SIR: The myth in most regions of the country is that the North has the best of everything. Broad highways leading to various cities, steady electricity supply and immense job opportunities, life flourishes like a savannah. Reality is that the availability of these facilities does not stretch beyond the boundaries of the state capitals. If at all they exist at a meaningful level. A detour from any major road leads one into the bush. Paucity of buildings necessitates that any amount of electricity is bound to be sufficient. Dearth of advancement in education positions any person who is qualified for a posh employment.

It is an undeniable fact that nature made the North a wonder to behold. The expanse greenery of the landscape is a tourist’s fantasy. The shades of trees and circles of mud huts with thatch roofs pointing to the sky place time at a standstill. The layback attitude of natives after strenuous hours in the farms in the morning appeals to the highest sense of relaxation. Living is simple observing the lack of attachment to materialism by the people. Strangers are welcome with freshness of heart like blowing leaves in the wind.

Tranquility of this rural existence is only affected by the missing presence of new ways of enhancing life. Most households do not have electricity talk less of owning a television set. They appear to be cut off from the progress in modern technology. A woman in a complicated labour is only disposed to fate. It will take miles on a bike to reach a health centre. The tendency for primitive lore to depress growth prevails. Education is not encouraged in many families because the time to go to school in the morning conflicts with the cool weather needed for farming.

Absence of government in these communities is very noticeable. Perhaps, this is because of their agrarian culture. They appear averse to others meddling in their functional system. This attitude towards constituted authorities could have also been borne out of exploitation. The notion that the North is very altruistic becomes shattered. Experience has shown that politicians from the cities descend in the poor communities and entice them with gifts and promises during election in order to win their votes. Thereafter, money allotted for projects to develop the people is pocketed by public officials.

Going back to the concept that the North has the best of everything, the perception came about as a result of almost all the leaders of Nigeria since independence have come from the region. The expectation is that the great oil wealth of the nation is being dumped in the area for development. It becomes antithetical when most of the North still lives like inhabitants in the dinosaur age. The expose is that when one looks at names of Nigerian leaders with stolen money in foreign bank accounts they are mostly from the North.

The probing question for the nation is to analyse the progress of the North against the rest of the regions. It is evident that they are lagging behind. The country is plagued with corruption. An Igbo adage says that if you want to know the hand that committed an abomination you start to look for the blacksmith that cast the knife. The culture of the North may not be purely tuned for democracy. Where one man is the king and the populace cannot aspire to the throne does not inspire competition for the best.

• Pius Okaneme,
Umuoji, Anambra State.