By Ochereomen Nnanna
POVERTY starts in the mind before it manifests in the pocket. A poor-minded person does not know how to produce results with money. Even if you give him lots of money he simply does the easiest thing in the world: spend it.

A multi-billionaire once said even if he gives all his money to the poor he will get it all back in no time because he knows how make money and the poor only knows how to spend it.

Poverty in Northern Nigeria comes as a result of the typical poor mindset of its leaders.

The masses of the north, especially those who are of sound mind and body, are very hard working. They strive very hard as farmers, cattle rearers, artisans, traders and menial workers especially in urban areas down south. But the leadership depends on the government and the state for their upkeep. This is what some describe as “parasitism”.

Each time the Northern Elders Forum or Arewa Consultative Forum or Northern Governors Forum meets, their primary interest is not about exploring avenues to move the north and Nigeria forward. They are not looking for solution to the terrorism that has crippled the economy of the north, or to solve communal conflicts on the Plateau and other areas of the north.

Future of the South South

They are not setting up strategies for regional cooperation as we see in the south, where you have the BRACED (Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta and Edo) Commission planning the future of the South-South beyond oil.

The South East Economic Summit Group (SEESG) is pressing ahead to create a viable economy to reduce the Diaspora syndrome, while the South West is focused on the regional integration efforts of its governors.

But each time northern leaders meet, it is always to (a) torpedo every effort to bring about change and progress, and (b) ask for more money from the federal till.

The recent meeting of the Northern Governors’ Forum in Abuja was typical and ended with a predictable outcome. The same governors that did not raise any objection when the Nigerian Governors Forum unanimously agreed that the constitution should be amended to provide for state police suddenly reneged. They now want the state Police Commissioners to take orders from the governors rather than the Inspector General of Police!

They were so blinded by their zest to back out of the resolution reached with their peers that they did not see the preposterousness of their new stand. When you want the Commissioners of Police to take orders from the governors rather than the IG, you are in effect, asking for state police! The governors will use the Police to do their bidding while the federal government will still foot the bill, and in the process, the orderly command structure of the Police is destroyed.

After torpedoing the agreement (what
I call the Aburi syndrome) they turned their attention to their pet motive for their meetings: asking for more oil money. The northern governors would want the onshore/offshore to be “revisited”. They are envious of the 13 per cent derivation that goes to oil-rich Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa every month. They conveniently forget that while the military was in power, they had used states and local governments to give the north more than their share of the same oil money that basically belongs to the Niger Delta.

They gave the north enough federal constituencies to constitute stumbling blocks to any attempt to make new laws or amend the constitution for the change the country needs.

The present crop of northern leaders
does not have the type of mindset that can solve the problems of the north, let alone Nigeria. Arewa political leaders squander Niger Delta’s oil money given them to improve the lives of their people. They spend money frivolously on sponsorship of weddings, pilgrimages and religious education that does not equip its products with skills for useful self-reliance but instead breeds products that disrupt the system. Governors appoint thousands of aides rather than focus on developments that benefit the society. They steal the people’s money and use only a small fraction of it to feed the poor during Ramadan.

But there is hope. Whenever I listen to the Arewa Consultative Youth Forum (ACYF) I am encouraged to believe that once this generation of mis-leaders phases away the future of the north is bright. I take this quote credited to the ACYF which Joe Igbokwe used to anchor an article he wrote on March 20, 2012:

Deliberate manipulation

“Northerners and the world need an explanation as to what led to the rot (the North) is (in) today. It was not magic but man-made as a result of deliberate manipulation of religion, self-enrichment, and pervasive corruption our leaders adopted to the detriment of the larger peoples of the North”

The North was in power for a total of 37 years and imposed poverty, not only on Nigerians but more so on the northern people. The current elite presided over  several oil booms and yet left the country wretched and backward, with the north even more so. There is no justification for power to be entrusted in their hands again. And there is no ground to increase their share of federal money.

But as soon as the current Arewa youth enters the leadership plane with renewed, progressive mindset, the North and the South will come together to build a new Nigeria where all Nigerians will be happy and proud to belong. Happily, the young are already growing and the moment is not far-off.

60 cheers to Aunty Ann!

ANN Kio Briggs clocked sixty last Friday! Beautiful, elegant, authoritative, focused, dogged and eloquent, the Amazon who has dedicated her life to the Niger Delta struggles, shoving aside public office offers since the Ijaw came to power in Abuja, deserves all the accolades and I join in wishing her more of more. Don’t stop, Aunty Ann!