Dantata warns economy sliding as ACF blames Northern governors for poverty
Wednesday, 07 September 2011 00:00 Blessing Olaifa, Kaduna & Adeola Ajakaiye, Kano
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[Aminu Dantata]

The leadership of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) has come under scathing criticism for its failure to square up to the problems confronting Nigeria ’s northern region.

The forum is facing frontal attacks from analysts and chieftains of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) which represent the interest of the north, for its aloofness on critical issues which have bogged down the northern states, especially in the past past few years.

In like manner, Aminu Dantata, one of the foremost entrepreneurs in the country, has expressed concern about the failure of on-going policies initiated by the Federal Government, to improve the economy.

Dantata warned that if the current development was allowed to continue unabated, the nation could find it difficult to achieve the goals of its new economic development programme- the Vision2020:20.

He also pointed at the deplorable state of the nation `s infrastructure, including roads and power supply, saying they were crippling existing businesses and discouraging upstarts.

Speaking at the 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Northern Nigeria Flour Mill Plc, held in Kano, on Tuesday, Dantata noted that these developments were compounding the cost of doing business in the country.

Dantata, who is the chairman of the company, also observed that the continuing fall in equity prices on the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), was cause for concern.

“There are fears that the market performance may remain dismal while investors appear to adopt a ‘wait and see approach’ as the rate of uncertainty is becoming high.

It was gathered that since the Northern Governors Forum organised the Northern Agricultural and Educational Summits, nothing has been heard about them and there have been no concrete steps taken so far, to show that the northern governors were indeed serious about the issues raised.

Northern leaders have continued to express concern over the deplorable living conditions of northerners and the worsening poverty level in the region.

They contend that political leaders in the region have to take urgent steps to address the poverty situation, stressing that the growing levels of unemployment and closure of industries in the region, could portend grave dangers, before long.

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Makarfi, at a round table discussion organised recently by the Kaduna State branch of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ) cautioned that urgent steps have to be taken by those in authority to address the problems of insecurity in the north.

Makarfi insisted that the post- election violence was triggered by a number of factors, chief among which were leadership failure, ethno-religious disharmony, closure of industries, misuse of political power, injustice and lack of confidence in the way the business of governance was being conducted in recent times.

Aliyu Mohammed, a chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) told Businessday in Kaduna , that the present crop of northern leaders had failed the people, as a result of their purported incompetence and inability to harness the human and natural resources in the region, for the good of the people.

He cited the unpalatable predicament of the New Nigerian Newspapers, the Kaduna Textile Company Limited, KTL, and the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) as examples, saying northern leaders had killed the dreams of the late Northern Region premier, Ahmadu Bello, to empower his people, side by side with their counterparts in the southern states.

Aliyu particularlly criticised the governor of Niger state, Babangida Aliyu, for his purported lack of focus and inability to bring the northern governors togerther to address the problems facing the region.

He regretted that the governors had become largely individualistic in their approach to issues that touched on northern interests, regretting that they behaved as if the people no longer had a common bond.

Other stakeholders condemned the way the northern governors purportedly abandoned their pledge to bail the NNDC out of the doldrums, by failing to raise the sum of N250 million each, for its re-capitalisation.

It was gathered that no state had given any money to the NNDC as its contribution up till now.

They also condemned the pitiable condition of the New Nigerian Newspapers, which has been operating under harsh conditions for the past 15 years, with a backlog of unpaid gratuities and pensions of its retirees.

Analysts said the continued closure of industries in the region, along with the growing insecurity, had worsened the situation, leading to unprecedented movement of people and businesses, away from the northern states.

The failure of the northern governors to also come down hard on the Boko Haram group which has been claiming responsibility for the series of bomb blasts across the northern states, also creates an impression that the governors have adopted a passive approach to the matter, leaving the landscape to religious leaders to feast on, it was said.

I don't really see what is good in the northern governors to like in the first place.Bunch of corrupt sucking vampires bent on victimizing the populace in anyway they can.

@Topic,
They should start like their counterpart from the south: Send children to school, to acquire functional education. Islamic schools have its benefits, and certainly more disadvantages in a secular county like Nigeria. Northern leaders, nay, discerning parents from Core North, need no rockets scientists to tell them so. Take a look around. Most Core Northerners cannot rub shoulders with the peers from the South, in education, intellect, and quality of live. This is not disparaging, and besides I am quoting their leaders.

The SE/SS has long closed the educational gap, that existed after the war, with the SW to the benefit of Nigeria. NC is catching up fast! Where are you oh NE, NW, where are your children? What are you waiting for, another Presidency? To do what exactly? You cannot have political power forever, in fact you dont need it, it is distraction! Besides, your continually seeking for political power is creating unease with other part of the country. SE/SS at the peek of marginalization embraced education, as the choices where limited. This is your chance to do something for the next generation, focus on the next 25 years, not on 2015!

Northern governors and leaders should start pushing for free and compulsory education of western up to secondary levels for their next generation. The Almajiri system has exploded literally in their face, it is not beneficial in 21st century modern Nigeria, and world. Dantata, Dangote, etc should start scholarship schemes like Rochas (even if it means helping only northerners); as a matter of fact, they should sponsor train the trainer (Teacher's Education) for willing and dedicated people. In the South, people send money for our siblings school fees and that - so Dangote's assistance may not be directly needed.

Political power has not benefit the North, rather, it has disenfranchised and pauperized them . To continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result is the beginning of insanity. North must change strategy! Insistence on political and religious power as an end by itself is their greatest undoing. The SE has over the years built capacity - intellectually and economically (and are still building). SW has been on top of their game many years ahead of their peers; aided by the fact that unlike the SE/SS and North, they didn't lose hundreds of thousand of their sons, let alone millions, during the civil war as their sons and daughters were getting educated while the country smoldered in the bitter war!

If the North fails to hearken to the need to upgrade the gray matter of their children with functional education, and continue to use the game of numbers - politics- as a tool for relevance and dominance, it is only a matter of time before the worse happen. And when it does, they could find the rest of Nigeria unforgiving and unfaltering. They would then have to play their last card, and hope that it be a Joker!

And on a lighter note, I am tired of the Southern (SE, SS, SW) intellectual war on Nairaland, when are we going to square off with droves of (core) Northern intellectuals? Hopefully they will be around to confront our children in intellectual banter. Hopefully. . .