The sociocultural mouthpiece of the North, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has observed that the planned national protest is ill-timed and counterproductive.
This was even though it said it was not a party to it and would not support it.
The National President of ACF, Mamman Mike Osuman, stated this during a courtesy call to the Kaduna state governor, Senator Uba Sani, at Sir Kashim Ibrahim Govt House on Monday.
He said the forum is not part of the plan and will not be supported because it is not only ill-timed but also counterproductive.
But he added, “We at ACF remain committed to articulating and defending the interests of the peoples of the North through our various activities.
He noted that one such was the recently constituted Technical Committee that reviewed the 1999 Constitution (as amended) by the ACF.
“The report of the Technical Committee formed the basis of ACF’s submission to the joint committees of the National Assembly on Constitution review. Our input will be formally made available to the Northern Governors’ Forum,” he said.
The national president also said 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 the trough.
He opined that 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.”
Responding, Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani, assured that the Northern Nigeria region will soon overcome the current security and socio-economic challenges bedevilling it.
According to him, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is doing its best to salvage the situation, noting that the federal government has been giving uncommon support to state governments in the North to address their myriad challenges.
Gov. Sani, who fumes over the narrative that President Tinubu is against the North, stressed that it is false, absurd, and unbecoming.
He stressed that it is the handiwork of elements who are experts in political manipulation, adding that they are only interested in feathering their political nests, not the development of Northern Nigeria.
Gov. Sani explained that 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 (that is, about 133 million people) are multidimensionally 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 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.
“Out of this outrageous number of out-of-school children, about 70% are in the North.
“This is quite disturbing and must worry all of us who still care for the North and Nigeria in general.
“Insecurity in the North has retarded developments in the critical sectors as 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 and 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 negatives,” he said.
Gov Sani expressed dismay that despite the development indices, unfortunately, what people see in the North is the promotion of toxic politics, opposition for opposition’s sake, and “pull him down syndrome.”
He observed that some Northerners 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?”
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