Bobandgreat: [color=#000099][/color]

I have always known that Northerners are very intelligent. Eventhough it took me many years to dispell some of the stories i heard about them as a kid. For example, i said to my self, if these guys have the brain of a cow, how come they have been ruling u ever since, that means I have a lesser brain than the cow. I also reasoned that if these guys were dumb, how come they are able to exert such control on the Yorubas with all their profs.
In my class in the University, i had one northerner that i loved so much because the guy was practicaly a genius. He knew the answers to mathematical questions without writing anything down. I therefore concluded that, though most northerners dont go to school because of Islam, those that go to school are highly intelligent like geniuses.

@lagerwhenindoubt, that ur chanting up there is what Boko Haram chant just before they kill. Are u one?

"Notherners" are as diverse as anyone else. Once you spend time with them and get to know them, you will learn about the many differences and cleavages in their cultures. There is in reality no monolithic "North" aside from politics and a lingua-franca.
On thing is their elites have a benefit of hundreds of years head start in reading and writing (not in English),governmental administration, dealing with multi-ethnic kingdoms, and tax collection.

Of course, the average northerner suffers from the same problem that the average Nigerian suffers from but probably worse today as the greed of their leaders has drastically increased and the importation of poor Western values social values are at odds with their simplistic lifestyle and family values. Unfortunately the knee jerk reaction in some corridors has been to import other values and a brand of Islam not known to Africa, much to the detriment of all.