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Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 11:53pm On Sep 10, 2015 |
RhAngel:Ok, but i'm yet to have it. you can share with me if you get it. Thanks |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 2:28pm On Sep 10, 2015 |
jaycpu:Thank you, but I'm actually talking of MTN pass Q cox I have this particular one(GMAT), thank you once again. |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 2:24pm On Sep 10, 2015 |
RhAngel:pls I need the MTN pass Q too Mathewm220@gmail.com |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 12:07am On Sep 10, 2015 |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 10:28pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
freedom96:Yeah I have received it, thank you |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 9:08pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
freedom96:Thank you for your effort but i'm yet to receive it, I have waited for so long. |
Politics / Re: Igbo Has Best Appointment Under Buhari – Keyamo by Msquare220: 7:21pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
Attention seeker. 1 Like |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 5:57pm On Sep 07, 2015 |
freedom96:Bros abeg forward am to me Abeg,,, mathewm220@gmail.com Thanks |
Education / Re: Secrets Of First Class Students? by Msquare220: 3:56pm On Sep 06, 2015 |
ima1:That's untrue, I don't read too much but I'm maintaining my 1st class. But I always remember THE GOD FACTOR IN SUCCESS |
Education / Re: Mtn Foundation Scholarship 2015/2016 by Msquare220: 3:21pm On Sep 06, 2015 |
freedom96:Help a bro pls mathewm220@gmail.com Thank you |
Romance / Re: 5 Ways To Identify A Love-Starved Guy by Msquare220: 1:09pm On Sep 05, 2015 |
Lame Reasons |
Politics / Re: Inaccurate View Of The North By Southern Nigerians - Mark Amaza by Msquare220: 5:40pm On Aug 22, 2015 |
laudate:Thank you Sir, i'm sorry about the Source, line spacing, proper punctuation marks, not using of tools, colours and smiley. Lastly I'm sorry for the asthenopia, pray for relieve. 1 Like |
Politics / Re: Inaccurate View Of The North By Southern Nigerians - Mark Amaza by Msquare220: 12:53pm On Aug 22, 2015 |
fulanimafia:Don't mind him my brother. 1 Like |
Politics / Re: Inaccurate View Of The North By Southern Nigerians - Mark Amaza by Msquare220: 12:48pm On Aug 22, 2015 |
otr1: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. |
Politics / Re: Inaccurate View Of The North By Southern Nigerians - Mark Amaza by Msquare220: 12:33pm On Aug 22, 2015 |
NOBLEDANDY:Thanks you sir |
Politics / Re: Inaccurate View Of The North By Southern Nigerians - Mark Amaza by Msquare220: 11:53am On Aug 22, 2015 |
Ugomba:Indeed "IGNORANCE IS INDEED A Disease" We need to know each other more. |
Politics / Inaccurate View Of The North By Southern Nigerians - Mark Amaza by Msquare220: 11:03am On Aug 22, 2015 |
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. 20 Likes 3 Shares |
Politics / Re: Dogara Is A Better Leader, More Competent Than Gbajabiamila - Tambuwal by Msquare220: 11:17am On Aug 11, 2015 |
zimoni:Hmm,,, Nigerians and sentiment "You are both Yorubas. You are both Muslims. You are both Lawyers. You are both SWesterners." And so what? Tambuwal is not as religion sentiment as You are because he (Tambuwal) is a muslim and the person he endorsed (Yakubu Dogara) is a Christain,,, pls let us try and be sentiment free |
Jobs/Vacancies / Re: Urgent Vacancy . Deadline Is This Evening. by Msquare220: 11:49am On Aug 07, 2015 |
Scam!!! |
Nairaland / General / Re: 10 Nairalanders Behaviour In Political Discourse by Msquare220: 9:37pm On Aug 05, 2015 |
11. The attention seekers :- Like mr OP #TeamObserver |
Career / Re: 17 Funny Facts About Engineers: [MUST READ] by Msquare220: 1:49pm On Aug 05, 2015 |
FYI, 80% of the listed trash ain't true. May be your researched Uni is in another planet. Proud to be an Engineering Student !!! |
Politics / Re: 1 Dollar = 1 Naira: Buhari Approves An Exchange Rate Of N160 To $1 by Msquare220: 3:28pm On Aug 01, 2015 |
Reading comment,,, |
Celebrities / Re: Checkout Yemi Alade And Ice Prince In This New Picture by Msquare220: 1:34pm On Jul 03, 2015 |
Mutumina |
Webmasters / Re: 7 Types Of Commenters You Find On Your Blog/Forum by Msquare220: 1:28pm On Jul 03, 2015 |
Mtws Attention seeker |
Politics / Re: Buhari Explains Why He Stops Attending Juma’at Service At National Mosque by Msquare220: 9:04am On Jun 27, 2015 |
I begin to like this man (PMB)
LL Mr President |
Education / Re: 5 Kinds Of Student I Don't Like As Rooomate by Msquare220: 9:13am On Jun 24, 2015 |
Don't stay in hostle. TeamOffK# |
Programming / Dear Programmers Seriously Need Your Help!!! by Msquare220: 8:53pm On May 01, 2015 |
please help a friend Thank You. Write an algorithm and the corresponding flowchart to sort a given collection of words alphabetically. |
Romance / Re: 10 Things Gentlemen Do !!!!!!!!hot!!!!!!! by Msquare220: 7:02pm On Apr 29, 2015 |
Seen |
Education / Re: Hot Cakes: These Are The Best And Most Rewarding Degree Courses In Nigeria by Msquare220: 6:40pm On Apr 18, 2015 |
ademasta:Yh Electrical Engineering all the way!!! 1 Like |
Education / Re: Hot Cakes: These Are The Best And Most Rewarding Degree Courses In Nigeria by Msquare220: 6:36pm On Apr 18, 2015 |
Engineering all the way!!! |
Education / Re: 6 Reasons you Should Not Attend A Private University (must See) by Msquare220: 6:09am On Apr 15, 2015 |
Korowash:Lolz, u code it |
Education / Re: 6 Reasons you Should Not Attend A Private University (must See) by Msquare220: 7:32pm On Apr 13, 2015 |
assu2013:Like seriously? Fed. Uni. Is glorified pri. School FYM |
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