, you need an internet
connected mobile phone and you are set to begin unleashing
your full arsenal against “Northerners”. The activities of
Boko Haram which have claimed more Muslim lives,
wreaked more havoc to Northern cities than anywhere else
are attributed to desperate Northern politicians who lost out
in the political chess game, a view peddled around even by
erstwhile respected intellectuals; sectarian crises and conflict
which abound in every part of the country, but more
frequently in the North are mostly attributed to the Hausa-
Fulani Muslims who are seen to be the culprits even in
situations where they are victims; even the lacklustre
performance of the Jonathan administration is attributed to
the “evil Northerners”. The problems highlighted above:
leadership, economic decline and socio-cultural challenges
have rendered us a voiceless people in this media war and
propaganda, we are unable to tell our stories strongly from
our own perspective while others do it for us, and they paint
their version of the truth in whatever colour hue they deem
fit.

We are a people bedevilled by so many challenges which of
course, this writer has barely scratched the surface of. The
leadership deficit has aggravated our economic decline and
retardation, and threatens not only our social cohesion but
our very identity as a people. In times like these, a strong
and transformational leadership is what is required to
mobilize our abundant human and natural resources for us
to realize our full potentials, but this deficit forms the bane
of our problems. Paradoxically, while we acknowledge the
failure of leadership, and the incapacity or inability of the
present crop of leaders to do much to salvage our pathetic
situation, we are still waiting on them. Obviously our
leaders cannot do much because they are constrained,
because they are not interested or because it is a
Frankestein’s monster has turned on Dr. Frankestein
situation. While we “wait”, Boko Haram seems to be the only
force filling this leadership vacuum in a very destructive and
warped sense by co-opting the vast number of idle,
unemployed and frustrated youths as willing recruits to its
campaign of death and terror. Gradually, Boko Haram could
become the only thing that defines us as a people, if this
leadership vacuum persists and by then we WOULD BE
DOOMED!

http://zainabusman./2012/02/17/a-people-in-terminal-decline/

To further buttress my point, when I googled “Northern
Nigeria” and “Arewa Nigeria”, at least 50% of the
images that came up in the search results were of Boko
Haram, scenes of its attacks or images of its victims.
That speaks volumes.
Whatever the case, it is our generation which will suffer
most because the present crop of leaders have little to lose;
we will live with the consequences of their actions while our
children’s future becomes increasingly uncertain. Perhaps
the tone here is a tad too pessimistic when this writer
concludes that the numerous problems we face in the North
crowned no less by Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency gives a
gloomy premonition of a bleak future . We are in a terminal
decline, the question is are we doing enough to address
this? What can we or should we do to reverse this certain
reality?

I read this article this morning. What an intelligent write up by a northern woman.

Let the Northern elites develop the North and stop disturbing everyone with their headache. mstcheeeeew!

Boko Horam boys are uneducated illiterates. They are poor and hungry and being used as tools to cause havoc.

I feel sorry for the writer.

1. She presumes that Hausa fulani are superior or were one time superior. (She doesn't know the word 'aboki' does not mean friend in the south

2. presumes that the groundnut pyramid of the north sustained Nigeria (She has lost touch with history)

3. That Islam or how the Hausa-Fulani practice it is not a problem

4. She dares to cast aspersion on the nobel laureat

5. Now Boko Harm is going to get her (she is way too educated for their liking)

Intelligent and articulate article though. I'd Like to read or hear more sides of the northerners. Great and bold presentation. I would also like to admit that there are many truths in her write up.

@stildude I also feel sorry 4 u idiot wawa

The problem of the north,like d young lady pointed out are their leaders.They embezzle all monies meant for the development of the region and circulate the wealth amongst themselves.

The north of today is like ancient Great Britain,where the Class structure reigned supreme,its only in the north that d same wealthy family of 60years ago will still be the same of today cos they hardly mix up with the rest of their people and  keep inter-marrying themselves so that the wealth will never spread.

The wealthies,go to the same school in Nigeria,UK etc where they mingle to d detriment of the common northerners and it beats me why they(commoners) still obey them after this glaring marginalisations.

The question is how should the common northerners b extricated from the mechanisations of their evil Oligarchs?

it is also very heart aching when you even hear the word "boko haram" meaning "western education is forbidden".for God's sake western education is not all about evolution,atheism and spreading christianity.there is the positive side of it and learning the english language is one of the greatest investment any man can do to himself especially us that english is not our mother-tongue.

why i say it is heart aching is because this group with its infamous and misunderstood name is trying to portray all of Islam and all Muslims and not only themselves as opposing knowledge and education.for those who know Islam well,Islam transformed the barbaric arabians into scientists and a great civilization.examining the words of the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (sa) would show how much acquiring knowledge is emphasized.

those northern youths who shun going to school should know that they are in fact denying the message and teaching of Islam.ignorance can never paint any religion in good light.studying the Quran and learning arabic is commendable.but also learning more languages like english,french and spanish and also languages of other muslims that are internationally renowned like turkish and persian and sciences that can better our lives and improve our image and society is the very essence of Islam and what muslims should do.abandoning learning in any form is only helping those who do not mean well for muslims.there is even no harm in studying the bible and knowing what is there for us to appreciate the beauty of the Holy Quran.it is those who know the feeling of heat that can appreciate the feeling of coldness.no knowledge is lost.we should keep learning and improving our lives.

1. giggled @ her search which showed violence of bh.

2. to change d north, dis article should be given to their northern youths to ponder.

3. sponsor a documentary on how dubia has balanced western and islamic ideas to its development instead of an anciet ideology that doesn't work!

The best solution is to disintegrate,there are people whose main regret in life is because they share thesame country with Northerners.A people that does not have value for life.

Very intelligent write up by an intelligent  Northern lady. She said the truth and the more they accept and realize their fault, the better for them. They have mortgaged the lives of their youth.

If this country break-up, the northerners will suffer it as they will turn up as another Somali

The writer should please tell me what the North and South have in common,absolutely nothing,except thesame skin colour.

This conviction is coupled with a growing realization that little or nothing is being done by us, the victims, of our mostly self inflicted problems to salvage our future which is in dire jeopardy.
The most obvious problem is the serious leadership deficit in the North which became magnified before and after the 2011 general elections. There is almost a general consensus that Northerners who were at the helms of affairs in the country for several decades did little to better the life of ordinary people in the region in terms of provision of healthcare, education and other infrastructure, direction of useful investments and creation of economic opportunities for the population. The leaders are seen to have enriched themselves and their cronies while using an adept mixture of religion and ethnicity to keep people subjugated in the shackles of illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, and misery.

10 million almajiries cannot say it louder. The population of most countries in the World is less than the number of almajiri's in Nigeria.

If our almajiri population were to be any of these European countries, then every man, woman, child (even day old babies) would be an almajiri. In the reverse though, they are ALL developed. There are also quite a few notable countries on the list; Sweden, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, Iceland, Denmark, Finland Norway etc. The core-Northern elite have been a scourge on Nigeria.

[table][tr][td]Monaco Monaco[/td][td]31,987[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Gibraltar Gibraltar (UK)[/td][td]27,714[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Vatican City Vatican City[/td][td][/td][td]900[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Malta Malta[/td][td][/td][td]397,499[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Guernsey Guernsey (UK)[/td][td]64,587[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Jersey Jersey (UK)[/td][td][/td][td]89,775[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]San Marino San Marino[/td][td]27,730[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Liechtenstein[/td][td]32,842[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Switzerland[/td][td]7,301,994[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Luxembourg[/td][td][/td][td]512,000[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Andorra Andorra[/td][td][/td][td]68,403[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Moldova Moldova[/td][td][/td][td]4,434,547[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Czech Republic Czech Republic[/td][td][/td][td]10,674,947[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Isle of Man Isle of Man (UK)[/td][td][/td][td]73,873[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Denmark Denmark[/td][td][/td][td]5,368,854[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Cyprus[/td][td][/td][td]803,147[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Slovakia[/td][td][/td][td]5,422,366[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Portugal[/td][td][/td][td]10,617,192[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Hungary[/td][td][/td][td]10,075,034[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Austria[/td][td][/td][td]8,169,929[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Ireland[/td][td][/td][td]4,234,925[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sweden[/td][td]9,076,744[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Finland Finland[/td][td][/td][td]5,302,545[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Norway Norway[/td][td][/td][td]4,942,700[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Iceland[/td][td]312,384[/td][/tr][/table]

On point, For years the northern elite have deliberately blind folded their people , educationally and otherwise .
They have been breeding millions of boko harams for years by denying them basic education, food and shelter, some of them grew up on the street , walking about fending for themselves as almajir.

It is in the north that you will see someone playing cards as early as 7am, selling fuel in plastic bottle to feed his family, and it is the same north you will best cars, mansion and gigantic building housing thousands  of people, feeding them instead of the government to provide jobs for the youth.

All these instance though not peculiar to the north , but it more visible in the north.  I remembered my first time in the north, i saw a motor bike with one passenger loaded with three (3) 25litre Jerry can/rubber, then i asked my friend that why will someone parked groundnut oil like this.?, my friend replied which groundnut oil, na petrol dem carry o. I screamed and could not believe it , on moving a distance i saw ten (10) 25litres of petrol neatly on displayed to be sold , just like a market woman selling tomato and onions . So the youth in the north  should hold their leaders responsible for leading them astray, and not encouragingem to embrace education.

The problem of the North/Hausa-Fulani is numerous, but tracing it to the root is challenging. I will trace it to the British government. They created a false air of believe in a Northern supremacy which was only a form of respect from other regions. Brilliant youths from the North have been let to waste away in this false believe. If Nigeria had been balanced at independence, with population figures rightly quoted, with parliament balanced, the North would have worked extra hard to catch up with the advantaged south. It is highly unfortunate that even children born today are made to believe in this fallacy up North. What this leads to is a celebration of mediocrity and a beclouded judgement.
While the West pursued education, the North pursued consolidation on power, while the east pursued industry (generally). Now Education and Industry is catching up with power, and very soon government will not be able to feed many people. It is not as if the North does not have brilliant people. In fact, I will boldly say that the North can produce as much intellectuals as any other region in NIgeria. But they have to first put their house in order and do away with this mirage they're swimming in. The North is declining indeed, but who will be honest to say this? 2015 is close by, power will be advocated to return to the North, after that nko? Education advancement? Zero!

And I beg to disagree with Zainab on the point of North sustaining Nigeria pre oil era. I will invite her to state her facts anywhere she can. Oil ruined my family business of cocoa export just as it drowned the groundnut pyramids in kano.

Long story! There's a way to effect a drastic change in the core north because this was exactly the same problem Atarturk faced in Turkey. Just turn the core north into a secular society. Take away power from the traditional rulers and eradicate 'almajirism'. Force all the children to attend secular schools for free. Take away the children who their parents refuse to send to those school, put them in foster homes. After 10 years, there'd be a glaring change in the society.

Too bad many of the northerners can't read this. The northern leaders have clearly failed his people and this is d result

If a female northerner can write this, then there is hope

It is easy to complain and condemn. This writer can go a step futher to help her people. Translate it into their local dialect,get it printed and distributed. For those who cant read,get airtime on local radio stations and read it out. The north can only be liberated by the notherners. Time will tell.

Eh yah. Intelligent piece and one that at least tries to be honest unlike the defiant and unapologetic tone one is used to hearing from the so called Northern intelligentsia. I must admit this almost had me feeling sympathetic (if only that's what they need). Write ups as this that at least attempt to be honest goes a long way to show why most are quick to term Sanusi a bigot! The real causes of the problems of the North are glaring, u don't have to squint to see them.

@@@@@

all those boko harem agent in nl; what s up

navfa; alj harem; arewa rdep; hakai

A socio-cultural aspect of our numerous problems and which lies at the heart of it is our mind set as a people, especially amongst the Hausa-Fulanis . We have developed a mind-set that paradoxically makes us feel culturally superior when infact we are progressively retrogressing in many
aspects. We look down on fellow Northerners of a different religion and ethnicity, we feel our own brand of Islam is better than the Islam practiced by a Yoruba man, an Igala or a Tiv such that you’d forgive anyone for thinking the Holy Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Hausa language somewhere in Kano. We feel many career choices especially those which involve working our way to the top are demeaning; our educated youths have been brought up with the mind set to only aim for the ultimate “secure government job” or bust, and as a result many an enterprising and creative youth’s dreams have died at stillbirth by the patriarch’s final fiat.

This paradoxical superiority complex has pitched us against other “minority” groups in the north who used to be our brothers but now regard us with contempt and derision and has been played upon by mischievous people to ferment ethno-religious tensions.  Many are quick to blame Islam or the mixture of religion and politics, but a comparison of predominantly Muslim societies who are doing relatively well-off such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Malaysia and Indonesia for instance shows Islam is not the problem, rather a crude cocktail of ignorance, and the perversion of religious teachings and cultural prescriptions. While in Iran, women outnumber men in Universities as many are highly educated and articulate, female literacy in Northern Nigeria by contrast remains abysmally low, one of the lowest in the world and ditto women empowerment though attitudes are positively changing at snail pace. The problem appears as a friend once stated that we haven’t found the right interface between culture and religion in the North.

They took the same ugly mindset and inflicted massive problems on Nigeria. It is taking boko haram and the loss of political power to finally begin seeing the clouds of almajiris and 10 year old girl-brides; a sitting Senator from one of the most backward states (Zamfara) even imported a 13 year old Egyptian child to phuck for N250,000.00 (Pardon my language, but the situation calls for it); many argued that their religion allowed such paedophelia and was above the constitution.

It is disgusting.

. . .And madam, the core-Northern elite feels superior? It is the nature of a parasite to feel superior to its host.
It is the core-Northern talakawa I pity in all this, they are the victims who are too illiterate to even realise it.

Beaf:

. . .And madam, the core-Northern elite feels superior?

mavor, olodo.  I see that the core-Northern elite is still the capable boogie man disturbing you severely. This boogie man is responsible for all your pains and wahala.  Hint: to deal with a problem you have to identify the problem first - biko, who is this core-Northern elite? Please give us a unambiguous definition. Ndo o.

ndu_chucks:

mavor, olodo.  I see that the core-Northern elite is still the capable boogie man disturbing you severely. This boogie man is responsible for all your pains and wahala.  Hint: to deal with a problem you have to identify the problem first - biko, who is this core-Northern elite? Please give us an unambiguous definition. Ndo o.

Look in the mirror and you [i]might [/i]see yourself. The core-Northern elite are a wicked, indolent breed, who believe they are superior to every other.
If denial was a talent, the core-Northern elite would be Nobel Laureates.

Beaf:

Look in the mirror and you [i]might [/i]see yourself. The core-Northern elite are a wicked, indolent breed, who believe they are superior to every other.
If denial was a talent, the core-Northern elite would be Nobel Laureates.

Ouch!

Beaf:

The core-Northern elite are [b]a wicked, indolent breed, who believe they are superior to every other.[/b]If denial was a talent, the core-Northern elite would be Nobel Laureates.

Goodness gracious, there are several of this elite among your Governors and political leaders in the SS region, lets not forget those from the area claimed by Eze of NL, Onlytruth; according to your definition!!    

short of words!

She should translate this into Hausa and drop the leaflets over Maiduguri and Kano Central markets.

No point preaching to the choir, those who need to read can't find her blog.

Same problem exist in the South w/o the religious fanaticm angle.

Nice article though.

Kilode?!:

She should translate this into Hausa and drop the leaflets over Maiduguri and Kano Central markets.

We know the Hausas are illiterates.