Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, yesterday received in audience a high-powered delegation of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), led by the newly elected Chairman, Mamman Mike Osuman, (SAN), OFR.
While commending the ACF for been steadfast in its commitment to the promotion and protection of the interests of the people of Northern Nigeria, he drew the attention of the regional association to the disturbing negative developmental indices and security challenges confronting the North.
Governor Sani expressed concern over the high rate of poverty, out-of-school children and the general insecurity in the North, declaring that the region faces an existential threat. The development, the governor added, was quite disturbing and must perturb all those who still care for the North and Nigeria in general.
Sani highlighted the challenges facing the North, including poverty, insecurity, and poor education, citing statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics survey revealed that 63% of persons living within Nigeria (that is about 133 million people) are multi-dimensionally poor. 65% of the poor (that is 86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South. The North is also not faring any better in the area of Education. The UNICEF puts the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria at 18.3 million. Of this outrageous number of out-of-school children, about 70% are in the North of Nigeria.
Insecurity in the North has retarded developments in the critical sectors. A lot of farmers cannot access their farms. Food insecurity now confronts us directly. Child and maternal mortality are on the increase. Our infrastructure has decayed. The moves to address our infrastructural deficits are equally threatened by insecurity.
From this very disturbing picture, it is clear that Northern Nigeria faces an existential threat. This is therefore a time for all hands to be on deck to pull the region back from the brink. It is a time when our people must close ranks, fashion a Marshall Plan for the North and move decisively to change these negative.
Sani emphasised the need for collective action to address these issues, urging the ACF to refocus attention on development rather than politics. He commended the ACF for promoting and protecting the interests of Northern Nigeria, despite the regions diverse composition.
He also used the opportunity to puncture the narrative being promoted in certain circles that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, is against the North, attributing such narratives to political manipulation.
According to him, “The Government of President Tinubu has been giving uncommon support to State governments in the North to address their myriad challenges. The narrative of been anti-North is therefore false, absurd and unbecoming. It is the handiwork of elements adept at political manipulation. They are only interested in feathering their political nests, not the development of Northern Nigeria. The ACF must beware of such elements. Their antics and manipulations are chiefly responsible for the relegation of the North to the economic and political backwaters.
“The ACF also has a major role to play in building the required consensus for the best approach to tackling the multifaceted challenges facing Northern Nigeria. ACF must make efforts to refocus the attention of our people. Let us de-emphasise politics and focus on development.
Earlier in his address, the Chairman of ACF, Mamman Mike Osuman, (SAN), OFR, expressed the organisation’s profound appreciation and support for our administration’s innovative policies of rural development and social reconciliation.
While stating that ACF “cannot wait to celebrate the positive outcomes of these visionary policies,” he added that “our rural areas stand in great need of attention and transformation, given the growing scourge of multidimensional poverty and violent crimes ravaging the North”.
He lamented that “despite our valiant efforts, the achievement of peace, unity and progress in the North remains essentially a work in progress. All the indices that track human progress, most of all poverty, illiteracy, health and security of life and property, tend to place the North at the deep end of trough.” “A great deal of work awaits all Northerners. It is therefore incumbent on our leaders and citizens alike to change the narrative without further delay”, he emphasised.
Osuman thanked the Kaduna State Government for facilitating ACF’s acquisition of the Office Complex at No. 11A Sokoto Road, Kaduna. According to him: “For over 20 years, the ACF had engaged with the Kaduna State Government on the acquisition and transfer of this property, which serves as our national headquarters. It took the leadership and fairness of Your Excellency, Governor Uba Sani, to bring the process to a most satisfactory conclusion”.
