Babangida urges Northerners to unite in tackling region’s challenges

The former Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu has called on Northerners to emulate the late Premier of Northern region Sir Ahmadu Bello and promote his legacies.

Aliyu, who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees of Sir Ahmadu Bello Foundation, made the appeal on Monday in Kaduna at a reception for the new management of the foundation.

He said northerners must rise up to the challenges of leadership and find ways to tackle the unending problems of poverty and backwardness especially in education.

“When you talk of children out of school, when you talk of extreme poverty, you see it in this part of the world.

“The northern part of the country needs to do more extra ordinary things to fight the challenges properly,” he said.

The former governor noted that the North is endowed with resources in mining and agriculture which must be harnessed for the growth of the region.

“Up till now, the Agricultural output has not been in commercial quantity, we should be able to coordinate our activities so that we can take what we call a comparative advantage in Agriculture, mining and other areas,” he said.

Aliyu however said that northerners need to unite in order to create the necessary environment to effectively fight the numerous challenges in the region.

“That is why we think it is important to continue to celebrate the legacies of Sir Ahmadu Bello.

“The love for one another whether Christian or Muslim, deliberately developing one another the way Sir Ahmadu Bello did.

“Our governors in the 19 northern states are not giving the needed cooperation that will help us; we need to do more than what we were doing, we need to double our efforts.

“The northern states must unite regardless of which party you have used to win the elections,” he stressed.

A former Minister of Education, Prof. Rukaiyya Rufai said government and the foundation are putting together strategic plans to address challenges affecting the north.

She particularly said that the foundation was targeting the education sector and had positioned a high level research team to develop a roadmap to tackle challenges in the sector.

“By the time the report is out, I assure you that you will know that the foundation is doing much to address the issues in our education sector,” she said.

On her part, Dr Fati Ibrahim, blamed northern leaders for the region’s myriads of problems in all facets of life including education and security.

“We should sit down and have sober reflections of what is happening, the women are thinking of coming out to the streets to show their greviancies,” she said.

She challenged those taking over the leadership of the Sir Ahmadu Bello foundation to do more than what their predecessors did.

The outgoing Managing Director, Dr Shatima Ali said the foundation since its establishment in 1999, had trained 2,900 young men and women in various skills and vocational enterpreneurship, and offered scholarship to 600 youths in tertiary institutions.

“The foundation has tried as much as possible to bring the people of Northern states to emphasis the need for unity in diversity and that of peaceful co-existence in the north.”

He said the foundation had also spent over N2 billion in carrying out various projects across the 19 northern states including the building of its office.

Ali assured that he would continue to be part of the foundation in whatever capacity.

Our correspondent reports that Abubakar Gambo-Umar, an engineer, is the new Managing Director of the foundation, with Dr Haruna Jumma as Director, Finance Adminstration.