A landlocked country is one that is entirely surrounded by other countries, a country without access to the sea. Landlocked status is critical for many nations because it prevents unfettered access to the open ocean which, in turn allows for trade with most of the countries in the world. Goods in a landlocked country, for example, must be transported through another country before they reach the ocean. What this means is that a landlocked country is a ‘beggar’ that is dependent on other countries! A close look at average GDP (gross domestic product) per capita: the weighted world average of GDP per capita is approximately $18,000. Of the world's landlocked countries, only two (Switzerland and Austria) have higher GDPs per capita than this average. The weighted average of all landlocked countries is under $4000! Of all the major industrialized nations in the world, none of them is landlocked. Furthermore, none of the emerging economies in the world is landlocked!
Northern Nigeria has been deceived by Britain since independence. They were a willing tool which the colonial masters found handy in perpetuating their neo-colonial agenda. The agenda of milking the mineral resources in the South dry. It might interest many Nigerians to know that the so called ‘Northern Agenda’ is in reality a ‘British Agenda’ aimed at controlling the South that is rich in mineral resources. The North/Arewa has no intelligent agenda and that is why Northern Nigeria is underdeveloped and unfocused to this day. The Northern people are very poor and worst of all uneducated. Britain politically and militarily equipped the North to ensure that the mineral rich South is browbeaten into submission in the name of ‘One Nigeria’ until the resources are exhausted.
The North was and is still being fed with cooked up intelligence reports by Britain in other that the resources of the South will be continually milked. This neo-colonialist agenda of Britain has found a willing tool in the name of ‘Northern Nigeria’.
If the intelligence agencies of Nigeria were really efficient, they would have deduced that Britain has a grand plan and that the North is just an expedient tool. Britain has always preferred an educationally backward North that could easily be manipulated. The recent call for military assistance from Britain is blunder.
The current Niger Delta crisis is one that will consume Nigeria if the right thing is not done fast. Britain will lose out in the power game and the North will plunge with it. The question is not a matter of ‘if’ but it is a matter of ‘when’. When Nigeria disintegrates the North will be a landlocked country with hostile Southern neighbors. Neighbors it has devastated and ruined for over 48 yrs. The North can only rely on other landlocked countries like Niger and Chad. Geographically, Cameroon will be an expensive neighbor to route needed goods while commerce will also be difficult because of the language barrier. The North has to understand their precarious situation and make peace with its Southern neighbors because a truly federal Nigeria will be of immense benefit to the North than a disintegrated Nigeria. The North will improve economically under a truly federal Nigerian than an Arewa Republic. No landlocked country will survive if it neighbors are hostile to it. Britain has and will never give the North any sound advice. The only advice Britain will ever give the North is that which will favor British economic interests. Africans need to rise up and ask Western Nations ‘why’ they want to help us! The North should realize that Britain is willing to ditch them if their services are no longer needed.
There is bitter animosity between the south and the North. The North can keep postponing the evil day which must surely come. They can make the intelligent and strategic move of convening a Sovereign National Conference now, or stupidly carryout the ‘British Agenda’ to their detriment. Contrary to the advice of the British, the North has everything to gain and nothing to lose in a confederate or truly federal Nigeria. It is the British who have everything to lose and the earlier the North realizes this fact the better for them.
I call on all Northerners who can truly reflect on the issues at stake to rise up and do the right thing before it is too late. I call on Northerners who are educated to look ahead and steer the North in the right direction before they are all consumed.
Dr. Howard Lawson JaJa
New York
USA
[email protected]
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