The politicians from southern Nigeria need to be deeply studied. In fact, a whole department in our universities should be set up just to study those people. Because the way they have managed to convince many southern youths, some of the most intelligent youths in all of Africa, that their real problem is not the politicians who govern them, but “the North,” is almost a political miracle. That the reason a pothole in Abakpa Nike is not fixed is because of Hisbah breaking alcohol bottles in Kano. That the reason they have youth unemployment and underemployment is because of a Sharia court in Sokoto. That the reason their electricity is unstable, state hospitals are weak, courts are slow, police are corrupt, refineries are not working, and local industries are dying is because the North is too religious. Not the governors. Not the senators. Not the local government chairmen. Not the contractors who collected money and disappeared. Not the political families who have controlled the same states for decades. Not the state assemblies that behave like extensions of the governor’s office. No. The problem is somehow Kano Hisbah. This is the genius of southern political deflection. They have built a system where they can fail locally and outsource the blame nationally. Meanwhile, the same southern politicians control budgets, collect allocations, appoint commissioners, award contracts, borrow money, tax citizens, control state institutions, and still somehow escape the anger of the same people they govern. That is the part that fascinates me. The North has many problems and deserves serious criticism. Nobody honest can deny that. But the way northern dysfunction has been turned into a universal excuse for southern elite failure is a political miracle, second only to democracy itself. The governor no longer needs to explain why the roads are bad. The senator no longer needs to explain what he has done. The local government chairman no longer needs to show where the money went. The people simply look northward and rage. And the politicians smile. As a southern youth, know this: every minute you spend shouting about Hisbah, Sharia, almajiri, or the north is backward, is one less minute spent asking why your own state budget keeps producing nothing. Nigerian politicians have not only failed many of their people. They have also mastered the art of giving them a convenient enemy. This is the oldest trick in politics. Divide the people, make them suspicious of each other, then govern both sides badly while they fight over identity. There is nothing I would want more than a coherent Nigeria. Notice I said coherent, not uniform. I am not talking about this fake “One Nigeria” slogan where everyone pretends we are one people, one culture, one worldview, one moral community, and one historical experience. That is childish. Nigeria does not need to become one tribe. Nigeria does not need to become one culture. Nigeria does not need everyone to eat the same food, marry the same way, worship the same way, dress the same way, or organize society the same way. What Nigeria needs is coherence. A country where different regions can govern themselves according to their values, compete with each other, cooperate where necessary, and still stand together as a serious bargaining bloc in the world. Because in the international system, small fragmented African states will be eaten alive. So we must ask ourselves whether we can build a political arrangement where our differences do not become a weapon in the hands of failed politicians. And this is where both sides need to hear the truth. If you are a southern youth and you believe the North must become exactly to your taste before you can accept it as part of the political arrangement, then you are not serious. You may not like Hisbah. You may not like Sharia courts. You may not like how conservative northern societies are. You may not like the way we vote, dress, worship, marry, or organize our communities. Fine. But if your idea of a working Nigeria is that Kano must first become Lagos, or Sokoto must first become Enugu, or Katsina must first become Port Harcourt, then you are not yet tired of the state of Nigeria. A coherent Nigeria must allow Kano to be Kano, Lagos to be Lagos, Enugu to be Enugu, Sokoto to be Sokoto, and Rivers to be Rivers. What Nigeria needs is restructuring that makes every region carry more responsibility for the choices it makes. And this is where the North itself must also face its own contradiction. It is not enough to say, “Leave the North alone. Let the North live by its values.” That argument only becomes serious when the North also accepts the financial responsibility that comes with political and cultural autonomy. If the governor of Kano wants to subsidize mass weddings for 2,000 couples, that is his right. But it will make more sense if Kano is generating the money for it. If the governor of Sokoto wants to subsidize Hajj or support pilgrims, that is his political choice. But it will carry more moral weight if Sokoto is funding it from its own productive economy. If the governor of Zamfara wants to negotiate with bandits, grant amnesty, or offer concessions in the name of peace, that decision should be borne mainly by the people and resources of Zamfara, not hidden within the comfort of national allocation. If Kano decides it does not want alcohol sold openly in its society, that should be its cultural and religious right. But it becomes a contradiction when the same political system benefits from VAT and federal revenue that partly comes from products and lifestyles those same states publicly reject. This is why restructuring matters. It protects the South from blaming the North for everything. It protects the North from being constantly insulted for choosing its own values. And it forces every region to face the cost of its own political choices. Because right now, Nigeria is structured in a way that encourages hypocrisy. Southern politicians can fail their people and blame the North. Northern politicians can defend cultural autonomy while depending on a central pool funded by economic activities they sometimes condemn. A serious Nigeria should say: live according to your values, but fund the consequences.