Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari has asserted that serious danger is looming for northern children if northerners do not wake up from their slumber.
According to Governor Masari, the prevailing lifestyle of citizens from the region added with the looming population explosion is bound to push things to the wire if nothing is done urgently.
While drawing comparison with their southern counterparts, using two key demographic variables, marriage and birth rate, Masari said about 80 per cent of men in the south stick to one wife while the same percentage of men in the north marry two to four wives.
Governor Masari made the remarks while declaring open the “Katsina Future Summit” organised by a coalition of non-governmental organisations known as “Save Katsina Group” to orchestrate a dependable future for people of the state.
Similarly, according to the Governor, the average number of children a person from the south is likely to have is three while the average in the north is about nine.
Read Also: Masari Winning War Against Bandits – Lai Mohammed
Sequel to this, Governor Masari warned that to continue walloping in the old order may worsen the living standard of people from the north, particularly children and by implication, the entire nation.
To that effect, Masari is calling on his fellow northerners to rise up to seek and apply the required knowledge to tame the menace of the looming population explosion.
‘In 1987, when Katsina was created, the population was about 3.8 million. How many years today, we are talking about 8 million.
‘That land of Katsina that was 500 years ago is still the same land. It has not increased in size but has increased in population.
‘So, how do we conquer the situation, accommodate ourselves, our future children and grandchildren without the requisite educational knowledge?
‘Gentlemen, we need to sit up. The challenges of the future with population explosion and with the character and nature of Hausa man which is totally different from the culture and traditions of our southern partners.
‘What is the average of a person per child if you go to Lagos and other southern parts? It is an average of 3 to 1.
What is the average here in the Northwest, Northeast and others? A woman gives birth to the average of 9 here in the North.
‘What is the average age of marriage? 80% marry one wife in the south while in the North, 80% percent marry from two to four. Multiply the numbers and see for yourself.
‘If we continue in this way obviously out of school children and abandoned children are going to be much more,’ Governor Masari queried.
In the same vein, Masari further admonished youths to ‘work very hard against the menace of drugs and other intoxicants’ which he said is one of the major factors fuelling banditry in the north.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK