Arewa: the darkness before the nightfall.
By Tahir Ibrahim Tahir Talban Bauchi.
If only technological advancements could afford us the luxury of an easy pass to the solution of the power problem plaguing the north, then the heat from the current quantum of rage in arewa could hypothetically be converted to generate enough electricity to power the region! But the rage and the poor outrage is all there is to it, and we roll over, take it in our tireless stride to degradation, and life goes on. Nothing is practically done to solve the problems, and no one takes actual responsibility: not the leadership, not the elite, and of course not the followership! The seeming presumption is that arewa is in this predicament because Mr. President is from the south, and he is responsible for the region’s plunge into the abyss. For Gen Z, the masses and the naive, you could excuse their misconception; not so for the elite, the millenials, and generation X, no sir! Any right thinking northerner above the age of 40, can conscientiously summarise arewa’s quagmire as the aggregation of years of poor and less than visionary leadership in the North.
Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, we have been stuck with a leadership class that have not cared for their people or the betterment of their society. Our leaders have been intently invested in self aggrandisement, and an unhealthy competition in the crass amassing of wealth from public wealth, building castles and empires displaying vainglory. These were the years that saw to the continued deterioration of education in the North, while we continued to breed the out of school population, that are now the CEOs of votes for peanuts on election day. In these years we bred terrorism, from boko haram in one corner, to out of control banditry in all corners. In these years, our road infrastructure dilapidated till they became unmotorable, as we built airports where govts have to pay for empty seats as planes continue to fly without passengers. We oversaw the degradation and disappearance of our industries, as we siphoned our wealth to buy boulevards in Dubai, Europe and the US. The darkness that has covered the arewa skies recently is a sad reminder that, other issues plaguing the north have long covered our skies with darkness, and we are experiencing this proverbial nightfall, as a sum total of our actions and inactions over the welfare and development of our region.
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In recent years, terrorists repeatedly attacked power installations in Borno state and the people of Borno were denied power for months! A special power station had to be rebuilt by NNPC in collaboration with the state govt. From late last year to mid 2024, Yobe state suffered the same, and electricity towers had to be repaired over and over again. The North East was in darkness for over a month as a result of this vandalisation, and the Interior minister had to declare a state of emergency on the protection of electricity towers in Yobe, with the provision of a civil defense unit to guard the installations. Local vigilante also lent their support to this cause. Now it’s the shiroro-kaduna line that’s been vandalised by bandits and their threats have caused for a delay in the repair logistics. This is responsible for the darkness in the North. Our bandits and terrorists are laying siege on power installations and denying millions of people access to power. These bandits are Northerners like you and me. They have decided that wickedness is their own path in life. We bred them and have allowed them to flourish and they have come thus far.
Our power supply is hugely imperiled today because northerners that held sway in the power ministry, at TCN, at NERC and many other public power sector offices, did not bother to expand and improve our transmission lines and sub-stations. A certain viral message on WhatsApp authored by a retired northern TCN executive, narrates that a yoruba executive did wonders by enhancing and increasing transmission lines to the south west while in office and he is celebrated till date. Power transmission has always been lop-sided for a while and Lagos alone gets almost 30% of the nation’s power generation. Yet all those who have been in the power sector from the North did nothing to boost arewa’s power capacity. Our poor power infrastructure has been exposed by the failure of the shiroro-kaduna line. No alternatives, no back ups, and no guardrails whatsoever. A certain power minister from the North was busy diverting 33 billion naira to BDCs which would have been used for investments in the power sector.
Well, the truth is, today, bandits have blocked our roads, our villages, our farms, and our trains, and have now moved to our power Installations. Our docility is making them thrive. A lot of us have embraced it as industry, and by commission or omission, a lot of our people are involved in banditry for a living. Just like our schools, our hospitals, and our roads, our power is now facing similar degradation. No one from the south walked across the Niger to ‘switch us off’. Our own boys did. We will continue to stagnate and wither as a region until we are ready to borrow a leaf from the book of wealth development. For now, our governors are busy fighting for more revenue from VAT, to build more airports, govt houses and buy jeeps for legislators. They have been handed more resources since the removal of subsidy, yet we remain in the same condition. Our leaders are not people-centered but self-centered. They have mastered the art of weaponising poverty and they continue to breed poverty in the North. Arewa has got to wake up, stand up and run for dear life. May Allah help us overcome these darknesses, amin.
