what is the north afraid of

I have to be careful how I tell the following
stories; not because they are not true, but
because I do not want the personalities

involved to identify themselves or be
identified by those who are familiar with any
of the stories. At the same time, I do not
want to distort the stories to such an extent
that their veracity, which is the core of my
message, is lost. One of the stories involves
two friends who pulled out of an agency to
set up their own enterprise. The two had
different personalities which led them to
have different social lives but seemed to
complement each other in business. They
both brought different sets of skills to the
enterprise in any case.
One was out going and made friends very
easily. He was the one likely to be invited to
parties. He was also the one likely to bring
girls to the office or close early to go on
‘business dates’. The other chap was an
introvert who was likely to go home straight
after work or go to church. He was also the
one who stayed at the office balancing the
books and doing the general administrative
work that ensured that the enterprise was
run profitably.
Sometimes, this meant he had to be firm in
cutting the financial excesses of his
partner. The extrovert was a natural
marketer who not only brought jobs in
regularly but kept the clients happy and
made sure payments were made promptly.
He also made the office environment lively
whenever he was around. In ten years, the
business had boomed. They had two cars
each in addition to a pool car. They had also
moved into their own houses. It seemed a
perfect arrangement to outsiders. One
brought jobs in, the other ran the office.
Together, they executed the jobs.
Unfortunately, the introvert was getting
increasingly irritated by the carefree
lifestyle of the extrovert. At a point, he felt
he had had enough and wanted out. The
partner begged. Those of us who knew the
two well begged. The extrovert said he
didn’t want to break up what he built with
his hands. But the introvert was adamant. In
the end, the extrovert walked out without
taking a pin from the office. But he went
out with more than his suitcase. He went
with the goodwill of the company. He went
with the soul of the enterprise. It wasn’t
long before the clients found him. Too late,
the introvert found that the jobs had
stopped coming and there was precious
little left to run or administer.
The second story is similar except that it
involves a man and his wife. The two pulled
out of their paid jobs to set up a shop. The
husband ran the factory while the wife
brought jobs in. Although they both worked
on the estimates, she was the one who
presented them to customers and was the
one who pursued payment. Unfortunately,
the husband treated her like another
member of staff and kept the lion share of
the profit to himself.
She knew how much was coming in and
wondered why she had to be given such a
pittance. She begged. Family members
intervened and also begged. But he was
determined to keep her on a tight financial
leash. In the end, she walked out of the
business for her own sanity and set up her
own. She didn’t have a factory because she
couldn’t afford one so she outsourced. She
increased; he decreased. Claiming sabotage,
he walked out of the marriage leaving the
home they had jointly built and children they
were jointly raising.
My third and final story should be familiar to
all lovers of the ‘golden oldies’. It involves
two entertainers who were hugely popular in
the 60s and 70s. The duo had monstrous
hits which included ‘Bridge over troubled
water’ and ‘Ceclia’. Unfortunately, one wrote
all the songs and did the musical
arrangements while the other joined only in
the singing. After their many hits, the one
who wrote the songs felt he didn’t need the
baggage of the other and decided to go
solo. But he had been branded and people
could not relate to his music without the
accompanying voice of his singing partner.
I could go on and on with stories of people
who felt they were the indispensable
components in their unions only to find that
life went on and even prospered without
them. There was the story of an advertising
guru who ‘divorced’ his financially minded
partner because he felt he didn’t understand
‘the nature’ of the business simply because
the partner was pushing for financial
prudence. In the end, he owed as much as
he was owed and the advertising agency
packed up.
The core of my message is that people
bring different skills to a union and it is
easy to over-estimate one’s contribution.
Even in the marriages or unions where there
is no obvious financial or material
contribution from the other partner, they still
find that they need the spiritual contribution
of that partner for stability. People and
enterprises have been known to disintegrate
simply because someone they consider an
excess baggage is let go.
It was this need to let ‘excess baggage’ go
and ‘claim their country back’ that made the
UK to leave the European Union. Time will
tell whether it was a wise decision. But
already, UK has realised that some of the
excess baggage are sorely needed to keep
the structure going. In every union, as in
life, you cannot always cherry pick.
Back home, there are people who are
angling for a separation. The North, almost
as one, is reluctant to even give it a
thought. Our President, a Northerner says
the unity of the country is not negotiable. I
beg to disagree. Anything is negotiable to
quote one of Donald Trump’s books. And it
is in fact better to negotiate than to lose
control. But why is the North afraid of
separating? It may well be that it would be
better off than the South in case of a break
up.
Its people have more that unites than what
separates. You cannot say the same thing
about the South. To start with, a Southern
Nigeria is not going to happen. There is too
much distrust. Even the merger of the
South-South and South-East would be
fraught with casualties. The combination of
greed, ego, guns and oil in the region would
provide a lethal combustion that could be
difficult to contain. It may well be also, that
these two zones are over estimating their
importance to the Nigerian union. The
likelihood of a separation might let them see
how much they need other regions for their
own survival and well-being.
In the end, what people really want are
transparency, fairness and inclusiveness in
governance. Plus a lot of give and take. The
central control is stifling and a disincentive
to communal growth and development. The
time to negotiate is now.