The North: A Beehive of Indolence?
By Abubakar Sadiq Zakariyya
AREWA AGENDA – Two weeks ago, I overheard someone I barely know; a relative to a friend and an unemployed graduate who applied and awaiting approval of the NIRSAL Microfinance Household loan saying if he eventually get the loan, “Zai ci mutuncin kaji”.
Well, that could be understandable. Maybe he wants to eat chickens to stupor so he wouldn’t mind having a taste when his business kick starts. But no, this young man further said if at the end he received less than a million ₦ of the loan, he is doing no business, for his priority was to first sew some new garments made of expensive fabrics and maybe buy a low budget car, then the business! And at that point, I frankly, was neither too shocked nor perplexed because I know the average mindset of my brethren!
And this guy is most likely to secure the loan, for he has met many of the requirements for the loan; from undergoing AGSMEIS training, to obtaining a certificate with an Entrepreneurship Development Institution (EDI), and having an “impeccable” business plan. Honestly I admire his courage to risk nearly ₦20000 in obtaining all these. Plus, they were assured during the AGSMEIS training of positive outcome. Now, he is one step to securing the loan, which is an interview with some staff of NIRSAL and CBN (and I pray he passes).
Well, this guy is just a case study. I know there are hundreds if not thousands of this guy with the same mindset. Just recently I heard of a guy who upon securing a ₦200k loan went straight to buy an iPhone!
So, with an attitude this worrisome and disturbing most especially exhibited by youths who in a saner clime should be doing better and being nurtured to helm affairs, talks on economic development and independence of the North, as well as individual financial independence is but mere verisimilitude or better still, a fallacy.
I maybe sounding pessimistic, but I am also being realistic. We can merry on hindsight that decades ago, our fathers (and of course mothers) luckily and fortunately benefited from government work. Gone are the days! This generation and indeed beyond is of ideas, hard work and thinking out of the box. Some are already seizing the opportunity and gladly cashing out.
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Youths in Northern Nigeria should understand that public sector is now archaic when talking of wealth creation. The world has changed and the goal post has since shifted. Youths shouldn’t be like one “fellow unemployed” graduate I know who is okay with staying 5 years doing nothing as long as the end would bring lucrative government job. Thus, always thinking of starting big and powerful like a catapult as against starting small to something great. I always share this quote by Zig Ziglar. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you can start to be great”. The smallest idea you have might just be the turning point of your life. After all, unemployment rate in Nigeria has just increase by 4% in about 2 years. From 23.1% in the Q3 of 2018 to 27.1% in the second quarter of 2020.
In a memoir of Abubakar Imam edited by his in-law Muhammad Mora, he pointed three evils bedeviling Northern Nigeria as far back as the 1940’s to include Lalaci (indolence, idleness or laziness), Jahilci (ignorance, illiteracy) and Zalunci (injustice, oppression). Those dominant phenomenon at the time also are some of the reasons that gave birth to the famous sociocultural group Jam’iyyar Mutanen Arewa that would later metamorphosed to a political party NPC (Northern People’s Congress). Sadly, I can say the problems have only exacerbated. These evils have also transcended and now became systemic.
And back to NIRSAL loan. In a training I covered on AGSMEIS, the account officer of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank in Bauchi Danlele Yusuf explained that significant amount of the loan will be giving through provision of equipment/materials with less attention to cash. So, a word might just be enough for the wise.
In his talk at Enterprise Development Center, my very good friend Umar Bashir decried on the seeming inability of Northerners to significantly benefit from FG’s several economic interventions there which he suggested awareness creation as a panacea to the problem. I totally agree with this proposed solution. A report on Government Agricultural Insurance Scheme (GAI) in 2019 by ActionAid Nigeria is a proof to this, which shows stacking lack of awareness on Agricultural Insurance scheme most especially in the North (with the exception of Kogi State). But I also believe beyond creating awareness, there should be financial/economic reorientation.
Therefore, mindset could be changed on wealth creation, entrepreneurship, criticality of private sector, financial management, utilization of modernize business strategies as well as optimal utilization of government interventions (Adamu Tilde has generated intellectual debate on this recently). This is partly so “we” can collect loan as loan, repayable after a duration, not as a free money that government would just share and forget… Until then, NORTH WOULD FOREVER REMAIN POOR!
Abubakar Sadiq, a practicing Journalist, writes from Bauchi.
Agenda is a Publication of young writers from Northern Nigeria towards Peaceful Coexistence and National Development through positive narratives.
