The north will destroy itself if it doesn’t change - Emir Sanusi

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi has warned that the northern region of the country will destroy itself if it doesn’t change its ways.

Speaking at a programme to commemorate the 60th birthday celebration of Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, the Kano monarch stated that repeating the same thing and expecting a different result shows that something is wrong.

Emir Sanusi who pointed out that the country is moving on, stated that real change can only come in the region if things are done differently.

He also averred that a day will come when there will be a constitutional amendment that addresses issues of quota system and federal character, because the rest of the country cannot continue educating their children who will remain unemployed because they come from the wrong state.

He said;

“It is almost correct now to say that, if you are seen as normal, if you are a governor in the north or a leader in the north, and you are seen as normal in the sense that you continue to do what your predecessors have been doing, doing the same thing, which has been normalised, then, there is something wrong with you. You are part of the problem, ” Sanusi said.

“The real change in the north will come from those who are considered mad people, because you look around and say if this is the way we have been doing things, and this is where we have ended up, maybe we need to do things differently.

“If the north does not change, the north will destroy itself. The country is moving on… If we don’t listen, there would be a day when there would be a constitutional amendment that addresses these issues of quota system and federal character.

“The rest of the country cannot be investing, educating its children, producing graduates and then they watch us, they can’t get jobs because they come from the wrong state, when we have not invested in the future of our own children.”

He also disclosed leaders from northern Nigeria can’t afford to be happy when about 87 percent of poverty in Nigeria is in the region.

Emir Sanusi added;

“Nobody who is a leader in northern Nigeria today can afford to be happy,” Sanusi said.

“You cannot be happy about 87 percent of poverty in Nigeria being in the north. You can’t be happy with millions of northern out-of-school children. You can’t be happy with nine states in the north contributing almost 50 percent of the entire malnutrition burden in the country.

“You can’t be happy with the Boko Haram problem. You can’t be happy with all the issues.

“So, we wish Nasir a happy birthday, but we do not want him to be happy as a leader. Because you are happy when you think you have reached a state of delivering and taking your people to where you want them to be.”

Emir Sanusi also commended Governor El-Rufai for addressing the main issue in his state which is education.

He said;

“If you look at what Nasir is doing in Kaduna, with 40 percent of his budget in education, that is the only thing that is going to safe the north. I know that, when we say these things, they don’t go down well.”