How Buhari, Other Northern Leaders are Aiding the Growth of Poverty in the Region

The recent world bank report that the northern part of Nigeria shared 87 percent of the country’s poverty is a threat to national development. The growing poverty is a result of the leadership defect in the region. This poverty, in turn, has seasoned the growth of banditry, terrorism and other insecurity challenges confronting the country.

As much as the masses in the north remain the casualty, the lack of visionary leaders should be faulted for the woes. This epidemic has turned the region into a place of a tragedy that hardly produces any good news. The most unfortunate is that the northern figures constituted the larger part of the Nigerian federal bureaucracy. Yet, the north remains a case of the bigger the head, the bigger the headache.

The north constituted a larger portion of the country’s federal distributed revenue, having the 19 states of the 36 states. The north is also blessed with fertile land and solid minerals. Presently, the north is one of the dismal places to live on earth, it is not friendly for investment, peace and human existence. It has a landmass covered 711,828 square kilometers of Nigeria’s total of 932,762 sq km, an almost two-third of the Nigerian land that has not been properly utilized.

One of the northern leaders, Yakubu Dogara, former speaker of the Nigerian House of Representative recently commented on the leadership failure in the north. He posited that the insecurity in the north is a corresponding factor that is foreseen, created and sustained by the leadership ideal. He says “exposed as a lie, an empty ideology used to satiate greed instead of addressing social inequality and injustice.”

Inability to Create and Sustain Progressive Policies

One of the ways the northern leaders have contributed to the growth of poverty in the region that is now a national threat is their inability to create and sustain progressive policies in the region. Despite producing the highest number of heads of states and presidents in the country’s history and having the highest number of governors, they have failed to create policies that can enhance development and reduce poverty. 

Two presidents from the south, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan took some steps during their times but the northern leaders did not sustain it. Obasanjo inaugurated the Child Rights Act that is meant to provide free education for children and shun child marriage. Unfortunately, most northern states are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act. 

Jonathan, on the other hand, instituted 165 almajiri schools which are to eradicate the exploited child beggars that are roaming the streets of the north, all in the name of acquiring Quranic knowledge. The almajiri children are estimated to be 8.5 million in number. Sadly, the incumbent president, President Muhammadu Buhari, who also doubled as one of the northern elders and leaders has ignored Jonathan’s policy on the almajiri and no viable alternative in place yet. 

Politicization of Religion

One other way that the leaders have contributed to the growth of poverty in the northern region is their continuous politicization of religion for them to acquire political power. They have failed to realize that the 21st-century economy is driven by knowledge where any self-employment can rarely be sustained by illiteracy. 

Rather than focusing on infrastructure, education, health, and job opportunities, the northern leaders decided to fully launch Sharia law in the region. Since the introduction of the Sharia Law, there has been an increase in poverty, criminality, and the spread of Islamic extremism. A region that has been known for peace is now a hell on earth where the youth and females are engaging in substance abuse, terrorism, and banditry. 

According to the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohammed Abdallah, most of the 6,833 people the agency arrested in 2018 for drug abuse were from the north, this includes females. Unfortunately, the northern governors since 1999 often deploy their resources to fund religious activities and traditional rulers rather than investing in education and other development agenda.

It is, therefore, necessary for the northern leaders and elders to admit their errors and start taking steps in solving the escalated problems. If you failed to give education to the children of the poor, you risk the life of your children you have sent to school soon.

Source: Opera.com