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(L-R)
Kashim Shettima (Borno State Governor), Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar (Bauchi
State Governor), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Former Governor of Kano State), Samuel
Ortom (Benue State Governor) at the summit
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Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo has called on Nigerian leaders to do all it takes to win the people’s
heart rather than enriching themselves with state resources.
He
made the call on Saturday during the opening session of Northern Reawakening
Forum (NRF) Summit at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.
Osinbajo
recalled that Nigeria’s founding fathers in the North such as Sir Ahamu Bello,
Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mallam Aminu Kano, J. S. Tarka
laid plans and worked selflessly to realize the varied issues afflicting their
regions.
The Nation report continues:
The
Vice President, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and
Publicity, Laolu Akande, said: “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.”
He
commended the present crop of Nigerian leaders who have committed themselves to
such selflessness and vision, as he applauded the theme of the Summit,
“Building a Safe, Secure and Economically Inclusive Northern Nigeria”,
Osinbajo
also lamented the derailment from the foundations set by the founding fathers
which has led to the challenges confronting the country today.
He
said: “Nigeria is a nation of 170 million people, the sixth largest producer of
oil, over a hundred varieties of solid minerals and precious metals, hundreds
of thousands of hectares of arable land, the largest economy in Africa, yet
desperately poor.”
Noting
that the challenges are the same across the country, he said: “The difference
is not of a kind but in degrees”.
He
explained that in the nineteen Northern States of Nigeria, the human
development indices “are by far poorer than the rest of the country”.
“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 enrollment 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.”
The
Northern Nigerian Economic Summit of 2012, he said, 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 that the North had some of the
largest numbers of the out-of-school figures in the world.
“Dismal
as some of these conditions might be, it does not have to define our future or
that of our children”. He said
He
assured that the Federal Government was committed to all issues that affect the
life of Nigerians in any part of the country, stressing that the Buhari
Administration has been very active in interventions in the North East, due to
the immediacy of the crisis in the area.
Harping
on the need for short term immediate strategy to alleviate hardship and long
term plan to build the infrastructure that most closely affects the economic
life of the most vulnerable citizens.
Speaking
earlier, the Chairman of the Forum, Hon. Mohammed Umara Kumalia, said that
discussions at the Summit will help in the rehabilitation and rebuilding of the
North.
He
also said 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.
Alhaji
Kashim Shettima, the Governor of Borno State, said that the panacea for the
backwardness and poverty of the North is addressing the problem of agriculture
and agro-allied industry and creative ventures in the region.
He also said there was need
for a paradigm shift from elite nature of the North to embrace the poor segment
of the region.
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