barcanista:
@ Arewaqueen with due respect to your northern folks, saying that "Nigeria is our ONLY nation" is not only a fallacy, its an insult to all the ethnic nationalities that was forced into this pseudo arrangement called Nigeria.

I have nothing against the north or its tribes, but I want to know why you guys keep fighting tooth and nail Against True Federalism, SNC and Absolute Resource Control.

owobokiri:
Having lived a bit in the north-Kano to be precise- I am of the opinion that religion is the bane of the core north. This "problem" is made worse by the fact that the dominant fulani feudalistic control of northen cultural structures seem to fiercely guard against change of any sort. Agents of change , both politically or in such areas as education and religion are ferociously singled out and treated as outcasts on their way to a certain annihilation! Put succintly; in the main, the north is largely culturally stagnant! Where she culturally develops, it is backwards! This surprises because this very uncommon. You can only find instances like this in places like afghanistan. In essence, it wouldn't be far fetched to suggest that the dominant fulani ruling house cleverly introduced an atarvistic strand of islam that shares a family lineage with the horrofic brand unleashed on Kabul by the talibans!
How else will you describe a situation where ordinary northerners run away from modern houses because modern gadgets are "worldly"? They prefer their prehistoric mud houses in the villages, not because of poverty, but because the fulani islamic foundamentalist purists who conquered the less fanatical Hausa kingdoms insisted that cave existence is the way forward. Formal education is termed "western", then is mangled with certain revolting hedonistic western lifestyles. This provides the background for the demistification/derision and eventual destruction of education in the north! The result? A massive population bereft of basic skills to compete in a rapidly modernising economy. The same warped interpretation of the koran unleashed a ruthless version of shariah that has accentuated the ranks of radicals and fanatics within arewaland! To save the north we need an Antartuk willing to dismantle a retrogressive fulani oligarchy full of unhinged emirs using religion to stall societal progress.

queensmith:
Thank you for this Arewa very informative thread. I also admire your patience and polite tone which must be difficult in the face of soo much hatred and bigotry.
I apologize if you have already answered this I haven't been through the whole thread, but returning to the colonial policies you mentioned earlier - we are no longer in colonial times which is obvious, have there been no efforts by the Northern leaders to provide suitable education? Is there no encouragement by them currently?



This is an eye opener.

owobokiri:
Having lived a bit in the north-Kano to be precise- I am of the opinion that religion is the bane of the core north. This "problem" is made worse by the fact that the dominant fulani feudalistic control of northen cultural structures seem to fiercely guard against change of any sort. Agents of change , both politically or in such areas as education and religion are ferociously singled out and treated as outcasts on their way to a certain annihilation! Put succintly; in the main, the north is largely culturally stagnant! Where she culturally develops, it is backwards! This surprises because this very uncommon. You can only find instances like this in places like afghanistan. In essence, it wouldn't be far fetched to suggest that the dominant fulani ruling house cleverly introduced an atarvistic strand of islam that shares a family lineage with the horrofic brand unleashed on Kabul by the talibans!

How else will you describe a situation where ordinary northerners run away from modern houses because modern gadgets are "worldly"? They prefer their prehistoric mud houses in the villages, not because of poverty, but because the fulani islamic foundamentalist purists who conquered the less fanatical Hausa kingdoms insisted that cave existence is the way forward. Formal education is termed "western", then is mangled with certain revolting hedonistic western lifestyles. This provides the background for the demistification/derision and eventual destruction of education in the north! The result? A massive population bereft of basic skills to compete in a rapidly modernising economy. The same warped interpretation of the koran unleashed a ruthless version of shariah that has accentuated the ranks of radicals and fanatics within arewaland! To save the north we need an Antartuk willing to dismantle a retrogressive fulani oligarchy full of unhinged emirs using religion to stall societal progress.

queensmith:
Thank you for this Arewa very informative thread. I also admire your patience and polite tone which must be difficult in the face of soo much hatred and bigotry.
I apologize if you have already answered this I haven't been through the whole thread, but returning to the colonial policies you mentioned earlier - we are no longer in colonial times which is obvious, have there been no efforts by the Northern leaders to provide suitable education? Is there no encouragement by them currently?

This is an eye opener.

Maybe I can help, the issue of illiteracy in the north, while grossly exaggerated by its antagonists, cannot be separated from the religion in place. Literacy means different things to different people. The spread of western education in the south can to a large extent, be attributed to the influx of Christian missionaries who built schools and churches, and encouraged the adherents to send their children to school in exchange for uniforms (at a time when clothing was a luxury), an education and a free meal in some cases.




In the North's case, the incursion was by Islamic scholars like Usmanu Danfodio and his disciples, who completely overran the region and established Islamic education as the norm, which in their own right, was literacy since they could read, write, comprehend and do sums using the Arabic language (the source of modern numbers). A major incentive was that these children would be able to read and memorise the Koran once they had gained this knowledge, a desirable and enviable feat in that society, and a practice held till today with Nigerians winning awards in Saudi Arabia and the likes. Therefore, accepting western education at the expense of their own mode of education at the time must have seemed like sacrificing a part of their religion, and border-line irrational.



However as post-modernism spread, the necessity of western education became quite evident, but it was difficult for the northern leaders to convince their subjects to accept western education without sounding like they were betraying their religion. When the Christian missionaries started making their incursions into the north, in Wusasa, Zaria for example, they replicated their modus operandi of building churches along with schools - a move which rubbed the Islamic north the wrong way as they saw the building of schools as a ploy to promote Christianity in the north (which it was to be fair), and they vehemently fought it. This was the beginning of the apathy towards western education in the north.

The governments in place at the time however, encouraged education by building schools and sponsoring indigenes to foreign countries to learn disciplines such as Architecture, Engineering, Medicine etc. This generation also built several schools (Barewa College, Nagarta College etc.) and Universities (Ahmadu Bello University, University of Sokoto etc.) and influenced the location of technical schools such as the Nigerian College for Aviation Technology, Zaria etc. and introduced, as well as encouraged, the practice of children going to western schools in the morning, and Islamic schools in the evenings and weekends (a wide practice to this day). Unfortunately, this was restricted to the urban areas which had government presence, and where the newly educated elite had their offices and schools.






The notion of mass illiteracy in the north is true to an extent, because of the massive population, a majority of who live in the rural areas which do not benefit from necessary educational infrastructure or government attention, and are led by people who did not benefit from the western education which was more prevalent in the urban areas and prefer to bestow islamic education on their wards, and as such in 2015, still hold the reservations against western education, that were held by their more privileged brethren in 1965! This helps explain the wide disparity in wealth among northerners.

The poverty in these rural areas as a result of illiteracy and neglect, led to parents sending their wards to schools where they could gain islamic education for free, in exchange for the children going out to seek for alms (which is supported by the holy scriptures they study). These are the Al-majiri's that the north is often castigated for, an understandable misconception.

The question then arises; what have the northerners done about it all these years? Unfortunately selfish northern spiritual and political leaders had a 'eureka!' moment where they realized that they could twist the interpretations of Islamic scriptures to suit their selfish purposes, and feed it to the fertile, young and impressionable minds of the almajiri's who then grow up to be violent tools in the hands of these leaders, and any attempts at promoting western education by the constituted Northern authorities was seen as an affront to Islam, and a recipe for apostasy among adoptees.

It is however unjustifiable to state that the North is doing nothing to promote western education, as schools are now being built in these rural areas at an astounding pace (especially the UBE projects) and the establishment of World Class Universities by both private individuals and Government, such as Abti-American University, Yola by Alh. Atiku Abubakar (by far the 'poshest' University in Nigeria) and the newly commisioned North West University, Kano.

[img]http://www.images.vconnect.co/Resource/uploads/photogallery/max550/abtiamericanuniversityofnigeria_16249_schoolbuilding_28530.jpg[/img]
www.nairaland.com/attachments/1278367_393O4311_JPGa570e496f6107724ec78731cf0d4ee3d
[img]http://www.sustech.edu/images/Gallary/medical_7.jpg[/img]
www.nairaland.com/attachments/1670239_nwu_jpegd826e54ebbdfea74423a190347f8aa8c



Therefore, the educational challenges of the north cannot be simply brushed aside as a result of colonial policies. It will take considerable time for the North to address these challenges, but it has started. What I expect from Nigerians is encouragement, instead of castigation, which is fair game anyway, because if the average northerner cares about anything in the world, it is not insults or derogatory statements, as they have no impact whatsoever, on our existence.

cc: arewaqueen

queensmith:
Thank you both.

Rawani your post was brilliant, I realize today I don't have one (non mixed) friend from the North, if I was to believe my parents its simply because they have no interest in traveling abroad or making money but matters always have to have more depth.

The issue with the missionaries was wide spread and does in fact still continue to cause trouble in various communities today definitely not just in Nigeria or only amongst the North.

I don't believe western education is the only way, and I do often worry Nigerians don't pay enough attention to their own cultures, which of course makes matters worse as we don't actually make efforts to understand the people with whom we share a nation and in turn we don't do enough to cater to their needs.

Learning Arabic is just as important as learning English and indeed learning local languages and cultures. A true leader will ensure that our children are well versed in many local languages, cultures, religions, traditional and in addition has sufficient western knowledge to take advantage of he diversity and stimulate economic growth and inter tribal relationships.

We have a long way to go. But it does start with threads like this, I hope you are not discouraged, so long as we understand and respect each other well, times will get better.

barcanista:
That Bold is my problem with you Northerners notable Hausa/Fulani. It is absolutely fallacious and Insulting. You can't force people into a Union when they clearly are not satisfied. It is not done in any sane society. You may want True Federalism and Resource Control but saying that an average Northerner want same is so untrue. The Population of Northerners that prefers the Status Quo outweighs the ones that shares your sentiment(If they ever exist).

What makes Nigeria a troubled country? It is because every ethnic nationalities are not satisfied with the present arrangement. Peace and Unity can ONLY be achieved if we are sincere with ourselves and renegotiate the unity of Nigeria. Otherwise, an Ijaw man will continue to see others as strangers, Hausa will continue to view yorubas as Strangers, Igbos will see others as outsiders and so on.

IgboMonk:
Lol i wanted to tell her that when she will abandone this thread and run for her dear life will soon come, this is opportunity every southerner is wiating for to vent their anger and spit their venoms on them.
Imagine someone from an obscure location trying to launder and already dead image because Seun has given you opportumnity to extend your phalanges and the rest of the world will know you exist, lol imagine trying to flog a dead horse abeg.

Lol at Northerners and misconception...op wake up and apologize for this thread bc you opened a can of worm.
I hope that after the troll you receive here today over this thread you will not incite your people to start slaughtering Southerners like ram.

Change2015:


Barca, I'm going to ask you a serious question. In all the developed and more developed countries that you commonly read about, how many describe 'tribes' the way we do? Do you know how many tribes are in Dubai, China, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Russia... I am not one of those Nigerians you talk about for sure. Nigeria flock to countries that are well governed and that generally provide for the common welfare of the citizen, and when they get home, they put on their local glasses and start to see tribe/ethnic nationality as their foundation. We are Nigerians, and what develops Nigeria, is good for Nigerians.

#change
#GMB
#APC

tit:
The north is more educated than the south!

barcanista:
Thank you for this question. Bros, I may sound too hard sometimes but please try get my message. Nigeria need a roundtable discussion. I'm not advocating secession in anyway, I'm talking about system adjustment. Everybody and group is feeling marginalised. Igbo, hausa, yoruba, ijaw, fulani, berom,Tiv, Igala, Idoma etc and our leaders are capitalising on it to make more money and control at our expense. Personally, I was broughtup to love people unconditionally irrespective of our religion and ethnic group, which I think you are too. Can this be said of others? I believe everyone will be happy when we state our minds and come to a common understanding to forge a new Nigeria. That is my position brother...

Adelaide2:
My questions:

1. What is ''Hausa-Fulani''? How can two distinct ethnic groups be grouped as one? Where else in the world has this happened?
2. What does an Hausa man/woman think of a Fulani man/woman?
3. What does the average northerner think about the northern elites?
4. Is the North better off on its own or as being in Nigeria with the south?
5. RELIGION: why does average northern Muslims assume that they can make every other Nigerian become a Muslim?
6. Do Northern Muslims hate Igbos? If so, why?
7. What does the average non-violent northerner think when he sees southerners being killed in many of killing sprees that have gone on in the North?

Change2015:


Nigeria fails because in every corner we pursue the lowest common denominator. Yesterday I was trying to point out to someone that even if the state sponsors Muslim pilgrims, the best response is to agitate to end such government involvement, but all he could see was if the Muslim is getting x, we Christians must get our own quota. Thus we invent the unnecessary and diminish the resources available for the common good.
In every corner of Nigeria we seldom call our so called leaders to account. Look at how people are fighting to preserve badluck in office. Same in local government, hamlet leadership because we have all abandoned quality or performance based criteria on favour of rotation and sharing. So when the leader you pick to represent your ethnic nationality let's you down or sells you out, how do you sanction them. Can't you see we have all abandoned reason even at the grassroots but we expect to see it at federal level? Someone I know in a southern state organised women to got to the LG hq to protest the non collection of garbage. How did the people respond? Instead of discussing the job not done, people were saying don't embarrass the chairman, you are too radical, give him time, what concerns you, is the garbage in front of your house? Yes, us in the south that like to boast about education and exposure, and yet still understanding nothing. I think the op has already commented that it seems Nigerians don't really like each other, and I feel this even within tribes and villages. When we cannot be disciplined at the smallest unit, when we tolerate injustice and celebrate mediocrity, why should we imagine the federal level will be better? When you see disputes such as the aguleri/umuleri (spell check), ife/modakeke, a similar tussle in cross river where one community says the settlers they gave land over a hundred years ago should pack up and leave... Don't you see that it is too simplistic to imagine there is a north/south thing that is exclusive. We can be a very strange and disturbing people at times but our problems are exacerbated by our dishonest conversation and lack of critical enquiry. (more later... Nepa issues)

#change
#GMB
#APC

barcanista:
Bros, if you read my message you will observe that I never made mention of North/South or States. I specifically made mention of tribes. Lemme tell you something, I get angry when ppl praise a leader because he's our brother or sister. As for pilgrimage, government have no business with who goes to mecca or who goes to Jerusalem. The pilgrimage Boards should only take care of proper organisation but the pilgrims are to pay . This is what Rabiu Kwankwaso Is doing. Anyway, what binds us is stronger the the divisiveness of the elite.

arewaqueen:


An average northerner detest Boko Haram because we do not know what they want, who they are or their ideology or the their own brand of Islam. We pray that God exposes the sponsors and the root cause of this menace. Contrary to what most newspapers report the North especially the Muslims are most affected by the Menace of BH.

I watched a documentary a few months ago on BBC News and they found out that some of these BH members are recruited from Neighboring countries. Hausa is widespread so the language is spoken in many of these countries. They youths confessed with their faces covered that they were given 500,000 which is equivalent to 3,000usd to carry out atrocities in Nigeria. They are poor, no money no food so they easily take the deal. After they finish operation they cart away with food and livestock to Niger.

From rumors, they say young boys are kidnapped and the evil doctrine is preached. so they grow up not knowing wrong from right.

Akshow:
Nice job arewaqueen but u forgot the number one misconception southerners are quick to use against northerners. "The north (and by the north they mean Hausas) have ruled for forty years".

This is really laughable cos Gowon is a christian jos man. Babangida is a nupe from Niger state. Abdulsalam is also from Niger state. The true Hausa leaders in Nigerian history are Shagari, Buhari, Sani Abacha and Yar Adua.