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People and Places
given the opportunity. Talent and intellect abounds everywhere. Opportunity, however, does not. I personally know of many Northerners who have excelled nationally and internationally. Daily, the story of young men like Ahmed Mukoshy, who is born, bred and schooled in Sokoto, and yet, rose above his environment to become one of the emerging forces in IT in this country in his early 20s inspires
tor. Most of the commentators on the 234Next article announcing this achievement for this Nigerian and Nigeria made the ludicrous assertion that the appointment was done to please the North, that Dr Mukhtar did not merit it. Little did they know that Dr Mukhtar had worked at the World Bank and the African Development Bank, prior to his heading Nigeria’s
me. This is just one example among many that I could cite but for the lack of space. I find it outright disgusting whenever people claim that if not for federal character and ‘zoning’, no Northerner would be able to compete in this country. Last week, I was shocked when a friend said only 10% of Northerners in the Federal Civil Service deserved their places on merit, and went on to add that if he had not known me personally and I were to get a job with the Federal Government, he would believe that I did not earn it on merit. The most ridiculous one I encountered was when earlier this year, former Minister of Finance, Dr Mansur Mukhtar was appointed a World Bank direc-
Budget Office on the invitation of the then and present Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former World Bank Managing Director, who also recommended him for the post of Finance Minister when she rejected former President Umaru Yar’adua’s invitation to join his government. What is even worse is that they did not care to know: their minds were already made up and could not be confused with the facts. Geo-Political Beliefs: Another common belief among Southerners and most especially spread by Southern newspapers is that the entire 19 Northern states act and think as one when it comes to issues of Northern politics.
LIFE & TIMES MAGAZINE
This is one of the biggest untruths about the North. Whenever Northern Nigeria is mentioned, the people of Benue, Kogi and Kwara states do not feel it refers to them. Geographically, they are part of the North; politically, however, they and the entire Middle-Belt act independently. This can be clearly in the last elections where President Goodluck Jonathan won in 7 Northern states, even against his strongest opponent, General Muhammadu Buhari, who is a Northerner. This was something I am sure a lot of people in the South, save for the political savvy, did not see coming. One common sight of this perception being entrenched by newspapers is when politicians of Northern extraction speak on national issues. I have innumerably seen a washed-out Northern politician, without any influence or popularity speak regarding an issue, and the next day, newspapers carry bold headlines saying, ‘North rejects this’ or ‘North plans to do that’, quoting the same washed-out politician as speaking for the entire North. I have rarely seen a Bola Tinubu speaking and being quoted as the mouthpiece of the entire Yoruba ethnic group, or a Chief Edwin Clark for the Ijaw people. Methinks this is a way of selling newspapers by capitalizing on the image of the North as one single, political force which moves in a particular direction all-together SUMMER 2013