Low Literacy Rate, Youth Unemployment Is The Cause Of North’s Problems – Prof. Sahabi Mahuta

Professor Sahabi Danladi Mahuta, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has come out to reveal what the North wants after President Muhammadu Buhari.

He revealed this recently during an interview that centered around contemporary issues in the polity.

According to him, Northern Nigeria has been taken over by bandits and FG must find lasting solutions to problems bedeviling the region quickly because low literacy rate and youth unemployment are the reason behind its problems.

He added that the Fulani problem in the North is historic and there’s a need for proper understanding before a solution can be proffered.

His words, “Northern Nigeria has been taken over by bandits. How did we get here? Finding solutions to problems bedeviling the North and charting the way forward is why we are gathered here. To answer your question, basically, two reasons are responsible for these problems; low literacy rate and youth unemployment. The Fulani problem in the north is historic and there’s a need for proper understanding before a solution can be proffered.

“The way the western missionaries were accepted in the south, they were treated with rejection and suspicion in the north. BOKO means literarily western education, but if a Hausa man says you want to use Boko for me, he’s no longer talking about western education, but ‘’deceit’’ which is the pejorative meaning of Boko. So, from the beginning, there has been suspicion about western education from the north and that tells you why the literacy level is low because the offer of western education by the west was viewed with suspicion.”

“Once religious factors come into the equation of power shift, then there is going to be a problem, but honestly, we can’t run away from that. You see, after eight years of power in the hands of a Northern Muslim, it would be proper for a shift to a Southern Christian.

“A Southern Muslim can however aspire if people of the South-south, South-east, South-west, and Middlebelt are agreed and comfortable not to have any adherent of their faith on the ticket. What is however not acceptable to us in the North is a Southern Muslim picking a Northern Christian as his Vice- presidential candidate.”