AREWA
leaders have blamed the political and social predicament facing the region on
the failure of the Federal Government to improve the welfare of the people and
also guarantee freedom and rights of citizens, saying that this has accounted
for the current state of siege in the North.
The buck-passing arising from the
dwindling political fortune of the region and the insecurity pervading the
geographical area was part of the outcome expressed in the communiqué issued by
the northern elders after a two-day symposium held at Arewa House, Kaduna.
In the communiqué issued and read by a
one-time member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Usman Bugaje, the Arewa
leaders lamented that “the weakening nature and perhaps the failure of the
Nigerian State to protect lives and property as well as its inability to
provide basic social services and guarantee freedom and rights of citizens
cumulatively accounts for the current state of siege in which the North now
finds itself.”
According to Bugaje, “the systematic
erosion of cherished values of honesty, tolerance and integrity that were once
the hallmark of public service in the North have resulted in bad governance,
disregard for the rule of law and general decadence.”
He also noted that “Social indicators
and statistics for all human development perspectives show the dismal crises in
education, health, water and sanitation services, thereby placing the region
far below its counterparts in the country,” pointing out that “the effect of
the current insurgency of Ahlas Sunna li dawa’ati wal Jihad and other
forms of insecurity have impacted negatively on the socio-economic, political
and the religious life of the people.”
The Arewa leaders further argued:
“Economic growth and development, commerce and trade in both formal and
informal sectors of the northern states are being stifled
with multiplier on the larger national and African sub-regional economies.
The general conduct of the JTF and how the fundamental rights of the citizens
of the north are being violated in clear breach of the rules of engagement. It
is expected that the JTF will strictly abide by the professional terms of
engagement in the interest of peace.”
However, the northern leaders resolved
among others:
• That with over 72 percent of the
national landmass and favourable climatic condition for both rain-fed and
irrigation farming, millions of livestock and other sundry agricultural
endowments, the north has to modernise its agriculture with all the priority
attention required to return the region to its erstwhile leading position as
the food basket of the nation.
• That human capital development
being the key to enhance living standard must be given special attention to
address the northern peculiarities in the primary, secondary and
vocational education as well as the provision of required trained manpower for
primary health care to give special priority to the eradication of all
preventable diseases in the region.
• That the federal government in
liaison with state governors, the affected communities, religious leaders
should get together to genuinely dialogue with the insurgents with the view to
ending the insecurity in the north,
• That there is the urgent need to
explore and exploit the abundant mineral resources existing all over north in
order to generate more revenue in support of the developmental needs of the
region and
• That the Northern Region will
create a strong and united platform to address the current security situation
and the politics of the North with particular reference to 2015 elections.
The conference, which was organised by
the Arewa Research and Development Program (ARDP) under the auspices of Arewa
House - Centre for Historical Research and Documentation, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, drew participants from a broad spectrum of concerned
northerners including former Heads of State, Vice President, Governors, former
Chief Justice of the Federation, federal legislators, academics, erstwhile
ministers, federal and state Permanent Secretaries, retired Generals and Police
Chiefs, serving heads of federal and state agencies, businessmen, women and
youth groups.
The objectives of the conference were
stated as follows:
.To bring all the disparate groups
working in different directions but all with the aim of promoting northern
interests within a greater Nigeria under one platform,
.To complement and harmonize all
efforts being made by long existing groups, northern elders and the Northern
Governors Forum with a view to creating a formidable, all inclusive Pan-
Northern platform to tackle the problems of the north in particular and Nigeria
in general,
Source:
Guardian
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