North richer than South, says Tambuwal

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has declared that the North is not only richer than the South but that it is the North that has kept the country one.

Tambuwal spoke at a one-day lecture titled “The North and The Nigerian Federation: Past, Present and the Future” organised by Arewa Consultative Fo­rum (ACF) to mark the 55th anniversary of self-govern­ment in northern Nigeria, held at the weekend in Ka­duna.

Claiming that revenue from the North helped carry the other half of the country, he said the North has been responsible for keeping Nigeria one.

Even though he regret­ted the present situation within the region, saying “these are not the best of times for the North”, he pointed at the rich and variable cultures of the region in terms of human and natural resources and the great population as part of the reason why Nigeria is called and still remains the giant of Africa.

He noted with regret however that “it is com­mon in some quarters to discuss how the North ap­pears to be dragging the nation down and to reel out indices that show how the North is poorer, less educat­ed ad less enterprising than the other part of Nigeria.

“While some of this is true, this is not all that the North is about,” he argued, pointing at the contribu­tion of the region and de­claring that “the North is much more than the sum of its problems.”

Against any divisive ten­dencies, Tambuwal said “Nigeria needs every part of its component parts in order to make great prog­ress. The idea that any part of this nation is surplus to our needs is false and myo­pic. Only as one indivisible entity is this country capa­ble of achieving any great­ness.”

Also at the occasion, for­mer Chairman, Indepen­dent Corrupt Practices and Related Crimes Commis­sion (ICPC), Hon. Justice Mustapha Akanbi (Rtd), advised the North against breaking away from Nige­ria.