Elder statesman and former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Ango Abdullahi, has attributed the North’s current challenges and slow development to what he described as a loss of the region’s foundational values.
Abdullahi made the remarks on Saturday while speaking at the third edition of the Late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference held at Arewa House in Kaduna.
According to him, the abandonment of the principles upheld by previous generations and the region’s pioneer leaders has left the North in a difficult and stagnant condition.
“The North has lost its values. You may not want to hear this, but that is the case today. If we have not lost the values we inherited from our parents, from our pioneer leaders, the North will not be where it is today,” he said.
He maintained that the region’s current situation goes beyond physical infrastructure, insisting that moral decline remains the root cause of its challenges.
“The North is in a pathetic situation. For me, that is the only reason why the North has stagnated. Don’t worry about the buildings you see. The basic issue concerning where the North finds itself today is the loss of our values,” Abdullahi added.
He urged northern leaders and residents to embrace the values of integrity, discipline and selfless service exemplified by past leaders, expressing confidence that a return to those ideals would restore the region’s progress.
“If we can go back to those values, particularly by remembering those who inherited them and practised them, there is no doubt in my mind that the North would have been different today,” he said.
