Nigeria: North And the Zoning Formula

As unconstitutional as the zoning formula arrangement adopted by the PDP is, the idea was floated because every part of the country felt that it is eligible to produce the presidency of this country. The presidency, being the most powerful office, (since 90 per cent of the nation's revenue comes from the centre), certain parts of the country, especially the South-West, which boasts of having the highest number of Western-type- education elite, felt it was time for the region to produce the president for Nigeria, especially in the aftermath of the June 12 elections. So much noise and tumult were raised, especially in the Lagos/Ibadan axis's press for power-shift until it culminated into making the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) adopting a zoning arrangement whereby, General Olusegun Obasanjo emerged as the PDP candidate. while the then APP went for Chief Olu Falae. That ushered in the introduction of the zoning formula, which is a kind of unconstitutional rotational agreement where each region would produce a president.
The issue of rotational presidency, as sweet as it may sound, has made some progressives here in the North to raise some questions; especially when they realised that the longevity in the leadership of this country of northerners has produced little in making the region any better than the rest of the country. What is the essence and pride of being in the control of power if after over 40 years in control the region and its people remain backward? What did the North gained for all the time its sons controlled power in the centre? Who benefitted? Why are we turning to the North whenever we felt we lost our grip on power?

The North and its elite, unfortunately, have reached an extent to which they can descend so low politically as to start agitating for rotational presidency. The belief that the North, described in the past as 'monolithic' has ceased to exist. The region has been sharply divided between the Christians and Muslims, the core-northerners and middle belters, the Hausa/Fulanis and the minorities, etc. etc. Therefore, even within the region, as recent events show, the much touted idea of having one candidate to be supported by all is fast fading. The death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as the new president have raised a lot of debate in the region, as the ruling elite, who, in the past, prided themselves of having control in the centre, are fast losing their grip. The ordinary folks in the North are left fuming because their hope of having a president for eight years who could reverse some of the policies adopted by the Obasanjo administration perceived as anti-North is reversed by fate. However, one interesting aspect of the whole argument is that the public discourse on the leadership crisis in northern Nigeria has moved from a phase characterised by blame-game built on conspiracy theories, which suggest that the backwardness, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the North were largely caused by deliberate policies by our southern counterparts to make the North remain perpetually poor, to a reality that stare us in the face, which suggests that we have ourselves to blame for all the social, political and economic crises that the North represents today. Was it policies of the South to send our children to cities as almajiris and beggars? Was it their policies that make our governors to abandon agriculture and opt for easy money from the oil windfall? Was it also their policies that saw the total collapse of our societal values? For me, after 40 years of wasted opportunities and our chance of controlling state resources, it is time for the region and its elite to have a paradigm shift and try something different, and on the basis of that, firmly start negotiating the position of the region within the Nigerian federation and also negotiate what we value and which to me, can help the ordinary northerner.

For instance, our problem as a region started in the early 70s when we abandon agriculture. The region was originally educationally-disadvantaged compared to the South, but the problem was complicated when we misplaced our priorities by allowing the agricultural sector to collapse before our own eyes. We had vibrant industries which were allowed to decay by the past regimes, mostly led by northerners. The industrial crisis was compounded by lack of basic amenities and energy crisis which all led to unemployment and rising poverty in the region.

If our governors, 19 of them, can sit down and develop a blue-print or adopt, for instance, the recommendations of the Ahmadu Bello Foundation Technical Committee report, which all of them have in their possession, which region the president of Nigeria should come from will not really matter to our people at all. Consider utilising our over 20 dams and put them to good irrigational use, set a target of having minimum power requirement for the 19 states, by working on Dadinkowa, Kiri and other dams in the region that can offer over 1000 megawatts of electricity. Let the governors come together and design an educational marshal-plan to address not only the collapse in our educational system, but also address the almajiri system with a view to holistically finding a lasting solution to them.

In terms of transportation, our governors should try and look at a way of rehabilitating the Mambila rail line, ensure the dredging of River Niger to its logical conclusion, dualise our roads and expand and build new airports. If we can achieve some of these, the North needs not to go and sit down to start negotiating rotation or zoning of the presidency. The painful aspect of it all is that we have accepted our position of being parasites, contributing little to the nation's economy. For our elite, the sooner they realise this, the better for us the poor northern masses the dignity of our leaders.