el-Rufai decries socio-economic stagnation of north

By Our correspondent

Kaduna state Governor, Nasir el-Rufai says the southern part of Nigeria is developing while the north is backwardly stagnant describing Nigeria as two countries in one.

El- Rufai stated this Saturday, at the Northern Youth Summit in Kaduna organised by Northern Hibiscus.

He called on governors of the 19 states that make up the north to come together to help develop the region, saying the indices shows the country is like war-torn Afghanistan.

“Looking at the statistics, Nigeria appears to be a middle income country. But, if we segregate those statistics across states and zones, you will see that in terms of human development indicators, Nigeria consists of two countries; there is a backward, less educated and unhealthy northern Nigeria and a developing, largely educated and healthy southern Nigeria.

“We have to speak the truth to ourselves and ask why is it that northern Nigeria has development indicators similar to Afghanistan a country still at war. We have the largest number of poor people in the world, most of them in northern Nigeria. Nigeria also has the largest number of out of school children, virtually all of them in Northern Nigeria.

“Northern Nigeria has become the centre of drug abuse, gender violence, banditry, kidnapping and terrorism. We have also been associated with high divorce rate and breakdown of families. These are the challenges that confront us. This is the naked truth that we have to tell ourselves,” the governor declared.

He challenged the people of the region, including the youth to rise to the occasion and change the conditions of the north, adding that “we must therefore, as leaders at all levels have conversation about the way forward for our part of the country.

“Because increasingly, as many of you must have seen on social media, we are being considered as the parasite of the federal economy even though that is not entirely true. Because northern Nigeria still feeds the nation. The richest businessman in Nigeria is still Aliko Dangote, not someone from Southern Nigeria, thank God for that.

“So, we still have a lot to be proud of. We should be proud of our culture and tradition, as well as unity. You hardly can find someone from northern Nigeria convicted of 419 or being a yahoo boy. That is something we should be proud of.

“We are generally considered to be more honest and less corrupt than other Nigerians. That is something we should be proud of. In addition, our demographic superiority gives us a very powerful tool to negotiate in politics. And that is something we should be proud of and we should preserve. So, we have every reason to unite and not be divided.”

He called on youth in the region to rise to the challenge as they account for 80 per cent of the northern population, saying the future of the region lies in their hands, not in the hands of dinosaurs like him.

“I’m 59 and among the oldest five per cent of the northern population. I shouldn’t even be governor; I should have been governor 10 years ago. But ‘na condition make crayfish bend,’ so we are here.

“We have to do something about the situation of northern Nigeria and we must do so as a group of 19 governors, not individual state governors.”