05/06/2026
"And this is what makes my heart sink as an Igbo man.
Today, the mai guard, mai ruwa, mai shayi, mai kaya, shoe repairer, the man pushing a wheelbarrow, carrying loads, shining shoes, patching clothes, riding okada, clearing construction sites, packing refuse, digging soakaway pits, hawking small goods, or sleeping beside a kiosk in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Onitsha, and other cities is often called 'Aboki.'
That is the story we do not want to ignore.
One people moved from grass to grace.
Another moved from grace to grass.
This is not to insult the Hausa people or menial jobs. I have nothing but respect for honest labour, and I admire many aspects of Arewa's history and civilization.
This is a history lesson.
Now look at the North.
They did not begin from the bottom.
Long before colonial Nigeria existed, Kano was already one of the great commercial cities of West Africa. Merchants from Tripoli, Fez, Agadez, Timbuktu, and Bornu passed through its markets. Caravans crossed the Sahara carrying leather goods, textiles, kola nuts, salt, and livestock. The city walls of Kano were not built around a village. They were built around a thriving urban economy that connected West Africa to North Africa.
They had cities that were centres of commerce when many parts of modern Nigeria were still organized around smaller local economies.
They had emirates that provided administration, taxation, courts, and political order across vast territories.
They had centres of Islamic scholarship that attracted students from across the region. In places like Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Borno, generations of scholars produced manuscripts and taught jurisprudence, theology, grammar, astronomy, and history. The reputation of northern scholarship travelled far beyond Nigeria's borders.
They had trade routes that linked them to the wider world. For centuries, merchants moved goods across the Sahara and across the savannah belt. Northern markets were not isolated local markets. They were part of international commercial networks.
They had cattle wealth on a scale few
regions could match.
They had one of the most respected leather industries in Africa.
They had textile industries that employed thousands long before modern factories arrived.
They had the famous dye pits of Kano.
They had the groundnut economy.
And if we move into the colonial and post colonial era, the advantages become even harder to ignore.
They had numbers.
The North occupies roughly three quarters of Nigeria's landmass. Depending on how one defines the region, the nineteen northern states account for well over half of Nigeria's population.
They had manpower.
For decades, millions of young people entered the labour force every year. They were not a small minority struggling to find relevance. They were one of the largest demographic blocs in Africa.
They had land.
They had agricultural potential that many countries would envy.
They had political influence.
From independence onward, northern politicians, military officers, civil servants, traditional rulers, and power brokers occupied some of the most influential positions in the Nigerian state for long periods.
They had religious authority.
The Sultanate of Sokoto remains one of the most influential Islamic institutions in Africa.
They had institutions.
Not perfect institutions.
But institutions nonetheless.
Emirate councils.
Traditional courts.
Islamic learning centres.
Agricultural boards.
Marketing boards.
Regional administrations.
Cooperative systems.
Educational establishments.
Commercial associations.
Structures that survived for generations.
They had a head start.
That is what makes the present situation so painful.
Because today, when millions of young Hausa and northern boys enter any big city, what work are many of them known for?
These boys are not lazy.
The problem is not laziness.
The problem is that too many of them enter the modern economy from the lowest possible point.
No certificate.
No skill that scales.
No capital.
No protection.
No formal training.
No strong educational foundation.
No industrial ladder waiting for them.
So they sell their bodies first.
Their backs.
Their hands.
Their legs.
Their sleep.
Their youth.
That is the real tragedy.
The Igbo Obioma story became a ladder because it was connected to apprenticeship, trade discipline, family networks, and commercial ambition.
The Hausa Aboki story too often becomes a trap because it is connected to poverty, broken schooling, rural collapse, insecurity, and survival migration.
One system turns a boy into a trader.
The other turns a boy into cheap labour or, worse, a recruitment ground for terrorism.
The Southeast came out of war and produced commercial networks.
The North came out of power and produced surplus labour.
Who is carrying the load?
Who is guarding the gate?
Who is pushing the cart?
Who is fetching the water?
Who is sleeping in the market?
Who is leaving the village because bandits have made farming impossible?
Who is entering the city with nothing but strength?
If the answer to these questions is Arewa youth, then perhaps it is time for the North to ask harder questions of its leaders.
Because what is happening to Arewa is a failure of social organization.
Their fathers inherited a civilization.
Too many of their boys inherited migration.
Their fathers inherited functioning economic systems.
Too many of their boys inherited survival.
Their fathers participated in trade networks stretching across continents.
Too many of their boys participate only in daily labour markets.
Their fathers built industries around leather, textiles, livestock, agriculture, and commerce.
Too many of their boys now rent out their muscles by the day.
The question is not whether the Igbo are better than the Hausa.
That is a childish argument.
The real question is: what system turns hardship into enterprise, and what system turns heritage into dependency?
Because poverty alone does not explain everything.
War did not stop the Igbo from building trade networks.
Lack of oil did not stop Nnewi from producing industrialists.
Bad Nigerian roads did not stop Aba from becoming a manufacturing symbol.
Weak government did not stop apprenticeship from creating business owners.
So what stopped the North?
What happened to a people who inherited thriving cities, trans Saharan commerce, respected scholarship, textile industries, leather industries, livestock wealth, agricultural exports, demographic strength, political influence, and enormous land resources?
How did a people with so much historical structure produce so many young men with so little modern preparation?
That is the conversation Nigeria needs.
Not insults.
Not denial.
Not ethnic pride.
Not hiding behind culture.
Not pretending every criticism is hatred.
The Obioma story should humble all of us.
Because it shows that a people can begin with a sewing machine on the shoulder and still build a commercial ladder.
The Aboki story should disturb all Nigerians.
Because it shows that a people can begin with history on their side and still end up supplying cheap labour to other people's cities.
That is the mirror.
Igbo moved from Obioma to enterprise.
Hausa must not remain trapped inside Aboki survival.
The North needs a ladder."
Unless they chose to be deceived by the current flock of politicians
# noble
