There had been a series of painful experiences since Bola Tinubu emerged as Nigeria’s president. While the pain is felt nationwide, there are several reasons why the North seems to suffer more. Some of these reasons are geographical while others are given the very nature of the northern part of the country. Let’s look at some of these things that have made the impact of Tinubu’s policies so far more severe in the North.

• Larger landmass: Large landmass may not always be a blessing as it means more mileage from point A to point B. The large landmass in the North means that cities are larger. And the distance between one town and another is likely larger. Given the current high petrol price, traveling or moving from one point to another becomes more difficult and costly.

In the South East, for instance, cities are smaller yet houses are bigger. This means less distance to travel while moving from place to place. This less landmass implies that the cost of transportation in the South has remained relatively affordable compared to the North.

• Lack of Industry: With the Tinubu regime, there has been an issue with the value of the Nigerian naira. The value of the country’s currency has been on a free fall. This has impacted the ability of importers to import goods. Several firms are also leaving in Nigeria.

The South has more industries than the North. Although some of these industries in the South are owned by Northerners like Aliko Dangote, the reality is that at the societal level, these firms benefit the Southern society more. This is because the cost of products produced by such local firms tends to be cheaper in the South. Remember that the cost of transporting these products to the North will accrue even more cost.

• Lack of Sea Access: Given that the North is landlocked, life is tougher in that part of the country. The import and export of goods is tougher over there. Goods have to travel first from the Southern ports to the North. This makes things more costly.

This wasn’t a big deal earlier as the government usually ensured that petrol price was uniform. Currently, several of Tinubu’s policies so far have removed these bridging costs. Any additional cost of products has to fall on consumers.

• Poverty: Even before Tinubu, the North was far poorer than the South. Although some of the country and even the continent’s richest people are Northerners, the majority of the people are poor. Their purchasing power had been lower earlier and now that these policies are even making people poorer, you can imagine the impact of such on the North.
• Insecurity: The North has suffered extreme insecurity for over a decade now. This has reshaped the prospects of the region. The situation keeps compounding as the days go by and with even more severe hardship comes even more escalating insecurity. Coupled with hunger and unemployment, the situation in the North continues to get out of hand.

Although the Tinubu administration is making efforts to salvage the situation, it doesn’t seem to be yielding the desired impacts. Most of the Tinubu’s policies so far while having a tough impact nationwide, seems tougher on the North.

• Porous border: The Northern part of the country has an expansive land border with poorer countries of Niger and Chad. Given that ethnic Hausas and Fulanis are found in these two neighboring countries, they easily cross the border into Nigeria without proper immigration procedures. This impacts the Northern population and depletes jobs that ought to be for Northern Nigerians. Since these countries are poorer, there are more and more illegal migrants thereby complicating not just job and resource depletion but also contributing to insecurity.
• Border closure: The faceoff between ECOWAS and the juntas in Niger led to a border closure between Nigeria and the fellow West African country. The border closure has impacted both countries however, for Northerners, this can be more devastating given that trade and commercial routes that once existed between the two countries are now closed.
• Venture closure: Some of Tinubu’s policies so far have impacted Northern-dominated ventures. An example of such a business sector impacting policy was the closure of unofficial foreign exchange channels. This used to be a business sector that northerners dominated. With the closure, more and more avenues for Northerners to earn are reducing.

Conclusion

Apart from these policies or actions of the current government in Nigeria, other things are making the current administration tougher on Northerners. While there’s hunger, pain, and suffering nationwide, these things seem to be taking a greater toll on areas with larger landmasses, limited sea access, and fewer homegrown products. While we understand that the current regime is making efforts to reduce the pains of Nigerians, the situation in the North deserves greater attention.