CULTURE AND THE POVERTY OF THE NORTH
by Moses Oludele Idowu
“The one thing necessary in life, as in art is to tell the truth.”
– Leo Tolstoy
Lasisi Olagunju deserves public commendation for his opinion piece of May 20, 2024 which clearly illustrates the role of religion, especially Islamic religion in the poverty of the North in particular and Nigeria in general. To be sure he has said nothing new but only reaffirmed what some of us have said before. But being a Muslim and coming from a Muslim the statement carries powerful resonance.
Hear him:
” It would appear that northern Nigeria biggest business today is mass wedding and mass production of children. After child-making it has religion, very economically lucrative political religion. With this combo it *wrecks itself and stunts the country and sows contagious poverty across the land”* [ My emphasis]
I am greatly delighted that at last a Muslim has seen what some of us have seen for years and which I wrote about 4 years ago with an ominous title – *Islam and the Poverty of the North*
Dr. Olagunju is my first witness. Let us hear another witness, also a Muslim before we go into the article I wrote years ago.
Garba Adamu Gwadabawa has written comparing two states: Sokoto, the seat of Fulani Islamic Caliphate and Anambra, the most Christian state in Nigeria. Here are the results:
*Sokoto State:*
Population: 14 million
Number of Industries: 5
Number of Mosques: 435,389.
Number of Churches 985
Number of Parentless wandering under-aged kids: 2.1 million
Number of Divorcee Women including under (14): 857,443
Number of jobless youth: 3.8m.
(Sokoto Statistics Board.)
3.7 million Children roaming the streets. 900,000 divorced women with no work.
The state gets allocation from Center and pays wages for over 300,000 people.
The rest are buying and selling at markets and other places less than 50,000 are employed by the industries.
In the “South East” there are over 8 major towns in *Anambra* state that can beat the 5 industries status of Sokoto
Ihiala one of the smallest of the towns in Anambra with over “64 industries” employs over 20,000 people! No child roams the streets.
They go to school or they are apprenticed out to learn a trade. The situation in sokoto is replicated virtually in all the Northern States.” (End of quote)
That is the second witness.
I am a Northerner and Christian but I have seen and written about this years ago. The poverty of the North is not due to accident of history, geography, climate or Allah’s wish. No, it is caused by an age-old culture and central to that culture is a religion or a version of a religion that has been embraced by my people. This is what is causing poverty.
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