Nigeria stands at a crossroads where faith, history and governance intersect. The Northern part of the country, rich in culture, tradition and spiritual heritage, holds enormous human and natural potential. Yet it also carries some of the deepest development challenges in education, healthcare, infrastructure and youth empowerment. Addressing these challenges honestly is not an attack on religion. It is a call for responsible leadership, prudent governance and a rethinking of priorities in the interest of present and future generations.
Christianity and Islam arrived in what is now Nigeria through different historical routes. Christian missionaries came largely from Europe in the nineteenth century, establishing churches alongside schools, hospitals and vocational centers. These institutions became gateways to Western education and modern professions. Many of Nigeria’s early nationalists, administrators, lawyers and doctors emerged from mission schools, not because Christianity was superior as a faith, but because education and social services were embedded in missionary activity.
Islam reached Northern Nigeria centuries earlier through trans-Saharan trade, scholarship and diplomacy. Islamic scholars and clerics built centers of learning focused on Quranic studies, Arabic literacy and jurisprudence. These institutions preserved moral discipline and spiritual identity, but over time they were not sufficiently integrated with science, technology, medicine and modern civic education. The result is not a failure of Islam as a religion, but a policy failure in adapting education to changing global realities.
Today, this historical divergence still shapes outcomes. Parts of Northern Nigeria struggle with low school enrollment, especially for girls, weak healthcare systems, high youth unemployment and fragile infrastructure. In many communities, clean water and reliable electricity remain luxuries. At the same time, public budgets for religious pilgrimages and ceremonial activities often exceed allocations for hospitals, schools, sports facilities and innovation hubs. This is not sustainable, moral or defensible.
It raises a serious question. If Islam is the same religion practiced in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, why do those societies invest heavily in education, healthcare, technology and infrastructure while some Northern Nigerian states remain trapped in poverty and underdevelopment. The difference is not faith. It is governance. It is policy choice. It is leadership vision.
Religion should remain a personal conviction between individuals and their Creator. Government has no business funding or favoring any faith with public money meant for development. A secular state does not mean a godless society. It means a fair society where public resources are deployed for public good. Roads, schools, hospitals, water systems, electricity, sports facilities and digital infrastructure should come before pilgrimages and religious pageantry.
The North needs to do more in strategic areas that directly shape human capital. Girls’ education must be treated as a non-negotiable priority. Youth sports programs should be expanded to build discipline, health and social cohesion. Technology and ICT innovation centers should be established in major cities and regional hubs to prepare young people for the digital economy. Small business financing, agricultural modernization and vocational training should replace wasteful spending that only benefits a privileged few.
Good governance is not about slogans or political loyalty. It is about empathy. Leaders must feel the pain of the poor, the frustration of unemployed graduates and the despair of families without access to healthcare or clean water. They must act before unrest forces their hand. Waiting for an uprising before behaving responsibly is a tragic pattern that history has shown never ends well.
This message is not anti-North. It is pro-North. It is a call to unlock the full potential of a region that has produced great scholars, traders, warriors, administrators and reformers. It is also a message to other states in Nigeria to stop the wicked wastage of our collective wealth. Corruption, extravagance and misplaced priorities are national problems, not regional ones.
Nigeria can rise if every region commits to accountable leadership, evidence-based policy and human-centered development. Faith will continue to guide personal morality. Governance must guide public progress.
May God bless our leaders, the people of the North and all Nigerians.
Bola Babarinde, South Africa
