The North and the burden of being

“There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.”

‑ President Theodore Roosevelt

‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde, remains one of the most disconcerting and tragic literary works of the 20th century. It evokes a complex picture of narcissistic abandon and insatiable lust after pleasure, with the attendant corruption of the soul and character. Its principal character remains to this day a picture of sad entrapment in lustful carnal pleasures that know no boundaries or restraints.

The same pitfall in which Dorian Gray found himself, also awaits an entire people and nation when they lose their moral compass and abandon themselves to the quest for material satisfaction alone, while ignoring the essences of their spiritual beings and historical callings.

The North of Nigeria which consists of 19 states and encompasses the largest proportion of the country’s total landmass, is today poised between progress and retrogression, and between reconstruction and destruction. The evident deficit of the factors of leadership and the responsible discharge of the requirements of governance are the principal problems that are besetting the entire region today.

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With the exception of a few luminescent spots where every genuine effort is being made to retrieve the fortunes of the areas from the deadly grip of stagnation, poverty, apathy, etc, the rest of the North presents a spectacle of near desolation and spoliation of scandalous proportions.

A genuine and disinterested introspection about this sad and dismal situation must be conducted by all and sundry, to determine how to retrieve the North’s fortunes and set the region on the right course once again.

The riots, mayhem and willful destructions that were witnessed during the #ENDBADGOVERNANCE protests in some parts of the North, make it imperative that an exercise in soul-searching and introspection is conducted not only by northerners but also by other Nigerians. Also, the longstanding state of insecurity in most parts of the region calls for serious thinking and concerted action by all stakeholders to pull the North back from the brink of instability and chaos.

It is a self-evident fact that the North needs to be rescued from itself and lifted out of its immediate compound of problems. In doing so, a lot of intelligent reflection about these problems is needed on the part of its leaders and people alike. Most importantly, the disposition of the national government towards the region is of crucial importance.

Without a concerted and deliberate policy of remediation and reconstruction to be embarked upon by the states and national authorities, the North in its vastness and acute challenges, will remain a bastion of retardation and underdevelopment. This much must be made clear and a point of convergence of notional opinion.

Criticism or the cynical and calculated abandonment of the North will not be a solution to this tricky and difficult issue. Only a sustained engagement and genuine interest in finding solutions to the North’s problems will present the opportunity to redeem the region from its present conditions and resolve its problems and save the country the costs of integration, unity and advancement towards reaching its destined position in the world.

A positive attitude towards each region and a sympathetic understanding of each other’s problems and challenges might just be the panacea to many of our country’s problems.

After all, it might be propitious to appreciate that the North’s problems are not unique to that part of the country only. All the intricate dilemmas that the region is right now suffering from are also to a greater or lesser degree, to be found in other parts of the country as well. In this sense, the North does not hold the unenviable monopoly of those vices or challenges that we are so acutely aware of, but merely its problems have been magnified by the vastness of its spread and the conspicuousness of the absence of remedies put in place.

Therefore, gloating over the difficulties of one section of the country by the others, does not present a realistic solution to the larger and more complex challenges that have been produced by the symbiotic relationships that have been created by the objective conditions in which we have found ourselves since the creation of this country by the British colonial power.

This fact of history and its overbearing influence on the trajectory of Nigeria’s evolution and development make it impossible that we should leave one section of the country to bear its burdens of being alone, and expect the rest of the country to advance into the future in isolation from other parts.

The North’s problems are transient and they transcend the ordinary perceptions about its obvious difficulties such as the alleged high rate of poverty and illiteracy in the region. Perhaps more objectively, the North’s problems are ingrained in its rather disconnected approach to governance that has produced a detachment between the leaders and the people.

Since the return to civil rule in 1999 and the ushering in of the current political dispensation in the country, the disconnection between governments and leadership on one hand, and the generality of the population on the other, has been a glaring and consistent fact across the region.

This distancing of the people from their governments and vice versa has produced a situation of trust deficit and the lack of accountability of the leaders to any particular constituency. While the population became more and more disenchanted with the system and the government, the leaders became more and more arbitrary, especially in pursuing their perceived and preferred courses of development that appeared not so inclusive or well prioritised. Under the circumstance, the issue of good governance became an academic matter only while in reality, a sense of indifference and unfulfilled expectations became the norm.

The standoff between the people and their government is today the most critical political question or challenge confronting the North. A modus operandi, or modus vivendi, as the case may be, between the people and their government should be fashioned out towards providing a solution to the myriad of problems facing the North at this time.

Governance and the deployment of political power as a factor of development have not been effectively articulated in the North so as to create the critical mass that is required to propel the region towards attaining a reasonable level of development.

The authority of elected governments should not be unassailable no matter how unsatisfying their conducts are. On the contrary, the elected officials themselves should positively cultivate the sense of accountability by taking the bold steps necessary towards entrenching this critical and indispensable pillar of democracy in their states.

With accountability, a feeling of empathy between the elected officials and the people that they represent will be mutually cultivated and reinforced, thereby creating the space needed for the achievement of sustainable progress in the aspirations of the region. Building trust between elected officials and the people that they are elected to represent should present the North a new opportunity towards advancing along the path of security and development thereby establishing the conditions necessary for the restoration of the dignity and prosperity of the region.

The burden of being will always be there so long as an entity remains intact and functional. Ultimately, what matters is what one does with the circumstances surrounding being in existence as the most critical factor that makes or mars the fortunes of peoples and nations. This much must be understood and appreciated by both the people and the leaders of the North.

Nigeria and the people of the North should not fear the future. Rather, they should embrace the present and anticipate the future with hope and confidence, about the positive prospects that it holds for them and the promises of the rewards it contains for their hard work and truthful attachment to their country.