By Joe Igbokwe
Three reasons informed my decision to write this article. One is to disagree with those who think that the Northerners are parasites. Two is to ask the Northerners to do an honest self re-examination and try to reinvent itself. Three is to suggest the way forward for the political entity. In April 14 1999 I was compelled to write an article titled: GOD PLEASE GIVE THE NORTH OIL after reading a front page story in the GUARDIAN that “The last phase in the six-year old search for oil in the North by six Multi-Nationals began yesterday with the drilling work on a well, Kolmani River-AX by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) Ltd. I prayed fervently then because of what two friends, Chief Pini Jason and Professor Pat Utomi said in 1995 and 1997.
Pini had asked God “to give the North oil so that his children, the Igbo, Yoruba, the Ogoni and the Niger Delta can be free. Prof Pat Utomi said at a public function “that the army controlled by the North should keep all the oil money, take all the oil wells in Nigeria and keep all the stolen money, but should return Nigeria to us so that we can start on a clean slate. For record purposes let me reproduce the prayer here: “Almighty and everlasting God in whose Almighty hands are the destinies of nations and individuals, the God of Jacob, the God of Abraham, the God of David, the God of Daniel, the God of Shedrack, Meshack and Abednego, the God Israelites, the God who answereth by fire, please, please let the North have oil this time around more in volume or twice the quantity found in the South so that the South can be free. I am now recommending this prayer to every living soul and every institution in the South; men and women, youth and children, churches, Mosques, primary schools, secondary schools, universities, professionals, market women, petty traders, artisans, politicians, pro-democracy groups, human right activists, soldiers, police, business men and women, bus drivers and conductors, Nigerians in diaspora, etc. This prayer should be recited as many times as possible everyday until oil is discovered in larger quantity in the North.”
Let me confess here that my thinking has changed almost 10 years after. Having seen the devastation and colossal damage oil money has brought to Nigeria since 1956, I do not think I would want to pray that kind of prayer for the North today. Oil wealth has almost ruined Nigeria, it has created wealth without work and it has made us to be totally dependent on other nations to survive. Oil wealth led us to abandon agriculture which was then the mainstay of our economy.
It has even made us to relegate the power of ideas to the background, and neglected the power of intellectual property. Recently, some foreign intellectuals argued that since Nigerian leaders have failed for fifty years to utilize the oil money to add value to their society and transform Nigeria for the better, the money should be shared individually among Nigerians. I have changed my mind that God should give oil to the North, rather I will ask God to open their eyes to realize that the gap between education and development is a closed one.
On page 224 of my book, HEROES OF DEMOCRACY, I wrote in1999 that ” It is not a catalogue of woes for the North. I can see all the yams, all the goats, all the onions, all the tomatoes, all the peppers, all the beans, all the potatoes, all the carrots, all the cabbages, all the cows, all the chickens, all the guinea fowls, that come from the North. The North can survive without borrowing a kobo from anybody from these agricultural products. Sometimes I used to wonder why a blessed entity like the North will continue to let itself down by engaging in a suicide mission.
The North has told itself lies for 38 years. For instance, the North gave itself more states, more local governments, more seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, more Ministers, more Advisers and yet their lot has not improved for the better. Enrolments in primary schools, secondary schools, and the universities have not been encouraging. The North simply needs new strategies, new plans and new approaches based on truth and nothing but the truth to meet the challenges of the next millennium. With education the North will discover the truth, when the North knows the truth, it shall set it free.”
On this day of Wednesday August 6th, 2008, let it be known and I am being mature about it that Northerners are not lazy. They are the ones feeding Nigeria and this is a clout. In today’s world oil money is nothing compared with what power of ideas can do. Japan and Singapore have no oil and yet they are in the group of the first world countries.
The magic is education. What the North needs now is massive investment in education, and the Southern Nigeria must help herself by helping the North to come to her level. If Nigeria continues to exist as a political entity the South must encourage and assist the North to move up. If the poor cannot sleep because they are hungry the rich cannot sleep because the poor is awake. I wish the North should open their eyes and see the massive investment the South is making in education in Nigeria . I have seen the alarming statistics in primary, secondary and tertiary enrolments in Nigeria today, the spread of hospital beds, the banks, the industries, schools, universities, graduates, TV/Radio stations, Nigerians in Diaspora etc. And in all honesty and all things considered, the Northern elites underdeveloped the North for their selfish interest. They were in power for almost 40 years in Nigeria , controlled the oil boom era and yet nothing can be seen anywhere in the North in terms of anything. Today even if you brought all the money in the world to the North, the people still lack the intellectual capacity and capability to use the money to transform the region for the better. Today if there is a place in Nigeria where leadership position has been used to oppress, suppress, repress their people, show arrogance and misuse of resources, it is the North. What Northern leaders need now is to admit that they have failed and ask for help. Arrogance has never won any serious debate. I submit that honesty, sincerity, and total commitment to education are what the North needs now not rhetoric. Time has come for real men in the North to stand up and be counted. Every minute, every second, every hour and everyday count for them.
•Igbokwe wrote in from Lagos.
Comment