Let us learn from how maturely the Southwest handles issues. Sharia law raised its tentacles in the region, and because the people of the zone do not want it, both Muslim and Christian Southwesterners united to calmly and quietly kill it. No riot, protest, unknown gunmen, or known gunmen. Just nipped in the bud. Yoruba Nation agitators tried to agitate in Oyo, and without involving the Federal Government or any force outside the state, Governor Seyi Makinde put a decisive end to it, sent the agitators to jail, legally destroyed their homes, and his fellow Southwestern Governors joined him in solidarity, irrespective of party affiliation. An Eze Ndi’Igbo in Lagos made a broadcast inviting IPOB to Lagos. The following week, he was in prison. He is still there. No shout or fight.
Barely a month ago, there were fatal stampedes in Ibadan, Abuja, and Anambra. As I speak to you today, only those behind the Ibadan stampedes went to prison and are now gnashing their teeth before a judge. Everywhere else, people have moved on. Until it happens again!
Moreover, the Southwest is the only part of Nigeria where people went to jail, compensation was paid, changes were made, admissions by the state was given, and culture was changed after #EndSARS. No other region had that sequence of events. Some did part, others did less. But only in the Southwest did it all happen together.
That is why the Southwest, with less than 30% of Nigeria’s population, generates more than 60% of Nigeria’s VAT at ₦3.11 trillion, while the rest of Nigeria combined generates only ₦2.4 trillion.
Because this thing called money is a coward. It is afraid of anywhere where there is violence, anger, trouble, or strife, and it runs to places with relative peace and law and order.
That is why if you look at the VAT generation numbers from the various regions per capita, they do not follow population. They follow peace, law, and order. The more peaceful and ordered a region is, the higher its per capita contribution to the Nigerian economy.
The two wealthiest men in Nigeria are in order, Aliko Dangote and Abdulsamad Rabiu. What do they have in common? They are all not from the Southwest, but they left where they are from to prosper even more in the Southwest.
If you say it is just because of ports, why did they not go to the South-South, which has more ports than the Southwest (two ports in Rivers, two in Delta, and others scattered in various parts of the region)? No. It is not ports. It is peace!
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.
