One hand, I would say: It is hard a thing to change a habit that has become a psychological or a mental or  a spiritual habit. with this reason the one negative answer is "No" to any saying that the North can survive without NigerDelta oil..It is like a left-handed child who has grown with left-handed manner until 40years old.
On the other hand, I would proffer a positive answer with saying that if we measure and put in an efficient and effective utilisation of the humans, all physical input and natural resources that abound in the North, I would say, "Yes" to the saying that the North can survive without NigerDelta oil

Example

"...........if we lived in a world with no women"
The world without women will never have been a complete world. God has seen everything in this dimension because He is the wisest, in His world, and created many samples/species of non-living/ living features respectively, : He created the light and compliments it with the dark; He created the black and complements it with the black in many features; and craeted humans with different colours; He created the talkatives and compliments it with the taciturn; He created the short and complimeted it with the long; God is the wisest, so a man must be complimented with the female just like the ball joints compliment the socket joints in our skeletal system. The two have to move together for there to be friction and real movement of the human body.
lets share another wisdom somewhere in other topic...I go!

Alot of singles in Nigeria...the cause:
The main cause of many unmarried singles in Nigeria is unseen fisibile and visibile abundant cash by the people that ought to be married at the ripe marriage period. The ripe but umarried ones  feel that money is the general in the making of a marriage and belittle the ancient saying that two heads are better than one.
The Nigerian unmarried youngsters never appreciate that marriage is a faith thing and always visualize marriage as a thing that must yield 7children when it starts and that must require abundant money resources, so they become afraid of the non-visible resources and foot the unprecedented love that ought to oil the marriage process.
Many ripe marriable Nigerians are umarried today because the females are not really engineering the process. I know of a female that picked on a ripe young man that seemed okay to her liking but without "pay": she was wise to make the young man who needed marriage to become married with her: Of course every reasonable young man in the street loves sweet thing like sex and would love it to be parmanent and not a stealing thing as we get when we are boy friends and girlfriends. Moreso, every reasonable young man wants  to be seen as responsible to his mom and dad who would joy in seeing their grandchild/ren before they die. The wise lady cleaned the reasonable young man up and till today the young man is become a pastor and wears clothings/suit that are so expensive that could tempt other money mongering ladies out there to want to compete with the wise lady or want to snatch her making of a married family.
Many ripe marriable Nigerians are umarried today because some ripe men and women are seen unreasonable and irresponsible: some ripe young men and young females are still in their game of testing testing of different styles, length, thickness, robustness, money and stature. Who is to be blamed? of course the female who throw herself to such a man without a concrete mission in a relationship is to be blamed and the man who goes about giving his all without knowing the money mongering type in females is also to be blamed, but I tell you when a man discovers you are meant for his money he tries every styles possible to make you a shaft after the relationship, do you know that? And when a woman discovers you are meant for her wealth she could strategize any avenue always to make your life miserable: All these contribute to why we do not see ourselves intact enough to choose our mates for marriage: marriage should be a case of "look before you leap process."
Trust is another thing that never make we unmarried folks get setteld down, but I see this reason as irrational because to make a relationship wax 100 years or 90 years, one in a relationship must tolerate, play the fool, and be ready to see whatever: "for better for worst untill death do you part" So it is not an excuse to say, "he never trust me and she never trust me", any body with this excuse seems to want freedom to cheat because in a relationship you must be 99% to 100% transparent to each other. Meet your parents or grandparents who have achieved the feet of a wonderful years in a marriage to let one be wiser alright.
I drop my wisdom here, but with more to say in other topics!

If I'm made the president of Nigeria
1. looking into the employment sector is a priority: the sector need be mobilised to make room for even distribution of the economy money resources:the style of one "man show" or one man receving all the bulk pay in a given employment position would be phased out:the one man show I mean is a situation where in a given employment position, a person is employed and paid =N=1million a month(though a hyperbole), this is really a crazy style and continues to wear out a particular human resources, an employed individual who though would never complain because of greed, as we can see in our today's Banking sector. Every sector needs be made with a style of job shifting in a particular position which entails that two people or more are used to harness a particular position and its resouces in an office per day. instead of paying a =N=1million to just one person, an even distribution would mean two persons are sharing and getting the share of the thesame work and pay and effectively and efficiently working in the given office. This will reduce the unemploment rate; gear a real distribution of money resources, evenly; harness the abundant human and all physical intelligence in our country; and make room for two people to work in two or three industries as the move from one place of work to another in other to make ends meet, which will boost production--no monotony.
2. As a president, I would look forward on all avenues to redeem the Nigerian image abroad. The international politics from all forms singing the music of castigating the most populous and wealthy black nation in the world would be diplomatically and politically stopped. One thing is people are politically drowned to down grade their feeling and boasting they ought to have from their heritage: I mean spoiling the name of a country that is not only the giant of africa, but most resourceful, earns some people the mark of diverting the attention of the supposed people who are supposed to be proud of a wonderfully God made black nation. So, I would really put a stop to any nuisances from all sides that downgrades Nigeria because of its human imperfections; no country or people are perfect in this world anyway. The diplomacy would be in a frame such as is either you are for us or you are against us.
3. As the president of Nigeria, I would look into the taste of my people and try to channel it to more of what we can get economically. The higher the taste of the people of a given country, the higher the time of development. The taste in this contest means the demand by the people of material, physical, and psychological products that they feel is the ultimate in life. For instance, it is hardly a thing to count the number of people riding bicycle in China unlike in Nigeria.
As the president, more of volunteerism jobs and works need to be put in place for a show of patriotism.
I HAVE MORE TO SAY BUT LET ME STOP HERE

The death sentence penalty should be done in such a way that my big country and Indonesian government know how to manage such a dirty stain from unscruplous people. My country is a very big country, resourceful, and big name in africa and needs be repected. I love my country, and international politics of making the world of blacks and the world of whites and all colors from hating the giant of all blacks , for selfish reasons, should be handled with diplomatic care. I LOVE NIGERIA MY COUNTRY AND WILL BE LOYAL AND HONEST TO IT! So if you a human being or a government or in any shoes you find yourself cruxifying my innocent country or nailing my country like the way Jesus was nailed, you need 10inches nails for managing your own cruxification.