Still On Why Northern Nigeria Matters: Lessons from Mr. E. D. Morel’s journey of 1909, by Engr. Bello Gwarzo Abdullahi, FNSE
“In the northern regions, where Mohammedan rule has been established for centuries … Islam has brought its laws, its taxation, its schools and its learning. It is there a political as well as a religious and social force.” — E. D. Morel
When E. D. Morel travelled through Northern Nigeria in 1909, he did not find a wilderness waiting for civilization. What he saw was a thriving, organized society—disciplined, literate, and morally grounded. “The belief that the majority of the inhabitants of Northern Nigeria pass their time in idleness… is a pure delusion,” he wrote. “The Northern Nigerian, speaking generally, is the reverse of idle.”
Morel’s words dismantled the colonial stereotype of a “backward” North. He encountered a region that already possessed a functioning political and moral system. The Emirate structure, built on Islamic law and tradition, ensured justice, order, and accountability. Religion, for the North, was more than faith—it was governance, education, and the moral glue that held society together.
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Ambassador Usman Sarki, in his illuminating essay “Why Northern Nigeria Matters,” echoed that truth. He noted that the North’s discipline, order, and sense of collective responsibility made it indispensable to Nigeria’s formation. The region offered a model of governance built on law, faith, and learning—qualities that gave the early Nigerian state its backbone.
Economically, the North was no less vibrant. Long before colonial intrusion, it had built trans-Saharan trade routes and sustained a flourishing local economy in agriculture, leatherwork, and textiles. Morel observed that colonial policies disrupted this balance, draining wealth without reinvestment. What he witnessed was not the rise of progress but the beginning of exploitation—an imbalance that continues to haunt Nigeria’s economic structure.
Yet what impressed Morel most was the North’s moral economy—where trade and labour were acts of service, not greed. The Northern trader and farmer worked with purpose, guided by the belief that wealth carried responsibility. That ethic of honesty and duty, he believed, was the region’s true strength.
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Education was another pillar. Quranic schools produced disciplined, literate citizens who combined learning with morality. Morel warned that Western education, if detached from cultural and ethical roots, would erode this balance. His warning has aged well. Today, we face an education crisis that prizes certificates over character, and intellect over integrity.
Morel also saw that governance in Africa could not simply be imported. It had to grow from within—rooted in local traditions and moral codes. He valued the native authorities that maintained order through trust and legitimacy. Ignoring them, he cautioned, would invite instability. Over a century later, as traditional institutions weaken and moral authority declines, his insight feels prophetic.
Northern Nigeria once stood as the moral anchor of the nation—a region known for integrity, learning, and cohesion. But those virtues are fading fast. Corruption, insecurity, and disunity now overshadow a proud legacy. The moral order that defined the region is eroding, replaced by opportunism and political confusion.
Still, the lesson from 1909 endures: the North’s strength has always been its moral and intellectual coherence. Justice, faith, moderation, and service built the foundation of its greatness. These same virtues can still guide Nigeria out of its current disarray.
This is not a sentimental call to the past—it’s a call to rediscover purpose. The North must reclaim its role, not through dominance, but through example. It must revive education with moral grounding, restore respect for traditional authority, and raise leaders who serve with conscience rather than convenience.
If Nigeria is to regain stability, the North must once again stand for something greater than politics. Morel’s century-old reflections remind us that no nation survives on borrowed systems. Progress depends on a moral compass anchored in truth, justice, and faith.
The North must find itself again—because when the North stands firm, Nigeria stands taller.
bgabdullahi@gmail.com
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