Nigeria Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has regretted that the vibrant North which the founding fathers built with a lot of commitment has been brought backward as a result of self serving later day leaders.
“While the Northern States occupy about 70% of the land mass of the country, they also have the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the country, the lowest rate of child enrolment in schools, highest number of unemployed young people, highest levels of poverty and faces the challenge of inter-ethic and inter-religious conflict, including the Boko Haram terrorism.”
Professor Osinbajo, who spoke today at the opening of Northern Reawakening Forum (NRF) Summit at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, recalled that Nigerian founding fathers in the North, such as Sir Ahamu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto; Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mallam Aminu Kano, J. S. Tarka and countless others, clearly understood the varied issues afflicting the region and laid the plans and worked selflessly to realize them.
“Our history reminds us of the visionary leaders in Nigeria who fired our imagination through their vision, diligence and selfless service; who did not live or fight to enrich themselves. They did not leave vast personal estates behind, but their names and legacies live in the hearts of the people.”
Vice President Osinbajo, who asked leaders to aspire to win the people’s heart rather than enrich themselves with state resources, applauded the theme of the Summit: “Building a Safe, Secure and Economically Inclusive Northern Nigeria.”
According to him, in the 19 States of the North Nigeria, the human development indices are by far poorer than the rest of the country.
The Vice President recalled that the Northern Nigerian Economic Summit of 2012 was the first fora to draw attention to some of the depressing statistics about the condition of the North.
Based on the conclusions of the Summit, he said, the North had some of the largest numbers of the out-of-school figures in the world, expressing optimism that as dismal as some of these conditions might be, “it does not have to define our future or that of our children.”
He commended the planners of the Summit for not shying away from the tough issues – “from the girl-child education to the Alma-Jiri system, from women empowerment to the economic viability of states, from an immediate Marshal plan-like attempt at addressing the areas in conflict to how to create cooperation between states and stakeholders.”
The Vice President gave assurance that the Federal Government is committed to action on all issues that affect the life of Nigerians in any part of the country, and that the Buhari Administration has been very active in interventions in the North East, due to the immediacy of the crisis in that axis of the nation.
He expressed the need for short term strategy of immediate hardship alleviation as well as a long term plan to build the infrastructure that most closely affects the economic life of the most vulnerable citizens.
He also stressed the need for the building of institutions that would make more of an impact in the years to come and beyond.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Forum, Hon. Mohammed Umara Kumalia had said that discussions at the Summit would help in the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the North, adding that the 2013 World Bank Report had shown that the North has the highest poverty index in the country, which the Forum seeks to redress.
The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, Alhaji Kashim Shettima who is also the Governor of Borno State, said that the best way to address the backwardness and poverty in the North is to return to agriculture and agro-allied industry as well as creative ventures in region.
He stressed the need for a paradigm shift from elite nature of the North to embrace the poor segment of the region. [myad]
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