Northeast Not Southeast Most Marginalised In Nigeria By Adedara Oduguwa, PhD

Preamble: There are about 225 million Nigerians today. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo divided the country into six geopolitical and regional zones. In this manner, the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory were further divided into six uneven parts, based on which power is shared.

The six geopolitical and regional zones of Nigeria are:

Northwest is one of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria representing both a geographic and political region of the country’s northwest. It comprises seven states – Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara.

Northeast is one of the six geographical zones in Nigeria. It comprises six states – Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe.

North-Central is one of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. It comprises six states – Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau – as well as Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.

Southwest Nigeria has six states; Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo.

Southeast Nigeria (Igboland) is a region of Nigeria. It is composed of the following states: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.

South-South Nigeria is a region of Nigeria composed of the following states: Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers

The next section of this write-up, examines the most important political positions in Nigeria (president, senate president, Speaker of House of Representatives, Chief Justice of Nigeria, CBN Governor) and how these positions are shared. Some of the positions are based on appointments while others are usually based on election.

President/ heads of State (Position Number one in Nigeria)
This is the most important position in Nigeria. The president of Nigeria is the Commander–in–Chief of the Armed Forces. The Southeast had the first president of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe who simultaneously became the first Senate President of Nigeria.

❖ The Southeast had 2 out of 16,
❖ The Southwest had 3 out of 16
❖ The South-South only had 1 (most marginalized)

The North shared the remaining 10:

❖ The Northeast had 1
❖ The North central had 3
❖ The Northwest had 6

The Office of Vice President of Nigeria (2nd position in Nigeria)
This is the second most prominent position in Nigeria. There have been some 14 prominent Nigerians that have occupied this position. See the spread according to the zones of the federation.

❖ The Southwest had 4
❖ The South East had 2
❖ The South-South had 4
❖ The North West had 1
❖ The North East had 1
❖ The North Central had 2
By implication, the South has produced 10 out of 14 Vice-presidents in Nigeria. While northwest and northeast were the most marginalized.

The Senate President (Third Position in Nigeria)
Out of 14 Senate Presidents of Nigeria,
❖ 7 came from Southeast (most benefited).
❖ 5 came from South-south.
❖ Zero from Southwest (Most marginalised).
❖ 1 from Northwest.
❖ 1 from North central.
❖ Zero from northwest (most marginalised).
With the Southwest and North east completely marginalized.

The Speaker House of Representatives (Fourth Position in Nigeria)

On 14 Speakers House of Representative:

❖ The first was a British,
❖ The Southwest had 3,
❖ The South-South had zero (Most marginalised)
❖ The South-East had 2
❖ The Northwest had 4 (Most benefited)
❖ The Northeast had 2
❖ The North-Central had 1
While identity of Mr Aguwa Aneakwe remains unknown

On this again, the Northwest had the highest (4) while the South-South had Zero (most marginalised).

Chief Justice of Nigeria (Fifth Position in Nigeria)

On the 17 Chief Justice of the federation from 1958 to date:

❖ The Southwest had 6 (most benefited)
❖ The South-east had zero (most marginalised)
❖ The South-South had 1
❖ The North West had 4
❖ The North East had 3
❖ The North Central had 2

The CBN Governor

There are 11 Governors of CBN altogether since 1958:

❖ 1 was British (1958-1963)
❖ North East had 1 (Adamawa home of first indigenous Governor of CBN- Aliyu Mai Bornu).
❖ North West had 2
❖ North Central had zero (most marginalised)
❖ South-South had 1
❖ South-East had 4(most benefited)
❖ South West had 2

In Summary
➢ The South-East had 17 positions altogether (president, vice, Senate president and Speaker of House of Representatives).

➢ The South-South had 12 (president, vice, Senate president and Speaker of House of Representatives).

➢ The Southwest had 19 (president, vice, Senate president (zero) and Speaker of House of Representatives).

➢ The Northeast had 8 (president, vice, Senate president (zero) and Speaker of House of Representatives).

➢ The Northwest had 17 (president, vice, Senate president (zero) and Speaker of House of Representatives). With 6 of the 10 Presidents/heads of state from the North coming from the North-West. This is the most benefited region for the presidency of Nigeria. Equal to what the entire South (6 presidents) pulled altogether.

➢ The North-Central had 9 (president, vice, Senate president (zero) and Speaker of House of Representatives).

So, what the Southeast alone got from the Federation in terms of these major offices is equal to what the North-Central and Northeast have gotten.

The most marginalised political zone in Nigeria today is Northeast. The most Marginalised zone in the North is also the Northeast. Followed by the North Central.

In the South, the most marginalised zone when examined on these major offices is the South-South. The zone had only one president, with no single Speaker of House of Representatives since October first 1960.

Conclusion

This paper concludes the Southeast has gotten more than the other regions considering it’s population when compared to other zones in Nigeria, particularly the South-South and northeast.

Also, sharing the seats of president; vice-president, senate president, speaker HoR, CJN, and Governor of CBN have been done unevenly between the North and the South.

The South as an entity can complain of marginalisation when compared to the North. However, Northeast not southeast most marginalised zone in Nigeria. While the South-South remains most marginalised zone in Southern Nigeria.

Dr. Adedara Oduguwa is a social commentator, and political researcher, who write from Sagamu Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.