Olushola Omogbehin
Atiku Abubakar and Aliko Dangote have called on northern leaders to rebuild the progress and development of the region so as not to further endanger its insecurity and economic situation.
He made this call on Friday at the 25th anniversary dinner of Arewa Consultative Forum, in Kaduna.
According to Atiku, the North cannot be complacent and allow poverty, insecurity and educational decline to cripple its future.
Praising past leaders of the group for sustaining the body, he urged that without a clear vision and collective decision, the region would be stagnant and degenerate further into a region without security of lives and property.
Atiku recalled how he provided leadership in 1999 by reconciling different political divides through a committee chaired by Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari that later gave birth to modern ACF.
Citing the priorities of Sardauna in 1961 to include education, agriculture and industrial growth, he stressed the need to drive the development and vision of Sir Ahmadu Bello .
Speaking on Northern Development Project, NDP with the objective of rebuilding agricultural value chains and address climate-induced productivity challenges, he said that key obstacles from energy poverty to multiple taxation are some of the major barriers to industrial growth in the north.
He urged the North to emulate nations such as India and China, which have achieved economic transformation despite diversities.
In his own message, Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the North’s slow economic development with increased insecurity can be traced to many years of policy inconsistency and electricity shortages. This has led to the collapse of many promising northern industries.
He reminded the gathering that the commissioning of Arthur Andersen (now part of KPMG) to study why northern textile magnates and other industrialists failed despite strong starts pointed to inconsistencies in government policies and unreliable power supply. “Without electricity, you cannot have growth, no matter how hard you try,” he said.
He therefore called for urgent strategies that will take advantage of the landmass and population of the region and make it to become West Africa’s food zone and to do away with crisis confronting the region that is capable of consuming everyone.
Dangote said emphatically that the current insecurity such as banditry, youth joblessness and economic displacement are all direct consequence of long-standing neglect.
