Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum and former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, and political economist, Dr. Usman Bugaje, on Saturday lamented the erosion of the values and leadership ideals that once defined Northern Nigeria.
They warned that the region’s worsening insecurity, poverty and underdevelopment stemmed from a departure from the principles of its founding leaders.
The duo spoke at the third edition of the Late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference held at Arewa House, Kaduna, with the theme, “From Sacrifice to Strategy: Rekindling Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina’s Vision for a Prosperous Northern Nigeria.”
Abdullahi said the North, once admired for its discipline, integrity and sense of purpose, had lost the moral values that made it a respected region.
“The North has lost its values. You may not want to hear this, but that is the case today. If we have not lost the values we inherited from our parents and our pioneer leaders, the North will not be where it is today,” he said.
According to him, although many Northern cities have expanded physically, the virtues of honesty, sacrifice, patriotism and selfless leadership that shaped the region’s early leaders have steadily declined.
“The North is in a pathetic situation. For me, that is the only reason why the North has stagnated. Don’t worry about the buildings you see. The basic issue concerning where the North finds itself today is the loss of our values,” Abdullahi stated.
He urged Northerners to emulate the legacy of the late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina, describing him as one of a generation of leaders who embodied integrity, accountability and dedication to public service.
“If we can go back to those values, particularly by remembering those who inherited them and practised them, there is no doubt in my mind that the North would have been different today,” he added.
Delivering the keynote address, Bugaje said Northern Nigeria had suffered decades of economic decline, insecurity and institutional decay because it had drifted away from the visionary leadership exemplified by Hassan Katsina and his contemporaries.
“The troubles of the North are many and varied. Food production is going down daily, hundreds of thousands are being displaced from their homes, the economy has been shrinking, poverty has nearly tripled, education and healthcare have collapsed, and our human capital has been depleted,” he said.
He added that insecurity had continued to undermine agriculture, commerce and livelihoods across the region.
“It is indeed time to ask how much of the North still remains. Or, better still, how much of the sanity of the elite, especially those in government, still remains? Today, who is there to go to? Where are the General Hassans to complain to? Where exactly is the leadership? Where is the direction?” he asked.
Bugaje, a former Special Adviser on Political Affairs to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, criticised sections of the Northern elite for merely lamenting the region’s challenges without providing practical solutions.
“It has become the pastime of the elite to sit in the comfort of their homes and say that the North is in trouble. Some even scream that the North is finished. These comments only betray the complacency, or even the complicity, of the Northern elite,” he said.
Recalling a personal encounter with the late Hassan Katsina, Bugaje narrated how the former military governor defended him after the then American ambassador complained about an article he wrote criticising Western imperialism.
“The American ambassador came all the way to Kaduna to complain about the article. General Hassan read it himself and called me. Instead of asking me to stop, he told me to write more of such articles. That was the kind of leader they were. When they knew what was being done was right, they encouraged it,” he recalled.
According to Bugaje, Hassan Katsina’s generation successfully combined modern education with deeply rooted Northern values, including contentment, discipline, modesty, justice and commitment to community development.
“General Hassan’s generation had an infusion of a high dose of our value system. We saw it in their contentment, commitment to their communities, respect for rules and procedures, modesty and decorum, and their vision of a prosperous North where every Northerner became his brother’s keeper,” he said.
He urged today’s political leaders to return to those ideals to reverse the region’s social, economic and security challenges.
The annual memorial conference was organised to celebrate the legacy of the late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina and stimulate discussions on leadership, governance and the future of Northern Nigeria.
(Punch)
