The Northern Elders Forum
(NEF) has written President
Muhammadu Buhari, alleging
marginalisation of the region
through the instrumentality of
the 2016 Budget.
The forum, in the letter
endorsed by elder statesman,
Ambassador Yusuf Maitama
Sule, said in a 10-paragraph
letter dated March 16, 2016
that the North was being
shortchanged under the
president.
The letter read: “We convey to
Mr. President our sincere
felicitations and pray God to
continue to guide you as you
steer our national affairs
through these difficult times.
We have consulted a broad
spectrum of opinions in the
North, and decided to meet
with you and present advice
and suggestions that will assist
your administration. This is our
token contribution to your
efforts, and it is made with
sincere intention to assist you.”
The Northern elders said that
the North was being
shortchanged, as according to
them, the budget lacked
equity.
They also said that the
president needed to allocate
massive projects to the North
in the next three years to
ensure that the economy of the
area is enhanced.
According to the Northern
elders, government’s spending
on recurrent aspect of the
budget was also skewed
against the North, alleging that
75 per cent of the civil service
was made up of citizens from
the three geo-political zones in
the South.
The letter read further: “We
have conducted some analysis
on the 2016 Budget estimates
which Mr. President submitted
to the National Assembly. We
are concerned over the
absence of equity in the
allocation of, particularly,
capital spending. The three
geo-political zones in the North
are severely shortchanged.
“For a region deserving greater
resources and attention, as
well as the political backbone
of your administration, this
situation will pose serious
problems for your
administration.
“We advise Mr. President to
review the proposed
allocations in consultation with
the National Assembly. We
wish to draw Mr. President’s
attention to the fact that over
75 per cent of all federal
government public service
employees are from the three
geo-political zones in the
South. This means that virtually
the same percentage of
recurrent spending will go to
Nigerians from the South.
“Finally, we advise Mr.
President to flag agriculture
and water resources and
exploitation of the North’s
natural resources and
rehabilitation of its
infrastructure as priorities for
the budgets of the next three
years.”
On the government structure,
the verdict of the NEF was
damning. The forum described
Buhari’s team as weak, urging
him to immediately establish
an Economic Management
Team.
The group wrote: “We have
noted the need for
improvements in the human
and institutional capabilities
which aid Mr. President in
governing the nation. As
economic difficulties and
demands for good governance
become more challenging, the
quality of advice and support
Mr. President will require will
need to be substantially raised.
“We urge Mr. President to
establish an Economic
Management Team and
conclude appointments of key
officers and advisers. Where
there are evident weaknesses
and gaps in skills,
competences, experience and
integrity, we urge Mr. President
to take steps to address them.”
On Boko Haram, the Northern
Elders asked the president to
probe indications that the sect
still controls some areas near
Maiduguri as well as possible
foreign conspiracy in the
insurgency war.
“We commend Mr. President’s
resolve in improving our
general security concerns, and
urge you to deepen your
personal involvement and
scrutiny over the state of the
fight against Boko Haram.
“We advise that all avenues
should be exploited to further
cripple and isolate this
insurgency as well as
improving the quality of
intelligence and integrity of the
leadership of the Armed
Forces.
“We advise Mr. President to
look into allegations that Boko
Haram still has a substantial
presence in many areas near
Maiduguri and in other towns
and villages.
“Mr. President should also look
into possible complicity of
foreign nations in the fight
against Boko Haram and take
firmer steps to protect our
nation’s security against
subversion.
“On management of religious-
related threats, we strongly
advise Mr. President to improve
monitoring of potential sources
of both internal and external
subversion and hostility and
counter them,” the forum said.
Meanwhile, the NEF also asked
President Buhari to tackle
insecurity of lives and
properties in the North,
especially kidnapping and
cattle rustling, which they said
had been on the increase.
The forum wrote: “Cattle
rustling on industrial scale has
devastated one of the major
pillars of the Northern
economy. This disaster is now
being compounded by
kidnapping of persons on an
alarming rate. Inter-communal
conflicts, particularly in states
in the North Central are also
resurfacing after a lull,
following Mr. President’s
election.
“We appeal to Mr. President to
direct major improvements in
basic policing of our
communities and investigate
possible collusion of law
enforcement agencies in these
crimes.”

tribuneonlineng.com/the-north-
is-su...

Selfish parasites , they never in their live talk about Nigeria development in general , it is only them them them

The other day, i gave one of the food on a sunday and today he came over to shine my shoes and was hailing me to give him some plate of rice. i remembered quickly during the election they all ran away to vote for their brother and now he wants to eat a plate of rice from the brother of the man the voted out. where una they see person way they work for gtb but they collect salary for access bank? they suffering never start, they would soon eat themselves, **oo** fulls

This is just the beginning... Northerners be ready to suffer more!!

hope they are begging with their plates.

ufotty2001:
This is just the beginning... Northerners be ready to suffer more!!

BROTHER THAT IS A BAD COMMENT YOU KNOW THAT. THE God We Serve Shall Not Let His Children Suffer. Don't Give Prophesy Of DOOM BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT GOD

The entire zoo feels the same way as you people just that they have learned to face it and look forward to make both ends meet by reducing dependency on negative change at least for now

Some are suffering while others are feeding fat. That is Nigeria for you.

If north says they are suffering then what wud the people of the southeast now say.
Anybody that travels to that region must develop this feeling as he stays there that all is not well.
And from all i read up there the billions of projects allocated to the north at the expense of other regions is not there problem, their problem is that Southerners mk up a large percentage of civil service.
Greedy people.

No matter the amount of allocation given to the north they will never be as developed as even Osun State

Its not up to a year, they are complaining.

By 2019, they will be apologizing to Jonathan

Remember Buhari is the president of the federal republic of Nigeria and not Northern Nigeria alone. In baba voice" I belong no one, I belong to everybody."

I am pained by this write up. and pity for the south. I thought Gej abandoned south and worked in the north.

They're Suffering? Is this meant to be a joke or what What did GEJ now do there?



Anyhow, una suffering no concern me.

The lying liars are beginning to wail uncontrollably

This is height of greed, terrible.