Despite several insinuations that the violence in the North is caused by poverty, the Middle Belt Youth Forum has attributed same to “greedy” and “selfish” leadership. This statement was made against a backdrop concerning the revelation that the North controlled 83% of the oil blocs in the country.
According to the National Youth Leader of the Middle Belt Youth Forum, Hon. Jonathan Asake, bad leadership is the bane of the crises.
He said, “Is it not a shame to discover that Northerners have cornered a whooping 83% of the oil wells of this country, yet no programs, scholarships or other efforts put in place to remove the plight of the Northern masses.
“Except Gen. T.Y. Danjuma who has put in place a foundation for charity and has been involved in the development of education in Nigeria it is sad to note that instead of applying their ill-gotten wealth to develop the North, these selfish, thieving Northern leaders stash their wealth abroad and come back to apportion blames, blackmail government, brainwash and incite the poor masses whom they have left illiterate and in abject poverty to begin to kill and maim perceived enemies.”
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in its reaction to the allegation said: “Given the important constitutional provisions that access to all national resources be equitable and conform with provisions for federal character, ACF wishes to appeal to the National Assembly to investigate the allegations and publish the distribution of oil blocs according to state together with their volume and from which dates.
“Or the federal government should institute a commission of enquiries to establish the veracity or otherwise of such allegations. ACF is alarmed by the allegations because it is not long ago that the Forbes magazine said eleven Nigerians are now on the list, and that all of them-except Dangote who is a manufacturer-owe their riches to oil.
“The North had fewer of the rich Nigerians on the list than the South. We believe knowledge of the correct position of things will help in improving the equitable management of oil blocs in accordance with provisions of the federal character for performance and public good”.