Mark Amaza (Right of Reply) I am writing this article mainly for the benefit of Southern Nigerians who have never been to the North, and mostly have a warped and inaccurate view of the North. I have been driven to write this out of my many personal experiences, and those of friends and family, as has been shared with me. This is mainly an educative piece about what Northern Nigeria is in reality; a complete, holistic picture of this region. To make this piece a simple read and easy-to-follow, I am going to write it around five common perceptions about the North and debunk them: Religious Perception: The general belief held by most Southerners about the North is that the region is not just mainly Muslim, but wholly Muslim. Whenever I meet someone from the South and introduce myself, I am correctly placed as a Christian. But once I am asked my state and I say Borno State, the next question becomes, ‘Are you a Muslim?’ This is despite my name being a very common Biblical name, Mark, which is the second Gospel. Matter of fact, I have been asked that question while attending a church programme, with a Bible conspicuously held in my hands. You could imagine my surprise at that question. This has also been the experience of a lot of friends with common names such as ‘Emmanuel’, ‘Daniel’, etc. To start with, out of the 19 Northern states, at least five have a majority Christian population: Plateau, Adamawa, Nassarawa, Taraba and Benue. At least six more have at least 40% Christian population. These states include Niger, Gombe, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara and either Borno or Bauchi. That then leaves only Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara as having Muslim populations above 60%. How then are we all seen as Muslims? This misconception could be excused when the person has an Arabic name, as there are many Northern Christians who bear names such as Jamila, Habiba, Halima, Sadiq, Yunusa and so on. But when the person has an obvious Christian name and even attends church services, you really begin to wonder. Ethnic Perception: Another common perception of the North is that we are all Hausa. My usual response to this is to borrow the logical argument of Simon Kolawole, a former editor of THISDay Newspapers. In an article in which he attempted to educate his largely Southern readership base about the North, he went thus: “If out of the estimated 250 tribes in Nigeria, we can say that the South-west is mainly Yoruba with a few other tribes around Badagry area, the South-east wholly Igbo and the South-south being most diverse in the South with about 40 tribes, that still leaves the remaining 200 tribes in the North.” How then are we reduced to one single ethnic group, Hausa? It is only the North-west that is close to being homogenous, mainly Hausa and Fulani, but with still some minority tribes in the Zuru area of Kebbi State and the multi- diverse Southern Kaduna. The North-east and North-central is filled with tribes, many of whom I have never even heard of. For example, Adamawa State is so diverse that the largest ethnic group, the Fulani, is just 3% of the entire population. In my home state of Borno, there is a local government so diverse that from one village to another, you are likely to meet an entirely different ethnic group. The number of tribes there are so many that we just address the people as ‘Gwoza people’, after the name of the local government. Even though we all speak Hausa as a lingua franca in order to communicate amongst ourselves as trading partners over the centuries, that doesn’t make us Hausa people as much as communicating in English doesn’t make you and I English people. As a matter of fact, in the North-east, Hausa people are a minority and virtually non-existent in the North- central region. Intellectual Beliefs: Now, this is one belief that whenever I am confronted with, it takes me a great deal of self-control not to flip out and lose my temper. Several times, when I tell people I am from Borno State, I am asked how come I speak such good English. Why? What am I supposed to speak? Arabic? The general expectation is that someone from the North is not supposed to be this learned, this well-spoken and articulate in English, this knowledgeable. I remember when a friend asked me if my mother went to school, and the surprised look on his face when I told him that my mum earned her masters’ degree over 20 years ago. There was also a time when my dad met someone at the Lagos International Airport and they got talking. When my dad told him his profession, the man, in a fit of surprise, exclaimed, ‘I didn’t know that there were professors in the North’. ofessors in the North’. I admit the fact that the North lags behind the South educationally, especially the North-west and the North-east. But this is not due to our inability to comprehend what we are being taught, but rather due to the incompetence of leadership in the region to give education its premium importance as a form of human development. We, like every other human being on the face of this earth, can excel when given the opportunity. Talent and intellect abounds everywhere. Opportunity, however, does not. I personally know of many Northerners who have excelled nationally and internationally. Daily, the story of young men like Ahmed Mukoshy, who is born, bred and schooled in Sokoto, and yet, rose above his environment to become one of the emerging forces in IT in this country in his early 20s inspires me. This is just one example among many that I could cite but for the lack of space. I find it outright disgusting whenever people claim that if not for federal character and ‘zoning’, no Northerner would be able to compete in this country. Last week, I was shocked when a friend said only 10% of Northerners in the Federal Civil Service deserved their places on merit, and went on to add that if he had not known me personally and I were to get a job with the federal government, he would believe that I did not earn it on merit. The most ridiculous one I encountered was when earlier this year, former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mansur Mukhtar, was appointed a World Bank director. Most of the commentators on the 234Next article announcing this achievement for this Nigerian and Nigeria made the ludicrous assertion that the appointment was done to please the North, that Mukhtar did not merit it. Little did they know that Mukhtar had worked at the World Bank and the African Development Bank (ADBLOCK), prior to his heading Nigeria’s Budget Office on the invitation of the then and present Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and former World Bank Managing Director, who also recommended him for the post of finance minister when she rejected late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s invitation to join his government. What is even worse is that they did not care to know: their minds were already made up and could not be confused with the facts. Geo-Political Beliefs: Another common belief among Southerners and most especially spread by Southern newspapers is that the entire 19 Northern states act and think as one when it comes to issues of Northern politics. This is one of the biggest untruths about the North. Whenever Northern Nigeria is mentioned, the people of Benue, Kogi and Kwara States do not feel it refers to them. Geographically, they are part of the North; politically, however, they and the entire Middle-Belt act independently. This can be clearly seen in the last elections where President Goodluck Jonathan won in seven Northern states, even against his strongest opponent, General Muhammadu Buhari, who is a Northerner. This was something I am sure a lot of people in the South, save for the political savvy, did not see coming. One common sight of this perception being entrenched by newspapers is when politicians of Northern extraction speak on national issues. I have innumerably seen a washed-out Northern politician, without any influence or popularity speak regarding an issue, and the next day, newspapers carry bold headlines saying, ‘North rejects this’ or ‘North plans to do that’, quoting the same washed-out politician as speaking for the entire North. I have rarely seen a Bola Tinubu speaking and being quoted as the mouthpiece of the entire Yoruba ethnic group, or a Chief Edwin Clark for the Ijaw people. Methinks this is a way of selling newspapers by capitalising on the image of the North as one single, political force which moves in a particular direction all- together Cultural/Social/Economic Belief: Admittedly, as people of the same region, we share a lot in common culturally and socially in the general terms: our mannerisms, modes of dressing, traditional titles (apart from paramount rulers with the exception of emirates), etc. Despite that, the Jukun in Taraba and the Kataf in Kaduna are very different in the specifics, as even the Bura and Marghi people of Borno/Adamawa States. To pick the attitude of one ethnic group in the North and attach it to all the others, is to put it mildly, a very short-sighted way of knowing and understanding the people of Northern Nigeria. Another belief in the South is that the entire North is but an empty land mass with nothing but trees. I remember the controversy of the 2006 census when Kano State was said to have a slightly higher population than Lagos State. Many of my Southern friends called it ‘an impossibility’. In the words of one of them, ‘Lagos is so populated that when you throw grains of rice into the air, they wouldn’t land on the ground, but on people’. However, they all forgot to factor in land mass, because Lagos State is a much smaller state than Kano State, and hence has the highest population density in Nigeria, hence making it look as though it was way more populated.There are cities in the North that have been thriving economically, such as Kano and Kaduna. As a matter of fact, Kaduna State was adjudged by the World Bank in 2009 as the best place to do business. Lastly, the most retrogressive belief about the North in the South is that the entire North is a hotbed for violence. As much as we have had more than our fair share of ethno-religious violence, there are many states that have never experienced one, including states such as Zamfara, and others as Nassarawa and Benue. I have not written this as a criticism of the people of Southern Nigeria, but rather, in the hope that this will be an enlightenment of the South about the North. It amazes me when I see that despite the fact that we have been a country for almost a century, yet, a lot of people down South know little or nothing about their fellow Nigerians in the North, but know about Europe and America. I have also realised that we as Northerners have allowed others to say our story for ourselves, hence have given it distortions, deletion and generalisations. What has happened over time is what the writer Chimamanda Adichie, in her TED talk in March 2009, at Oxford, England, describes as ‘the danger of the single story’, where a single story of the North as a region of poor, illiterate, lazy, Hausa Muslims who do nothing but connive to lord over this country politically and kill Southerners’ has been repeated so much that it is seen as the truth. This is the kind of stuff that creates stereotyping, which in her words, ‘not that it is untrue, but that it is incomplete’. This is one reason I still see the significance of our NYSC scheme, choked with problems as it may be. We need to know each other more. Let us override this stereotypical mind-set and seek to learn about each other with open minds and seek the complete story that gives a holistic picture of our country.

Nice write up.. The same way people think that Igbos are only in South East.. One of my friends is from an Igbo community in Benue state(North) while am Deltan.. IGNORANCE IS INDEED A Disease.

Ugomba:
Nice write up.. The same way people think that Igbos are only in South East.. One of my friends is from an Igbo community in Benue state(North) while am Deltan.. IGNORANCE IS INDEED A Disease.

Indeed "IGNORANCE IS INDEED A Disease"
We need to know each other more.

am surprised finally,
nice writeup there...

Mods. Push this topic to front page.

Ride on Sir, your article has inspired my gospel and believe in better Nigeria.

Two among the best quotes from your article for me are the excerpts below:

We, like every other human being on the face of this earth, can excel when given the opportunity.

Talent and intellect abound everywhere, Opportunity, however, does not.

Nice one, Mark. couldn't have put it any better.

That was how an idiiot who knows less to nothing about me said I "parabulated in school" on this forum when I said I'm a northerner.
Funny enough, he doesn't seem to know that North-Central is a part of the "Nigerian North".
He claimed he speaks three main indigenous Nigerian languages, yet so ignorant.
It's so annoying hearing the so-called Southerners who had never for once came top above me in academic performance, right from elementary school to the University, accusing me of "prarabulating in school. It's sickening and so pathetic.

Simply put, it's only those idiots that's never left their enclave that have this shallow thinking

NOBLEDANDY:
am surprised finally, nice writeup there...

Thanks you sir

The northern christians need to come out and fight for your survival and rights.

There is no jihad in Sokoto, Kevin or Zamfara because there are no christian indigenes unlike what we have in Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Borno.

Chibok is a predominantly christian community just like Michika, Gwozo.

bros forget all dis grammars....... as long as u re from d not whether north centre or far north or u b Muslim or Christian my brother u b AB0KI mai suya

bilulu:
bros forget all dis grammars....... as long as u re from d not whether north centre or far north or u b Muslim or Christian my brother u b AB0KI mai suya

And you're not ashamed to display your ignorance?

otr1:
That was how an idiiot who knows less to nothing about me said I "parabulated in school" on this forum when I said I'm a northerner.
Funny enough, he doesn't seem to know that North-Central is a part of the "Nigerian North".
He claimed he speaks three main indigenous Nigerian languages, yet so ignorant.
It's so annoying hearing the so-called Southerners who had never for once came top above me in academic performance, right from elementary school to the University, accusing me of "prarabulating in school. It's sickening and so pathetic.

Yeah its sickening, pathetic and hassle at the same time.
Unless we override the stereotypical mind-set and seek to learn about each other with open minds we will never comprehend the complete story that gives a holistic picture of our country.

Good one bro

fulanimafia:


And you're not ashamed to display your ignorance?

U mite call it ignorance but Dats d fact...... u re entitled to ur opinion n my opinion remains all northerners re AB0KI

fulanimafia:

And you're not ashamed to display your ignorance?

Don't mind him my brother.

bilulu:

U mite call it ignorance but Dats d fact...... u re entitled to ur opinion n my opinion remains all northerners re AB0KI

Suit yourself.

Hahahaha, see explanation.

fulanimafia:


Permit me to ask what Ab0ki is?

Abokina or Aboki in short form is ...


Aboki no be mumu, it is kwanfam aboki, kai minini legit aboki.

That's a beautiful article, most youth corpers are usually amazed when they see the well laid out roads and beautiful architecture in the North, not to mention the night life. Daniel Amokachi's nightclub, Rampage, is situated in Kaduna for example.

I rep Biu ppl in Borno state.
Highly educated and exposed peeps.

j

otr1:
That was how an idiiot who knows less to nothing about me said I "parabulated in school" on this forum when I said I'm a northerner.
Funny enough, he doesn't seem to know that North-Central is a part of the "Nigerian North".
He claimed he speaks three main indigenous Nigerian languages, yet so ignorant.
It's so annoying hearing the so-called Southerners who had never for once came top above me in academic performance, right from elementary school to the University, accusing me of "prarabulating in school. It's sickening and so pathetic.

The ignorance is not limited to southerners. I have on several occasions witnessed where some middlebelters were arguing about how they're not northerners but middlebelters. They think being called Northrrners meant that they're Hausa or Muslim without realizing that the term " North" is just a geographical convenience.

I am from the south and I am not oblivious of facts concerning the North.

I know about the different languages, ethnic groups and don't call every 'northerner' I meet Hausa or fulani. Though I can't deny I'm more familiar with southerners than northerners, I do not exhibit any of the aforementioned ignorance mostly from southerners to northerners.
We're not smarter than northerners but comparatively the literacy gap is my greatest gripe with that part of Nigeria. (not all part of the North)

I keep hearing leaders are to blame, well the southerners also had their collective fair share of terrible leaders who preferred to pocket money for good schools than anything. However, the difference is that the southerners chose not to be limited by this.

Most strived, even if to put their wards through the poorest schools. Even building community schools themselves. Others tried to at least get to a decent level of education before dropping out if no longer capable of financially paying tuition.

It is very different in the core north where it is not preferred by the guardians to educate their children. Maybe to do with religion or plain recalcitrance to 'foreign teaching' I can not tell.
This is as a result of an 'engrained culture' that'll require shaking off by those heavily affected areas in the north.

The same way the northern majority pushed aggressively for introduction of sharia should be the same way they should aggressively push for bridging the massive educational gap with the south. Now there lies my 'misconception' with the North.

And the other being the religious extremity in certain areas of the North.

Ok

fulanimafia:
That's a beautiful article, most youth corpers are usually amazed when they see the well laid out roads and beautiful architecture in the North, not to mention the night life. Daniel Amokachi's nightclub, Rampage, is situated in Kaduna for example.

Hausa/fulani have made a complete mess of Nigeria, over the life of the Nation period. Buhari can never fix any thing fundamentally. The Christian minorities in the North are doomed ( like the Christian Turk over the years). 15 hundred yrs of Arabs in Africa will probably end with African muslims within West Africa through Fulanis/hausas destroying and destabilizing the entire region for decades to come. I can see them introducing any kind of weapons of mass destruction. Biological, chemical, poisoning of water, agricultural and livestock poisoning and many more. If groups like Biafra opted for any of the above options, we all will be faced with mutual assured destruction. If Nigeria is allowed to continue the way it's being going, I am afraid, the world will witness Africans killing themselves in tens of millions to the delight of the World and more importantly Arabs whom have completely replaced the African soul of the Fulani/hausa with something undefined.

knowledgeable:


[s]Hausa/fulani have made a complete mess of Nigeria, over the life of the Nation period. Buhari can never fix any thing fundamentally. The Christian minorities in the North are doomed ( like the Christian Turk over the years). 15 hundred yrs of Arabs in Africa will probably end with African muslims within West Africa through Fulanis/hausas destroying and destabilizing the entire region for decades to come. I can see them introducing any kind of weapons of mass destruction. Biological, chemical, poisoning of water, agricultural and livestock poisoning and many more. If groups like Biafra opted for any of the above options, we all will be faced with mutual assured destruction. If Nigeria is allowed to continue the way it's being going, I am afraid, the world will witness Africans killing themselves in tens of millions to the delight of the World and more importantly Arabs whom have completely replaced the African soul of the Fulani/hausa with something undefined. [/s]

You're not making any sense, face your Biafra struggle, it just might be considered.

op,
you are the ignorant one.
why are fulanis 80% of the political leadership of the north.
even in the so-called 60% non-moslim states, all the governors, senators, ministers, etc are fulani!
who is fooling who?

likila:
op,
you are the ignorant one.
why are fulanis 80% of the political leadership of the north.
even in the so-called 60% non-moslim states, all the governors, senators, ministers, etc are fulani!
who is fooling who?

Live d AB0KI make e dey here dey explain say him no b AB0KI

My space please.
...A thread worthy of an input.

bilulu:
bros forget all dis grammars....... as long as u re from d not whether north centre or far north or u b Muslim or Christian my brother u b AB0KI mai suya