According to Guardian Nigeria, Former National Vice Chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salihu Lukman, has exonerated President Bola Tinubu from the severe underdevelopment and numerous challenges facing northern Nigeria. In an open letter released on Sunday, June 30, Lukman attributed the region's decline to the shortcomings of former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration. According to Lukman, Buhari's tenure failed to enhance the northern region’s economic and social conditions, leaving it in a dire state.
The letter, titled “Explosive North: Open Letter to Northern Politicians,” was made available to news outlets and highlights the grim realities of life in northern Nigeria. Lukman portrayed the living conditions in the region as Hobbesian, a term he used to describe a life that is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. He emphasized that the northern region suffers from extreme poverty, high unemployment rates, and severe inequality, painting a bleak picture of daily existence for its residents.
Lukman provided a stark overview of the region’s deteriorating public services. He pointed out that schools and hospitals are in deplorable conditions, failing to meet the basic needs of the population. Furthermore, he criticized the state of the civil service in the nineteen northern states, describing it as a mere shadow of its former self. According to Lukman, public service activities have virtually come to a standstill, exacerbating the region's woes.
He said: “If anyone is interested in finding the practical meaning of the Hobbesian description of life being ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short,’ just look at what life is in Northern Nigeria. Indices of poverty, unemployment, and inequality are beyond description. The conditions of schools and hospitals are, to say the least, depressing. The civil service, in virtually all the nineteen states, is only a shadow of itself, with hardly any public service activity taking place,” the former member of the National Working Committee (NWC) wrote.