I grew up having an innocent and pure desire to mix with friends from Northern region. The picture of the North that I had in my head was of course of the ground-nut pyramids of Kano State and the lovely weather of Jos. My aunt lived in Kaduna and I enjoyed every visit to Kaduna because it seemed to me then like a "Lagos" in the North. I was of course a Lagos boy born in Ikeja but visited Bakori in Katsina state just for the fun of it. I was also at Kaura Namoda around Zamfara/Kebbi axis on an assignment. By age 22, I had crossed nearly all the states of the North Western part of the country and the North East as well. My service year brought again opportunity to live in Maiduguri and I remember how I monitored elections in Bama Local Govt., a few hours from Cameroon. My sojourn took me to places like Gamboru-Ngala and many other parts of the state that one may question if indeed they were Nigeria. I saw camels cross near-deserts and saw camel meat. I had a Fulani girlfriend then too who seemed to just cap my entire interest in the North.
I was however a Fola Agoro born and bred boy. The late Fola Agoro was our landlord and neighbour and after whom the area in Shomolu was named. I grew up believing the mantra - "One Nigeria" where we sang "Me I like my country, I like the land and people, everything e de for Nigerriiiaaa...." That TV ad sobers me when I remember it because the voice over ended with "the things wey oda countries de find, we get am!". The North was "vacation zones" for me. I would boast about my journeys and trips and was exceedingly in love with the North.

Nairaland is always awash with stories of celebrities visiting Nigeria even in the heat of travel warnings issued by foreign nations to citizens about dangers of coming to Nigeria. In the last one year alone, we have seen big international names defy all the entire threats of kidnapping, hostage taking and all to come for the mere purpose of entertainment. Name then: Rick Ross, Idris Elba, Akon, Keri Hilson, Kelly Rowland, Big Sean, and the less-liked-by-me Kim Kardashian and many others that I do not remember now. So while Nigeria is seen as a hotbed for terrorism, American stars troop here with less concern. The flip side of the story however is that they only come to Lagos. Lagos seems to steal the entire show all the time. The tradition and pattern being created by this development in the future may mean that Nigerian Art may be defined by what obtains in the Lagos area if that is not already happening. The North however has huge potentials to attract foreigners but I doubt that except a near 100% turn around of the social-dynamics of co-existence is achieved, the North may be left to suffer social starvation, artistic deprivation and lose any shine whatsoever for attracting foreigners for anything. Even Southerners fear to go to the North today and I long for that glorious beauty that the North used to represent in the past. It is clearly lost.

But that is what northerners want! They want to be like Northern Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc