The Arewa Consultative Discussion board (ACF), one of many self- appointed custodians of northern pursuits, marked its 25 years of existence a few weeks in the past. However there might be no clinking of glasses to notch the event, or celebratory pats on the again for milestone achievements. As a substitute, the anniversary got here on the most inopportune and probably the most inauspicious of occasions.
The episodic insecurity which had plagued the north for many of the existence of ACF, reached one other climax right now. In its wake had been the abductions of scholars and worshipers from totally different areas within the north. This was adopted relatively shortly however inevitably, by the closure of a number of academic establishments in a area the place the variety of out-of-school kids was already one of many worst on the earth. That is the grim actuality of the north, a area suffering from its personal contradictions. And this, by extension, is the scorecard of ACF at 25.
What actually ought to have been a interval of celebration had ACF lived as much as its billings or ‘raison d’etre’, turned out to be a interval of mourning. What simply may have been festal songs of achievements shortly turned a dirge of preventable failures. The expectation of ACF at inception was that it could construct on the legacies of the founding fathers of the north. It was the least it may do. It was purported to be payback time as a result of many of the main lights of ACF, and certainly the elites within the north, had been educated by regional and Federal Governments and quick tracked into enviable positions within the economic system and the general public sector.
They had been supposed to construct on the muse of training, industrialization, agriculture and unity which Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa laid. As a substitute, they turned more and more entitled anticipating Nigeria to at all times do their bidding. That bidding was extra for private aggrandizement than for the talakawas and even the long run pursuits of the north itself. Somebody described it because the Affiliation of Comfy Households (ACF). It might need been mentioned in jest, however it isn’t too removed from the reality given its priviledged standing. The unhappy half is that these elite members have develop into oblivious to the struggling of their poorer cousins on behalf of whom they derive energy and thereafter, obtain state assets.
A united north with its sheer measurement and potentials, regardless of its present restricted human useful resource, would have been too large a lump for a fractionalized south to swallow. In actual fact, it in all probability would have made the north to proceed ruling the nation. That in any case, was the technique of the founding fathers. It was to have a standard identification; a standard imaginative and prescient and a standard future. It began with a standard language. Language unites. It did that for the north. Even southerners who may communicate Hausa loved sure priviledges at a time. I grew up naively pondering Hausa was indigenous to all of the folks of the north.
At present, some folks from the north, particularly from the Center Belt, would really feel insulted if you happen to labelled them Hausa/Fulani. That’s a part of the unenviable scorecard of ACF at 25 and the opposite leaders to whom Ahmadu Bello handed the baton of nurturing the north to. Sunday Awoniyi, a Christian Yoruba from Kogi State was the Private Secretary and confidant to Ahmadu Bello, Premier, Kingmaker and because the Sadauna of Sokoto, probably the most highly effective particular person within the north and maybe in Nigeria in his days. It’s nearly not possible for that to occur in at the moment’s religiously divisive north.
Prof Ishaya Audu, the primary Vice Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello College was a Christian however one wouldn’t guess it as a result of he blended so properly with the largely Muslim institution. That might be mentioned for the numerous Christian northerners who rose to distinguished positions in these days. Ethnic and spiritual variations had at all times been there. However they had been performed down within the overriding drive for one north, one future. The north I met as a younger reporter had a hierarchy which enabled it to talk with one voice regardless of occasional dissents. The management was matured sufficient to shortly acknowledge and douse ethnic and spiritual tensions. This lent credence to the notion of 1 north.
The north at the moment is extra fractionized than the south and with extra telling penalties. Whereas the south tries to at the very least accommodate one another on problems with land and the economic system, the north is more and more testy. The battle for financial displacements rages with telling scars. Whereas the south is religiously tolerant, the north has grown extra illiberal. The battle for the thoughts of God rages with satanic weapons. The results of this ethnically, religiously and economically enabled insecurity is that the north, particularly North-East and North-West, is probably the most backward area in all social sectors within the nation. It has the best birthrate within the up to date world and the bottom degree of financial growth. It has the least entry to training and has among the many highest lady youngster dropouts.
It has tens of millions – between three to 6 – of internally displaced folks. The Almajiri system which nearly throws kids into the streets, is the clearest abandonment of familial duty I’ve seen. This knowledge just isn’t mine and even worse will be unearthed by whoever is . The result’s that the north has a lot of youths who will not be at school, not in any household residence and never in employment. These are the youths fueling insecurity within the north and threatening to unfold it to different components of the nation. Making Abuja liable for these self-inflicted accidents is simply half the story. Essentially the most vital a part of the story is the failure of its leaders to anticipate the developments within the Sahel area and avert the ensuing collapse of socio-economic buildings in its personal area. The saddest a part of the story is the complicity of its leaders resulting from ethnic, political, spiritual and personal financial concerns.
The way forward for the north relies on management giving objective to collective efforts to revamp the north. It depends on the power to suppose, plan and act for the nice of the bigger group, particularly the poor. It rests on the willingness to silence spiritual noises which had torn the unity of the area aside and had turned brothers in opposition to erstwhile brothers. The Arewa Consultative Discussion board (ACF) is among the most important our bodies aggregating the leaders within the north. It’s time for it to earn its stripes. Different our bodies and leaders should additionally settle for the implications of their actions or inactions. Blaming Abuja for the woes within the north is like calling a canine a nasty title to be able to dangle it. The south which is basically extra steady, has not obtained extra favors than the north from Abuja over time.
The publish ACF: Scorecard at Twenty-five, by Muyiwa Adetiba appeared first on Vanguard News.
