The Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, has expressed deep concern over the rising cases of out-of-school children, poverty, and other socioeconomic problems in the North, warning that the region is on the brink of collapse if leaders do not unite to find solutions to these challenges.
Sani raised the alarm during a courtesy visit by the National Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mamman Osuman, to Kaduna State.
He said, “This new executive committee has emerged at a time of great challenges. We are confronted with difficult developmental and security questions. Criminal elements have been laying siege to communities in the North and reversing our progress on multiple fronts. Our development deficits are scary and require urgent attention.
“In 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the National Bureau of Statistics, launched its most extensive measure of multidimensional poverty. The survey revealed that 63% of persons living in Nigeria (about 133 million people) are multidimensionally poor. 65% of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South.
“The North is not faring any better in the area of education. The United Nations Children’s Fund (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. This is quite disturbing and must worry all of us who still care for the North and Nigeria in general.
“As I mentioned, insecurity in the North has retarded developments in 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.
“For the North to progress, we must move decisively to change these negative development indices. Unfortunately, what we see in the North is the promotion of toxic politics, opposition for opposition’s sake, and a ‘pull him down syndrome.’
“We indulge in endless blame games, devoid of attempts at soul-searching or introspection. We have failed to ask ourselves some vital questions. Where did the rain start beating the North? Who are those complicit in the underdevelopment of the North? What have we done individually and collectively to find solutions to the challenges facing the North?
“We must take a hard look at ourselves, tell ourselves some home truths, and move together to fashion a common strategy to address our developmental challenges and confront the criminals making life unbearable for our people.
“The Arewa Consultative Forum has a major role to play in building this required consensus for the best approach to tackle the multifaceted challenges facing Northern Nigeria. ACF must make efforts to refocus the attention of our people. Let us de-emphasize politics and focus on development. Let us gear our efforts towards overcoming the threats with all the energy we can muster.”
