Predator or prey: Being specific and constructive

In recent years, the narrative around Northern Nigeria has taken a dangerous turn. The region, once regarded as the cradle of Nigeria’s political power and cultural influence, is increasingly being framed as a predator, the cause of the nation’s woes, the source of its instability, and the face of its underdevelopment. But when we look deeper, beyond stereotypes and social media anger, a more sobering truth emerges: the North is not a predator; it is prey. A victim. A prey to poverty, to manipulation, and to decades of systemic neglect by its own elite and by successive governments largely run by elite northerners that have failed to build inclusive prosperity.

A crisis of misrepresentation

It has become fashionable to generalise, to reduce complex regional problems to moral or tribal judgements. We speak as though millions of ordinary Northerners are complicit in the evils perpetrated by a handful of powerful individuals. We must resist that falsehood.

The truth, as I wrote in ‘Being Specific and Constructive’ some years ago, is that a few individuals do the damage, not an entire people. Less than one per cent of Nigerians, cutting across all regions and religions, have held the country hostage through greed, incompetence, and the abuse of power. Yet the rest of the population, the silent majority of hard-working, peace-seeking citizens, continue to pay the price for the sins of the privileged few.

When we cast the entire North as a predator, we commit the same injustice that corruption itself represents: the punishment of the innocent for the crimes of the powerful.

Who are the real predators?

The real predators are not the barefoot children in Maiduguri or the farmers in Zamfara. They are not the women queuing at the IDP camps in Borno or the traders on the streets of Kano. The predators are the few who have hijacked the destiny of millions – those who weaponise religion, ethnicity, and poverty to preserve their privileges.

Most of these elites no longer live in the communities they claim to represent. They reside in Dubai, London, Paris, or Riyadh, occasionally returning home to sponsor political violence or exploit the misery of the poor for votes. While the masses suffer, they live in luxury, far removed from the harsh realities of the very people they use as political pawns.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveal grim numbers: over 70% of households in Northern Nigeria live in multidimensional poverty, compared to less than 30% in the South-West. States such as Sokoto, Borno, Kebbi, Yobe, and Gombe record the lowest human development indices. If this is what “dominance” looks like, then surely, the so-called dominant region is the most afflicted.

Poverty, not privilege, defines today’s North.

The danger of collective punishment

The recent threats and sanctions from certain Western powers, particularly the United States, against Northern Nigeria, if pursued without nuance, could deepen the region’s crisis. History has shown that indiscriminate measures hurt the innocent more than the guilty. If bombs or embargoes were to fall on Kano, Sokoto, or Maiduguri, how would they distinguish between Muslims and Christians, between innocent children and insurgents? Evil cannot be corrected by another form of injustice.

It is moral laziness to generalise guilt. To punish an entire people for the misdeeds of a few is not justice; it is cruelty disguised as righteousness. We must be specific about perpetrators and hold them individually accountable. The North’s poor have suffered enough from neglect, banditry, and corruption; they do not deserve another round of collective victimisation.

Lessons from the past: Be specific, be constructive

In 2017, I wrote that Nigeria’s biggest problem is not corruption itself, but the failure to distinguish between the corrupt and the innocent. We have a dangerous tendency to “throw away the baby with the dirty bathwater.” We use the left hand to describe our father’s house, as the Yoruba proverb says. In doing so, we dishonour ourselves and damage the collective image of our nation.

Every nation has its share of corruption, inefficiency, and inequality. What differentiates great nations from failing ones is their ability to identify problems precisely and solve them intelligently, not by condemnation, but by construction.

We must learn to criticise constructively, not destructively. Condemn specific wrongdoers, not entire regions. Punish the corrupt, not the poor. Build systems that make evil difficult, not societies that make suspicion universal.

The real battle: Ignorance and poverty

The real enemy of Nigeria is ignorance, not ethnicity. It is poverty, not geography. The battle we must fight is the battle for human capital, education, skills, and opportunity.

According to UNICEF, over 10.5 million Nigerian children are out of school, and over 8 million of them are in the North. That is not a statistic; it is an alarm bell. It is a time bomb ticking beneath our national foundation. Ignorance is the fuel of extremism; poverty is its oxygen.

If we want peace, we must first build schools. If we want unity, we must create jobs. If we want security, we must invest in the dignity of human life. Every naira spent on education and economic empowerment is a bullet taken out of the gun of insecurity.

A new development agenda for the North

The North must be rebuilt through a deliberate and inclusive development strategy, one that treats its people as partners, not liabilities. The agenda should rest on three pillars:

1. Education and skills: Expand access to quality education, both formal and vocational. Prioritise teacher training, digital literacy, and girl-child education. Encourage local governments, religious institutions, and private investors to own the process.

2. Industrial and agricultural revitalisation: Incentivise industries to establish factories in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, and Bauchi. Agro-industrial parks, such as those envisioned in Sagamu and other zones, should be replicated across the North. This is how we convert labour into wealth.

3. Financial and economic inclusion and entrepreneurship: Build robust microfinance systems and credit schemes for farmers, artisans, and women. The North’s entrepreneurial spirit, seen in its vibrant markets from Dawanau to Kaduna Central, can transform lives if given access to capital.

A developed North is not just a regional achievement; it is a national necessity. Nigeria cannot rise if half its body is paralysed.

Healing our national mindset

The most dangerous weapon against unity is not the gun but the tongue: the words we use to define one another. We have condemned every generation of leaders, from Azikiwe to Balewa, Gowon, Murtala, Obasanjo, Shagari, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, and Buhari. We have built a culture of condemnation without contribution. Our youth, hearing only criticism and despair, grow up believing that nothing good can come from Nigeria. That is a tragedy of faith.

We must stop this generational condemnation and start generational correction. We must teach our children to question constructively, to act responsibly, and to believe again. The task before us is not to destroy but to rebuild, to repair the moral and emotional infrastructure of a weary nation.

A call to conscience

Let us be clear: the North is not the problem of Nigeria. The problem of Nigeria is the corruption of a few and the complacency of the many. The victims are everywhere in the IDP camps of Borno, the markets of Onitsha, the farms of Ekiti, and the slums of Lagos.

Let us, therefore, stop seeing one another as predators and begin to see our shared humanity. Let us move from tribal blame to national healing. Let us condemn evil, but let us also correct in love. Let us criticise with the intention to rebuild, not to destroy.

The North needs not pity but partnership, not condemnation but compassion, not punishment but purpose.

As I concluded years ago, “*The future of Nigeria looks great with the major strides our youth are taking all over the country, continent, and around the world*.” That promise will only come alive when we are united in purpose and specific in our pursuit of justice.

We owe it to our children, North and South, Muslim and Christian, rich and poor, to be specific, constructive, and hopeful.

Because if the North continues to bleed, the whole nation will eventually faint.