By HeadlineNews.News Investigative Team.
June 24, 2025
In a striking departure from political silence, a serving Governor from Northern Nigeria has issued a stinging rebuke of the region’s political leadership, laying bare the core causes of Northern Nigeria’s worsening crisis: insecurity, poverty, illiteracy, and underdevelopment. His frank remarks, made at a closed-door regional policy retreat, have since reverberated across the country, triggering renewed calls for accountability, reform, and regional introspection.
“We Are the Architects of Our Own Misfortune”
“Our people are not poor by fate; they are poor because we—the leaders—failed them. We have built empires for ourselves but refused to build classrooms for our children.”
— A Northern State Governor, Senator Uba Sani.
Governor Uba Sani went further to challenge the longstanding culture of silence and blame-shifting that has characterized Northern leadership, stating that:
Illiteracy has become a tool of control.
Insecurity thrives because certain elites benefit from the chaos.
Infrastructure decay is deliberate neglect.
And poverty has been weaponized for political mobilization.
Shocking Statistics: A Region in Decline
According to recent reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and UNICEF:
Over 12 million children in Nigeria are out of school — 70% from Northern states.
Over 80% of Nigeria’s multi-dimensionally poor live in the North.
Borno, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Yobe have some of the lowest literacy rates in sub-Saharan Africa.
Insecurity has displaced over 3 million people in the North-East and North-West, according to IOM and UNHCR.
Boko Haram and banditry have cost Nigeria over $9 billion in damages since 2009, with the North bearing 95% of the brunt.
Global Comparison: Where Nigeria’s North Should Be
Compare this with Bangladesh, once one of the poorest nations in the world, which invested massively in girls’ education, microfinance, and rural health in the 1990s. Today, Bangladesh has reduced its poverty rate to 18.7%, with literacy over 74%. Rwanda, devastated by genocide in 1994, rebuilt its education system and invested in national unity. Its literacy rate now stands at 77%, with a thriving rural economy.
In contrast, Katsina, the home state of Nigeria’s former President Muhammadu Buhari, still has a child marriage rate above 60%, and over 70% of primary schools lack usable toilets or running water.
Who Is to Blame?
Elder Statesmen & selected stakeholders interviewed highlighted three key sources of failure:
1. The Political Elite:
Decades of leadership that prioritized power retention over development. Corruption, cronyism, and a refusal to reform outdated cultural institutions have robbed the region of progress.
2. Traditional Institutions:
Once respected arbiters, many Northern traditional rulers have remained complicit in preserving systems that discourage education, especially for girls.
3. Federal Policies and Military Mismanagement:
They accused past administrations of militarizing the North without real strategy, citing the recruitment of “repentant insurgents” into the Army as “reckless and dangerous.”
“We never audited these so-called repentant fighters. We armed them without re-educating them. It’s no wonder they return to crime.”
Path Forward: Recommendations
1. Massive Investment in Education:
Establish compulsory basic education up to junior secondary level.
Reform and integrate the Almajiri system into formal education.
Invest in vocational and girl-child education.
2. Regional Security Restructuring:
Audit of military recruitment.
Strengthen community policing and empower Amotekun-like structures in the North.
Stop political interference in security operations.
3. Accountability Framework:
Public declaration of assets for all Northern governors and traditional rulers.
Special independent Northerner-Led Commission of Inquiry on poverty and corruption in the North.
Tie federal allocations to developmental benchmarks.
4. Infrastructure Rebuild:
Prioritize rural roads, clinics, irrigation systems, and teacher training.
Leverage public-private partnerships like the Rwanda CARE model.
Expert Opinions and Global Reflections
“Northern Nigeria’s challenges are not unique. But failure to act now would turn them into generational disasters.”
— Dr. Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General
“True patriotism means telling your people the truth, even when it’s bitter.”
— Dr. G. Fraser, MFR – National Patriots
“Development is not an act of charity, but a duty of justice.”
— Nelson Mandela
Conclusion: No More Excuses
Governor Uba Sani’s speech may have broken a long-standing code of silence among Northern elites. But more importantly, it has opened a rare window for real reform—if matched by courageous follow-up.
The crisis in Northern Nigeria is not just a Northern problem. It is a Nigerian problem with national security, economic, and moral implications. The time for blame is over. The time for action is now.
“Northern Nigeria’s Crisis is a Product of Leadership Failure” — Northern Governor Speaks Out
In a rare moment of candour, a sitting Governor from Northern Nigeria has offered a sobering assessment of the region’s deep-rooted crisis, citing decades of poor leadership, systemic neglect, and elite complicity as the main culprits.
“Our people are not poor by destiny, they are poor by design,” he stated during a policy dialogue on regional development. “For too long, those entrusted with the future of this region failed to invest in education, allowed insecurity to flourish, and ignored the infrastructure that connects our people to opportunity.”
The Governor emphasized that illiteracy remains one of the most potent weapons against Northern progress, with millions of children out of school and almajiri systems left unreformed. He further noted that rural insecurity—worsened by terrorism, banditry, and the politicization of military response—has stifled agriculture, displaced families, and destroyed local economies. He pointed fingers at successive regional leaders, traditional institutions, and complicit federal policies that enabled a culture of dependency and apathy.
“The truth is bitter, but we must swallow it if we are to heal. The North cannot continue to blame outsiders while its own elite have failed to build schools, clinics, and roads. The masses deserve justice and dignity.”
Analysts say the Governor’s remarks reflect growing disillusionment across the region and may signal the start of an overdue reckoning among Northern power blocs.
Headlinenews.news Special Report. For full report, visit: www.headlinenews.news
