By Abba Dukawa
I write this letter with a heavy heart to the sons and daughters of Arewa, particularly those entrusted with leadership and influence, regarding the painful reality our region faces today. Once united in purpose and driven by a shared vision, Arewa now appears to be living in the shadow of its glorious past.
Our forefathers built this great region with one voice, setting aside differences of ethnicity and religion. They understood that unity was our greatest strength and that our diversity was not a weakness but a blessing. Their legacy was one of peace, mutual respect, visionary leadership, and collective progress.
Today, it is heartbreaking to witness how far we have drifted from those ideals. This letter is a sincere call for reflection, reconciliation, and a renewed commitment to rebuilding the unity, security, and prosperity that once defined our beloved Arewa.
Arewa Under Siege
Northern Nigeria has become widely known as a hotspot for multiple forms of insecurity. From the Boko Haram insurgency to widespread kidnapping, armed banditry, and violent attacks, fear has become part of everyday life. People no longer feel safe in their homes, workplaces, farms, or while traveling on the highways. Every journey is undertaken with uncertainty, with no assurance of arriving safely.
Even more troubling is that these security challenges increasingly appear to have become normalized. Reports of abductions, killings, and attacks have become so frequent that they often receive far less attention than they deserve. This perceived indifference from those in positions of authority has contributed to a growing public belief that criminals now operate with confidence and impunity. Consequently, many residents feel abandoned, while public trust in government’s ability to protect lives and property continues to erode.
Addressing this crisis requires a coordinated and sustained response: stronger security operations, improved intelligence gathering, greater support for affected communities, and genuine accountability. Without decisive action, the cycle of violence and fear will continue to undermine the region’s stability, economic development, and the well-being of its people.
Beyond Insecurity: A Crisis of Leadership
The North’s challenges are not accidental. Poverty, insecurity, and underdevelopment are the cumulative consequences of long-standing structural failures, weak governance, and policy choices that have compounded over decades.
Responsibility is shared across different segments of society—including the political elite, the educated class, and the business community—many of whom have possessed both the influence and the opportunity to intervene more decisively than they have.
Rather than the result of a single coordinated agenda, what is evident is a persistent pattern of neglect, weak accountability, and recurring governance failures that have allowed social and economic conditions to deteriorate. These failures have contributed to rising unemployment, declining educational outcomes, poor healthcare, and the expansion of insecurity across much of the region.
Breaking this cycle requires more than assigning blame. It demands institutional reform, accountable leadership, strategic investment in human capital, and a renewed sense of public responsibility.
Where Are the Northern Elite?
This brings us to the most difficult question: Where are the Northern elite? Where are the governors, ministers, lawmakers, business leaders, scholars, and influential voices? Many command enormous influence, private wealth, and international networks, yet too often appear unable—or unwilling—to meaningfully confront the conditions that continue to leave large parts of the region insecure, impoverished, and politically weakened.
Why does this gap persist?
Part of the answer lies in proximity to power. In political environments shaped by patronage, speaking boldly may threaten access, while silence preserves influence. Over time, self-preservation begins to resemble strategy. Unfortunately, the cost is borne not by those in positions of privilege, but by ordinary communities far removed from the rooms where decisions are made.
Reviving the North’s Industrial legacy
Northern Nigeria was once the industrial powerhouse of the country. Cities such as Kano and Kaduna were thriving centres of manufacturing, commerce, and employment. Today, much of that industrial strength has faded. This is therefore a respectful appeal to two of Nigeria’s most accomplished industrialists—Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu. Many people ask why there is limited visible large-scale industrial reinvestment in Kano, your home state, and across Northern Nigeria. As a Kano indigene, to the best of my knowledge, neither Aliko Dangote nor Abdul Samad Rabiu currently operates major manufacturing facilities actively producing in Kano. Several facilities associated with their businesses are widely reported to have become inactive or to function primarily as warehouses rather than active industrial plants. For example, along Tafawa Balewa Road, two BUA facilities that previously operated flour and vegetable oil mills are reported to have ceased production. Likewise, several Dangote industrial sites stretching from Mai Malari Road to Sharada industrial area are also widely to be inactive or operating far below capacity.
Kano and Kaduna, once renowned for their vibrant manufacturing sectors, have experienced decades of industrial decline, resulting in widespread unemployment and underutilized infrastructure. At the same time, a significant share of new private-sector industrial investment appears to have been concentrated in other parts of the country, particularly the South-West. This naturally raises important questions about balanced national development. Philanthropy remains valuable and deeply appreciated. Scholarships, donations, and humanitarian support undoubtedly improve lives. However, charity cannot replace sustainable industrial development.
What the North urgently needs is long-term investment that revives manufacturing, creates employment, strengthens local supply chains, develops skills, and rebuilds industrial ecosystems across Kano, Kaduna, and neighbouring states. Strong factories create strong communities. Sustainable industries generate lasting prosperity. The expectation is therefore not charity, but renewed commitment to the economic transformation of the region where many of Nigeria’s greatest industrial success stories first began.
The Responsibility of Business Leaders
The Northern business elite have watched insecurity, poverty, and displacement deepen while economic activity increasingly concentrates elsewhere.
Insurgency, banditry, and weakened rural governance have disrupted agriculture, trade routes, and local markets. Investment naturally gravitates toward safer and more predictable environments. Yet public advocacy from many influential business leaders has often remained muted, constrained by commercial interests, political relationships, and regulatory considerations. The region risks becoming divided into two realities: one integrated into national wealth, the other left to absorb the consequences of neglect.
A Message to Political Leaders
To the political leadership of Northern Nigeria: The contradiction has become increasingly difficult to ignore. The region remains one of the country’s most significant in terms of population and political influence, yet continues to lag behind on key development indicators such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, employment, and security. When communities are attacked, farmers displaced, and schools forced to close, silence from those entrusted with leadership is not interpreted as restraint. It is perceived as detachment.
A Message to the Educated and Professional Class
To our academics, professionals, and intellectuals: The evidence is not hidden. Reports, research, and lived experiences consistently reveal widening gaps in human development and security.
Yet too often, expertise remains confined within institutions and professional circles that discourage open engagement with entrenched power. Knowledge should not merely describe problems—it should help transform them.
A Message to Cultural Influencers
To our musicians, artists, writers, actors, and public figures. Throughout history, art has served as a powerful instrument of truth, reflection, and social change. Yet when economic survival becomes closely tied to political and commercial interests, critical voices often become muted. Society needs courageous cultural voices willing to speak for those who cannot.
A Shared Responsibility
Ultimately, this is not solely a Northern Nigerian problem. It reflects a broader question confronting societies everywhere: What happens when elite interests become disconnected from the well-being of ordinary people?
Where access becomes more valuable than accountability, and proximity to power outweighs responsibility to the public, silence is rarely accidental—it becomes institutionalized.
The result is a widening emotional and political distance between leadership and the people. Unless that distance is narrowed through meaningful investment, principled advocacy, and courageous leadership, the same questions will continue to echo: Who speaks? Who benefits? who bears the cost
History will judge every generation by how it responds to the challenges of its time. Northern Nigeria possesses enormous human potential, entrepreneurial talent, agricultural resources, and cultural strength. What it requires now is leadership with vision, courage, and a genuine commitment to the common good.
This letter is not intended to condemn, but to encourage honest reflection and meaningful action. The future of Arewa depends not only on government, but on every leader, businessperson, scholar, professional, artist, and citizen willing to place the region’s long-term prosperity above personal or political interests.
May we find the wisdom to rebuild what has been weakened, the courage to confront uncomfortable truths, and the determination to restore Northern Nigeria to its rightful place as a region of peace, opportunity, and shared prosperity.
Dukawa writes from Kano and can be reached at abbahydukawa@gmail.com.
