The real cause of Boko Haramism

In his article with the caption “The Colonial roots of Boko Haramism” published in The Guardian of May 14, 2014 on page 13, Anthony Akinola claimed that Boko Haram has its roots traceable to the colonial periods.

This is questionable. We must rely on history to put the records straight and educate ourselves better. We must situate the reasons why the colonial masters introduced the policies which we now term as being responsible for Northern underdevelopment. In this case, various factors contributed to the northern backwardness in terms of development.

The first is the abuse of religion and the influence of Arabism, but the most poignant is the elitist factor. The Fulani Jihad which began in 1804 and the defeat of the Hausa indigenes of the northern part of what is today known as Nigeria, ensured that Islam and by extension Arab civilization was firmly operational in the North long before the period of western colonization.

Even during the colonial era, Lord Lugard found the political administration of the area as administered by the Emirs suitable. Hence, he introduced the Indirect Rule in the region and allowed the Emirs and other traditional rulers direct control of the people while they in turn paid tax and royalties to the colonial administration. Indirect Rule was practised in the extreme form in Northern Nigeria more than in the South and was responsible for the lack of active development in all fields. In this case, the decisions of the colonial masters were implemented by the Emirs who in turn reported back to them.

The second reason was Lord Lugard’s policy towards the North. To forestall possible destabilization of the political arrangement in the region, Lord Lugard barred the Christian missionaries from evangelizing in the North. Lord Lugard’s policy made it mandatory for the missionaries to seek the permission of the Emirs before they could preach the gospel in any part of the North for fear that Christian doctrines might upset the traditional order and thereby undermine the system of Indirect Rule. However, he did encourage missionary activities in some areas in the North and two CMS schools were allowed to open in Bida and Zaria in 1903 and 1905, respectively, but only at the specific invitation of the Emirs of those areas.

As a result, the social integration between the people from the North and South was restricted. Commenting on the situation, Prof. Nwabueze said: “The British colonial government in Nigeria discouraged, initially at any rate, such a policy of social integration. Southerners living in the North were segregated in separate stranger’s quarters outside the walled periphery of the native towns referred to as Sabon gari.

As a result, contact between the two peoples lacked that degree of closeness and intimacy necessary for the fostering of a common national identity and the opportunity for promoting mutual understanding through a shared communal life was lost”. The segregation policy when viewed against the backdrop that the early Christian missionaries were the conduit pipes through which western education and civilization got to Nigeria, will clearly explain why the North is relatively backward. The missionaries and traders were the pathfinders of British imperial rule in Nigeria. Since the missionaries came in through the South, it was possible for them to settle there and also implant their

culture and civilisation. If we take the year 1885 when the declaration for the protectorate over the Oil Rivers was made to put to rest the quest by Germany and France over the area as a starting point, the Colonial period in Nigeria would have lasted for three quarters of a century. On the other hand, if we consider the colonization of Lagos in 1861 as the starting point, then the colonial period would have spanned ninety-nine years. During this period, the South was exposed to western civilization more than the North. The North on the other hand had one hundred and fifty one years of exposure to Arabic civilization.

If you juxtapose it with western civilization, assuming that it is Arab country that colonized Nigeria, the North would have been more developed than the South. On the eve of the amalgamation of the South and the North, the population of children in Western type primary schools in the South was 35,716 compared to 1,131 children in the North. On the other hand, the North had over 140,000 children in Koranic schools compared to 50,000 in the South. The South had eleven secondary schools whilst there was none in the North.

Whilst one cannot rule out the geographical conditions prevailing in the North and the cultural differences between the North and South, the Lugardian system and the influence and strength of Islam in the North were the dominant factors responsible for the underdevelopment of that part of the country. On the attainment of Independence, the segregation policy abated and the process of effective reintegration commenced. The northerners began to fraternize with the southerners and at the same time embraced western civilization.

Though initially the Northerners were sceptical about relationship with the South as shown in 1956 when the issue of independence was mooted. But the scepticism was later put to rest when they discovered that the southerners meant well. It is a fact that of the over 50 years of Nigeria’s Independence, the North had had more shots at the presidency (both military and civilian) than the South. But to what extent has the northern leaders used this opportunity to empower their youths?

The northern ruling elite are satisfied with giving their youths fishes to eat rather than teach them how to fish. It is appalling that in the 21st century, while virtually every family in the South could boast of a university graduate, the North is yet to attain such a level. The National Bureau of Statistics report from 2010 to 2012 showed Niger State as the poorest state in the federation, and the North East Zone the poorest region.

Yet the northern elite own and control 80 per cent of the crude oil and gas produced by indigenous companies. In the words of Ross Alabo-George, “…greed and senseless chase for power by the Fulani aristocrats and political elite of the North are responsible for the extreme poverty of the North”. Some of these elite are multi-billionaires and are even richer than their states. Among the northern elite is a clique of politicians with a mean and crooked disposition and mindset.

They keep the society stagnated in order to maintain their sadistic grip on it and protect their privileges and properties. Their major interest is not Northern interest but self-interest projected as the North’s interest. This deception is ingeniously projected to conceal its narrowness and criminality, giving it a national acceptance and sectional backing. They are more concerned about their personal political relevance, personal economic interest, and not bothered about the misery and hardship ravaging their kinsmen. They are not interested in freeing their kinsmen from abject penury unlike their counterparts in the South. They only desire that their progeny inherit their status as exploiters and dominators over the children of the downtrodden.

Rather than empower their youths by sensitizing them to embrace western education, they feel satisfied having illiterate youths that can easily be manipulated to work as political thugs and errand boys. These youths are often used to attain the selfish interests of the elite and later dumped. This accounts for why in the twenty-first century, we still have some northern youths propagating ‘Boko Haram’ which in short means western education is bad. The consequence is terrorism and the implication is that northern Nigeria is gradually reversing inexorably towards the Dark Ages. This is the root cause of Boko Haramism.

Finally, the economic, political and social ills bedevilling Nigeria should be traced to the maladministration of Nigeria by Nigerians and not the British colonial masters. In fact, as a master creator who is interested in his creations, the British government had stood solidly behind Nigeria in all her travails since independence including the current campaign to bring back the kidnapped girls by Boko Haram.

Chikezie, an author, resides in Lagos, Nigeria.