Until the publication of the successful applicants of N power, some northerners did not realize that they may be short-changed under Buhari. I think the uproar caused by N Power is what Dr. Aliyu Muri refers in one of his articles as fargar jaji (after thought). Since colonial period, southern elites had made several attempts to outsmart Arewa.
In fact the 1953 motion moved by Enahoro (a back bencher in the Assembly) for Nigeria to become a self-governing entity could be seen as one of such attempts.
Fortunately, then we had political leaders who were far-sighted. Leader of the northern delegates, who was the deputy president of NPC smelt rat, and he therefore called for the amendment of that motion. In his autobiography entitled My Life, Sir Ahmadu Bello disclosed the reasons why NPC rejected the motion.
First, they just saw it in the order paper, therefore, the Action Group and NCNC did not consult them about the motion before putting it in the order paper. Secondly, they opposed it because the north given its educational disadvantage was not ready for self-government by 1957, because it lacked manpower. In fact at that time, the only university was the University of Ibadan, no university in the whole of northern Nigeria.
The colonial civil service, railway and all were dominated by southerners what later prompted the northernization policy which we are still grateful for that whether Mathew Hassan Kukah like it or not. Meanwhile there were civil service positions that only degree holders were qualified to fill them, and the north did not have them. This is what contemporary northern representatives should always look when it comes to recruitment into any fields.
But because today we have representatives who are concerned only with getting a position at the juicy committees (Downstream, police etc) or getting constituency projects which they never execute, that is why Joseph and Nnamdi are found in Kafin Hausa LGA. Look at another scheme-Youth entrepreneurship support programme, it is clear that northern youth could not meet all the conditions set out by the Bank of Industry to get the loan. So as at now the south is far ahead of the north in this area also.
Bishir Dauda,
Katsina
