Ango Abdullahi: Northern Nigeria has abandoned the values that built it

FORMER Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and elder statesman, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, has blamed northern Nigeria’s mounting challenges on the steady erosion of the region’s moral values and quality of leadership.

Speaking on Saturday at the third Late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina Memorial Conference in Kaduna, Abdullahi said the North’s founding ideals had been abandoned, leaving the region to grapple with insecurity, poor leadership and stagnation. The conference, held at Arewa House, was themed ‘From Sacrifice to Strategy: Rekindling Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina’s Vision for a Prosperous Northern Nigeria.’

According to him, the region’s problems are rooted less in infrastructure deficits than in the loss of the principles that once guided its leaders.

“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,” Abdullahi said.

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He argued that despite visible urban growth across parts of the North, the virtues of honesty, discipline, sacrifice and selfless service that once defined the region have steadily faded.

“The North is in a pathetic situation. Don’t be deceived by the buildings you see. The real issue is the loss of our values, and that is why the North has stagnated,” he added.

Abdullahi urged today’s leaders to draw inspiration from the late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina, describing him as a public servant who embodied integrity, accountability and dedication to the common good.

He expressed confidence that a return to those values would place the region on a different path.

In his keynote address, a scholar, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim Bugaje, said the North’s economic decline, worsening insecurity and institutional failures reflected a departure from the leadership ideals championed by figures such as Gen. Hassan Katsina.

He painted a grim picture of the region, citing declining food production, widespread displacement, shrinking economic activity, rising poverty and the collapse of education and healthcare systems.

Bugaje said insecurity had continued to weaken agriculture, trade and normal social life, questioning the quality of leadership available to confront the region’s growing challenges.

“It is indeed time to ask how much of the North still remains. Or better still, how much of the sanity of the elite, especially those in government, still remains? Today, who is there to go to? Where are the General Hassans to complain to? Where exactly is the leadership? Where is the direction?” he said.

He also criticised members of the northern elite for limiting themselves to lamenting the region’s problems instead of advancing practical solutions, describing such behaviour as evidence of complacency and, in some cases, complicity.

Reflecting on his interaction with the late Gen. Hassan Katsina, Bugaje recounted how the former military governor encouraged him to continue writing after the then American ambassador protested an article he authored on Western imperialism.

According to him, Hassan Katsina’s support demonstrated the courage and conviction that characterised leaders of his era.

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Bugaje said that generation combined formal education with values such as modesty, discipline, justice, respect for due process and commitment to community development.

He called on contemporary leaders to embrace those principles as the region seeks lasting solutions to its economic, security and social challenges.

The annual memorial conference was organised to preserve the legacy of the late Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina while promoting dialogue on leadership, governance and the future of Northern Nigeria.