Who Will Develop the Northeast?

Yesterday, I asked one of my drivers to find an empty trailer that could pick some hay for me from a farm at Buzaye, just 16 Km from Bauchi along the way to Jos. Empty trucks returning from a delivery trips are always the cheapest means of conveying bulk material. I anticipated that it would be difficult to find one. Nevertheless, in business, do not jump into any conclusion without trying first. Da rashin tayi akan bar araha. That is the rule.

For the over seven hours that the driver stood at Gidan Mai roundabout in Bauchi to intercept one, he was not fortunate to get any. So I instructed that our cold truck returning from a delivery be loaded with the hay on its way back.

Instructively, the Jos—Bauchi federal highway is the gateway to the Northeast. Its traffic is the highest in the zone. Yet, few empty returning trucks use the road in comparison to Jos—Kano road. There, you will hardly spend 30 mins without catching an empty truck returning from delivery of bulk materials to Kano, Kaduna or Sokoto —the Northwest.

There is little doubt that commercial motor traffic is a good indicator of economic development. There are dozens of trailers loaded with livestock travelling to the east daily from the zone but industrial goods can hardly be seen heading southwards. Simply put, industrial development in the six states of the zone is very low. We do not produce enough to export. The little we make ends here.

I think it is time we from the Northeast take a serious, independent look at the issue of our underdevelopment. Investment is needed. Most of the industrial products that we consume can be produced in the zone. However, the entrepreneurship of the Northeast elite is simply dismal. I wish every state had enterprising people like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I may not agree with him on matters of leadership but I must doff my hat for him when it comes to investment. He has done so much alone. While no other states in the zone can boast of one Atiku, it is still pathetic that even Adamawa cannot claim having two. We need many in each state, if we are serious.

Most previous attempts were government sponsored and they have collapsed with the collapse of governance and the institutionalization of corruption in the country. It is time to change our approach. Governments should facilitate the empowerment of individuals who will serve as the critical mass in driving economic development of the zone. This must be an agenda for the Northeast Development Commission as well as for its individual states.
Individuals with the zeal and the means to independently create wealth must do so or multiply their present efforts in addition to whatever government would do. Critical areas are livestock, food crops, mineral resources and processing of raw materials into industrial products.

In the end, we must understand that we alone carry the responsibility of developing our zone as others are concerned with theirs. And the earlier we do it, the better. Once we hearken to this call, it would take just 30 mins or less to intercept an empty truck to carry my hay home in the near future. Meanwhile, I have to be bringing it in piecemeals using our cold trucks.

Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
25/1/17