A former Permanent Secretary in the Kaduna State Civil Service, Ibrahim Balarabe Musa, says northern governors are the worst enemies of the region due to their underperformance.
He said this in an interview with Saturday Punch.
Ibrahim, who is the first son of former Governor of old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, said that endemic poverty prevalent in the North is deliberate.
According to him, endemic poverty in the region is a direct result of backwardness in education.
Asked what specific things he would advise President Bola Tinubu to address, Ibrahim said, “The truth is there’s endemic poverty in the North. I will want President Tinubu to redress the poverty situation in the North and the almajiri problem.
“If you take the almajiri off the streets and make agriculture easy for them; ensure that farming implements like fertiliser gets to them directly; make tractors reach them at affordable rates for use; if they can produce their foods, half of the problem is solved.
“If I were President Tinubu or his adviser, I would boost agriculture in the North. He shouldn’t allow middlemen to hijack it as usual. Let him get directly to those involved. We have village and district structures.
“They know their farmers. So, if he can develop agriculture in the North, we don’t need much again. Of course, we talk about backwardness in education.
“The backwardness in education in the North is deliberate. It is poverty that is causing it. Anywhere you go if there is poverty, nobody will talk about education. Who will have the time for education when the stomach is empty?”
On the governors, Ibrahim said, “The worst enemies of the North are the northern governors. They are the worst enemies. They don’t pay attention to their own responsibilities and they create a lot of powers, which are not theirs. They think they can do anything.
“If there is any form of lack of development and poverty and so on, it is the governors that caused it. There’s no doubt about that. Only a few of them are exempted.
“If there’s any governor that wants to perform well, they won’t allow him. They always have a way of discouraging him or ensuring that they make things difficult for him. You know, politicians in Nigeria can create trouble for those that want to genuinely perform.
“Imagine the demolition going on everywhere. Who gave them the power to do so? Only the court has the power to pronounce that. But here, the governor becomes the accuser, the prosecutor and everything.
“The various Houses of Assembly are almost useless. They are mere rubber stamps. The members are the governors’ boys. So, how do you expect development? Unless they are put in check, there is little or nothing that we should expect.”