“The real change in the north will come from those who are considered mad people, because you look around and say if this is the way we have been doing things, and this is where we have ended up, maybe we need to do things differently. ”“If we have populated the government with middle-aged men, maybe we need to try younger people, maybe we need to try women. If we have spent our money and time on physical structures, maybe we need to invest more in the education of our children. Maybe we need to invest more in nutrition. Maybe we need to invest more in primary healthcare.”
These were the thoughts of the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, at the 60th birthday celebration of the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai today, February 17.
He said that with myriad of challenges facing the North, no leader in the region should be happy, adding that just last week, someone asked him, “are you happy? And I said I am not.
“The person was surprised. Nobody who is a leader in Northern Nigeria today can afford to be happy. You cannot be happy that about 87 percent of poverty in Nigeria is in the north.
“You can’t be happy with millions of Northern children out of school. You can’t be happy that nine states in the North contribute almost 50 percent of the entire malnutrition burden in the country.
“You can’t be happy with the drug problem, you can’t be happy with the Boko Haram problem. You can’t be happy with political thuggery. You can’t be happy with all the issues; the Almajiri problem that we have.
“So, we wish Nasir a happy birthday. But we do not want him to be happy as a leader. Because you are happy when you think you have reached a state of delivering and taking your people to where you want them to be.
“Now, because of the condition of Northern Nigeria, it is almost correct now to say that, if you are seen as normal, if you are a governor in the North or a leader in the North, and you are seen as normal in the sense that you continue to do what your predecessors have been doing, doing the same thing, which has been normalised, then, there is something wrong with you. You are part of the problem.”
Muhammad Sanusi however commended Governor Nasir el-Rafai for what he is doing on education in Kaduna, saying that with 40 percent of his budget in education, that is the only thing that is going to save the North.
The Emir ended by saying: “I know that when we say these things, they don’t go down well.”
These were the thoughts of the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, at the 60th birthday celebration of the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai today, February 17.
He said that with myriad of challenges facing the North, no leader in the region should be happy, adding that just last week, someone asked him, “are you happy? And I said I am not.
“The person was surprised. Nobody who is a leader in Northern Nigeria today can afford to be happy. You cannot be happy that about 87 percent of poverty in Nigeria is in the north.
“You can’t be happy with millions of Northern children out of school. You can’t be happy that nine states in the North contribute almost 50 percent of the entire malnutrition burden in the country.
“You can’t be happy with the drug problem, you can’t be happy with the Boko Haram problem. You can’t be happy with political thuggery. You can’t be happy with all the issues; the Almajiri problem that we have.
“So, we wish Nasir a happy birthday. But we do not want him to be happy as a leader. Because you are happy when you think you have reached a state of delivering and taking your people to where you want them to be.
“Now, because of the condition of Northern Nigeria, it is almost correct now to say that, if you are seen as normal, if you are a governor in the North or a leader in the North, and you are seen as normal in the sense that you continue to do what your predecessors have been doing, doing the same thing, which has been normalised, then, there is something wrong with you. You are part of the problem.”
Muhammad Sanusi however commended Governor Nasir el-Rafai for what he is doing on education in Kaduna, saying that with 40 percent of his budget in education, that is the only thing that is going to save the North.
The Emir ended by saying: “I know that when we say these things, they don’t go down well.”
